5 Things You Need to Know Today, 4/6/11

1. Nine days until the start of spring school vacation, and 12 days until the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 18. "If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal." Rob de Castella, winner of 1983 World Marathon Championships (running.about.com).

2. The Hopkinton Music Association is holding a raffle to raise money for the Hopkinton Schools music program.  Students are selling raffle tickets.  Each day of the month of May, a prize will be given out. Prizes include Red Sox tickets, a Bose Wave  radio (amazing sound, I can attest) and a backstage tour for 10 at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Seee www.hopkintonmusicassociation.org for a list of prizes and how you can buy tickets.

3. More music: Hopkinton High School will be a host site for the MICCA Festival this weekend, starting Friday evening, April 8. MICCA is the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association. MICCA encourages and supports performance high school, middle school, and elementary school musical standards. MICAA Festivals sharpen groups' musical standards by subjecting performers to highly qualified judges. Student musicians and school music directors also attend festivals to hear the type of music other schools are playing and get performance ideas. All these performances will ber at Hopkinton High Schoool. Here is the schedule:

Friday April 8,  3:30 p.m.  Grade 8 Band

Friday  April 8, 8:30 p.m.  High School Concert Band

Saturday, April 9, Grade 8 Strings 8 a.m.

Saturday, April 9, High School Repertory Band 10:30 a.m.

The Hopkinton High School Chorus (10:20 a.m.) Hopkinton Middle School Grade 8 Chorus (11:20 a.m.) and  Hopkinton High School A Cappella Choir (11:40 a.m.) are performing at Algonquin High School on Saturday, April 9, for the MICCA Festival.

4. Tonight, two disparate but great events. At the Hopkinton Public Library at 7,  Climbing Mt. Everest, a mutli-media show with climbing guide Craig John. At Hopkinton High School at 7:30. Depression and Suicide: Safeguarding Youth, Preventing Tragedies and Building Relationships. The speakers will be Kelley Cunningham and Kim Kates from Samaritans Inc., a national organization aimed at preventing suicide.

5. Hopkinton Patch is looking for two Hopkinton High School students, staff or administrators, one to write regularly about high school life for the remainder of the school year, another to write about spring sports. These columns can be shared by a  group of writers, a class or a team. Hopkinton Patch would like to run at least one non-sports column and one sports column per week with at least one photo accompanying each. The first posting would be the week after spring vacation. The guidelines are flexible. Columns for the remainder of the spring 2011 school calendar would receive a modest cash stipend. Send your ideas or state your interest to editor gene.cassidy@patch.com. Thanks!