This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

February 27, 2012

Welcome back. I hope everyone had an enjoyable mid-winter break.

Community High School is proud to congratulate five finalists in the 2012 Competition for National Merit Scholarships: Murphy C. Austin; Julia Devarti; Emma F. Hughes; Nikila K. Lakshmanan; and Nicholas J. Sorscher. In addition, Community High School recognizes the following Commended Students in the 2012 National Merit Program: Kevin S. Flannagan; John T. Kausch; Melanie E. Langa; Jacob W. Levine; and Ryan P. Shea.
Huron sophomore Chelsea Young won 3rd Place at the SESI Midwestern Regional Entrepreneurship Conference held at Eastern Michigan University, Friday, February 10, 2012. Chelesa received a $500 cash prize award for her winning business plan. Her business, “Organique,” is a 100% Eco-friendly clothing business for young professional women.
Two students received Honorable Mention, Luis Gago, senior, for his business plan, “What Women Want/What Men Want,” a website that puts opinionated data into a useable format, and Joaquin Aguero, sophomore, for his business plan “Mighty Honey,” energy bars and protein bars that are organic and preservative free. Diane Stocker-Bendersky is the Huron Business Teacher.
Ann Arbor Public Schools students achieved tremendous success at the Michigan Chess Association High School Team Tournament held at Oakland University on February 25th. Skyline finished as the top school in the Championship Division, and Huron finished as runner-up. In the Reserve Division, Huron also finished in second place. The winning Skyline team, coached by Jeff Oleksinski, is Eric Larson, Michael Dang, Kevin Hsing, and Nate Simon. Congratulations to all!
The following AAPS students received individual medal honors:
Gold- Atulya Shetty (Huron); Michael Dang (Skyline) and Nate Simon (Skyline).
Silver- Kevin Hsing (Skyline) and Valerie Peng (Huron).
Bronze- Eric Larson (Skyline); Jeffery Zhang (Huron); Jinwoo Lee (Huron); Michael Shen (Huron); Ian Blaauw (Huron); Franklin Bromberg (Huron) and Nir Glazer (Huron).
As part of last weekend's "Hockey Day in America" coverage by NBC Sports, Pioneer High School hosted a camera crew that recorded a "day in the life" of a USA Hockey player while he attended classes at Pioneer! The piece aired on Sunday, Feb. 19 as part of NBC’s coverage of Hockey Day in America.
On Saturday January 28, the Ann Arbor Open School @ Mack entered 30 performing events at the MSBOA District 12 Middle School Solo and Ensemble Festival in Livonia. Thirty-six 7th and 8th grade AAO students received Division "I" (Excellent) ratings, and five students received Division "II" (Good) ratings. The AAO students who participated in Solo and Ensemble this year are Matthew Ward (flute), Julien Faro (flute), Emily Robertson (flute), Rebecca Papp (flute), Stavi Tennenbaum (oboe), Matthew Ferraro (oboe), Chiarra Elkort-Wickboldt (oboe), Genera Fields (clarinet), Joshua Krauth-Harding (clarinet), Zander Albercook (alto saxophone), James Read (alto saxophone), Owen Hughes (trumpet), Arden Siegel (trumpet), Ryann Patten (trumpet), Kendra Sloan (trumpet), Justin Zeffer (piano), Joel Appel-Kraut (percussion), Benjamin Zeffer (percussion), Elena Chambers (violin), Mateo Deas-Morales (violin), Ariana Gould-Tasoojy (violin), Samuel Huizenga (violin), Zoe Koster-Mockeridge (violin), Erica Noble (violin), Gabrielle Poli (violin and piano), Madeline Poterala (violin), Tristan Shah (violin), Alec Teodoru (violin), Zoe Espinosa (viola), Caleb Jones (viola), Morgan Barnes-Whitehead (viola), Kayley Smith (piano and violin), Persephonie Gloeckner-Suits (cello), Cecelia Lloyd, (cello), Kai McKenney (cello and piano), Gabriel Salas (cello), Emmett Salzer (cello), Eve Zikmund-Fisher (cello), Joe Budzinski (bass), Steven O'Brien (bass), and Brendan O'Rielly (bass). Congratulations to all of these fine musicians! Carolyn L. Bybee is their Instrumental Music Teacher.
On Saturday, Feb. 11, 29 Skyline students performed at MSVMA District Solo and Ensemble. Students had the opportunity to perform two pieces and work with a clinician. Tasha Major, Emily Griffith, Will Babbitt, Abby Peterson, and Yan Theros earned Superior ratings and are eligible to continue on to State Solo and Ensemble. Delaney Heffner, Adriana Hassan, Sorbie Richner, Tasfia Bari, Maya Gianchandani, Hannah Clague, Michelle Trent, Lindsey Beaver, and Porter Morgan earned an Excellent rating and are also eligible to move on to State Solo and Ensemble. Skyline's small ensemble, Skyline Blues also earned an Excellent rating and will perform at State Solo and Ensemble in March. Rachel Xydis and Erin Paskus earned Good ratings. Lindsay Ciechanski is Skyline’s Vocal Music Teacher.
On Friday, February 17, eleven members of the Pioneer High School choir attended a behind-the-scenes sound check with the GRAMMY award-winning recording artist, Sweet Honey in the Rock. Sweet Honey in the Rock was in Ann Arbor for a concert at Hill Auditorium later that evening. Before doing so, they spoke with our students about their compositional approach, rehearsal process, group history, and organizational mission. The Pioneer students who attended were: Iman Aslani, Josh King, Kelsey King, Kathleen Kollman, Jenny Nathans, Andrew Neevel, Alida Pitcher-Murray, Chelsea Racelis, Marielle Saunders, Karina Stribley, and Lauren Zyber. Steve Lorenz is the Choir Director.
I want to recognize and thank all of the AAPS music teachers for a wonderful Orchestra Night on February 16. This event is truly unique and an extraordinary tribute to the exceptional music program that we have in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. The whole evening was well organized and the students performed beautifully. Linda Carter did a great job as Master of Ceremonies and many of the other music teachers were on hand ensuring that the evening proceeded harmoniously. Please join me in recognizing these hard working and dedicated music teachers: Abby Alwin, Timario Wilkins, Katie Rowan, Carol Wells Palms, Joseph DeMarsh, Jonathan Glawe, Timothy Krohn, Andrea Cowper, Paul Bailey, Gene Bartley, Craig Beery, Kristi Bishop, Carolyn Bybee, Lindsay CieChanski, Kim Coulson-Mobley, Gloria Dunn, Bart Dunning, Melissa Finnegan, Caroline Fitzgerald, Kathleen Ford, Diana Hochella, Susan Hoover, Doug Horn, Richard Ingram, Deborah Katz, Bonnie Kidd, Richard Knapp, Cary Kocher, Rosalie Koenig, Carol Larsen, David Leach, Steve Lorenz, James MacArthur, Laura Machida, Rochelle Martinez, Beth McNally, Melissa Noble, Melissa Overhiser, Cynthia Page-Bogen, Joey Parins, Sarah Price, Ingrid Pylvainen, Steve Roberts, Yael Rothfeld, Katie Ryan, Debbie Smith, Fred Smith, Jason Smith, Andrew Steck, Gretchen Suhre, Alice Tillman, Dan Tolly Barb Banek, Jack Wagner, Louise Wallner, Nancy Waring, and Jeffrey Willets. Robin Bailey is the Fine and Performing Arts Coordinator. Great job everyone!

Patricia P. Green, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Ann Arbor Public Schools