History

In 2011, Julie Rosseter founded the first orchestra club in Forsyth County Schools at Lambert High School. In 2018, orchestra class was officially added to the course offerings at Lambert High School, with Ms. Rosseter becoming the first full-time string orchestra director in Forsyth County Schools. Today its feeder middle school, Riverwatch also offers orchestra classes. The Lambert Cluster has become a model for growing orchestra programs across the Forsyth County School District.

Where We Are Today

The United Forsyth Orchestra Fund was established in August 2021 in an effort to bring more string orchestra programs to Forsyth County Schools, as well as address the need for help with financial support. As the Lambert Cluster is still growing strong, the East Cluster Schools now have orchestra clubs in all of their schools, elementary through high school. Most Forsyth County High Schools also include orchestra classes in their course lists.

One goal of the UFO Fund is to meet the needs of the growing numbers of string students in our community already involved in clubs or moving into our community from surrounding counties with established orchestra programs. The UFO Fund plans to help support the school district, adding qualified orchestra teachers and quality programs to our middle and high schools. We want to follow the lead of the Lambert Cluster and support the start of orchestra clubs in every middle and high school in Forsyth County until there is enough of a demand to meet the need for the addition of class offerings for string orchestra to become part of the curriculum.

Where We’re Going

The demand for such a program was demonstrated at the first UFO day, held in March of 2022. There, 200 students from various Forsyth Schools clubs attended a full day of workshops, rehearsals, and performances. UFO day was a critical turning point in the effort to bring orchestra to Forsyth, and it laid the foundation for what would become the UFO Fund. UFO Day 2023 will bring a little more than 275 students.