Twin Lakes Secondary School (TLSS) has become the first school in Canada to be certified by Music Care by Room 217, a not-for-profit organization that supplies music to help students succeed in and out of the classroom.
"We use music as a way of healing, helping, calming kids down, and building them up," said Christina Bosco, who teaches music at the Orillia school. "We use different strategies throughout the school in different ways."
Using Music Care by Room 217 programming, TLSS played various genres of music throughout the school at different times of the day to help students get to class on time. Music was also used in classrooms to create "a good mood" to help support student learning.
"We did organized activities through music to build community throughout the school," Bosco explained. "We found with our data already that inserting music during different times of the day is helping kids get to class on time and putting them in a better mood."
She says the Music Care by Room 217 programming has been used in a "holistic" way to encourage a sense of belonging and meaning among students.
TLSS was chosen for the programming by the Simcoe Country District School Board because of the leadership students and staff have shown in the community through outreach initiatives, Bosco says.
"It's an honour that we were chosen," she said. "They are recognizing that it's a useful program to have in schools."
She credits the school board and TLSS principal Tammy Rodaro for supporting arts-based initiatives at the school.
"Arts are not going away, especially not in our school; that's for sure," Bosco said.
Grade 12 student Isabella Bacque says she found Music Care by Room 217 programming provided stress relief.
"A lot was going on this year with presentations, tests, exams, and big final projects," she said. "I found the initiatives helped to slow things down and really helped with my mental health."
She says using music in the school improved morale among students and staff.
"While my friends and I were waiting for our classrooms to open, we would be dancing to the music," she said. "It made school more enjoyable."
Bacque says music is an important tool that should be used in all schools to help students succeed.
"Music has been so helpful for me throughout my school career. I listen to classical music while I'm working on school projects and it keeps me focused," she said.
Before this year, Bacque says the arts department was "underfunded" for a long time.
"Knowing that there is going to be an initiative in future years for the school to spend more money on music makes me feel good," she said. "It tells me that future students are being cared about."
