This Week
In the Ann Arbor Public Schools
May 19, 2008
To: The Staff of the Ann Arbor Public Schools
From: Todd Roberts, Superintendent
This Week’s Good News!
- Congratulations to the Ann Arbor Public Schools top scholars of 2008. The following seniors are in the top 5% of their class based upon Grade Point Average:
Community High School:
Sian Dowis, Kerry Flannagan, Hannah Gray, Erik Levinsohn, Lillie Taggart, Rachel Walsh and Ari Goldstein.
Huron High School:
Beth Archer, Chi Feng, Xiaodi (Angela) Gao, Albert Cheng, Andrew Groves, Alice Hur, Samuel Hern, Steven Kiss, Divya Kondapalli, Jeffrey Liu, Adriana Coleska, Kristina Harter, Megan Hogikyan, Rebecca Punch, Ifat Ribon, Grace Saunders, Rachael Schultz, Yutian (Peter) Xie, Sabrina Na, Xinting Wang, Wanxin Zhang, Peter Kim, Justin Moyer, David Yang, and Charles Spalding.
Pioneer High School:
Katrina Braun, Sarah Clark, Katherine Conen, Morgan Bell, Carey Goenka, Kathryn Graham, Janelle Greene, Ryan Grimshaw, Laura Han-Markey, Sean Lorenz, Michelle Magagna, Lee Gunderson, Claire Martin, Steven Nair, Anastasia Mitropoulos-Rundus, Zachary Renner, Colette Picard, Eui Chul (Richard) Shin, Henry Henrichs, Rachel Mangold, Rachel Smith, Edward Song, Leigh Sugar, Andres Uribe, Kelsey Weisberg, Louise Vasher, Meghan Davies, Alan Wang, Yiging (Shirley) Xu, and Yuqi Zhang.
- On Saturday, May 17th, the following students were honored and awarded scholarships at the Solid Gold in Education ceremony presented by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. at the Four Points Sheraton in Ann Arbor. Each year the sorority honors local African American female students for their academic achievements and service within the community.
From Pioneer, the following seniors were honored and awarded scholarships: Desiree Sailor, Paige Madison, Ashley Green, and Amira Belwafa.
Dominique Brown is a senior from Huron who was also honored and awarded a scholarship.
Alayna Washington (11th grade, Pioneer), Cepeda Carter (Huron), and Naomi Weston (Huron) were also honored for their academic achievement and service to the community. (Only seniors were given scholarships). Pioneer had more scholarship awards/honorees than any other school in Washtenaw County and our district as a whole was represented very well by our students. We are very proud of these young ladies and their achievements.
- Huron High School senior, Katie Everett, received an achievement certificate from the American Classical League for her score on the National Greek Exam. Katie studied Greek as an independent study this year, under the guidance of Mr. Douglas Julius.
- Katie Everett has also been named a Presidential Scholar for 2008. The Presidential Scholars have all demonstrated leadership, scholarship, contribution to school and community and outstanding accomplishments in the arts, sciences, humanities and other fields of interest. The Presidential Scholars will be honored during National Recognition Week in Washington, D.C. in June.
- Six Community High School students have been awarded finalist positions in the Ann Arbor Public Library's It's All Write short story writing contest. They are: Kerry Flannagan, Harper Jocque, Noam Samuel, Isabella Decker, Emily Brown, and Elinor Epperson. Winners will be announced on May 17th as part of the Ann Arbor Book Festival celebration.
- Huron students Julia Tang and Eva Colas were both finalists in this years AADL "It's all Write" short story contest (11th & 12th grade category). Winners were announced at an awards ceremony during the Ann Arbor Book Festival and Eva Colas ended up winning the contest and took home a $250 cash prize. Congratulate these two young writers for their mad skills if you happen to see them.
- Lawton donated 480 books from its book fair to Madison School in Veracruz, Mexico. Mrs. Jenny Szalay, one of the kindergarten teachers and some volunteers, packed up the books and shipped them to Mexico. According to the school, "The library plays a central role in the learning process. Being this is our foundation year, resources are limited and it has been the commitment of the whole community to reach out and look for books that could help our student develop the love of reading, one of the basic skills in learning and life. The generous book donation from the beautiful community of Ann Arbor School is helping us reach the goal."
- This year, Diane Stocker-Bendersky, Christy Garrett and 20 students represented the Huron High School Chapter of Business Professionals of America and attended this prestigious national competition in Reno, Nevada during May 6 -12th. Out of the 20 students who attended the National Leadership Conference, 15 students returned home as National Finalists.
Team Awards:
Chi Feng, Gilbert Bonilla-Cassel, Daniel Yang and Victoria Wu represented the Software Engineering Team placing 1st in the Nation. They were honored on stage and received individual plaques. The school received a larger plaque that will be on displayed at Huron. These students were graded among other items on coding, software design, functionality, and team presentation.
Tabula Mbala-Nkanga, Xinting Wang, Cristian Adam and Tom Tang represented the Web Page Design Team placing 2nd in the Nation. They were honored on stage and received individual plaques. The school received a larger plaque that will be on displayed at Huron. The winning website can be found at http://www.environmentandyou.info/ These students were graded among other things on web design, web content, coding, web function and usability, and team presentation.
David Yang, Michael Song, Lanxin Liu, and Leeda Wang represented the Financial Analyst Team placing 4th in the Nation. They were honored on stage and received individual plaques. The school received a larger plaque that will be on displayed at the Huron. These students were graded among other things on their accounting skills, analysis skills and team presentation of overall analysis and solution.
Individual Awards
Chi Feng also placed 3rd in the Nation in Digital Media Production receiving his second medallion and another individual plaque.
Amy Li placed 5th in the Nation in Advanced Office Systems and Procedures. She was honored on stage and received a medallion.
Yingyao Song (Annie) placed 7th in the Nation in Medical Office Procedures. She was honored on stage and received a medallion.
Lanxin Liu placed 7th in the Nation in Financial Math and Analysis. He was honored on stage and received a medallion.
Phillip Sander placed 9th in the Nation in Fundamentals of XHTML, He was honored on stage and received a medallion.
Approximately 3,500 high school and 900 college and 500 middle school students from throughout the United Sates participated in Business Professionals of America’s 42nd National Leadership Conference 2008. Activities included general sessions with keynote speakers, business meetings, leadership workshops, contests, software certification testing, election of national officers, and tours of Reno and Lake Tahoe area sights.
- The following art students from Community High received top honors at the
Ann Arbor Art Association "Potential Show":
Buffy Meiller - Senior Portfolio Award, photography
Aisling Arrington- Best of Show, multi media
Lauren Banka - Best 2-D, painting
Calley Smith- Best 3- D, embroidered silk kimono
Aimee Lee- Honorable Mention, painting
We are so proud of these artists, and recognize their hard work and dedication to the Visual Arts at Community High.
- Tappan Middle School is one of ten schools that have been chosen from the more than 440 middle and high schools in the United States that participated in this year's Dollars for Darfur campaign to receive a trip to Washington, D. C. to participate in Lobby Day on June 6. Tappan's Enough! Club was selected for both its fundraising success and its imagination and effort. The trip will include a reception on Capital Hill, workshops and presentations, a meeting with members of Congress, a demonstration at the White House, and a visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This is a wonderful opportunity for two students to continue their work raising awareness, encouraging action, and helping to end the genocide.
- On Wednesday May 14th at 6:00pm Peace Neighborhood hosted a workshop called “What Every Parent Should Know” presented by Horacio Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez graciously volunteered his time to give this presentation. It was a great evening of parental enrichment that consisted of dinner, the presentation then a question and answer period. The evening was a success that brought together parents, principals, counselors, teachers and cabinet members from the district. Paul Johnson from Peace Neighborhood wrote “I have been receiving great feedback from the parents about Mr. Sanchez! Parents would like to see if he could return.” A special thank you goes to Joann Williams, Technicial Specialist, from Haisley who coordinated and organized this event.
- Carpenter School's 4th and 5th grade teams both won the Sportsmanship Trophy for their grade levels at Science Olympiad.
- In Dicken’s third year of participation in the Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad (http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/wesowizards.home) , a team of nearly 70 Dicken 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders brought home 13 medals and awards, building on the momentum established in the first two years of Dicken’s WESO program. Dicken’s team joined the WESO competition held for the first time at Huron High School, along with 20 other teams from the Ann Arbor – Ypsilanti area, and performed competitively with the strongest WESO teams.
Thanks to the efforts of the volunteer coaching staff and support from several Dicken staff, Dicken’s WESO program matured this year, and enrolled more than 90 students in various teams, who practiced diligently through the winter and spring months. The mission of Dicken’s WESO program is to involve as many students as possible in engaging activities which foster an interest in the sciences. All Dicken WESO participants were fully recognized for their participation and accomplishments with an end-of-season celebration, certificate, and recognition from peers and Dicken staff. A subset of those participants was selected to represent Dicken at the final competition.
While all of the Dicken students performed admirably, learned much, and had a great time during the practice sessions and the final competition, the list below highlights the medals they received in front of nearly fifteen hundred raucously cheering teammates, competitors, parents, coaches, volunteers, and fans. Dicken continued its domination of the Mystery Architecture event, and took home two first-place and one second-place medal in this event.
2nd Grade
Mystery Architecture – 1st place
Rock Hunter – 2nd place
3rd Grade
Mystery Architecture – 2nd place
Puff Mobiles – 2nd place
Straw Towers – 4th place
4th Grade
Circuit Wizardry – 2nd place
Estimania – 3rd place
Mystery Architecture – 1st place
No Bones About It – 2nd place
5th Grade
Circuit Wizardry – 2nd place
Estimania – 4th place
Map Reading – 4th place
Straw Towers – 3rd place
The Dicken WESO team plans to continue its success next year, but this is only possible if they can secure additional help with two things. First, Dicken parents are encouraged to talk with their children now to help cultivate an interest in participating. Second, Dicken parents are called to consider contributing next year as a parent volunteer or as a coach. It’s a rewarding way to mentor kids and better prepare them for their future – and assistant coaching positions are always available for those who don’t have the time or interest to take sole responsibility for a team. Interested parents may contact John Janevic at john_janevic@hotmail.com at any time for further information.
- Pioneer’s men’s and women’s track teams each finished first in the Division I Regional competition. They were each the state champions last year. For the Pioneer women, it is their 29th regional title in the past 30 years.
- In women’s tennis, Pioneer’s team finished first and Huron’s second in the Division I Tennis Regional competition.
Todd Roberts, Ed.D.
Superintendent
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