This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

December 13, 2010

This Week’s Good News!

  • Six Home Building students, along with teacher and coach John Birko, attended the Oakland County Holiday Invitational Construction Competition on December 9.  The students performed very well and the three-person carpentry team was one of only two teams to complete the project, and 30 minutes early at that.  They took home the first place prize.  The three-person Masonry team took third.  Considering they have had zero practice time outside of the skills learned on site, and the fact that they met for the first time (they are from different classes) today at 6:30 AM.  They worked amazingly well together.
    Mr. Birko received several very kind comments on the effort, focus and teamwork that our students displayed.   One judge, and the architect of the project, stated that our group of carpenters was the only group who truly worked as a team.  He is proud of our terrific young people
    First Place Carpentry Team:
    Brian Ziemba HHS senior captain
    Jose' Tavarez HHS senior
    Christopher Champagne PHS senior

    Third Place Masonry Team:
    Aaron Wyse HHS senior captain
    Dillon Davis HHS senior
    Amjad Imran PHS senior
  • A team of 40 students from the Forsythe Knowledge Master Open Club came in first out of 11 teams in Michigan when they competed last Tuesday.  Nationally, the Viking Auks placed in the top 1%, as they were #5 out of 543 teams in the country. Their score was 1,666 out of a perfect 2000, compared to the state average score of 1,301 and the national average of 1,189. Second place in Michigan was Chippewa Middle School, in Okemos, with 1,629.  A team from Tappan finished 5th in the state, with a score of 1370.
    Falls Church Middle School in Falls Church, VA, was first in the nation, with 1,758 points.  Also, KMO announced that Forsythe was first place in the nation in schools with over 500 students.
    KMO is an academic competition that tests teams' ability to answer questions in all the subject areas quickly and accurately. The Forsythe KMO Club meets every Tuesday after school in Mr. Ezekiel’s room and is open to all students in all grades. The next competition is in January and will be for 6th graders only.
    The competition consisted of 200 multiple choice questions, with 5 answer choices each.  Teams have up to a minute to answer each question.  To get a perfect 10 points, teams need to answer the question correctly within 7 seconds of seeing it. Forsythe got 190 questions right on the first try.  If teams are wrong, they get a second chance to answer, again within one minute.  Of the ten questions Forsythe got wrong on the first try, they got nine right on the second try, leaving only one question incorrect.  (Now we know that a biography of Luther Burbank was titled Here a Fruit, There a Fruit, Everywhere a Fruit, Fruit.  The teams are not allowed to use any reference materials, only paper and pencil to work math problems.  They want to thank team parents Mrs. Isaac, Mrs. Cohn, and Mrs. Arnett who helped us get set up. The club members who competed in this competition were:
    6th Grade:
    Tommy Cohn
    Shreeman Nimmagadda
    Samiksha Prakash
    Jacob Schneyer

    7th Grade:
    Katie Arnett
    Elaine Chamberlain
    Janine Chouinard
    Reshma Desai
    Tara Dorje
    Abe Ellison
    Athena Goppold
    Joshua Nacht
    Anjuli Patel
    Ben Pinsky
    Sandy Schwartz
    Deanna Shih
    Kotone Tsuji
    Michelle Wang
    Charlie Wertenberger

    8th Grade:
    Veronika Bayer
    Angelina Bielby
    Morgan Borjigin-Wang
    Thurindu Caldera
    Marianne Cowherd
    Jason Dean
    Alex Ford
    Taylor Haggarty
    Betty Hu
    Conor Martone
    Derick McIntyre
    David Morrow
    Lawrence Mullen
    Stephen Nurushev
    Kavin Pawittranon
    Mercedes Ramon
    Sorbie Richner
    Erik Sanderson-Gull
    Noah Thornton
    Jeffrey Xu
    Kevin Zhang
  • Skyline student Priyanka Menon has been selected as one of two Delegates from Michigan to participate in the 2010-2011 U.S. Senate Youth Scholarship Program.
    The Hearst Foundation sponsors the U.S. Senate Youth Program which offers students a weeklong government and leadership education program in the nation’s capital and a one time $5,000 college scholarship. Priyanka must attend the trip to Washington D.C. for one week, March 5-12, 2011, in order to qualify for the scholarship.
    The United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution in 1962 creating the United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) a national initiative to provide a yearly opportunity for talented young people with demonstrated leadership abilities to deepen their understanding of America’s political processes and strengthen their resolve to pursue careers in public service.
  • Academic achievement, leadership, industry and community service have earned two Skyline High School 11th grade students the “Harold Eastman Outstanding Youth Achievement Award” from the Breakfast Optimist Club of Ann Arbor. Honorees are Juliet Rutledge, the 16-year old daughter of Shelley and Bonnie Billups and Nathan Edmunds, the 16-year-old son of Chris and Cynthia Warren.
  • The Reichert Building at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Ypsilanti is graced with artwork from student artists from Ann Arbor Schools this winter. The following students and schools participated in this art display that helps brighten the hallways and cheers the people walking them:

    Community High School:
    Liz McCubbery, Paul Smith, Margo Rothwell, Colin Leach, Grace Fisher, Michael Sandusky, Sierra Koepele, Cat Martinez

    Skyline High School:
    Richa Saran, Signe Bertelsen, Rachel Camper, Jon Truong, Alice Wang, Daniel Ignacio, Jack Floyd, Erica Jacobson, Magdalene Stampa, Celia Mallory, Jane Radecki, Mackenzie Kimball

    Pioneer High School:
    Sarah Kim, Nic Lopez, Jordyn Miller, Kevin Jiang

    Stone High School:
    Matthew Cowan, Brian Smiglewski

    Scarlett Middle School:
    Anna Li Aguirre, Joi White, Fiona Chen, Celeste Salazar, Katia Salazar, Jayla Hugan, Nolan Ferguson

    Lakewood Elementary:
    Dara Geva, Habiba Bradley, Julia Tsutsui, Laila Krugman

    Burns Park Elementary: 
    Wilson Ayers, Leo Alf, Lincoln Gillespie, Ellie Makar-Limanov, Theresa McKelvey, Jacalyn Wasserman

    Pittsfield Elementary:
    A backdrop for a school play made last Spring by 4th and 5th graders is on display.

    Wines Elementary:
    Wines School has an ongoing rotating exhibit at St. Joe’s all year.

    Here is a comment from the art coordinator, Madeline Thiry, as an example of the impact that the arts have on people’s everyday lives:
    “Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful job.  I just had a really nice experience.  I was looking at the art and someone saw me looking and she stopped and looked and we ended up looking and looking and commenting and laughing and enjoying every single piece.  She had just finished getting an ultra sound and took a little time to "smell the roses".  She said that what we just did together was really special.  I told her that I am going right back to my office to thank you.”
    The artwork will be on display until February.
  • Tappan Food and Garden Club prepared dinner for their families on December 6th.  The students planted and tended tomatoes, garlic, onions, herbs, squash, salad greens (from the green house), as well as peppermint, and carrots.  Garden members then prepared and served spaghetti with tomato sauce, squash soup, salad, squash bread for desert, and peppermint tea. It was a wonderful feast for all.
  • The Thurston community collected 88 winter coats for the Faith in Action group of Ann Arbor.  These coats will be distributed to children throughout the Ann Arbor area.
  • Logan Elementary conducted a successful Scholastic Pajama Drive!  The Great Bedtime Story Pajama Drive provided 135 pairs of pajamas for AAPS students.  The new pajamas and Scholastic books will be donated to Community Action Network (CAN).  CAN was founded to address the specific needs of the neighborhoods located in the Southeast section of Ann Arbor. CAN SE focuses on advocating for the community, economic development, community improvement, and providing services for families, youth, and seniors. The geographical area served by CAN SE is roughly enclosed between Stone School Rd, Eisenhower Pkwy, Ellsworth, and Platt Rd. The Great Bedtime Story Pajama Drive will become an annual school-wide event for the Logan community.
    Logan staff and students sincerely thank our many AAPS colleagues and friends who donated pajamas or funds to purchase pajamas.
  • Forsythe Middle School Science teacher Amie Snapke is a recipient of the MEEMIC Foundation for the Future of Education Grant. The MEEMIC Foundation is pleased to announce that Amie and Forsythe Middle School have been selected to receive a book grant based on her book grant application!  Amie Snapke reports,  "this grant will be key in building her science library with high interest science texts for students".

Robert Allen
Interim Superintendent