In the News: ‘Guitar heroes’ answer a teacher’s call

Paul Kleemann was faced with a quandary.

The guitar instructor at Del Sol Academy knew he would be starting the year with 60 guitars for his students, woefully short of the 200 he needed for distance education.

Kleemann told the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Jannelle Calderon that distance learning is particularly challenging when it comes to hands-on subjects like music classes. During in-person classes, there would be enough guitars for students with a handful available for students to take home daily to practice at home, but with distance education, there wouldn’t be enough for all students to use from home.

When Kleeman put out a call via social media, asking for “guitar heroes” to donate guitars – the community came through. As the Review-Journal reported, Zappos donated enough money to purchase 70 guitars and a number of individuals donated 50 guitars.

“I am amazed at how generous people are,” Kleemann told the Review-Journal. “When I put this out there I was shooting for the stars.”