Award-winning choir members honored at WC board meeting
The Weatherford College choir, led by instructor Rick Rainey, entertained the WC Board of Trustees with a short concert at their April meeting on Thursday.
Rainey, an adjunct instructor, teaches choir, opera and private voice lessons. Off campus, he recently completed his 24th session with the Dallas Opera with six performances of Puccini's “La Boheme.”
“This has been my first opportunity, the last four years here, to actually conduct a choir,” Rainey said. “I cannot tell you how emotional it makes me, how pleasing it is.”
Following the choir’s performance of “Wide Open Spaces” by Sarah Quartel, board chairman Dan Carney said, “If that doesn’t send a chill down your spine, I don’t know what does. That was wonderful.”
Five Weatherford College students made the Texas Two-year College Choral Directors Association All-State Choir this year, and vocal student Lauren Lee placed fifth in her division in the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition.
“It’s the most gratifying thing to be able to work with these young people,” Rainey said. “They are all vastly talented.”
Rainey’s opera students will perform “A Night at the Opera” on Thursday, April 17, and the choir has its spring concert on Tuesday, April 29. Both concerts begin at 7 p.m. in the Alkek Fine Arts Center, and admission is free.
In other business, the board:
- Approved the minutes of the March 13 meeting.
- Approved the financial reports ending March 31.
- Approved the disposal of obsolete and surplus items through e-waste recycling and online auction.
- Approved a contract quote from Flair Data System on the annual Cisco Umbrella security service subscription and support renewal.
- Received written reports from WC Wise County, academics and a student services update.
In his President’s Report, Dr. Tod Allen Farmer:
- Notified the board of the college’s Most Promising Places to Work in Community Colleges recognition in the May National Institue for Staff and Organizational Development conference as well as the award highlight to be published in the May edition of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.
- Congratulated the creative services department on its two national gold paragon awards from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations.
- Announced that WC is the fastest-growing college in North Texas, with enrollment growth expected to continue.
- Announced the retirement of Mary Delise Burrus, math instructor, and the resignation of Tiffany Davis, vocational nursing instructor.