Instrumental Camp 2023

CAMP DESCRIPTION: Instrumental music camp is designed to give 6th – 9th grade string, wind, brass, and percussion players the opportunity to make music in an ensemble setting. The camp schedule will include full ensemble rehearsals as well as sectional pull out sessions. Instrumentalists should be comfortable reading music and should have at least one year of private or group instruction. There will be an informal concert on the last day towards the end of the session. Families are welcome to come and listen at that time.

Camp Director, Sheila Raim ‘81 local musician and teacher, has ties to Hillcrest Academy both as a graduate and as a former faculty member. During her tenure at IMS, she taught instrumental music and Spanish. She has loved music and teaching her entire life and thrives on passing on that love to students and musicians of all ages.  Sheila holds a bachelor’s degree in music education with an emphasis in violin from Eastern Mennonite University and a master’s degree in Spanish:Teaching from The University of Northern Iowa. She currently serves as a supervising teacher and music program director at the Mid-Prairie Home School Assistance program and teaches privately through HeartStrings Studio. Sheila and her husband, Dan, are the parents of two adult children, Eleya (married to Jesse Shetler) and Ethan, who are also musicians and Hillcrest alumni.

Camp Director, Shawn Sandersfeld is currently the director of the Mid-Prairie Community Schools Home School Assistance Program Band as well as the Mid-Prairie 5th Grade Band.  For the 2021-2022 school year, he taught music at Hillcrest Academy near Kalona. In the spring of 2021, Shawn retired from the Linn-Mar Community School District where he taught band students of all grades at Excelsior Middle School and Boulder Peak Intermediate School.  Bands under his direction have been selected to perform at the Iowa Bandmasters Conference as well as the Iowa Music Educators Conference. He has also been a frequent guest director for many honor bands throughout Iowa. He received the Phillip Sehmann Award for Excellence in Middle School Teaching from the Northeast Iowa Bandmasters Association as well as being selected to the Linn-Mar Wall of Fame for creating a mentoring program for at-risk boys. Shawn graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Music Degree and completed a Masters of Arts in Teaching Degree from Morningside College.  Shawn is very active in his church, lives in Middle Amana and enjoys spending time with his wife Jennifer, their children and grandchildren.

LOCATION: Hillcrest Academy, 1421 540th St. SW Kalona, Iowa 52247

ELIGIBILITY:  6th-9th Grade

COST: $70.00 per child

QUESTIONS? Contact Rebecca Beachy Miller at rbeachymiller@hillcrestravens.org or 319-656-2073 (x20).