This Week In the Ann Arbor Public Schools

March 8, 2010

This Week’s Good News!

• Huron students Robin He and Heemyung Hwang placed well enough on the national Physics Olympiad Exam, given by the American Association of Physics Teachers, that they have been invited to participate in the US Physics Team Semifinal exam.  Over 3000 students participated in the first round and approximately 300 were chosen as semifinalists.  Next week they will be taking the semifinal exam to determine who is invited to join the US Physics Team for international competitions. Robin is a senior and Heemyung is a junior.
• John R. Birko, Ann Arbor Student Home Building Industries Program Instructor, reports that AAPS sent three Home Building Students to last Thursday's SkillsUSA Regional Carpentry Competition at Washtenaw Community College. All three are Huron High students: senior Chris Ziemba, and juniors Brian Ziemba and Nick Freese. Chris Ziemba took home the gold medal for first place and goes on to State competition in April. Of the twenty-one high school and college competitors our three Huron students had the highest written and math test scores.... a tribute to the HHS math department.
• Pioneer jewelry teacher, Helen Bunch, reports that senior Paige Monroe has been named the 2010 Saul Bell Award Emerging Artist in a competition sponsored by Rio Grande, the well-known jewelry supply house. Paige wins $500 worth of jewelry supplies and a trip to Las Vegas to accept the award. She will have a poster made featuring her picture along with the jewelry piece that will be included in Rio Grande's catalog. Pieces are judged on the innovation and uniqueness of the design and the quality of workmanship.
• Huron senior Katie Moran has been awarded a merit scholarship from the School of Art Institute Chicago.
• Pioneer football coach, Jeremy Gold, is very proud that eight of the senior players on his team have been recruited to play college football and have signed "Letters of Intent" to play football at the college level. The players and the college are: Ricardo Miller and Jeremy Ross, The University of Michigan; Brandis Yarrington, Yale; Jimmy Spaly, Georgetown, Esham Farha, Saginaw Valley State University; Omari Robinson, Grand Valley University; Ryan Richmond and Devin Smith, Arizona Western Junior College.
• On Saturday, March 6, two choirs from Skyline competed against other a cappella choirs from around the state in the Great Lakes Semifinal of the International Championship of High School A Cappella. Each ensemble prepared three pop a cappella selections and performed them unaccompanied and without a conductor. Skyline Blues, the after school a cappella ensemble, came in 3rd place and Bel Canto, Skyline's advanced women's choir, earned 2nd place.
• Members of the Pioneer High School Concert Band and Symphony Band, David A. Leach, Director, received straight First Division ratings at the District Band and Orchestra Festivals held at Pioneer High School on Saturday, March 6. There were twelve District 12 ensembles competing for this state-qualifying event.
• David Leach and Nancy Waring, Pioneer Bands directors, report that the Pioneer Bands hosted the District 12 Band and Orchestra Festivals on Saturday March 6th. Twelve ensembles from our district performed and were at Pioneer from before 6 am until after 6 pm. Not only did our students perform their three prepared pieces and two sight-reading pieces beautifully, they also graciously represented Pioneer and our district all day long by helping each of the other groups who attended.
• On Saturday, March 6, the Huron Orchestras performed at the MSBOA District Band & Orchestra Festival which was held at Pioneer High School. The groups were judged on three pieces, which they prepared (performance), and two they had never seen before (sight-reading). The select panel of adjudicating experts concluded that both the Philharmonia and Concert Orchestras received an overall Division "II" Rating as a Class "B" and Class "A" ensemble, respectively, while the Symphony Orchestra earned a Division "I" Rating as a Class "AA" ensemble. Huron Orchestra Director is Chris Mark.
• Thurston teacher Sherrie Pokela reports that she is proud of her 5th grade class for collecting money for Haiti after the recent earthquake. The money they collected was donated to Solar Cookers International which provided a solar cooker, pots and water pasteurization indicators for use in Haiti. They received a very nice thank-you note from the organization for the contribution.
  The Ann Arbor Open student council kicked off an emergency fund drive for Doctors Without Borders at the annual Martin Luther King assembly. After six weeks, they had raised $2900 in donations from parents and students to help the people of Haiti.
• Bryan Westfield was named Michigan Women's Track and Field Coach of 2009
• Bette Diem, teacher at Ann Arbor Open School, attended the annual meeting of the North Dakota Study Group in February. "NDSG is a diverse network of progressive educators dedicated to advocacy for useful, fair, and democratic ways to document and assess children's learning and offering a criticism of educational reform and practice in the light of an enduring concern with democracy and the estate of childhood." Bette gave a presentation about Ann Arbor Open School as a model of democratic education in public schools. Speakers included Grace Lee Boggs, social justice advocate and founder of Detroit Summer and The Boggs Center, who spoke on the importance of embracing this "unique time in the Universe" to work for positive change in education, Dr. David Stovall of U of Illinois who spoke on the influence of race in urban school reform, Barbara Cervone and Kathleen Cushman on showcasing the work of youth on their website, What Kids Can Do and Curtis Lewis, Director of "Promoting Academic Success" (PAS) a 3-tiered mentoring program for minority males, a collaborative research project between Lansing Schools and MSU, as well as MacArthur Award Winner Deborah Meier, founder of Central Park East schools.

Todd Roberts, Ed.D.
Superintendent