Peter and Audrey Switzer Trophy Room

Donated By: Elmhurst Students' Reunion
First Presented: 1996
Criteria: Vocal Duets - Preparatory/Beginner, Primary/Elementary and Junior Levels

U.S.S. No. 9, Elmhurst School was built in 1926, the last one-room schoolhouse to be built in South Easthope. Ida Kollman was the weekly, itinerant music teacher, so it should be no surprise that the pupils from Elmhurst always did extremely well at music festivals. The Elmhurst School choir sang for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on the Royal Visit to Stratford in 1939 and teacher, Evelyn Freeborn, received a gold medal for conducting the choir. The Elmhurst School was closed when the central school was built in the town of Shakespeare.

On May 19, 1996, U.S.S. No. 9, Elmhurst, held a reunion attended by 73 former students and five former teachers. They concluded that 'back then, Elmhurst couldn't play ball very well, but they surely could sing!". They also decided to donate the Elmhurst Plaque for best elementary school duet in the Kiwanis Music Festival.