Recorders to Africa

Centennial Senior is Making a Difference

Senior+Rachel+Perkins+stands+with+her+ISM+display+at+the+final+showcase+event+held+at+Heritage+High+School.

Carol Gross

Senior Rachel Perkins stands with her ISM display at the final showcase event held at Heritage High School.

Kayla McCullough, Cen10 News Reporter

Music is something that people all around the world can love and appreciate. One senior is using her Independent Study and Mentorship final product to bring instruments to people who may never know how to play music otherwise.

Rachel Perkins, a senior at Centennial, is studying music education in ISM this year. For her final product, she chose to donate 75 recorders to an orphanage in Ghana, run by the charity Touch A Life.

Perkins’ involvement in band throughout middle school and high school, as well as the mission trips that she has been on in the past, inspired her project.

“I’ve been on a few mission trips, and after seeing the type of world that we don’t live in, the third-world countries, it’s completely different,” Perkins said. “The idea that some kids out there are never going to have the chance to experience music the way I do… I wanted to change that.”

And to Perkins, it’s more than just about the music.

“It is important to me because they are finding a new way to express their grief, or any happiness or joy that they have in their lives, and they get to own something that’s not just for survival,” she said.

Good luck to Rachel and Touch A Life as they plan to send the recorders overseas this summer!

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