This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

April 30, 2012

This Week's Good News!

Acer Xu an 11th grade student at Community High, received the top composite score of 36 on the ACT Test. Nationally, while the actual number of students earning a composite score of 36 varies from year to year, roughly one-tenth of one percent receive a top score.
The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and science. Each test is scored on a scale of 1-36, and a student’s composite score is the average of the four test scores.
Five Tappan students are finalists in the Ann Arbor District Library Short Story Contest in the Grades 6-8 Category. Sixth grade finalists are Vivie Li, Sofia Kwok, Ted Beeson, and Isabel Ratner. Elise Blaauw, an eighth grade student, is also a finalist. There were about 350 entries in the entire contest, and 226 in their category. A first, second, and third place winner will be chosen from the 22 finalists in their category. The awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 12 at the downtown library from 1:30 - 3.
Comcast brought C-SPAN to Ann Arbor to honor local student winners in C-SPAN’s StudentCam 2012 competition earlier today. StudentCam is an annual documentary competition that encourages students to create short films about political and public policy matters. This year’s theme – “The Constitution and You” – asked middle and high school students to select any provision of the U.S. Constitution and illustrate why it is important to them.
Ruby Emberling, Maria Newton, Delaney Wright, Tamar Hofer, Andrew Siddall and Jassadi Moore, all Juniors at Pioneer High School, are among the top 75 StudentCam winners, out of a total of 1,203 entries submitted from 43 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Ruby, Maria, and Delaney’s video, “Students' First Amendment Rights,” won Honorable Mention. Tamar, Andrew, and Jassadi also won Honorable Mention for their video, “First Amendment Rights for Students.”
In Ann Arbor, Comcast provides C-SPAN on these channels: C-SPAN: 96 ; C-SPAN2: 104 ; C-SPAN3: 105
Melanie Langa, a researcher at the Clements Library and a student from Community High School in Ann Arbor, will curate an exhibit on the history of cartography beginning April 30th at the Stephen S. Clark Library in the Graduate Library. Entitled, An Imaginary Arctic: Speculative Cartography in the Search for the Northwest Passage, it will feature maps from both the Clements Library and the Clark Map Library through July.
This event is the culmination of Melanie's research during the 2011/2012 academic year, which centered around cartographic depictions of the extreme northern reaches of the North American continent. The makers of these maps were searching for an Arctic trade route from Europe to Asia, often known as the Northwest Passage. The Northwest Passage has inspired thoughts of mystery and adventure. Maps have visualized and catalogued the search for this mythical waterway. From the 15th century, cartographic representations of the Northwest Passage has always incorporated unproven and imagined features. Despite numerous voyages, the waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago were not accurately charted until the 20th century; they remained a frozen mystery long after the rest of the Americas had become well known. Maps played a vital role in both the speculation about, and the demystifying of, the Northwest Passage.
The exhibit attempts to explain the attraction of a Northwest Passage despite Arctic dangers, the ways in which cartographers represented their speculation about such a waterway, and how navigation of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago has changed and will continue to change in the future.
Melanie began her studies in the history of cartography in 2008 as part of the Community Resource program at Community High School. For the last four years she has pursued an independent study under the direction of Mary Pedley, Assistant Curator of Maps at the Clements Library with the help of Brian Dunnigan, Associate Director and Curator of Maps at the Clements Library. This course has covered a variety of subjects including foundational topics in the history of cartography, early urban plans, Native American cartography, and the cartography and exploration of the Northwest Passage.
Huron’s annual Breakfast of Champions honoring students with a 3.0 or higher GPA for the first semester of each school year was held on Friday, April 27. This year there were 240 of our 387 sophomores who were honored! Honorees were treated to world famous Chris Cakes who has been featured on the Food Network. (He serves unlimited pancakes by 'flipping' them to guests' plates!) Students were also awarded certificates and guest speakers from the University of Michigan football team -Kevin Koger (co-captain) and Patrick Omameh -inspired the students.
Huron's First Robotics Club, Team 830 "The Ratpack", finished their competition season with a trip to St. Louis, MO last week in order to compete in the 2012 First Robotics Championship. The team placed 17th (out of 100 teams) in their division. Prior to attending the 2012 First Robotics Championship, The Ratpack took first place in the 2012 Michigan First Robotics Championship.
Accompanying the team to St. Louis was Huron science teacher Michael Damron. The students who attended and their school are:
Huron: Mike Behrendt, Ian Blaauw, Karl Cai, Matthew Gingerich. Lobba Khan, Sebastian Ojeda Colin, and Sabor Connor Walsh.
Skyline: Jonathan Ames, John Behrendt, Kristi Garber, Joseph Kardia, Carl Kershaw, and Juli, Kerst.
Community: Scott Morton, and Lia Sabor.
Greenhills: Tanwei Chen
Homeschool: David Earle.
Washtenaw Technical Middle College: Tegwyn John and Kecil John.
The team looks forward to competing next school year in the 2013 season.
On Saturday, April 21, in Hill Auditorium, the Huron, Pioneer, and Skyline A Cappella Choirs, the men of Measure for Measure and the students of the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale and Ann Arbor Boy Choir collaborated to sing Carl Orff's monumental work, Carmina Burana. The combined choir of over 225 singers and professional soloists joined with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Arie Lipsky.
A number of AAPS students were selected for the “Dangerous Minds Exhibit” currently on display at Eastern Michigan University:
From Ann Hendricks class at Skyline: Abdullah Al Basir, Cody Moskall, Jesse White, Peter Brody-Moore, Shailen Patel, Nadya Sfeir, and Emily Rachford.
From Corrine Gignac’s class at Skyline: Dara Firoozi, Mason Sharp, Angelique Davenport, Christiana Hench, Nina Shahin, Cecilia Gorgon, and Abigail Warburton.
From Steve Coron’s class at Community: Sonny Spears, Kylah Thompson, Lauren Kooperman, and Hadar Lubman.
The Huron HomeFrontHugs Club held a Blue Jean Drive, and collected men’s jeans to donate to veterans at the Ann Arbor VA Hospital.
Huron’s parents held a concert last Friday, April 20, and raised $620.ºº toward supporting the 2012 Overnight Graduation Party for Huron seniors.
Congratulations to Ann Arbor Open teacher Carl Clark for being nominated for the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching!
Every year, the graduating seniors at Williams College in Williamstown, New York, are asked to nominate a high school teacher for the college’s Olmstead Prize. In January, Williams College President, Adam Falk, called for nominations for their annual Olmsted Prize by reminding the seniors, “I imagine that every one of you remembers a high school teacher who made an enormous difference in who you have become today – someone who probably doesn’t know how important they were to you. Now you have the chance to say thank you, in a big way.”
This year, Community High School mathematics teacher and department chair, Anne Thomas, is one of the recipients for their Olmsted Prize for Excellence in Secondary School Teaching to be awarded on Class Day during Commencement Weekend, June 2. The recipients, usually four, are brought to Williamstonwn during Commencement Weekend and presented with a $3,000 prize and a certificate of recognition. An additional $2,500 goes to each teacher’s school. CHS graduate, Erik Levinsohn, nominated Anne and will graduate from Williams College with his favorite teacher cheering him on.
Teachers continue to make a difference! Congratulations Anne Thomas.

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