This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

March 15, 2010

This Week’s Good News!

• Forbes Magazine named Ann Arbor as #1 in its list of the Top 10 College Towns.  Their description of our town?
  “The town of 114,000 has it all: a top-notch public school system, a low crime rate and very affordable housing (the median price for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 2,200-square-foot is $148,000). Museums and good restaurants abound. And even though its high-profile football and basketball teams have struggled as of late, the school's other teams - like golf, rowing and softball - have excelled, so much so that Michigan finished fifth overall in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup last year, a ranking by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics of schools based on their performance in every sport.”
• This past weekend the annual Southeastern Science Fair was held at Washtenaw Community College and Ann Arbor Public Schools students did very well.  Congratulations to all our young scientists.
• Huron students won six of the top ten awards and 62 out of 89 total awards, which is nearly 70% of the total awards presented.  The top ten award winners from Huron are:  Jeannie Daida (1st), Rujia Zha (3rd), Omar Beleh (4th), Sam Broadkey (Honorable Mention), Sierra Schatz (Honorable Mention), Steven Toner (Honorable Mention). These students will move on to complete at the Michigan State Science Fair in April.  Jeannie Daida will also compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair in May in San Antonio, Texas.  Accompanying Jeannie will be Deniz Karabakal and Paul Rohan who won first place Team Award.  The winning students are Katarina Alajbegovic, Pelham Barron, Omar Beleh, Lilia Bouzit, Sam Brodkey, Paulina Bromberg, Amy Chang, Emily Chang, Oscar Chen, Jeannie Daida, Pratik Holla, Alexandre Jolliet, Deniz Karabakal, Kate Markey, Hannah McCabe, Anshul Mehta, Ilana Miller, Natalie Nagpal, Anuraag Parchuri, Paul Rohan, Danny Rizk, Crystal Riu, Matt Sanfield, Sierra Schatz, Kunjan Singh, Grace Sun, Stephen Toner, Eugene Zen, and Rujia Zha.
  Clague students did well in the experiment and/or research projects. The winner, listed in team and individual project order, are: Team Projects: Emma Callewaert & Ranee Zhao - 1st place; Shivani Joshi & Sanika Kulkarni (from Slauson) - 3rd place; Hanel Baveja & Paulina Tsao - 4th Place; and Savannah Binion & Elizabeth Good - 5th Place.
  Individual Projects: Shwetha Rajaram - 2nd place experiment; Ryan Powell - 6th place experiment; Sweta Banda - 7th place experiment; and Colin Williams - 7th place.
• Forsythe students did very well and swept first to sixth place in the Model/Collection category.  The winners are:
  Andrew Bonam and Nate Krcmarik, 2nd Place Middle School Team Award, also Michigan Botanical Club Botanical Science Award; Collin Cannaert, 1st Place, Model/Collection Award; Kelsey Carpenter, U.S. Air Force Award; Nathan Ceely and Robert Norris, 6th Place Middle School Team Award; Janine Chouinard, 5th Place Model/Collection Award; Claire Chouinard, U of M National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network Award, also EMU Society of Physics Students Excellence in Physics Award; Michaela Clague, 4th Place Model/Collection Award; Ian Cox, 5th Place Experiment Life Science Award, also Michigan Botanical Club Botanical Science Award; Jason Dean, 2nd Place Model/Collection Award; Maya Gianchandani, 4th Place Experiment Physical Science Award, also Michigan Earth Science Teachers Middle School Award, also Exchange Club of Ann Arbor Founders’ Award, also Ricoh Corporation Regional Sustainable Award; Rachel Jacobi, U of M National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network Award; Sierra Klein-Kassab, 3rd Place Model/Collection Award, also Navy and Marine Corps Naval Science Award, also Huron Hills Mineral and Lapidary Society Earth Science 3rd Place Award; Felipe Muñoz, National Society of Professional Engineers-Innovative  Engineering Award, also EMU Society of Physics Students Excellence in Physics Award; Jasmine Schuler-Herndon, 6th Place Model/Collection Award; Kotone Tsuji, Association for Women Geoscientists Award; and Kate Winger; U of M National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network Award.
• On Saturday, March 13th, Community High School's mock trial teams finished in first and third place at the Michigan High School Mock Trial Eastern Regional Tournament.  41 teams competed.  Both teams will compete in the state finals in Lansing on March 27th.  The winner of the state tournament will compete in the National tournament in Philadelphia in May.  Community High is the only team in the state to have sent a team to the state finals every year since 1993.
  Team A finished in first place.  Its team members are:   Shadi Ahmadmehrabi, Savannah Dix, Mira Fishman, Jacob Garber, Michelle Grifka, Jack Kausch, Max Lewis,   Michael Savage, Elise Wander and Garrett Wood.  Team B finished in third place.  Its team members are:   Zack Bayoff, Sara Burakoff, Cooper DePriest, Isaac Fink, Rianna Johnson-Levy, Julia Karr, Leah Penner, Eli Sugerman and  Kelsey Teribery.  The bailiff/timekeeper is Matt Morehouse.
  The teacher coach is Cheryl Grace, the attorney coach is Griffith Dick and the drama coach is Billie Ochberg.
• Pioneer teacher, Tracey VanDusen had two groups of students from her AP Government class win "Honorable Mention" awards in C-SPAN's StudentCam documentary film contest.  There were over 1,000 entries from all over the United States and only 75 award winners.  Each group will receive $250.00.  This Year's StudentCam Topic was to create a 5-8 minute documentary on:
  A) One of our country's greatest strengths; OR-
  B) A challenge the country is facing.
  The students’ names and the address to their videos are:
  Michael Huang, Yusef Houamed, & Darien Sharp
  11th Grade, "A Critical Medium"
  http://studentcam.viddler.com/videos/watch.php?id=7df9de50
  Madison Clark, Salman Rajput, & Claire Laetz
  12th Grade, "Health of a Nation
  http://studentcam.viddler.com/videos/watch.php?id=decc0aad
• Stone High School student Aissa Pool placed first in the Cosmetology program’s regional Skills USA competition. Aissa will go on to compete at the State Skills USA competition in April.
• Ann Arbor art students did very well in the State adjudication held in Lansing.  Six student works were selected to receive state-level honors.  Gerald Kim's Impressionistic Oil Pastel was selected as one of the TOP 15.  He attends Angell and Linda Babich is his teacher. Five other students' works were chosen for the Top 100: Livia Luan--Tim Eiseman—Slauson; J.R. Eisma--Chris Cerniglia—Scarlett; Maya Martin--Chris Cerniglia—Scarlett; Tarasik Pakzynski--Theresa Erickson—Dicken; and Julia Hunter--Theresa Erickson—Dicken.
• The Pioneer Synchronized Swimming team won its second consecutive (17th overall) state championship. Completing a clean sweep of all routine events, the Pioneers racked up 182 points, ahead of runner-up Troy High School who had 163. Ann Arbor Huron was third with 144.
• The Community High School Advanced Jazz Combos participated in the Western MIchigan University 30th Jazz Invitational in Kalamazoo on March 13, 2010.  CHS is excited that the festival had three combo winners, and one of them was its own, Maxed Out!  (Max Bowen, Max Hully, Jud Branam, Aidan Cafferty, and Spencer Johnson). All five of these students also won outstanding soloist awards. Also, guitarist Max Bowen was named runner-up for the top soloist of the whole festival.  Other CHS jazz students who won outstanding soloist awards were Kyle Morrison, Alex Patten, Ken Ball, Josh Fendrick, Will Smith, Leif Gearhart-Hall, Paul Smith, Sophie Tulip, Jake Johengen, John Schneider, Catrin Dowd, Erez Levin, Don Gozzard, Adam Olshewski, Milan Griffes, and Ben Pernick.  The students played beautifully, and were deeply inspired by the performances of other schools, the WMU student and faculty ensembles, and guest tenor saxophone star Donny McCaslin.  The Jazz Ensemble Program is under the direction of CHS Faculty member Jack Wagner.
• On Saturday, March 6, the three bands from Huron H.S. attended the District 12 Michigan School Band and Orchestra Festival at Pioneer High School.  These groups were judged on three prepared pieces of music, as well as two pieces they had never seen before (sight-reading).  The select panel of adjudicating experts concluded that the Huron Varsity Band, under the direction of Craig Beery, receive an overall Division "II" Rating (A "I" rating is the highest with a "V" rating being the lowest).  The Concert and Symphony Bands each earned a Division "I" Rating with unanimous agreement from each adjudicator.  The Huron Concert and Symphony Bands are directed by Stephen Roberts.  Congratulations to these fine musicians.
• The Ecology Club at Community High School, chaired by science teacher Courtney Kiley, is collaborating with volunteers from JJR, an interdisciplinary design and planning firm in Ann Arbor, to make Community High a “Sustainable Schoolyard”. The Ecology Club and JJR volunteers are designing a series of sustainable landscape features that will improve the ecological health, aesthetics, and habitat quality of the school grounds.  Ideas being developed include native plant gardens, rainwater collection systems, and storm-water management features.  After finalizing the designs, the Ecology Club will begin to implement and construct these projects starting in the fall of 2010, supported by fundraising and additional volunteer support. Congratulations to the Ecology Club for developing this partnership with our community.   Ecology Club Courtney Kiley also wants to recognize the kids and the volunteers that are helping is design a series of native plant gardens for the school grounds.
• Community High School Senior Sarah Juster has been honored for her exemplary volunteer service with a State of Michigan Certificate of Excellence from the 2010 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program. Sarah also received a President's Volunteer Service Award, which recognizes Americans who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities and their country.
• Community High School Junior Sierra Koepele was named to the Second Team for Outstanding Academic Achievement of the US Fencing Committee. She recently participated in the Junior Olympic Program and plans to return this summer.
• Bryant students had a coin drive for the Haitian Relief efforts and the final total was $1500 which was submitted to the American Red Cross.  The American Red Cross in Ann Arbor said this was the largest "coin drive" they have received so far.  Great job Bryant families!
• On Wednesday, March 10, 2010, Pioneer Athletic Director, Lorin Cartwright, was awarded the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers' Association's Outstanding Educator Award at the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers Association, (GLATA) Winter Meeting.
• Through the efforts of Brian Schad, teacher at Lawton, he and two other Lawton teachers-- Jan Starr and Jill Wesley-- will attend an all expense paid trip to Houston, Texas to the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy for grades 3–5 teachers this summer.  The Academy is dedicated to increasing students’ learning and appreciation of math and science by:
  • enhancing teachers’ mathematics and science content knowledge;
  • demonstrating the interrelationships between scientific inquiry and mathematical problem solving;
  • helping teachers use the tools of mathematics to build understanding and connections to science concepts; and
  • modeling "best practices" in teaching and learning for teachers to use in their classrooms.
• Remember the Winter Olympics?  On February 28, seven former members of the Ann Arbor-based USA Hockey National Team Development Program, who all attended either Pioneer or Huron High School captured the silver medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, with the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team. Defensemen Erik Johnson (Bloomington, MN/2004-06), Jack Johnson (Indianapolis, IN./2003-05), Ryan Suter (Madison, WI/2001-03) and Ryan Whitney (Scituate, MA/2000-01), and forwards Patrick Kane (Buffalo, NY/2004-06), Ryan Kesler (Livonia, MI/2000-02) and Phil Kessel (Verona, WI/2003-05) all helped Team USA capture its second silver medal since 2002. The U.S. Olympic team fell just one goal shy of the ultimate prize, losing to Canada 3-2, in overtime in the gold-medal game.

Todd Roberts, Ed.D.
Superintendent