Keep Zero Period at Hopkins

Currently we are very frustrated and outraged at the district's argument towards not cutting the zero-period option at the Hopkins Junior High School on 600 Driscoll Road, Fremont, CA. The zero period at Hopkins Junior High School is something that should not be removed, even though the district says that it is not fair toward other schools.

Music is another language by itself. It is one of the keys that make us human beings. Think what we could do in our future lives if we had music. When we're stressed out, we could relax and play. You could play instruments with other people and perform. There are many ways music can be influential to our daily lives as an adult. It is not a coincidence that most of the engineers in Silicon Valley, for example, are also musicians.

There are three main types of ensemble groups at Hopkins Junior High School. There are bands (Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble), which are composed of brass, woodwind, and percussion. There are also Jazz groups (Jazz Workshop, Jazz Ensemble), which plays jazz music consisting of instruments such as bass, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, and percussion. Finally, there are string orchestras (Intermediate Orchestra, Advanced Orchestra) which only contains string instruments (violin, viola, cello, bass). There is another group called Full Orchestra, which is a combination of Wind Ensemble and Advanced Orchestra.

Zero period is an optional period that takes place before first period. It is used to be able to take two electives. For example, you could have orchestra and Spanish at the same time because you have, for example, history on zero period. Zero period is also when Jazz Ensemble takes place.

What are the consequences of removing zero period from this school? The orchestra program would completely fall apart:

Removing zero period would cut the Orchestra population in half, because many of these students rely on zero period to take orchestra and language at the same time.

A decreased orchestra population causes the intermediate and advanced orchestras to be merged together to form one orchestra. This means that we can't play higher level pieces because you can't make musicians immediately play better than they already can. This could change the types of ratings we get in festivals. The orchestra program will decline and fall apart to almost nothing.

Orchestra has changed many lives in Hopkins. Students can form relationships both with music and other students. It allows students to be themselves, and just be immersed in music. It would be very sad for the Hopkins community if the district must remove zero period altogether.

We do not want zero period to be removed from middle school. It is outrageous to say that it is not fair for other schools. The Hopkins Music Program is the best in the entire district and possibly California. A program like this must be kept, as it represents Fremont in music festivals and performances. Zero period is the only way that the orchestra program would be able to survive and keep producing beautiful music.

We all wish that the district won't remove zero period, as it will completely ruin the music program and discourage future generations to join orchestra. Please, if you will, support the Hopkins music program and take into consider the students that will be in orchestra in the future.