Choir school prepares to celebrate 20 years since beginning in basement of the cathedral

Friday, Oct. 14, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — “So much has changed, but not the heart of the school. The children come first; the families come first,” said Michael Glenn, a member of the first class of students at The Madeleine Choir School.

Glenn and the others first attended classes in the basement of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in 1996, when The Madeleine Choir School began offering academic and music instruction to students in grades four through eight.

“The classrooms had walls that were dividers so they could be closed down or open, depending on the class needs,” Glenn recalled. “We had no lockers, so we had to move everything around with us. We didn’t have desks to put anything in. We had to carry everything.”

The teachers, too, had their materials in carts that they wheeled from classroom to classroom.

“One of the favorite tricks to play on them was to take their carts and hide them in the kitchen if we didn’t want to take lessons,” said Glenn, who also participated in the first group from the school that went to Rome. 

“I remember that every teacher tailored their classes that year to include Roman and Italian history so when we were there we were able to recognize and know about what we were seeing in the places that we were in,” said Glenn, who is not related to Gregory Glenn, one of the school’s founders.

Gregory Glenn, the school’s pastoral administrator and seventh/eighth grade theology teacher, “is the most memorable man; very knowledge,” said Michael Glenn with admiration. 

In the past 20 years, the Madeleine Choir School has grown so that it now has a pre-K through 8th-grade curriculum and various choirs. It also occupies its own campus, which is located across the street from the Cathedral of the Madeleine. 

“When I went there, my mom told us we are going to go to this school; this is what is going to be in the future. … At the beginning everything was in the process of being established. What I see now is exactly what I was told it was going to be,” Glenn said.

During the school year, The Madeleine Choir School choristers sing Mass each Sunday morning, as well as at the daily 5:15 p.m. Mass Monday through Thursday in the Cathedral of the Madeleine. The choir also performs during the Christmas and Easter liturgical seasons.

The school’s student population has grown significantly in the past 20 years. 

“I can’t explain completely what it feels like to see what it is today; back in the day we didn’t have any playground and our gym was the rotunda outside of the cathedral,” said Glenn, comparing those facilities to what his third-grade son now is able to enjoy  – which includes a fenced outside playground with a large grassy area.

Some of the lessons the school taught were to be proud of who you are and what you have accomplished, the power in being an individual and in being part of a faith community, and never being worried about what others say about you, Glenn said.

“Inclusion, embracing people’s differences – bullying is never an option there. … Seeing how everyone works together; seeing the teachers that were dedicated not just to us, they also understood the importance that music was, and that made and makes the difference,” said Glenn, who graduated from The Madeleine Choir School and then attended Judge Memorial Catholic High School. For seven years he coached basketball at the Madeleine Choir School.

“That bond that they gave us – you want to give it back,” he said.

The Madeleine Choir School will celebrate its 20th anniversary with events on Nov. 11-12, which include an alumni and parent open house and a gala. For information, visit http://www.utmcs.org/apps/events/2016/11/?id=0&id=1&id=2.