At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, Lincoln East High School introduced Samuel Klemme as a new staff member for their Unified Music Program. Unified Music is a great way for people with disabilities to unite with others and enjoy a fun musical learning environment.
With Klemme as its leader, Lincoln East is excited to grow their Unified Music program. Possibly even more excited for this year is Klemme himself.
“I can’t wait to get settled into East,” Klemme said. “I’m kind of restarting from square one again, it’s just settling in and building new relationships. So far this has been a really awesome job.”
Klemme is really passionate about his job as the director of Unified Music at Lincoln East. One of his favorite things about his new position is the students he works with.
“The students set themselves up with good expectations,” Klemme said. “They’re always reaching for a lot and it’s really cool to watch them work. It’s been a blast already!”
Klemme is proud of what his students do and what Unified Music is all about, and he wants more publicity for the program.
“Our goal here is to give positive music experiences because they [students with disabilities] don’t necessarily always get that,” Klemme said. “We’re not sitting here focused on memorizing a music piece or stressing out for a concert. It’s just having fun in music and creating a positive experience for these kids.”
In addition, Unified Music is also a unique class in that it’s a mix of kids with special needs and others that enjoy helping out. Linnea Welsh, a student in unified music, deeply enjoys her time in this class.
“Even when I’m having a bad day, it makes my day a lot better,” Welsh said. “I enjoy communicating with our friends that sometimes have trouble with that and feel unincluded in normal scenarios. I like creating a togetherness.”
Unified Music is a fantastic place for everyone to feel included in a fun musical environment and it’s under good hands with Klemme as the new director. Klemme can’t wait for the program to grow and gain more publicity and is excited to see what these talented kids do next!
