Sherridan Elementary

I was excited to hear from another elementary school this year. Sheridan Elementary had contacted and we found a time that I could go out and visit. I quickly made plans to visit and just made my visit yesterday! :)

Their class had just started talking a bit about heritage and immigrants coming to Nebraska so it worked perfectly for me to come and talk to them. I started by telling them about my family and where they came from. I told them stories about their trip here and the land they received due to the Homestead Act. I asked the kids to tell me any stories they knew about their families and some raised their hands to share. Next I told them a bit about my kroj and how the kroj is different in every region. I told them how my family brought over many traditions that I try to keep alive today and one of them is music. I told them how playing the accordion was lost for several generations in my family but I am proud to have started and hopefully maybe it will get carried along further. I talked a bit about my journey in playing the accordion and showed them my accordion. Let me tell you...you would never think you would get kids so excited about an instrument like that! :) I played Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie for them and they wanted to hear more. I sang Blue Skirt Waltz for them so they could hear a bit of the Czech Language and then played a few more songs. There were lots of questions after I had finished and I did my best to answer them all before our time was up. I had a great time speaking to Sherridan and they seemed to really enjoy what I spoke about. :) They were a great audience!

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen