This past holiday season, EHS alumni came together to produce a CD titled “Feed The Soul” to raise money for the nonprofit organization Feed My Starving Children.

Mr. Cox originally came up with the idea, thinking about the CD long before it was produced. He wanted to highlight Eagan’s incredible talent in the music department and give back to charity. Mr. Cox asked a few select alumni who he knew to be selfless, caring, and inspiring individuals to help him. “It also helped that they were incredibly talented too,” he confides. The performers were Elizabeth Belfiori, Caitlin Scovil, Ben Portzen, Annika Heine, and Morgan Reinford.

Mr. Cox elaborates on the CD’s name, “When I thought about the impact music has on people, I kept coming back to how it makes us feel complete, […] how our students have said that it inspires them and, in a word, feeds them. I went with that theme and decided on “Feed The Soul” as the title. Feeding somebody gives them life […] just like music does for our souls.”

The CDs were sold at Encore!, choir concerts, and band concerts, and the five performers attended each of the performances to collect donations. The group raised $2,000 for Feed My Starving Children.

Alum Annika Heine’s favorite part was spending time with those who worked on the CD. “It was a real bonding experience for all of us, and it was nice because after I graduated, I didn’t really get to spend much time with them.”

Alum Ben Portzen’s favorite part was the recording process. “It was really hard to get takes that we liked because when you’re singing for fun you don’t notice the mistakes, but when you replay the same song back it becomes hard not to notice everything we didn’t do perfectly. By the end, we learned to let go of our idea of perfection and just have fun with it because that’s what music is all about.”

Although Mr. Cox initiated the effort, he ultimately let the alumni make the CD “their own.” He reveals, “[The alumni] chose the songs, made the arrangements, and recorded and produced the CD. My favorite part of the project was watching the magic happen. I did very little. They made it happen!”

We give special thanks to the individuals who made this project possible: Elizabeth Belfiori (cover design and performer), Paul Saxton and John Ratzlaff (tech support), and Annika Heine, Ben Portzen, Morgan Rainford, and Caitlin Scovil (performers).