Something Within Me

In 1985, enrollment at St. Augustine’s, a Catholic school in one of the poorest sections of the South Bronx, was so low the school’s pastor approached Tom Pilecki, a concert pianist and music teacher whose after school music program was a big success with parents and children in the hard-pressed area. Together they decided to commit the school to an arts curriculum, one where the arts and especially music, were treated with the importance of any academic subject.

At St. Augustine’s each child studies music theory, piano and a second instrument, sings in a chorus, plays in an ensemble and takes the humanities class.

St. Augustine student are not auditioned. The goal of the school is not to produce musicians, but disciplined, self confident eighth graders with the skills to overcome the difficult challenges posed by their South Bronx environment, and “to light a pilot light inside each kid.”

This film is the result of a four year effort on the part of filmmakers Jerret Engle and Joan Morris. In 1990, after two years of fundraising struggle, Jerret and Joan spent a month visiting St. Augustine’s on a daily basis, attending all of the classes and getting to know many of the students and faculty. Joan continued nearly daily visits throughout the fall. Based on those early visits, the filmmakers decided the faculty, students and parents, not education experts, could tell this story best of all.