A Sky High Welcome for Settlement's New Executive Director

Last week Settlement's new Executive Director, Helen Eaton, was welcomed by the Philadelphia community at a reception on the 43rd floor of the Comcast Center. Settlement Music School board members, donors, faculty, Settlement 100 honorees, staff and students were all on hand to ensure the event was a lively one.

Joe Waz, Chair of the School's Central Board, greeted the gathered guests, and introduced the new Executive director.

For her part, Helen shared her enthusiasm for her new role, and thanked the crowd for the warm reception. She also acknowledged that her arrival in Philadelphia is a homecoming of sorts, since she graduated from Penn, her mother and father grew up in the area, and her grandfather, Thomas McBride, was a prominent defense lawyer and Philadelphia attorney general for a time.

The new director and her husband, violinist Guillaume Combet, stopped for a photo with Settlement 100 Honoree Beth Haas, and Chair of Settlement's Development Committee, Steven Haas.

Recent Settlement alumni Peter Dugan, keyboard, and Michael Dahlberg, cello, were on hand to provide the evening's entertainment. Of particular note, Peter and Michael, who attend Juilliard and the New England Conservatory respectively, between them have more than 25 years training at Settlement Music School.

Included in the guest list, as mentioned above, were a number of the Settlement 100. (If you'd like to see a full list, click here.) A few of them were even kind enough to stop for a picture with the new executive director.
From left to right, new Settlement Music School Executive Director Helen Eaton, real estate entrepreneur Leonard Mellman, mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar, attorney and founder of the Young Friends of Settlement Music School Beth Haas, retired English teacher and Jenkintown board member Fredda Levin Segal, founder of radio empire Entercom Joseph M. Field, and bass player and founding member of hip-hop group The Roots Leonard Nelson Hubbard.

Views from all Over (The Willow Grove Branch)

Work at the Willow Grove Branch has continued on multiple fronts over the last several weeks. Now that the building has a roof, walls, windows and a facade, workers are moving forward with projects all over the property.

Sidewalks, curbs, driveway aprons are getting attention just off Davisville Road. The parking lot at the rear of the property has an edged area for landscaping, and in the shot from the roof of the building, you can see the newly completed storage shed.

On the interior of the building, soundproofing and insulation has made its way into the walls of the recital hall. Soundproofing is a significant challenge in the construction of a music building. While it's great to hear the strains of an aria waft through an open window of a second floor studio while you drive by the branch, it's another thing entirely for a student practicing her oboe to hear the same sound traveling through interior air ducts.
And file this next picture next to the nifty machines we showed you a few months ago. The main purpose of this roving robot (and it is remote controlled) is to tamp down earth and stone ahead of pouring concrete. It's basically a really heavy RC car, although it sort of looks like tiny version of something out of Star Wars.
As always, more photos from this month are available on Facebook. And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave them in the comments.