The high school orchestras collected donations at their concert last night to benefit the Jorge Gonzalez Memorial Scholarship Fund, named after the late Jorge Gonzalez who passed away earlier this week.

Inspired by Mr. Gonzalez’s dedication and love for teaching, the Jorge Gonzalez Memorial Scholarship Fund was created this week after he passed away on Monday, Oct. 18. Mr. Gonzalez taught Spanish at Kings for 32 years and loved teaching, his students, fellow teachers, and the Kings community.

“I thought that the donation towards Gonzalez’s fund was very selfless and kind of Mrs. Southern. It was great to see the community support and celebrate his life,” senior chamber player Sara Doughman said.

Students in the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras participated in a costume contest during their concert on Thursday, Oct. 21, where they raised money for the scholarship fund. The audience donated money to the groups in the orchestras who had the best costumes. The students in each orchestra collected the donations during the other’s performance by walking around the audience dressed in their costumes and holding trick-or-treat bags. In total, the orchestras raised $857.95.

“I thought it was a great idea, it was really nice for them to do that in honor of him. Considering they’ve made a lot of money already, I think it’s great that they are using it towards people in need of scholarships, especially since we just lost him,” freshman symphony player Emily Winner said.

The Chamber Orchestra group with the most donations was the Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat duo, seniors Mason Clark and Carson Page, collecting a total of $109.43. The minions of the Symphony Orchestra, made up of Ainsley Johnstone, Grace Boone, Zoey Treleven, Derek Harris, Annabelle Hathaway, Brayden Faulkner, Sasha Neyman, Corina Macy, Nicole Mattson, Nolan Clark, and Emily Winner, gained the most popularity and earned the most with $264.15. The rest of the money gathered was earned by the other groups in the orchestra.

“I’m really happy that many people dressed up because there were many amazing outfits and we raised a lot of money that way,” Winner said.

All the proceeds made for the Jorge Gonzalez Memorial Scholarship Fund will award a student with the financial aid to help them pursue and continue their education after high school. Even after his passing, this scholarship fund will allow Mr. Gonzalez to continue helping out students in the Kings community, which he cared for so much.

For anyone that wants to make a donation to the Jorge Gonzalez Memorial Scholarship Fund, donations can be made at any Fifth Third Bank location. A go-fund-me to support the Gonzalez family is also accepting donations at this time.