Whereas Dillard High School was founded in the early 20th century, with funds from noted philanthropist and outspoken advocate for Black education James Hardy Dillard, as the first public school for people of African descent in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Whereas the music program at Dillard High School, as part of the Dillard Center for the Arts, gained fame when the legendary jazz saxophonist Julian Cannonball Adderley served as an instructor of applied music in the 1940s; Whereas jazz is an original American art form originating in African-American communities from New Orleans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is considered to be America’s classical music; Whereas the Dillard Center of the Arts Music Program has developed countless student performers into highly accomplished musicians; Whereas each year, students from 15 high schools from across the Nation are invited by Jazz at Lincoln Center to visit New York and perform in the Essentially Ellington Competition, a jazz competition honoring the works for the great American jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington; Whereas this year, Dillard Center for the Arts was one of the 15 high schools selected to compete in the Essentially Ellington Competition, led by band director Christopher Dorsey, who has been in this position since 2004; Whereas Dillard Center for the Arts students Liam Vargas, Megan Theis, Rachel Coleman, Marquiec Butler, Kieran Hitsman, Juan Cortes, Woodson Previlma, Keyly Granada, Summer Camargo, Cyrus Mackey, Isaac Sepulveda, Ryan Granada, Keon Gooding, Charles Blagrove, Mariah Delgado, Matthew Rivera, Nathaniel Noel, Farid Cano, Miguel Medina, Miles Lennox, Nolan Nwachukwu, Jamesly Jeanmary, Joel Anderson, Miguel Russell, and Nadia Nicole Bailey all traveled to New York, New York, together and performed onstage in the Lincoln Center as part of this competition