Elementary School Proud of 'Idol' Pursuit;
Show's Runner-Up Was 'Absolutely Disarming' Even in 6th Grade
Whether Justin Guarini goes on to become a successful recording artist
hardly matters to the students at Bonnie Brae Elementary School near Burke
Centre.
The curly-haired Guarini, who was the runner-up on Fox TV's "American
Idol," attended sixth grade at Bonnie Brae. His second-place finish to
Kelly Clarkson of Texas already connects the students to the world of the
famous.
"One first-grader wanted to know if Justin had ever been in the room they
were in and then wanted to know exactly where he sat so he could go sit there,
too," said M.G. Henry, a music teacher at the school who had Guarini
(pronounced gwareenee) in her class when he was there in the 1990-91 school
year.
Many songs -- and students -- have come and gone since then, but Henry said she
had no trouble remembering Guarini, who is now 23 and lives in the Philadelphia
suburbs.
His hair was cropped shorter as a youngster, Henry recalled, but she said he had
the same easygoing, welcoming demeanor that helped him rise to the level of demi-idol
on television's most watched show this summer.
"In my field, certain kids stand out, and he really did stand out. He was
an absolutely disarming child: witty, clever, charming," Henry said.
A good voice was only part of what the teacher said made Guarini memorable.
"He could dance. He had excellent timing, and he was good in acting, and he
wasn't afraid to emote," she said.
Henry said that the other boys would moan "Ewwww. . ." if they had to
interact with a girl onstage, but Justin was able to take himself out of the
situation and become the character he was playing.
"He had a sense of who he was; he didn't have to prove anything,"
Henry said. And maybe it is that same sense of self he communicated to the
millions of viewers who voted week after week as "American Idol"
contestants were narrowed from 10,000 hopefuls down to one.
Guarini was chosen to participate in the Fairfax County Sixth Grade Chorale
Festival the year he was at Bonnie Brae. Henry said he left the county after
sixth grade for Philadelphia. (Efforts to contact Guarini through the show were
unsuccessful.)
With a tour in front of Guarini -- including a Nov. 3 concert at the MCI Center
-- and the potential for management deals, the students at Bonnie Brae will be
watching their famous graduate.
"He did stand out from the thousand kids a year I have in school,"
Henry said. "He was magnanimous and a nice guy." And how many times
can you use those adjectives to describe a sixth-grader?