This Week in the Ann Arbor Public Schools
November 19, 2012
This Week’s Good News!
• The Huron High School Chess Team won the state title at the Michigan Chess Club Championship at Lansing on November 17th. The winning River Rats include: Justin Chen, Jeffery Zhang, Alexander Deatrick, Marco Lorenzon, Valerie Peng, Adam Abu-Shtayyah, Franklin Bromberg, Nir Glazer, and Andy Hsiao. In addition, Justin Chen, Jeffery Zhang, and Alexander Deatrick won individual honors. Huron competed in the top division and the event had over 375 participants. Way to go River Rats!
• Seventeen band members from Skyline High School auditioned for the MSBOA All State Band & Orchestra Ensemble. The MSBOA All State Band & Orchestra ensembles play at the Michigan Music Conference every year in January for thousands of band, choir and orchestra directors, college students and others. Skyline Bands had eight students that were accepted into these ensembles. Accepted into the All State Band were Lisa Read, Andy Ichikawa, HyunJae Kim, Daniel Skib, and Michaela Clague. Accepted into the All State Orchestra were Sagar Anupindi, Daniel Fendrick, Chris Bacon. Congratulations to all those that auditioned! Jason Smith is the Band Director at Skyline.
• Eleven Skyline Orchestra students auditioned for the MSBOA All-State Orchestra and 4 of them were chosen. 2,332 students throughout Michigan auditioned to be a part of this orchestra which will also perform at the State Music Conference in January. Congratulations to freshmen Olivia Popp, junior Grace Pernecky, sophomore Chihiro Kakishima, and freshmen Chris Young. Andrea Cowper is the Director of Orchestras at Skyline.
• Fifth grade Haisley elementary students in Mrs. McLean’s library media class participated in a Cyberbullying Workshop courtesy of the Washtenaw Area Council for Children. Ms. Katie Bourdrie, the Cybersafety Facilitator, led the students in a discussion about the power of their words and the impact of their actions online through a series of vignettes. Students worked in groups to share their reactions to how they would feel if they were bullied as well as the steps they need to take to stay safe in the digital world.
• On Thursday, November 15th, Huron’s Insight Club served a Thanksgiving themed dinner at the Hikone Community Center. Insight Club will continue to provide meals throughout this school year to the needy members in our community.
• Each year, Don Horning and the M-Den staff donate turkey dinners to Bryant families in need. To help offset the cost, Bryant students, (led by music teacher, Kelly Ritter with support from 2nd grade teacher Donna McManus) hosted a coin drive from November 1st-15th. The total amount raised was $517.48. Because of the generosity of many, Bryant has identified 25 families that will be able to participate in a Thanksgiving meal complete with dessert. A very big thanks to Don Horning and the M-Den staff for their commitment to our community and to the staff and students at Bryant school! "The generosity of our families for this drive was truly amazing and it is definitely a perfect example of what it means to give." -Ms. Ritter
• The U.S. National U18 Hockey Team won the championship game against Sweden on Saturday, November 10, in the 2012 U18 Four Nations Tournament held in Ann Arbor, MI. The following day, the U.S. National U17 Team defeated Switzerland in the 2012 U17 Four Nations Tournament championship in Monthey, Switzerland. All 45 players on the National Team attend the Ann Arbor Public Schools.
• John Boshoven, Counseling Department Chair and CHS Counselor, has recently been on the speaker’s circuit. 11/4 he was a Keynote speaker for Region for Transition Coordinators, 2 sessions for Ann Arbor Rec. and Ed. (11/7, 14), a co-presenter with Dean Jen, Marci Tuzinsky and Anthony Lauer at the MDE School Improvement Conference at the Lansing Center (11/9), a discussion facilitator and presenter at the Learning Disabilities Conference in E. Lansing (11/11-12), the moderator of a parent panel at the Ann Arbor District Library on Sending Your Kid to College, a presenter of two sessions at WCC’s Preparing for Tomorrow Conference (11/14), convener of the Learning Differently College Fair (11/15) and presenter at the Youth Outreach and Pre-College Conference at Michigan State University (11/19).
• I hope each of you and your families have a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving.