Although 2012 “American Idol” finalist Elise Testone was in attendance, it was the grade schoolers from the Henry Viscardi School in Albertson who were in the spotlight at the school’s 31st annual Reach for a Star luncheon last Thursday.
“It’s emotional. It feels natural to me,” Testone said just before her performance.
Testone and her band were the featured performers at the annual fundraiser to support the school’s extracurricular and independent living programs.
Testone said the school and the disabled children who attend it “found a place in my heart” when she visited last December and sang with a class of sixth graders there.
Some of those sixth graders along with a group of second graders joined Testone in singing “Lean On Me” after the American Idol star sang a set of original and cover tunes for approximately 200 people who attended the luncheon at the Crest Hollow Country Club.
“We’re going to sing. We’re going to be famous,” said Hanna, a second grader at the Viscardi School.
“We’re all excited to sing with her,” said second grader Leila. “We’ve never sung with a microphone before.”
“I think it’s cool that we’re singing with someone from American Idol,” said Philip, a Viscardi School sixth grader.
Testone showed her enthusiasm as she stepped down from the banquet hall bandstand and moved to a section of the room where the children were seated together with their parents. Testone alternated the lines of “Lean on Me” with them.
The students said they had practiced and it showed. They seamlessly sang their lines with Testone when she put the hand-held microphone she used in front of the students.
“I’m in my element. I feel I can bond with them,” Testone said of the experience.
The Kinnelon, N.J. native said she was five years old when she started singing in school. She took private singing lessons at age 13 and eventually earned a bachelors degree in music at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. After graduating in 2005, she moved to Charleston, began collaborating with other musicians as she was writing her own songs and started performing as the opening concert act for different artists.
After finishing sixth in the “American Idol” competition last year, she visited Viscardi School after hearing about it from friends.
And during the visit in December, she was asked to perform at the Reach for a Star luncheon the day. She said she immediately said yes.
The children from the Viscardi School appeared pleased that she did.
Viscardi sixth grader Keanu, who said he was “very happy” to sing with Testone, called her his “hero.”
He said he dedicated his performance with Testone to a classmate named Victor who recently died.
“These kids steal my heart,” John Kemp, president and CEO of The Viscardi Center, told the guests at Thursday’s luncheon. “Our after-school programs enable our kids to serve as leaders, be bold and help in their communities.”
The Viscardi Center is the umbrella organization that oversees the Viscardi School and Abilities Inc., the vocational school for disabled adults that was the first institution founded by Henry Viscardi.
More information about The Viscardi Center and its programs is available online at www.abilitiesonline.org
