Honoring a Legacy

By helping high school students purchase their own band instruments, one endowment is honoring the life of a colleague while providing for the future.

"The more involved kids are in extracurricular activities, the more likely they are to be engaged in school, attend, and make it to graduation," said Shane Wuebben, fine arts coordinator for the School District.

When Janine K. Parliament passed away, her employer, The First National Bank in Sioux Falls, set up an endowment fund to spread her care and compassion to future generations in her memory. More than 20 years later, this endowment continues to help students in Sioux Falls buy their own band instruments through a scholarship provided to the school district each year.

Thanks to a large inventory of school-owned instruments, any student who wants to participate in band has that opportunity. But the instruments owned by the district are beginner-level, which can be limiting as students progress. "As kids get into high school, the complexity of the music increases and sometimes the instrument can't keep up anymore," Wuebben said.

Not every family is in a position to purchase higher-end instruments for their children, so the Parliament Endowment sets out to make sure that young, aspiring musicians get the opportunity to reach their full penitential.

By owning their own instrument, students are able to further develop their skills and expand their repertoire, and they have the opportunity to make music a larger part of their lives. "These kids have such pride when they own their own instrument," Wuebben said. "It opens up what they can do beyond their four years in high school. They can start to play for fun, or in college. They have the opportunity to keep playing, and they get to decide how involved they want to be."

Thanks to the endowment that her colleagues established, Janine K. Parliament's legacy will live on through the music of countless students for many years to come.