On Friday, May 9, 2025, the Stroudsburg High School Music Department continued its annual tradition of the Hall of Fame concert.

Earlier in the year, the three conductors, Janice Lee, Wendy Wilson, and Skip Cassady, organized an assembly to announce the theme for the concert. The show was announced to contain songs from the musical “Wicked,” after the movie was previously released in November of 2024. 

The songs from the musical that were selected were “No One Mourns the Wicked,” “What Is This Feeling?,” “One Short Day,” and “Defying Gravity.”

Almost the entirety of the musical body belted out the famous Elphaba battle cry during the listen, followed by Cassady exclaiming, “You can’t have ‘Wicked’ without ‘Defying Gravity!'”

“My experience during the Hall of Fame is a combination of nervousness, anticipation and extreme satisfaction.  The nervousness and anticipation come from not ever really knowing what is going to happen during a live performance,” says Skip Cassady, Band Director. “As much as we prepare and as much as we practice, there can always be something that happens that no one anticipates. The satisfaction comes from being able to realize an amazing performance because of all the hard work that has been put in which allows for everyone to handle the unexpected very very well!”

However, the response was divided. Some students were thrilled, while others wanted it to be more diverse. Some of the displeased were also those who did not participate in musical theater while most of the approvals were from those who had a taste for musical theater.

“I like the theme, but I am worried some people don’t know anything about ‘Wicked’,” says Kira Kuznetsov, ’26.

Every year, the concert is planned to induct previous Stroudsburg musicians into the Stroudsburg Music Hall of Fame. This year there were three inductees. Mary Karch, Sally Foster, and Kim Karpinski.

From the program, Sally and Mary worked at Stroudsburg as music teachers. They both retired in 2018. Kim was the president of Stroudsburg Area Music Supporters (SAMS), and assisted in many events for the music department. 

Each musical group performed separately before combining into one department.

To begin the combination, a tradition returned last year for the concert for the first time since COVID. A student is chosen or is determined to compose a piece for all the instrumentalists to play and vocalists to sing. 

Last year Julian Gajewski, a senior, composed a piece titled “A Flame.” He also conducted his piece. This year Victoria Campbell, ‘25, composed the student piece titled, “I Hear A Song.”

“It was definitely challenging. It’s a very large ensemble and since it was an original composition and not an arrangement, I didn’t have a track to learn from,” expresses  Campbell. “I had to put it all together myself.”

This is not the first time Campbell has taken on a challenge like this. During the “Songs of a Generation” assembly Campbell directed an original song she wrote with Tyler Finney, ’25.

“I started writing ‘I Hear A Song’ at one of the hardest times of my life, when I felt like nothing could get worse,” she shared. “Writing the song was a way to force myself to look towards the future. And, weirdly enough, it worked. Now I’m happier than ever!”

The Stroudsburg Alma Mater was conducted by Wendy Wilson, the orchestra director, before beginning Campbell’s piece. After Campbell conducted, it was time for a trip back to Oz.

Stroudsburg plans to continue pleasing the public with more concerts coming for the 2025-2026 school year, including another Hall of Fame concert.