This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools
February 15, 2010
This Week’s Good News!
- February 14 – 20, 2010, is Principals’ Week. Please join me in recognizing and thanking our hard working principals for their leadership and dedicated service to the Ann Arbor Public Schools.
Governor Jennifer M. Granholm sent the following resolution in honor of Principals’ Week:
Whereas, Principals' Week is dedicated to recognizing the significant contributions of Michigan's elementary, middle and high school principals and the dedication they have for providing quality educational experiences and guidance to their students; and,
Whereas, Together, teachers and principals strive to create a conducive environment for students to learn and strive to encourage students to continue to learn as it is a lifelong process; and,
Whereas, Though change may be uncomfortable, principals have recognized that it is essential for growth as the use of technology is a driving global focus in communication and information; and,
Whereas, Child advocacy is within the role of the educator, and principals act as the liaison between the school and the community to ensure that the school's undertakings and achievements are recognized; and,
Whereas, Principals work to provide a positive support system to empower their students and to give them the right tools they need to succeed;
Now, Therefore, be it Resolved, That I, Jennifer M. Granholm, governor of the state of Michigan, do hereby proclaim the week of February 14, 2010, Principals' Week in Michigan. I encourage all citizens to support the efforts of school principals in their communities. - Huron has 22 Finalists in the 2010 Competition for National Merit Scholarships: Siyue Ai, Rebecca Cao, Yanqing Chen, Robin He, Robert Isenberg, Lanxin Liu, Nicholas Luongo, Eric McCabe, Rachel Miller, Renee Philson, Christina Rowan, Kathleya Strode, Callie Svaan, Xu Tang, Michael Toner, Catherine Vogt, Brett Williams, Victoria Wu, Daniel Yang, Qiao Zhang, Jonathan Zhu, and Tianyang Zou.
- Community High School was one 30 Michigan high schools to receive the 'Perfect 36" award at the recent Michigan ACT State Conference in E. Lansing. The award recognizes the work of high schools in preparing students for college readiness and performance on the ACT.
Senior Quentin Long scored a perfect 36 on a recent test. - Pioneer Theatre Guild won its region in this year's Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association's annual one-act play competition with its performance of the play "Eurydice" by Sarah Ruhl and will advance to state finals next weekend in Midland. Winning with the top point total in its region, Pioneer also won numerous superior awards, including:
- Acting Ensemble: Daniel Mozurkevich, Leila Hofer, Ari Litman-Weinberg, Chase Harris, Lydia Hiller, Sophie Hart, Rennie Cotner, Grace Gilmore, Sara Long, and Katherine Sjoczik;
- Lighting Design and Execution: Andrew Mackie-Mason and Connor LaPorte;
- Costume and Make-up Design and Execution: Caroline Laman, Alyssa Natoci, Ruby Summers and Emily Laing;
- Voice Movement Performance: Lydia Hiller, Sophie Hart, Rennie Cotner, Grace Gilmore, Sara Long and Katherine Sjoczik;
- Production Materials: Dixie Warren;
- Crew Organization, Leadership, Communication, Space Adaptation and Attitude---all separate award categories: Miriam Michaels, Kate Summers, Devin Rothman, Joe Weindorf, Elaine Fivenson, Aprille Hadwick, Dylan Summers, Eric Hetmer, Nick DeMarsh, Max McVety, Ruby Summers, Caroline Laman, Alyssa Natoci, Emily Laing, Andrew Mackie-Mason, Connor Laporte;
- Excellent Award: Paint Crew--Elaine Fivenson and Aprille Hadwick.
- Bryant Elementary first grader, Linda Lincoln, wanted to help with Bryant’s effort to collect coins for Haitian relief. Over the weekend, she & her parents made cupcakes and sold them to their neighbors. She raised $78 and brought the money to Bryant for donation.
- The Dicken Service Squad, under the leadership of Mrs. Laura Carino, recently organized the Pasta for Pennies program, benefiting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Pasta for Pennies provides an opportunity for children to support the LLS in finding cures for blood cancers - leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin disease & myeloma. Students collected donations and spare change in honor of local, school-aged patients battling blood cancers. We are so proud that the grand total, an astounding $2000 exceeded our highest expectations. We are delighted that our donation will not only fund one week of research, but will also allow 10 people to be tested as potential bone marrow donors. Without the commitment and dedication of our students, parents and teachers who participated, this would not have been possible! Together, we made a difference!
- On February 6, the Michigan Chess Association hosted the Michigan Elementary Team Chess Championships in Lansing. A total of 13 teams from Ann Arbor participated and seven of those teams took home a trophy.
Congratulations especially to King and Logan for winning state championship titles once again!!
King won the K-5 championship with a perfect team score of 5-0. They defeated Thurston on the top table in the last round in an exciting match. Thurston had an excellent tournament but could not hold up against the strong King team. This is the third year in a row that King has won this premiere event!
King and Logan tied for first in the K-3 championship. These same two schools tied for first in the same event last year! This year, the tie happened in an unusual manner. King won their first four matches. Logan lost a match in round two, but worked their way back up to the top table in the last round against King. King only needed a draw match to take the title outright, but Logan put forth their best effort and beat King, thus securing a tie for first place with King and a Grand Rapids team.
This is the first year that teams from Angell and Lawton participated. They both were successful and won a trophy! Following are all the teams who won awards:
Lawton-4th place in the K-5 reserve
Go Like The Wind-9th place in the K-3 championship
Logan-co champions in the K-3 championship
King-co champions in the K-3 championship
Angell-5th place in the K-5 championship
Thurston-4th place in the K-5 championship
King-1st place in the K-5 championship
Ann Arbor teams took three of the top five trophies in the K-5 division! - Huron students in Patty Carden and Greta Barfield CI classes at Huron attended the State Special Olympic Winter Games in Traverse City. The students received the following awards:
Tila Havlik, 2- 4th place ribbons for cross country skiing;
Caelye Favorite, 2 silver medals for cross country skiing:
Rachel Ames, a gold & silver medal for cross country skiing;
Victor Torres, a Gold & Bronze medal for snowshoes;
Teadora Spreemo, a Bronze medal & 4th for cross country skiing;
Shallon Kovac, a Bronze medal & 4th for cross country skiing;
Alex Carson, a Silver medal & Bronze medal for snowshoes; and
Justin Mayhand, a Gold medal and Silver medal for cross country skiing. - The U.S. National Under-18 Team defeated the Czech Republic, 5-2, in its final game at the 2010 Under-18 Six Nations Cup played in Minsk, Belarus. With the win, Team USA finished with a 4-0-0-1 record which was second place at the tournament.
- John Boshoven, CHS Counselor, was recognized by the Michigan ACT Council for his outstanding service as a Member of the Council for two 3-year terms ending in 2009.
- The Friends of Dicken Woods organization submitted the following report:
This month we held our 6th annual Winter Walk. 386 students, parents friends and neighbors came out and walked the candle lit trails. It was a beautiful night and the freshly fallen snow made the walk all the more lovely. We want to thank Dicken Elementary School and Principal Michael Madison for being our hosts. We really appreciate the special relationship we have with the School. We also want to thank Stephanie Hunter for organizing and executing the event. She did such a wonderful job that I assume she also arranged for the last minute snow. Thanks to everyone who helped in the building and on the trails! Everyone who ventured out into the cold in the middle of the week deserves our gratitude as well. Thank you for making Dicken School and the Dicken neighborhood such great places. The biggest thanks go to art teacher Theresa Erickson and all of her young Dicken artists who created the luminaries that lit the paths. I am not an art critic, but I believe these were the best luminaries we have had in our 6 Years of Winter Walks. Lastly, we have posted some photographs of the event on the Dicken Woods picture page: http://picasaweb.google.com/DickenWoods/2010WinterWalk#
Todd Roberts, Ed.D.
Superintendent