Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox.

this violin could get $11 million dollars at auction. Buzz60’s Keri Lumm shares the details on this Stradivarius violin.

Spring Sprouts program creator Ruth Meints continues to offer programming across Nebraska and the country.

“String Sprouts is a revolutionary program providing five years of affordable lessons for violin, viola, cello and bass to children ages 3-6 in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area,” according to the website.

Young Vicent Bernal-Jording of the Scottsbluff String Sprouts focuses on hitting all the right notes in “Boil the Cabbage” which they played in conjunction with the Omaha Frontier Strings during a performance on May 29, 2021. This year’s program begins Monday.

For children in the Scottsbluff-area, the String Sprouts program offers free lessons for violin, with the instrument and materials provided at no cost to families. Classes are held at the Carpenter Center, located at 116 Terry Blvd. in Gering.

Meints, who grew up in Scottsbluff, said it was important to provide this opportunity to her hometown in addition to the metropolitan cities in eastern Nebraska.

“There is research about children taking stringed instruments or any kind of music lesson during the age frame of three to five, which is what this program enrolls, and if you do that, it will impact permanently positive changes in your brain that lend to reading readiness and vocabulary development,” Meints told the Star-Herald. “These kinds of academic outcomes can affect your whole time in school.”

Meints noted how rural areas do not have as many opportunities when compared to larger communities.

“Being a rural area, Scottsbluff and the surrounding area is considered underserved because there aren’t any opportunities,” she said. “That’s really cool because every family out there can do the program at no cost to the family and we provide the instrument for all five years. You really can’t beat that.”

Meints also said they contracted with an outside agency to do a robust study on the program related to youth’s vocabulary growth. The hope was to find that music played a highly significant impact on vocabulary, which is represented by a score of at least 0.4.

“We ended up getting 1.6, which is four times a normal amount of impact on vocabulary alone,” she said. “It’s staggering, so we are digging into that as they suggested. If we get a large enough cohort, then that’s amazing results for a program like that.”

The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute evaluated the program and the results showed a strong correlation between music skills and phonological (language) awareness, working memory, vocabulary and math.

This year’s program will begin on Monday, Sept. 12 and concludes on May 26, 2023. Spots are still available. Families can visit tinyurl.com/SproutsSB to learn more about the program and to register.

Children age five are prioritized for entrance into the program, based upon availability. However, if a child doesn’t get into the program, they will be on the list and prioritized for the next year.

Caregivers and families are asked to stay with the child during the lessons as part of the program is geared toward them.

“There is a parent and caregiver education portion that helps you learn about their child’s learning style (and) what’s their motivation style,” Meints told the Star-Herald.

The caregiver education offers a portion of class for them to learn how to play and learn teaching help.

Every eight weeks there is a Sprouting Up program where kids perform in a recital and receive an award.

Research into the caregiver and child relationship throughout the program found that conflict declined and feeling of closeness increased.

Ashley Hillman is the program teacher. Hillman also teaches orchestra at Scottsbluff High School and Bluffs Middle School as well as an adjunct string teacher for Western Nebraska Community College.

“Ashley is an absolute force of nature,” Meints said. “She has a fantastic school program and she heads up our Sprouts program out there and when kids get into elementary school, they are going to get the academic benefits of that.”

The goal is for youth to have self-efficacy as a skilled musician and give them the opportunity to transition to playing cello or bass.

“Parents get as much out of it as the kids get out of it,” Meints said. “All they have to do is be willing to practice five to 10 minutes a day with their kid. That’s all they need in order to be successful at the beginning.”

We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox.

Lauren Brant is a digital editor with the Star-Herald. She can be reached at lauren.brant@starherald.com.

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

this violin could get $11 million dollars at auction. Buzz60’s Keri Lumm shares the details on this Stradivarius violin.

Young Vicent Bernal-Jording of the Scottsbluff String Sprouts focuses on hitting all the right notes in “Boil the Cabbage” which they played in conjunction with the Omaha Frontier Strings during a performance on May 29, 2021. This year’s program begins Monday.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.