This coming school year, Peekskill High School students can expect to find a fully equipped recording studio in the chorus room to produce their own music.

That’s thanks to a $14,538 donation from the Peekskill Rotary Club to the Peekskill Education Foundation in September, one of the largest grants in the club’s 105-year history.

The newly finished state-of-the-art recording studio was marked with a ribbon-cutting on Thursday, August 7, attended by members of the Peekskill City School District, Peekskill Education Foundation, and Peekskill Rotary Club.

Inside the studio, students can interact with an audio interface, microphones, a drum microphone kit, headphones, studio monitors, a MIDI controller, a digital audio workstation, computers and other instruments and tools, a hard drive for storage, a sound board, sound dampening boards, accessories, and more.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Mauricio, a member of the Rotary Club for about six years, told the Peekskill Herald that students will be professionally trained with the equipment and have the ability to produce their own music. Adding to that, District spokesperson Laura Belfiore told the Herald, “We have our in-house music teachers, who are experienced using recording equipment. We also have a local company that we work with to train our teachers on new equipment, and then our teachers can turnkey the info to students. Industry professionals will also be brought in to work with teachers and students together.”

“This could be the launch of amazing careers for our students and open up new horizons that they may have not known existed,” Mauricio said.

The administration hopes the recording studio elevates the school’s music programs and the talents of students. Administrators have also discussed using the room to hold a weekly superintendent’s podcast.

The project originated with Richard Swann, the club’s former president (July 2023 to June 2024) and a Peekskill High School graduate in 1991.

“I knew we had a chance to do something major, something the club has never done,” Swann told the Herald.

Before Swann became president, he said he went to the Peekskill Youth Bureau and other student groups to see what they would like to see. The overwhelming answer, he said, was a music studio.

Rotary Club President-elect Adrienne LaValley — a voiceover artist — scouted a location in the chorus room to place the 10-foot x-10-foot studio. Her professional contact, Liam Wade, shopped and priced what would be needed for a high-quality recording environment suitable for educational purposes, including all the necessary equipment, cabling, and accessories.

“Now they’re able to create art and something that they can hear back,” LaValley said. “Live music is everything, of course, but now they’re able to recreate something in the studio and hear it afterward. And if any of them are interested in becoming recording artists, this is a great first step in learning the technology, interfaces, and all the software and making art themselves.”

Fellow Rotarian Tony Washington said it was important to give students diverse opportunities and expose them to things they otherwise wouldn’t encounter without the recording studio.

“I think because [the chorus room] is a space where people come together to make music, having a recording studio was a natural extension of that,” Washington said. “I’m also a big proponent of anything that educates kids, that engages them in something other than being out on the streets, that is something we want to be supportive of.”

Swann said he envisioned the music studio as a way to reach kids in a different way and give more avenues to students who may not fit in certain lanes.

“So much of what we do — scholarships or grants — is based on grades,” Swann said. “I like to look at [the music studio] like somebody that may benefit from this may not be that straight-A student. Maybe it’s a C student who is talented at music or can learn a trade by learning how to do some of the behind the scenes stuff in the music industry that can become a career.”

The club’s current president, Christopher Calabrese, a graduate of Peekskill High School class of 1972, said the sound proof music and recording room was an “audio heaven.” 

“We’re glad that we could contribute to making this happen,” Calabrese said.

A subsequent ribbon-cutting will be held later this year with students and local elected officials.