Published: August 28, 2009 10:39 am        

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Convocation ... with a beat

Music is an international language, and drums are effective forms of both communication and connection. On a primal level, the rhythm of drums mimics a human heartbeat.

The staff of San Marcos CISD experienced all the above – and more – when the international program called The Drum Café opened the annual convocation event.

Those who watched the Beijing Olympics, saw that the Drum Café opened the games, playing to one billion people in the television audience. The group has performed for royalty, presidents, Hollywood celebrities and political leaders from over 20 countries and 20,000 events.

All 1,200 persons in the convocation audience were provided an authentic African drum. By listening to the team building team and interacting, soon more than a thousand drums were playing complicated beats in unison. Barriers were broken, playing fields leveled and non-verbal communication began. The Drum Café leaders said that the “unifying experience creates the perfect platform for teams to experience the power of all working together to achieve a common objective.”

The Drum Café began in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1996, in an actual café where drumming was used in a relaxed atmosphere to inspire and bring people together. Twelve years later, it has become somewhat of a phenomenon worldwide. Founder Warren Lieberman says on the group's Web site, “Drumming is something everyone and every culture can relate to. The first thing you hear when you come into this world is your mother's heartbeat. Drumming relaxes, energizes and motivates in a way most team building companies cannot explain.”

San Marcos High School students Irene Morse and Miguel Arredondo served as emcees of the Convocation.

Superintendent Dr. Patty Shafer stepped to the podium to surprise Morse with the presentation of a special award from Texas Governor Rick Perry in recognition of her winning a state-level competition last spring.

Shafer later recognized from the podium all of the SMCISD campuses and departments, including the new campuses this year of Irene K. Mendez Elementary, Maria Hernandez Elementary and the Phoenix Learning Center. “Exemplary” banners were presented to Bowie Elementary, Crockett Elementary, and De Zavala Elementary and a “Recognized” banner was awarded to Travis Elementary.

At the conclusion of Convocation, Shafer said, “This exercise with the Drum Café and our staff brings home an interesting paradox: First, the importance of diversity and the value of every person's unique, individual contribution. And at the same time, we were reminded that the whole is greater than the sum of all its parts. I feel confident that all the individual talents of our dedicated SMCISD staff will come together this year to produce a harmonious whole: an outstanding academic year for our children.”

The special program was made possible by a group of donors who paid for the team-building activity, i.e.: Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP, J.R. Inc. (Jesse Rodriguez), Pfluger Associates Architects, Bartlett Cocke General Contractors, Escamilla & Poneck, Inc., First Financial Capital Administrators, First Southwest Company, and the firm of Walsh, Anderson, Brown, Aldridge & Gallegos, P.C.