Elgin ISD Fine Arts Newsletter
September 2026 - All systems go!!
Ms. Alyson Keller ~ Director of Fine Arts and Advanced Academics
The school year is officially in full swing, and across our Fine Arts classrooms, rehearsal spaces, studios, stages, and fields, all systems are go!
Our outstanding Fine Arts teachers have their foot on the gas, creating rigorous, engaging learning experiences that challenge our students to think, create, perform, and grow. And our students? They are rising to the challenge!
Everywhere we look, creativity is in motion. Students are bringing incredible works of art to life, filling our stages with music and theatre, performing under the Friday night lights, moving through dance, and discovering new ways to express their ideas, experiences, and unique voices.
What makes Fine Arts so special is that the finished product is only part of the story. Behind every performance, painting, production, and presentation are hours of learning, problem-solving, collaboration, persistence, and courage. Our students are learning that excellence doesn't happen all at once—it is built one rehearsal, one brushstroke, one correction, and one brave creative choice at a time.
September has brought tremendous energy and possibility to our Fine Arts classrooms and throughout our district, and we are just getting started.
Elgin High School Purple Diamonds
Mrs. Ashley Sengsouvanh & Mrs. Lauren David, Directors
Diamonds have been busy since the start of school. We have kicked off football season with our traditional kick performance that every Diamond team has done for the last 13 years. Next, we are moving to our streamer performance which is always a crowd favorite. We are also working here on Saturdays learning contest dances for this contest season.
We are looking ahead for the upcoming events we have planned for this semester. Mini Diamonds is planned for November 14th. They will perform in our Dance Showcase show on November 18th with Elgin ISD dance departments from EMS and EHS. Diamonds will treat the custodial staff at EHS with pies for the holidays. Then, our Diamonds' canned food drive for our local food bank pantry takes place.
Currently, we are gearing up to finish the football season out strong. They are one busy, non-stop team, but we love what we do. Make sure to stay in your seats for the halftime show and stay tuned for all the upcoming performances we have throughout the year.
Elgin High School Choir and Musical Theatre Performers
Mrs. Cherisa Cromer, Director
The EHS C.A.M.P. (Choir And Musical theatre Performers) Department has started off this year with a bang! On September 12, we took 19 students to the All-District Choir auditions, and are proud to announce that we had 10 make the choir! Congratulations to Ella Jeschke, Brooklynn Nickel, Polly Cromer, Charlotte Criminger, Sparrow Ward, Beau Harris, CJ McInnis, Kevin Sanchez, Pablo Jaimes, and Trent Sanchez! These talented and hard-working students all advanced to the next round of the TMEA All-State Choir process, and will be competing on Oct. 3 to earn their place in the All-Region Choir. We’re already cheering them on!
What we’ve been up to so far:
August 19/20 - Auditions/callbacks held for the EHS Competition musical, “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” We will start full rehearsals after EHS theatre’s Fall Play (Clue) wraps in October!
September 12 - TMEA All-District Choir Auditions (19 attended, 10 advanced)!
September 15 - Varsity Choir attended the “Longhorn Big Sing” @ University of Texas
September 22 - Musical theatre students attended a workshop/masterclass with a Broadway professional, and visited with a representative from “AMDA College of the Performing Arts”
Sept. 25 - We held our very first social of the year, thrown by our EHS C.A.M.P Officers. “Littles” were inducted into the program & met their “bigs”.
Upcoming Events:
Oct. 3 - Region Choir Auditions @ Round Rock HS
Oct. 29 - 6:30pm - FALL CONCERT “I Dream A World” - @EHS Auditorium ADMISSION IS FREE & ALL ARE WELCOME! Come see how hard our amazing students have been working & hear some beautiful music. A special sneak-peak of our mainstage musical will be included in the event!
Elgin High School Theatre
Ms. Catherine Brock and Mr. Michael Wilson, Directors
It has been a busy six weeks for Elgin High School theater!
During the first six weeks we have held auditions, cast our fall show “Clue: On Stage (high school edition), and selected our very first group of Thespian Theater officers for 2026-2027. On September 22nd, our theater students and cast of CLUE, had the opportunity to attend a workshop/masterclass with a Broadway professional from AMDA College of the Performing Arts. It is an incredible opportunity for our theater students!
We have some exciting news to share:
For the first time in the history of EHS, our theater department will be represented at the statewide convention for the Texas Educational Theatre association the first weekend in October. After a statewide audition for student actors, Brooklyn Nickel was chosen to perform for all teachers from across the state, at the conference!
Brooklyn will also have the opportunity to audition for college scholarships and be seen by over 125 colleges, Theatre Directors and professional training studios at the same time!
We are all overjoyed, and proud for Brooklyn to represent Elgin High School and our Theater Department at the state level!
INFORMATION ON OUR FALL SHOW
Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem: EHS Theater Department Presents "Clue: On Stage (High School Edition)”
Elgin, Texas — Get ready for a night of classic mystery and whip-smart comedy as the EHS Theater Department brings "Clue: On Stage (High School Edition)" to the EHS Auditorium from October 17th-19th.
Based on the iconic 1985 Paramount motion picture and the classic Hasbro board game, this adaptation is a hilarious farce-meets-murder-mystery. On a dark and stormy night, six mysterious guests assemble at Boddy Manor for an unusual dinner party. When their host turns up dead, everyone becomes a suspect. Led by Wadsworth the butler, Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, and Colonel Mustard race to find the killer as the body count stacks up.
Our students have worked incredibly hard to bring these eccentric, beloved characters to life. It is a fast-paced, high-energy show packed with physical comedy that will keep the audience guessing—and laughing—until the final curtain."
Performance Details:
Where: EHS Auditorium
When: October 17th, 18th, and 19th
All shows will start at 7pm
Tickets: $10
Come see if you can figure out WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT weapon!
We can’t wait to see you at the show!
Elgin High School Visual Arts
Mrs. Mandissa Martinez, Ms. Megan Burson and Ms. Mary Riera, EHS Art Teachers
Our EHS Artists and teachers have already created AMAZING art! Please click on this link to see the most recent EHS Visual Arts Newsletter!
Elgin High School Wildcat Band & Guard
Mr. Armando Martinez, Mr. Andrew Arbouzov & Mr. Christian Gonzales, Directors
COME SUPPORT THE ELGIN WILDCAT BAND & GUARD!
The Elgin Wildcat Band & Guard are excited to compete at the 2026 Capital City Marching Festival!
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Burger Stadium
Performance Time: 12:00 PM
Our students have been working extremely hard, and we would love to see our Elgin Wildcat family, friends, and community in the stands cheering them on!
Come out, support our students, and help us PACK THE STANDS as they take the field! Let’s show the Wildcat Band & Guard how proud we are of them!
LET’S GO WILDCATS!
ELGIN HS BAND BOOSTERS CHICKEN PLATE SALE!
Come out and support the Elgin High School Band Boosters at our Chicken Plate Sale!
Sunday, September 27th
First National Bank
Starting at 11:00 AM
We’ll be serving until SOLD OUT!
Enjoy a delicious chicken plate while helping support the Elgin HS Band & Guard and all the amazing opportunities we provide for our students!
Bring your family and friends, grab a plate, and help support our Wildcat Band & Guard!
GO WILDCATS!
Thank you for supporting the Elgin HS Band Boosters!
EMS/EHS Mariachi
Mr. Miguel Urteaga, Mariachi Director
The Mariachi program is off to a great start this year! Our beginners are making spectacular progress and have been advancing faster than in previous generations. Our mariachi students are not only growing musically, but they have been working on expanding their repertoire. This should directly allow them to play at events more frequently.
In addition to our students learning new songs, they are going to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by playing music. The Mariachi program has been invited to perform at Neidig Elementary on Wednesday, September 30 and Elgin Intermediate on Thursday, October 1 after school. Our students will have the opportunity to share their hard work, celebrate their culture, and spread the joy of mariachi music in our school community. We are very proud of our students and excited to represent our Hispanic heritage!
Elgin Middle School Theatre
Ms. Kearstin Mathews, Theatre Teacher
The past month of Theatre at EMS has been a blast! Our 7th grade classes have covered units on introduction vocabulary, actor responsibilities, and primitive theatre. Our 8th grade classes have covered theatre appreciation, and are now in an audition unit. They are focusing on everything from creating resumes to rehearsing two contrasting monologues and performing them for our The Best Christmas Pageant Ever play auditions! Every class gets to do "Improv Fridays", where students improvise short scenes and play games, which is always a great way to end the week. As a Theatre Company we are in the full swing of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever auditions, casting, and rehearsals to prepare for our performances on December 3rd and 4th.
Elgin Middle School Band
Mr. Alfred Medina and Mr. Spencer Morris, Band Directors
The Elgin Middle School band has been putting in the work since the start of the school year! Students are refining their fundamentals and perfecting high-energy pep tunes to bring maximum spirit to the EMS pep rallies.
We have an exciting lineup of performances ahead. The Varsity band and 8th graders will perform at the EMS Open House on September 30th. They will also joing the Elgin High School band in the stands to perform together during the Homecoming football game on October 23rd.
Mark your calendars for December 2nd, when our talented musicians will take the stage for their annual Winter Concert. The program is also proud to welcome approximately 45 7th-grade beginners. Having completed their initial training in music literacy and instrument basics, these students have now transitioned to their individual instruments and are eagerly embarking on their band experience.
Elgin Middle School Visual Arts
Ms. Becca Core, Ms. Eilene Galvan and Mrs. Maegan Kirschner, Art Teachers
Mrs. Kirschner
We have been exploring the element of line with the many ways it is the foundation to all creation of artwork in many forms. We are using Van Gogh’s Starry Night to create our own pumpkin patch with the whorls and swirls of his artwork using the basic line. We created 3D Zentangles, practiced hatching and cross hatching, and explored contour lines with lego people.
Mrs. Galvan
This is what has been happening the first six weeks in Ms. Galvan’s 7th Grade Art Class; Students worked together through various activities such as creating a class agreement and team building puzzles. Students have begun learning about the principles and elements of art starting with the element of line, patterns and zentangles, crosshatch shading and contour line. We have also studied artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Rene Magritte and Vincent Van Gogh which have also been the inspiration for our recent projects.
Ms. Core
The first six weeks in High School credit Art with Ms. Core, students have made connections through making art and built class communities through collaborative art making and conversations. They have also honed their drawing skills with graphite pencils, pens, markers, and color pencils. Through our technique studies and practice students have made color pencil bubbles, graphite raindrops, and are currently working on mixed media zentangles. Students have experimented with process art by painting with acrylic paint and squeegees. Up next, we will begin our Hispanic Heritage choice projects that will help decorate our school for Día de los Muertos. Then we will end the first nine weeks using watercolors to create process art and digging into watercolor painting techniques.
Students have been offered the opportunity to create art for Elgin’s annual Hogeye Festival! All artwork must be original and it is recommended that it be Elgin or Hogeye themed and will be due to Ms. Core by Thursday, October 8th.
Elgin Intermediate Art
Mrs. Amber Walsh, Art Teacher
Sixth grade is currently learning about how to draw portraits and how to mix colors with tempera paint. We are preparing a portrait gallery for our upcoming Hispanic Heritage Month showcase on October 1!
Elgin Intermediate Music/Choir
Mr. Jeffrey Gonzales, Music/Choir Teacher
The EIS 6th grade choir is preparing a performance for our annual Hispanic Heritage Assembly on October 1st at 5:30 in our gym. Songs to be performed are Cielito Lindo, La Llorona, Como La Flor, and Quizas, Quizas, Quizas.
Elgin Intermediate Band
Ms. Alana Urbano, Band Director
Making Our First Sounds: EIS Band Is Off to a Great Start!
The Elgin Intermediate School Band is off to an exciting start! With approximately 157 sixth-grade musicians, we're building a brand-new band program from the ground up. Students began the year exploring instruments, building friendships, and learning what it means to be part of a musical ensemble. With help from our Elgin High School Band staff, students selected their instruments and have officially begun making their first sounds!
Our young musicians are now learning to assemble and care for their instruments, read music, and develop the fundamental skills needed to perform together. We're especially excited that these students will either become the founding members of the Legacy Oak Middle School Band when the new campus opens in Fall 2027 or continue the culture of excellence in the Elgin Middle School Band!
We're incredibly grateful for the enthusiasm and support of our families, campus staff, and Elgin ISD Fine Arts community as we begin this exciting musical journey!
Trinity Ranch Elementary Art
Ms. Shali Niemeyer, Art Teacher
TRE Art!
Exciting things happening at TRE this year in art! The year started off with a wonderful “about me” project which will be hung in the hall. We played an art game inspired by the new video game “Meccha Chameleon” where students had to disguise their character in the art room.
After that, we jumped into learning about principles of design, the first one is pattern! Our young artists learned the difference between patterns they are familiar with vs patterns in art, and how to create them. We learned about zentangles and created amazing pattern projects.
Kindergarten through third grade made adorable dachshunds with long pattern sweaters while fourth and fifth graders created a silhouette and filled the opposite side in pattern! Patterns were created through a fun spinner wheel game.
The next principle of art we are focusing on is space, more specifically, perspective! All grade levels are doing a project that enhances their knowledge of perspective, how to make things look three dimensional, and using imagination to add detail to their projects!
I look forward to this year and seeing all the amazing artwork that our young artists are creating!
Trinity Ranch Elementary Music
Mr. Nathan Camacho, Music Teacher
At TRES, we have had a good start to our music program, our second overall year since opening up from scratch last school year. Students have been having fun since the start of September, and we hope that trend keeps going. We are now getting into the process to prepare 3 grade levels for a show. 4th grade is actively preparing their Hispanic Heritage show on October 7th, and 3rd grade has recently started to prepare for their Fall and Halloween themed performance on October 29th. At the end of this month and beginning of October, 2nd graders will be preparing for their World Cultures performance which they will showcase on November 19th.
Besides show preparation, 5th grade has been active on the mallet and drum instruments which is a good prerequisite before they start using recorders later in the year. Kinder and 1st has also been working hard on some of our yearly TEKS goals along with some of their grade level Kodaly songs, and they have been having fun with interactive games and activities.
Harvest Ridge Music
Mr. Russel Mahon, Music Teacher
What a great start to the year at Harvest Ridge Elementary! Students have started off working on learning about the “beat” and “meter” by marching around the music room and playing rhythm sticks and singing songs. Younger grades have started to learn about high sound and low sound by using scarves and movement to demonstrate the difference. We have been learning all sorts of new songs about our country and our state while our younger students have fun with movement songs and also some very silly songs; “Cow On The Bus?”. We have also started to learn about the instruments in the orchestra and have a lot of fun by playing our pretend “air instruments”. All grade levels are currently working on music for our Veterans Day program coming up on November 11.
Harvest Ridge Art
Mrs. Lauren Ellison, Art Teacher
Welcome back, Wildcats!! At Harvest Ridge Elementary our artists are starting with the foundations– rules, art expectations, and lines!
Here is a sneak peek of some of the magic we have been creating.
The art room is always open to donations– from the normal (aprons, playdoh, paint…) to the unexpected (egg cartons, bubble wrap, cereal boxes…)
Neidig Elementary Music
Ms. Bridget Causey, Music Teacher
The NES Music Room has been buzzing with learning and music making! Our littlest musicians have been busy showing, playing, and identifying beats and rhythms, while our older students have been working hard to identify meters, notes, and rhythms.
We’ve been making music with rhythm sticks, egg shakers, drums, Boomwhackers, and so much more! Along the way, we’ve also been working on building relationships, getting to know new people, and practicing how to be safe, respectful, and responsible in our music room community. Every class is learning, creating, connecting, and having fun!
Our 3rd graders have also been working especially hard as they prepare for their Hispanic History Month Program on September 30th! We can’t wait to share all their hard work and celebrate their learning through music.
Neidig Elementary Visual Art
Mrs. Jennifer Grames, Art Teacher
The 2026-2027 school year has begun and most grade levels are already starting their second projects! The beginning of the school year always starts off with learning about line, and this is true this year as well. Kindergarten started making their Alphabet books and have completed the first four letters. First grade drew adorable self portraits and second grade made hearts. Third graders drew and painted the ultimate ice cream dessert, while fourth graders are still working on their name project. Fifth graders did a quick Op Art project to wake up their fine motor skills. A lot of the next projects are all about Texas, and I can’t wait to see how they turn out!
Elgin Elementary Visual Art
Mrs. Ashley Smith, Art Teacher
Students at EES kicked off the year learning how to turned “mistakes” into opportunities and we have been working on a variety of line projects. Kinder students are getting familiar with the concept of line while 1st-3rd reinforce previous learning. 4th and 5th graders have been using lines to create op art, continuous line drawings, weavings, and practicing line work in pencil/marker drawings. We worked together to create “The Dot” themed murals for international dot day and are happy to bring the vibrant pieces to our hallways for everyone to enjoy. K-5th have all created sketchbooks which we will be adding to throughout the year. Students are excited to learn step-by-step drawing and to get practice before beginning projects. All grades are now working hard on Hogeye color pages and gearing up for some excited shape projects.
Elgin Elementary Music
Mr. Timothy Rios, Music Teacher
EES is starting the year off having fun with music theory lessons. Students are learning Kodaly hand
signs, music notation, matching pitch, and taping out simple songs on the xylophone.
Next month, 4th and 5th grade will move to recorders and third through fifth grade will begin preparing
for our Veterans Day Program in November. Kinder through second grade will prepare a Dia De Los
Muertos presentation.
We started a Cumbia Club on Thursday afterschool. Students will have fun listening to and learning to
playing various cumbias. The students will learn to play drums, bass guitar, keyboards, percussion and
sing. We hope to be ready to perform live in the next few months!
Booker T. Washington Elementary Music
Mrs. Maggie Gonzales, Music Teacher
So far this year at BTW, our music classes have been very productive and the kiddos are learning so quickly!
Our 2nd graders are learning all about Orff instruments, while our 4th graders are currently wrapping up their final recorder refresher lesson and beginning to prepare for their Veterans Day program in November. Our 3rd graders have been diligently learning music for their Texas Pride & Hispanic Heritage concert on October 8th. During this process, they’ve been learning so much about the history of our state, its connection to the Hispanic population, as well as the influence of immigrants from other countries, like Germany & Ireland.
Although some of our little ones are still getting the hang of the music procedures, most are starting to come out of their shells and really embracing their singing voices and how their bodies move with the music. I’m looking forward to see what the rest of this year has in store!
Helpful Resources
Elgin Independent School District's Compelling Purpose:
In Elgin ISD, we believe that every student deserves access to engaging, innovative learning experiences so that they are provided choice and opportunity for their future.
Visit the Elgin ISD Foundation website here.