Sugar-Salem orchestra teacher retires, starts youth symphony
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SUGAR CITY — When Jennifer Barrus started teaching orchestra for Sugar-Salem School District 322 some 20 years ago, she started from scratch.
It started as an after-school program with a handful of students at Kershaw Intermediate School and Sugar-Salem Jr. High. But when she recently retired at the end of 2022-2023 school year, she had about 80 students in the small, rural district.
And now, at the conclusion of her employment with the school district, Barrus is starting a new youth symphony orchestra for ages 14 to 25 with the city of Rexburg.
Barrus’s efforts to start and grow the program in Sugar City have been a gift to the community, according to parents who appreciate the opportunities afforded to their children.
“She started the orchestra program and has fought hard for it, despite having basically no resources,” says parent Carly Paul. “Starting with nothing, she’s built a thriving program, and now her orchestras consistently receive superior ratings at festivals. She’s the definition of doing more with less.”
Barrus says when she first started the program, some of the students were able to provide their own instruments, but many instruments were purchased with grant money.
“I wrote a lot of grants!” she says. “I think it ended up being $75,000 worth of grants.”
With a handful of other music teachers, Barrus turned the once-fledgling program into a vibrant community of young musicians. Now, the Sugar-Salem School District has a beginning orchestra and an intermediate orchestra at the junior high, a concert orchestra for freshmen and sophomores, and a chamber orchestra for sophomores, juniors and seniors. Barrus says it was a gradual growth, and when her previous junior high students became high schoolers, she got to move up with them to the high school and continue teaching them for the last part of her career.
Paul says she admires Barrus for her ability to work with limited space in the district’s facilities.
“Space is so limited in the high school that right now she teaches orchestra in what basically amounts to a storage closet,” Paul says. “Rather than complaining, she had the students decorate the walls and make it their own special space. She’s amazing.”
Addie Dalling, a senior graduating from Sugar-Salem High School this week, began playing the violin six years ago and has been a student of Barrus every year since. She says her experience playing in Sugar-Salem’s orchestras has been a highlight of her school experience.
“It was definitely a key element of my high school experience,” Dalling says. “I’ve never done any sports or anything, and this gave me the opportunity to travel like the sports teams would be able to. It’s my main hobby, for sure. It’s something that brings a sense of purpose and a sense of fun to my high school experience.”
Dalling says Barrus’s gift for balancing constructive criticism with praise for good work made it a great experience for students.
“It’s one of those classes where you show up knowing that you’re going to be working the whole time,” Dalling says. “She’s really good at constructive criticism … I think that’s why our orchestra is so great. She’s so good at knowing exactly what needs to be done, and how to fix it. She’s really positive all the time. She always makes sure to tell us what we are doing right as well, so we get that sense of accomplishment.”
Dalling is planning to continue her orchestra studies at Brigham Young University-Idaho and as a member of the Heritage Youth Symphony, a new program from the Rexburg Cultural Arts Department, which Barrus will be directing this fall.
“My vision is to work with the most dedicated students in this area who want to do more musically,” Barrus says of the new youth symphony. “Patriotism and faith are two things that I really want to promote.”
She says she is working with an arranger to create some original music for future recordings and she hopes the orchestra will have opportunities to travel for performances, as well. She says she hopes it will provide young musicians with a community to be part of.
“I hope that they will find a lot of friends and social interaction and feel connected and feel like they’re part of something that’s excellent and that they’re proud of,” she says.
The Heritage Youth Symphony will have strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Participation is by invitation and audition. Auditions will be held Aug. 26, and information can be found here. The orchestra is open to anyone in the Rexburg area between the ages of 14 to 25, including those who are willing to travel from outside the immediate area to participate.
Symphony members who go to public school are required to also participate in their school’s music program.
“This is meant to enhance the programs, and not to take away from the existing school programs,” Barrus says. “We want students to remain in their programs and build them, but homeschool students and students who have graduated do not have that requirement.”
As Barrus closes one chapter, she’s excited to embark on a new one, and happy to continue doing what she loves.
“I’m retiring and I just think, ‘How am I going to not be directing? I’ve got to direct something. What about a youth symphony?” she says. “It really brings me a lot of joy in my life.”