{"id":3510,"date":"2019-05-29T15:00:05","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T19:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/?post_type=newsletter&#038;p=3510"},"modified":"2019-05-29T14:27:03","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T18:27:03","slug":"sophomore-sean-cunneen-wins-state-award-for-annual-pta-reflections-contest","status":"publish","type":"newsletter","link":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/newsletter\/sophomore-sean-cunneen-wins-state-award-for-annual-pta-reflections-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophomore Sean Cunneen wins state award for annual PTA Reflections contest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sean (second from left) standing with other music composition winners in other grade divisions<\/p>\n<p>On May 18th, Sean Cunneen (sophomore) of Rutherford High School performed at the PTA Reflections awards ceremony at Roselle Park High School. Sean performed his original music composition \u201cHeroes Hanging On,\u201d which won the state award and was given an honorable mention at the national level.<br \/>\nFor the past 50 years, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) has hosted their national \u201cReflections\u201d contest, which according to their website \u201chas helped students explore their own thoughts, feelings and ideas, develop artistic literacy, increase confidence and find a love for learning that will help them become more successful in school and in life.\u201d The PTA chooses a unique theme for the contest every year, upon which students must create a unique composition in a chosen category of the arts, such as dance choreography, literature, film production, music composition, visual arts, or photography.<br \/>\nThe theme for the 2019 contest was simply \u201cHeroes Around Me.\u201d Given this theme, Sean chose to write a song about the everyday heroes who tend to go unnoticed, such as parents and caregivers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The song begins:<br \/>\n<em>&#8220;Every day you see them walking by<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Listening to the unheard cries<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Of the weak and the old and the young<\/em><br \/>\n<em>They\u2019re fathers and mothers, daughters and sons<\/em><br \/>\n<em>They may not have much, but they\u2019re second to none<\/em><br \/>\n<em>In their care, in their hope, in their love<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>They\u2019re tired and worn but they put on a smile<\/em><br \/>\n<em>They wish they could slow down life for a while<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">(CHORUS)<br \/>\n<em>Well they can\u2019t hide away in a suit of armour<\/em><br \/>\n<em>And they can\u2019t ride away on the wind<\/em><br \/>\n<em>They just keep trying harder and harder<\/em><br \/>\n<em>And their spirit won\u2019t give in<\/em><br \/>\n<em>And they\u2019ll walk through the darkness<\/em><br \/>\n<em>And stay there \u2018till the dawn<\/em><br \/>\n<em>They\u2019re heroes hanging on\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sean-with-PTA-medal.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3512 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sean-with-PTA-medal-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"379\" height=\"505\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sean-with-PTA-medal-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Sean-with-PTA-medal-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 379px) 100vw, 379px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sean wearing his medal from the contest<br \/>\nSean\u2019s song, set entirely to acoustic guitar, has a simple yet perceptive message that heroes are not just the bold and larger-than-life figures in society, but the everyday people that help others in a multitude of ways. In his reflection about his inspiration for writing the song, Sean wrote: \u201cThey are just ordinary people like us who stepped up. Without glory or honor, they must face their battles just by themselves, making them true heroes. I believe these heroes deserve a song as much as brave soldiers, clever innovators, and everyone else venerated by our culture.\u201d<br \/>\nSean\u2019s message and his success in the PTA Reflections contest has brought much pride to the Rutherford community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3511,"template":"","class_list":{"0":"post-3510","1":"newsletter","2":"type-newsletter","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"entry"},"featured_image_urls":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/NJPTA-music-winners-150x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/NJPTA-music-winners-300x225.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/NJPTA-music-winners-768x576.jpg","large":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/NJPTA-music-winners-1024x768.jpg","home-top":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/NJPTA-music-winners-1140x460.jpg","home-bottom":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/NJPTA-music-winners-285x160.jpg","sidebar":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/NJPTA-music-winners-300x150.jpg","single-featured":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/NJPTA-music-winners-680x300.jpg","featured-post":"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/NJPTA-music-winners-150x225.jpg"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sophomore Sean Cunneen wins state award for annual PTA Reflections contest - Rutherford Public Schools<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rutherfordschools.org\/newsletter\/sophomore-sean-cunneen-wins-state-award-for-annual-pta-reflections-contest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sophomore Sean Cunneen wins state award for annual PTA Reflections contest - Rutherford Public Schools\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sean (second from left) standing with other music composition winners in other grade divisions On May 18th, Sean Cunneen (sophomore) of Rutherford High School performed at the PTA Reflections awards ceremony at Roselle Park High School. 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