This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

January 24, 2011

This Week’s Good News!

  • The Tappan Middle School Knowledge Bowl team won the state championship in the Knowledge Master Open Winter competition.  They scored an impressive 752 points.  They were 7th nationally in addition to being first in Michigan. The KMO is a nationwide competition that challenges students’ ability to work as a team to quickly, accurately answer questions in all the academic and elective subjects, at all levels of difficulty.
    The team included the following sixth graders:  Alex Kotlyar, Jordan Tran, Ben Spisak, Jadal Williams, Liam Morast, Neerja Garikipati, Vivik Gopalakrishnan, Alexa Tran, Jack Zender, Reagan Malcon, Zachary Jarvis, Zachary Bernstein, Aaron Green, Jacob Carerra, Meghan Chao, Di Wang and Pablo Aqules Sanchez.   The coach is Jim Corbett.
  • The Forsythe team of 25 sixth graders came in 3rd place in Michigan, out of 12 teams, in the Knowledge Master Open.  On the national level, the Viking Auks placed in the top 6%, 13th place out of 250 teams.  They scored 737 out of a perfect 1,000 points, well above the national average score of 582 and the state average of 598.   Nationally, first place went to Swanson School, in Arlington, VA, with 783 points.
    The members of the Forsythe team were:  Fumiya Abe-Nornes, Miles Aikens, Navya Arigapudi, Halley Banaszak-Hall, Oshadi Caldera, Samir Chethan, Tommy Cohn, Matt Cole, Noah Dean, Alex DiGiuseppe, Dawa Dorje, Nima Dorje, Forrest Flesher, Alex Hull, Chase Hyatt, Sabir Islam, Duncan Kennedy,  Shreeman Nimmagadda, Samiksha Prakash, Lizzie Schmidt, Jacob Schneyer, Veer Shetty, Star Su, Kevin Xu and Allison Young.  Mr. Dan Ezekiel is the coach.
  • Skyline students: Andrew Almani, Emily Anderson, Jack Clark, Densu Dixon, and Samuel Keller did an exceptional job reciting their speeches at Eastern Michigan University's Enriching Legacies: A Celebration of Body, Mind and Soul program honoring the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Sunday, January 16th.  They are the students of Skyline English Teacher, Dawn Richberg.
  • Logan Elementary honored the legacy of Dr. King with their building-wide reading.  All classroom teachers read The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson to their students. The building has become a book club of 360+ staff and students!  All staff and students are discussing the implications of the "fence" in the book. Students are sharing with grade level peers as well as across grade levels. Rich and meaningful conversations regarding race relations are reverberating throughout the building and around the students' dinner table. Students are sharing ways they can “knock this old fence down!”
  • Pittsfield 4th grade student Shelby Harris began a charity to bring clean water to kids in impoverished areas of the world, http://mycharitywater.org/ShelbyLeeAnn and has been steadily raising money on her charity website.  On January 20, she won a contest on W4 country radio station (www.w4country.com) for Random Acts of Kindness for her work with this charity. She was on the radio live, won a $100 gift card (which she is giving to her charity) and the radio host, Bubba, is also donating $100 personally to her charity, along with a pair of concert tickets.....all for her acts of kindness.  The radio station has also put a link on their website for her charity.  Shelby’s parents and teacher are very proud of her and the amazing young lady that she is.
  • The Communication Classrooms at Logan Elementary school were nominated for the Michigan Speech Language Hearing Association’s (MSHA), program of the year and have made it to the next step in the process.  They will be visited by a representative to conduct interviews and a site visit.  The MSHA representative is excited and has heard a great deal about our Communication Classrooms' collaboration model and she is looking forward to her visit.   The Logan CI teachers are looking forward to the site visit!
  • On Saturday January 15, Skyline Bands sent 52 events to MSBOA Solo and Ensemble at Livonia Franklin High School. Each event prepared a solo or ensemble to perform in front of a judge while also receiving comments.  Out of the 52 events, 41 received a Division One rating and 11 events received a Division Two rating.  Congratulations to all those involved.
  • Pioneer Band students received 102 first division and 22 second division ratings in SOLO competition, as well as 115 first division and 22 second division ratings in ENSEMBLE competition on January 15 at Livonia Franklin High School.  Students throughout the state performed in this state qualifying event.
    The following Pioneer High School Band students participated in the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) District Solo and Ensemble Festival on January 15. Students prepared a solo and/or an ensemble and performed for an MSBOA Certified Adjudicator.  Their performance was evaluated and a rating between "I" (Excellent) and "V" was assigned. The symbol (2) after a students name indicates that they had two events receiving that rating in the same category.
    Pioneer High School Band students receiving a "I" (Excellent) rating for their performance of a SOLO were:  Maddie Allen, Shreya Bahl, Halley Bass, Aaron Baum, Joella Bennett, Caitlin Berrigan, Ben Bielajew, James Boyd (2), Michael Buiteweg, Galen Burrell, James Campbell, Takeo Cauley, Katie Centurione, Iris Chen, Han Qiu Cheng, Andrew Choe, Hyewon Choi, D’Arcy Cook, Alex Copp, Katie Copp, Rennie Cotner, Amelia Diehl, Peter Doyle, Eric Dutton, Jonathan Evans, John Fan, Rebecca Fisher, Kevin Flannagan, Nina Freter, Charlie Geronimus, Celisa Gutierrez, Christopher Haddlesey, Christopher Hass (2), Andrew Hess, Clare Higgins, Leila Hofer, Conor Howe, Skye Huerta, Max Hully, Taylor Johnson, Jae Jung, Kayoon Jung, Aina Kelsaw-Fletcher, Simmon Kim, Anna Latterner, Tyler Leach, Olivia Lee, Siyan (Daniel) Li, Emily Liu, Yuming Liu, Sara Long, Wei Luo, Hannah Lynn, Zach Marentay, Andrea Martin, Natalie Martin, Anna Mayne, Jack McKarns, Isabel McKay, Jordan McKay, Sowdeepya Nadimpalli, Alyssa Natoci, Daniel Olson, Veronika Olszewski, Henry Pakela, Julia Pakela, Audrey Park, EunSoo Park, Evan Park, Sara Park, Abraham Paternoster, Bo Peng, Elliot Polot, Norah Rast, Linda Relson, Carly Renner, Natalie Roll, David Shao, Michael Shapiro, Josh Sherick, Michael Shin, Rebecca Shipan, Ken Simon (2), Antonia Smith, Gina Son, Austin Stout, Jacob Swanson, Kevin Tian (2), Nick Terrell, Charles Wang, William Wang, Hope Wilson, Enze Xing, Thea Yagerlener, Eric Yamakado, Tina Yu, Kevin Zhang, Megan Zheng
    Pioneer High School Band students receiving a "II" (Good) rating for their performance of a SOLO were:  Shreya Bahl, Rachel Bielajew, Sam Blackburn, Dean Brigham, Heewon Choi, Ruby Emberling, Christine Etter, Jesse Fernandez, Kristal Frazzini, Alex Ginsburg, Kiley Judge, Jared Kaufman, Sara King, Moritz Lehner, Nicholas Lemerand, Hannah Lynn, Patricia Nease, Oksana Palczynski, Michael Saunders, Andrew Siddall, Ryan Teeter, Nick Verhun
    Pioneer High School Band students receiving a "I" (Excellent) rating for their performance of an ENSEMBLE were:  Alex Baum, Riley Bean, Joella Bennett (2), Caitlin Berrigan (2), Ben Bielajew (2), Galen Burrell, James Campbell (2), Takeo Cauley, Katie Centurione, William Chen, Elizabeth Choi, Eddie Codrington, D’Arcy Cook, Katie Copp, Rennie Cotner, Alayna Coverly (2), Rosie Curtis, Nick DeMarsh, Meera Desai (2), Peter Doyle, Ruby Emberling, Jonathan Evans (2), Jack Fan, John Fan, Monica Fink, Kevin Flannagan (2), Alex Ginsberg (2), Meaghan Glanville, Andrew Hess, Clare Higgins, Leila Hofer (2), Conor Howe, Vijay Ilankamban, Kevin Jiang, Kiley Judge, Jae Jung, Kayoon Jung, Konstantin Kecman, Hyeyoung Kim, Simmon Kim, Yeong Hyeon Koh, Meghan Kymal, Christopher Landau, Anna Latterner, Edward Lee, Harry Lee, Jesse Lemons, Levy Li, Sam Lichtman-Mikol, Emily Liu, Wei Luo, Hannah Lynn, Zach Marentay (2), Andrea Martin, Natalie Martin, Anna Mayne (2), Manasseh McClair, Isabel McKay, Jordan McKay, Luke Mykolenko, Veronika Olszewski, Julia Pakela, Sara Park, Terralyn Parks, Elliot Polot, Norah Rast, Linda Relson, Tim Rittinger, Natalie Roll, Michael Saunders, Laura Schickling, Kaylee Schonsheck, David Shao, Michael Shapiro, Josh Sherick, Dana Shin (2), Rebecca Shipan, Ken Simon, Hunter St. Pierre, Gina Son (2), Mario Sulaksana, Jacob Swanson, Maria Ten Brink, Nick Terrell, Stephanie Terrell, Jordan Vale, Peter Wang, William Wang, Hope Wilson (2), Ted Xiao, Thea Yagerlener, Eric Yamakado, Angela Yang (2), Tina Yu, Annie Zhang, Kevin Zhang (2), Alan Zhou, Eric Zimmer
    Pioneer High School Band students receiving a "II" (Good) rating for their performance of an ENSEMBLE were:  Alex Bartko, Hangil Choi (2), Samantha Freshley, Anna Hayman, Guanlun He, Haley Jakabcsin, Tela Kabisch, Kyle Kantebet, Aina Kelsaw-Fletcher, Ruohao Li, Nathan Morningstar, Oksana Palczynski, Niket Parikh, Richie Peterson, Gabe Puno, Sarah Starman, Kathy Sun, Stephanie Terrell, Noah Thompson, Rachel Verhun, Brinda Yarlagadda
  • Community High Counselor John Boshoven was the invited and sponsored guest of the International School of Paris (France) January 14-19. He participated in a panel presentation about U.S/ college admissions and met with members of their school community. He will also visit colleges and universities throughout the Paris vicinity.
  • Last Friday we had a very special guest.  Peter Cunningham, the Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Education, visited Pioneer High School and Tracey Van Dusen’s Government classes.  As many of you know, Tracey is a U.S. Department of Education Fellow and has the opportunity to meet with federal government officials and advise them on academic matters. Mr. Cunningham began his day visiting the Detroit Public Schools and came to Ann Arbor mid-morning and met with teachers, then administrators and finished by visiting Tracey’s Government classes where her students asked some eloquent and astute questions.  Many thanks to Tracey for inviting Mr. Cunningham and to Liz Margolis for coordinating and organizing the activities.
  • Congratulations to Skyline Principal Sulura Jackson who has been named Principal of the Year by the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals.

Robert Allen
Interim Superintendent