Beyond Rainbow Night
Come join our whole community in the Beyond Rainbow night.
When: Thursday, March 24, 2015
Time: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Where: 6th grade classroom.
Sallie, Lauren and Louisa Ford
You know our music teacher, Sue Ford, right?
But did you know that all three of her daughters attended Rainbow at one time? Or that they’re making names for themselves in big ways?
Sallie Ford
Sue’s daughter Sallie, all of 27, is not only “googleable” but, she’s even in Wikipedia!
Her musical talents are getting noticed in New York and beyond.
She’s rocking out with her all-female band. With her distinctive style, she marches out with a raw-soul sound in her music. She lives in Portland when she’s not touring.
Have a listen to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qgFvlvDV0ng
Lauren Ford
Sue’s daughter, Lauren Ford, is living in New York City and loves it!
She went there to pursue her dream of acting and was trained at Emerson College in Boston. She graduated in 2005 with honors and won the Carol Burnett award – the highest award offered to any student graduating in performing arts.
She’d already made waves before that: while still living in Asheville, she won the “Best Actor” award from ACT when she was just 13 for her portrayal of Anne Frank.
She moved to NYC in 2007 and worked off broadway, in touring companies and in regional theater.
As you can imagine, it’s really tough to make it in New York and she keeps herself very busy working multiple jobs including coat check girl with a fancy Manhattan restaurant, leading sake and whisky tastings, babysitting, working with flowers and plants and working for a catering company.
Those are her day jobs while her dream becomes reality.
Lauren blogs about her experiences at http://laurenford.com/
Louisa Ford
Louisa Ford, 24, moved to Portland two years ago after graduating from Appalachian State University with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and a concentration in Sustainable Development.
She is living in Portland trying different jobs including waitressing, hostessing, working in a children’s museum, and teaching tap dance lessons.
She’s a musician too and she tap dances, plays guitar and sings all at the same time.
All three girls are singers and songwriters – hmm…we wonder where they got that from?
Sue Ford is extremely proud of her daughters. Every day she smiles at how proud they make her.
Something they all have in common is Rainbow.
And wouldn’t you know, Sue’s husband, Hobey Ford is coming to Rainbow for a puppeteer performance in the auditorium in February!
Just Another Day at “The Office” for Reed Fornoff
Rainbow is always thrilled to hear from its alumni!
We just heard from Reed who was finishing a summer term as a park ranger at Sequoia National Park.
He’s pictured below. He was off duty, therefore not in uniform, but yes, this is where he works.
One of the tenets of a Rainbow education is environmental sustainability; we hope that influence follows RCS students their whole lives.
Soulspeak Coming to RCS Auditorium
Soulspeak at Rainbow
We are beyond excited! SATURDAY September 27th @ 7pm, Soulspeak Asheville will be helping us dedicate our new community center auditorium space with a youth poetry slam!
WE ARE ALL POETS will feature 12 youth ages 12-21 from the WNC community sharing their poetry.
There will also be an open mic.
Mel Kelley and Liam Kelley Black (Rainbow alumni) from Soulspeak will be bringing poetry to our Omega students the next two Thursdays as well as offering support to any student who wants to slam or open mic on the 27th.
Matt Foley
Award winning poet, author and teacher, Matthew Foley, from Charleston, SC will feature at the slam.
Free Wordshop
Soulspeak is offering a FREE WORDSHOP with Matthew for youth poets earlier that day from 3-5pm @ Kairos, 742 Haywood Rd.
If You Want to Go…
All Omega students are welcome!
ALL PROCEEDS from the slam go towards providing the free Saturday wordshops and open mics that SOULSPEAK offers our youth poets each month.
Rainbow families will receive a $2 discount per ticket. Adults just $10, students $5! Tickets will be for sale on the decks from Thursday on.
PLEASE JOIN US!
Alumnus Allijah Motika – Creative Multi-Instrumentalist
Allijah Motika – Creative multi-instrumentalist
Alumni News!
We are so proud of all of our alumni.
We have news from Allijah Motika who just graduated from Catawba College in May.
He studied music, with a concentration in Popular Music and achieved summa cum laude. He received many honors while there, including getting a Presidential Scholarship, and was on the Dean’s List and Presidential Honor Roll. He was a member of Alpha Chi Honors Society, a Junior Marshal, and was named Who’s Who Among Students.
As a student, he participated in an Artist Development Program, learning everything from being a live sound engineer to helping oversee performance spaces on campus. He also tutored other students in various subjects. This has helped prepare him for life after college – running a band and fulfilling his dream of being a musician!
Allijah is part of a band that formed in 2012 called Life Size. He also is the acting manager, promoter and booking agent. In addition, he’s a co-songwriter, co-producer, and plays multiple instruments for shows and performances.
Already, he has several notable performances:
- Vernaculars All-Stars at the NC Governor’s Inaugural Ball in 2013 – with Parmalee and The Avett Brothers
- God’s Appointed People Choir at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 – with Jessica Sanchez
- Catawba Singers – European Tour 2011 and Chicago Performance – with Eric Whitacre
- Governor’s School West Chorus – 2009
Great job to Allijah – we are proud of you and so thrilled that you’re part of the Rainbow family!
Here’s a recent quote from Sarah Hall – Salisbury Post
“Their songs, all original compositions, demonstrated that they have become accomplished songwriters.”
