This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

February 7, 2011

This Week’s Good News!

  • The Ann Arbor Public School District has 14 candidates nominated for the Presidential Scholars Program for 2011.  Huron has 10 and Pioneer has 4.  Huron’s candidates are:  Pelham Barron, Joshua Cheng, John Han, Heemyung Hwang, Jong Hwan Koo, Sussy Pan, Jasmine Powell, Alisha Qiu, Philip Tsao and Derek Wu.  Pioneer’s candidates are:  Simmon Kim, Andrea Kriz, Anna Ronen and Eli Schultz.
    The United States Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964, by Executive Order of the President, to recognize and honor some of our Nation’s most distinguished graduating high school seniors.  In 1979, the Program was extended to recognize students who demonstrate exceptional talent in the visual, creative and performing arts.  Each year, up to 141 students are named as Presidential Scholars, one of the Nation’s highest honors for high school students.
    Each nominated student must go through an application process.  Scholars are chosen on the basis of their accomplishments in many areas – academic and artistic success, leadership, and involvement in school and the community – and represent excellence in education and the promise of greatness in America’s youth.  They are invited to Washington, D.C. in June to participate in National Recognition Weekend which includes many enrichment activities and events and culminates with the presentation to the students of the Presidential Scholars medallion during a ceremony sponsored by the White House.
  • Annie-Norah Beveridge, Ann Arbor Huron and Matthew Hing, Ann Arbor Pioneer have been named a Michigan High School Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete Award finalist.  They are one of 120 students selected out of 4500 students for this honor.  In the next few weeks each will find out if they win a scholarship by being in the top 12 students.
  • Musicians in the 7th and 8th grade Forsythe Middle School Bands continued to set the bar high for chamber music in southeast Michigan.  At the district 12 Solo and Ensemble Festival, Forsythe Band students participated in 42 events.  7 events were rated in the Second Division (out of five) and 34 of our events received a First Division rating!
    Wind and percussion soloists receiving a First Division rating:  Kalana Athukorala, Abe Ellison, Josh Goodman, Billy Reece (2), Saidah Rahman, Katie Arnett, Elaine Chamberlain, Kelsey Carpenter, Janine Chouinard, Kevin Zhang (2), Samantha Reach, Marianne Cowherd, Katie Portz, Celia Arsen, Jeff Zhang, Michaela Keller, Jonah Schmidt, Sandy Schwartz, Vincent Pakela, Courtney Jones, Kalana Athukorala and Betty Hu.  Second Division solos: Emma Sowder, Kalana Athukorala.  Third Division: Matt Orringer.
    Wind and percussion ensemble members receiving a First Division rating: Abe Ellison, Celia Arsen, Katie Arnett, and Saidah Rahman; Don Hearn, Betty Hu, Marianne Cowherd, Emma Sowder and Sandy Schwartz; Kelsey Carpenter and Katie Portz; Reshma Desai and Michaela Keller; Jeff Zhang, Dominic Valentino, Tharindu Caldera and Ivan Soucy; Nathan Ceely and Nathan Simon; Josh WIlliams, Josh Goodman, Emma Sowder, Madeline Turner and Lysette Kessler; David Abatan and Jackson Griffith.  Second Divison ensembles: Robert Schirmer, Michelle Wang, Gabby Watkins, Jon Gurkan and Marcus Kintz; Billy Reece and Craig Campbell (Tappan); Reshma Desai and Emma Gerlinger; Sunnie Hodge and Courtney Jones.
  • Congratulations to Ann Arbor Open @ Mack Advanced Orchestra members Juliana Patselas (violin) and Paloma Paez-Coomb (viola), and Advanced Band member Griffin Roy (clarinet). They were selected by audition to perform with the Michigan Middle School All-State Orchestra and All-State Band, and they represented Ann Arbor Open and the Ann Arbor Public Schools in that performance. The All-State ensembles rehearsed for three days in Grand Rapids and performed at the Michigan Music Conference on Saturday, January 22. Over 2,500 students auditioned statewide for six different All-State Honors ensembles.
  • On Saturday January 29, Ann Arbor Open @ Mack sent 25 events to the MSBOA District 12 Middle School Solo and Ensemble Festival at Livonia Franklin High School. Twenty-six AAO students received Division "I" (Excellent) ratings, and seventeen students received Division "II" (Good) ratings.  The AAO students who performed in the festival are Abigail McDonough (flute), Lisa Read (oboe), Griffin Roy (clarinet), Jonathan Ruelle (trumpet), Tristan Edwards (trumpet), Maura Farrell (trombone), Sophia Klein, (percussion and piano), Kai McKenney (cello and piano), Juliana Patselas (violin and piano), Matthew Ward (flute), Fiona Powell (flute), Genera Fields (clarinet), Matthew Ferraro (oboe), Claire Seelig (flute), Stavi Tennenbaum (oboe), Patrick O'Donnell (tenor saxophone), Zander Albercook (alto saxophone), Owen Hughes (trumpet), Andrew Terry (clarinet), Emmett Salzer (cello), Caleb Jones (viola), Brendan O'Rielly (bass), Sam Huizenga (violin), Kevin Vartanian (violin), Zoe Espinosa (viola), Eve Zikmund-Fisher (cello), Erica Noble (violin), Persephone Gloeckner-Suits, (cello), Paloma Paez-Coombe (viola), Larkin Babbitt (cello), Tasha Thomas (violin), Hebe Clarke (cello), Madeline Qi (violin), Britta Carlson (violin), Ariana Gould-Tasoojy (violin), Anik Clement (violin), Madeline Poterala (violin), Abigail Zimmer (viola), and Desirine Garland (violin). Congratulations to all of these fine musicians!
  • The Clague Orchestras had over 70 events at the Solo & Ensemble Festival held at Livonia Franklin High School on January 29, 2011.  All of the students worked very hard in the months and weeks before the festival, and deserve a hearty congratulations!
    Students Receiving a “1” (Excellent - top scores) on their SOLO    : Sarah Dixon, Rahul Ramanathan (piano), Christina Daniels, Shwetha Rajaram, Natalie Potter, Claire Fishman, Leah Borquez, Chun-Lam Lau ( piano), Dallan Roan, Susanne Sheng, Allen Chang, Maria Bonvicini, Andrew Hiyama, Robert Taylor, Luke Cheng, Thai-Binh Nguyen, Dallan Roan, Laura Zheng (piano), Samantha Lin, Monica Choi ( piano), Kai Inoki (piano), Chihiro Kakishima, Srikar Chiravuri, Chad Aaronson, Shreya Menon, Laura Zheng, Monica Choi, Shreya Menon (piano), Thisara Wijesundera, Nisha Gudal, Jeffrey Song.
    Students Receiving a “1” (Excellent - top scores) on their ENSEMBLE: Rahul Ramanathan, Samy Ismail, Vishnu Kannan, Eric Sheng (4); Malini Dasgupta, Arkadia Pereklita, Alissa Dansel (3); Vishnu Kannan, Yutaka Morishima, Eric Shen, Christopher Wilks (4);  Lucy Jiang, Shwetha Rajaram (2); Joie Li, Chihiro Kakishima, Robert Taylor, Kaitlynn Young, Nick Radant, Arkadia Pereklita (6); Kai Inoki, Alice Deng, Susanne Sheng (3); Alissa Ardnt, Danielle Mitroi (2); Austin Luker, Allen Chang, Maria Bonvicini, Andrew Hiyama (4); Malini Dasgupta, Lucy Jiang (2); Clara Keane, Alice Deng (2); Benjamin Chiang, Luke Cheng, Conrad Pan, Dallan Roan (4); Stephen Philippou, Luke Misek, Luke Thompson, Karl Cai, Nick Radant (5); Stuart Brabbs, Nicky Montgomery, Max Kupperman (3); Chun-Lam Lau, Vishnu Kannan, Chris Morris, Josh Moran (4); Chihiro Kakishima, Natalie Potter, Thisara Wijesundera, Christina Daniels (4); Lois Zuger, Grace Crowley (2); Shruti Sudabattula, Emilia Schauvinhold, Catherine Conlin, Maya Foster, Josie Brown (5); Sean Merlino, Susanne Sheng, Sam Lin, Pen Pen Yang (4); Emma Gillies, Sam Lin (2); Leah Borquez, Nisha Gudal (2); Christina Daniels, Alissa Ardnt (2); Maria Bonvicini, Andrew Hiyama (2); Charles Tsao, Eddie Tan (2); Shivani Joshi, Claire Fishman (2); Srikar Chiravuri, Evan Sanfield (2); Aya Wajdi, Monica Choi (2); Chad Aaronson, Jazz Johns, Shreya Menon, Laura Zheng (4); Colin Sabor, Karl Cai (2).
    Students Receiving a “2” (Good) on their SOLO     : Brad Clegg, Jazz Johns, Alissa Ardnt, Eddie Tan
    Students Receiving a “2” (Good) on their ENSEMBLE:     Joel Christman, Natalie Potter, Kaitlin Sheets, Austin Luker, Emily Johnson, Danielle Mitroi (6); Jazz Johns, Chad Aaronson, Arthur Yang, Simon Keep, Brad Clegg (5); David Cui, Artem Saakov, Trevon Henderson, Alex Teixeira (4); Bilge Felek, Arianna Saam (2); Keren Gonzalez, Christopher Wilks, Cameron Gillies, Jacob Thomas (4); Jeffrey Song, Victor Zeng, Gavrill Polyntsev, Nicky Montgomery (4).

Robert Allen
Interim Superintendent