Schools

West Orchestra Director Topolovec Retiring After 34 Years

West Orchestra Parents Association plans picnic party for departing director and fundraiser for scholarship in his name.

Contributed to Wauwatosa Patch by the Wauwatosa West Orchestra Parents Association:

Dave Topolovec, the orchestra director at Wauwatosa West High School, is retiring after 34 years of teaching in the Wauwatosa School District, 32 of those years as orchestra director at Tosa West.

If you stop to think about that, it's almost two-thirds of the history of West High.

When Topolovec took over the orchestra program at West, there were 9 strings players in the orchestra. This year, the orchestra at Tosa West has 108 strings.

"Mr. T," as he is known, is also the orchestra director at Whitman Middle School and was instrumental, no pun intended, in founding the "All City Strings Festival," featuring all of the strings players in Wauwatosa Schools from the elementary schools through the high schools. This year, more than 1,000 strings players participated in the festival.

The Wauwatosa West Orchestra Parents Association will host an open house picnic retirement party for all current and past students of Mr. Topolovec and their families. The picnic will be at Hoyt Park picnic area No. 4 on Saturday, June 22, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

At the picnic, the Wauwatosa West Orchestra Parents Association will be collecting donations for a newly created college scholarship in Mr. Topolvec's name. The scholarship will be awarded each year to a deserving student from the Tosa West Orchestra to help with college expenses.

More information and a RSVP survey can be found on the orchestra parents web site: www.tosawestorchestra.org.

Join us for Mr. Topolovec's Retirement Party

Where: Hoyt Park picnic area No. 4
When: Saturday, June 22, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., food served noon to 3 p.m.
 
Non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. If possible, bring your instrument. We will play "Ode to Joy" at 2 p.m.

Please take a minute to fill out the survey below. We are trying to get an idea of how many people are attending and also a list of all students attending. 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1f79ReGO0Z3ezwbIW0YVisyI98lbyku8Ez_3NPdQ8PAE/viewform?sid=69351cba47...

Please forward this to any alumni or other friends of the Wauwatosa West Orchestra that would like to honor Mr. Topolovec at this event.

In lieu of gifts, please consider donating to a newly created scholarship in Mr Topolovec's name. Donations to the David Topolovec Scholarship; will be kindly accepted at the picnic or can be mailed to Lori Grant WWOPA Treasurer 2451 N 88th St. Wauwatosa, WI 53226. Please make checks out to Wauwatosa West Orchestra Parents (WWOPA), and please notate "Mr. T Scholarship Fund" on your check.

If you have any questions contact Mark Picard at mmap8515@aol.com.


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