Duneland School Corporation Update, April 28, 2017

Duneland-School-Corporation-Update-04-28-17_01Intermediate School Book Battle Champs
Liberty Intermediate (LIS) recently hosted the 12th annual Book Battle between LIS and Westchester Intermediate School’s (WIS) most avid readers. Students prepare for the battle by reading Indiana Young Hoosier books recommended each year by the Indiana Library Federation. The books represent a mix of fiction, non-fiction, and biography, and are selected by a statewide panel of educators. Each school was represented by five teams vying for the title of champion and the distinction of securing the championship plaque for their school. This year's battle was won by the LIS team the Hyper-Tortoise. Left to right, LIS Hyper -Tortoise winners Adrian Dooley, Brennan Olson, Brock Redman, Austin Skalka and Trevor Arlington.

Duneland-School-Corporation-Update-04-28-17_02
Sponsors of the Buddy Benches for Yost Elementary playground area are: TOP photo, Yost Elementary School Girl Scout Juniors from Troop 30154 members, front row left to right, Natalie McCormick, Aundrea Givens, Ciara Robb, Natalie Leensvaart, Madeline Jakel, Claire Demeter, Destiny Landry, Brielle Dishno, Samantha Benzer, Paige Hancock, Kennedy Williamson, Bailey Dolson, Kelly Swickard, Chayse Pendergrass; back row left to right, troop leaders Natalie Williamson, Amber Jakel, Abby Demeter, Lora Swickard, and Karen Benzer. MIDDLE photo, Tri Kappa members, left to right, Deborah Beard, vice president; and Yost staff members Sue Harmison and Wendy Courtney. BOTTOM photo, left to right, Yost Elem. staff member representatives, Andrea Levrio, Kris Borrelli, Rebecca Taylor, Denise Soliday, Kim Maple, Gayle Vogan, Julie Fladeland, Ashley Anderson, Julie Christian and Principal Anne Stillman.

Duneland-School-Corporation-Update-04-28-17_03 2017 June Scobee Rodger Innovative Educator Award
Fourth grade teacher, Cris Petro of Bailly Elementary in Chesterton, was selected as the runner-up for the 2017 June Scobee Rodger Innovative Educator Award by the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. The award is named in honor of the Challenger Center Founding Chair June Scobee Rodger and recognizes outstanding educators who understand the importance of STEM education and demonstrate enthusiasm and passion for teaching STEM subjects. Petro will receive a $1000 prize to further enhance her classroom lessons and support professional development opportunities.

Duneland-School-Corporation-Update-04-28-17_04 CHS Sandpipers in FAME Nat'l. finals
This past weekend, the Chesterton High School Show Choir, The Sandpipers, and their band, The Business, participated as one of the qualified show choirs in the FAME National Finals at Arie Crown Theatre in Chicago. This is the first time a show choir from CHS has qualified for a spot at this event.

In the warm-up room prior to their performance, the energy and excitement was high as their director Kristin Morris worked on fine-tuning some last minute elements of the show. She told the students to remember what got them there, to work on doing the best job they could do, to remember that they were Trojans, and that Trojans never stop fighting. At the end of their normal routine warm-up, a good luck video message from their choreographer Alex Hall and a pep talk from Morris, the group was ready to go. The students lined up and stepped onto a beautiful stage in front of a full crowd and performed their show. “It was electrifying,” said Morris. "I could not be more proud of them and their journey this season. Show Choir is truly a group effort and takes commitment and perseverance. We start this process in August and to have the opportunity to compete at the national finals in April is an experience that I know they will value for a long time."

The Sandpipers were one of twelve show choirs in attendance. "The best part was that it didn't feel like a competition," Morris said. "We were watching amazing show choirs perform and cheering them all on. That is part of what made this day so special." At the awards ceremony, Chesterton was called downstage as part of the top six groups. Ultimately, they earned third runner-up. It was a tremendous way to end the season.

CHS Sandpiper members are: Eric Amling, Calvin Anders, Sid Augustyn, Mallory Benoit, Sam Boland, Agia Bone, Zach Bryant, Ashley Clemento, Emily Coleman, Bethany Collins, Emily Conway, Alex Forsberg, Logan Ginther, Maddy Haskell, Emma Healy, Ashley Heilmann, Elle Hodge, Alli Hoffman, Sam Kubacki, Ben Larimer, Wyatt Lee, Alec Malenfant, Steven Mayersky, Delaney Nava, Derek O’Dell, Hayley O’Keefe, Kyle Paliga, Lyle Reyes, Sage Rodriguez, Luke Sebring, Caroline Scheidt, Jordyn Soffa, Nate Sorenson, Amber South, Jaeden Taylor, Julia Wahl, Anthony Watkins, Liz Watts, Trevor Webb, Simon Williger and Delaney Wright. “The Business” band members are: Victoria Adams, Keyon Allen, Kris Bodie, Connor Boren, Adam Davis, Garrett Fairbanks, Alex Fine, Tony Hampton, Gina Jones, David Kosakowski, Shaye McCarthy, Abby Palmer, Ricardo Rosenau, Dylan Rodriguez, Delaney Schavey, Chris Sexton and Harley Wines. Crew members are: Izzy Cindric, Anna Engel, Paige Fowler, Jacob Malenfant, Sophia Moody, Hannah Scheller and Warda Yakub. Leading all these members are Director Kristin Morris, Assistant Director Kathy Barbian, Choreographer Alex Hall and Show Choir Band Director Erin Gerig.

Members of the Chesterton Show Choirs would like to thank everyone for their support both throughout the season as well as during their fundraising efforts to make it to this competition. The community is invited to see the CHS Show Choirs, in addition to the other choral ensembles at CHS perform one last time at the Spring Revue on Thursday, May 18 at 7:00 p.m. in the CHS Auditorium. Tickets will be available for purchase beginning on May 8 in the CHS Bookstore or online at www.showtix4u.com.

CHS Symphonic Band Earns “Gold” at ISSMA Contest
The Chesterton High School Symphonic Band earned a Gold ‘Superior’ rating this past Saturday at the Indiana State School Music Association’s (ISSMA) District Organizational Competition for Bands, Orchestras, and Choirs hosted at Elkhart Memorial High School.

I couldn’t believe how great the kids sounded today, and how much they improved from their concert just two weeks ago,” said Ericka Kilander, freshman band mom. “One of our other band moms liked it so much, she was fighting back tears while trying to video the concert with her phone” Kilander continued.

At these events, each group is expected to prepare and perform three music selections, with one of these works being chosen from a required list of appropriately challenging music, as determined by ISSMA. After completing their stage performance of these three works, the CHS ensemble was moved to another room where they were given 10 minutes to verbally (no playing of instruments) prepare a piece they viewed for the very first time. Once their 10-minute preparation time ended, the band was required to play the piece straight through without stopping. After event is concluded, the director of the group receives both recorded and written commentary, along with a numeric score representing the group’s sight-reading” proficiency. This sight-reading score is then added to scores received from the three adjudicators of the band’s stage performance to determine the group’s final performance rating.

The final CHS Symphonic Band performance will be as part of the combined CHS Commencement Band. The group will join the members of the CHS Wind Ensemble in a performance celebrating the successes of the class of 2017 as they graduate from Chesterton High School on Friday, June 2.

Members of the CHS Symphonic Band include: Victoria Adams, Dan Alexander, Keyon Allen, Charles Bernth, Kris Bodie, Kelsey Bolton, Isaac Cabo, Alex Calvo, Olivia Cappos, Karissa Carter, Amie Combs, Madison Comfort, Mercedes Cooper, Kassidy Crowell Nicholas Dericco, Danielle Else, Garrett Fairbanks, Andrew Figg, Toby Franklin, Colton French, Josh Guzek, Nick Hanson, James Hawley, Ryan Herr, Rachel Hoffmann, Donald Holt, Samuel Houghteling, Harleah Hufstedler, Sophia Hunzelman, Hollie Jones, Connor Kilander, Regan Kistner, Nathaniel Kravitz, Zach Lane, Abby Leffert, Aidan Li, Indigo Loving, Jessica Maatoouk, Teresa Mahan, Isabella Marchetti, Megan McAllister, Teagan McCall, Aidan McNicholas, Clare McNicholas, Madeline Moss, Madison Muszynski, Nathan Napier, Liam Oberlander, Eli Ontiveros, Anna Parkinson, Anne Pruitt, Jordyn Requena, Isabel Richey, Dylan Rodriguez, Ricardo Rosenau, Gwen Sanders, Loren Sensibaugh, Alec Schmidt, Jeegar Singh, Andrew Skalku, Carli Sparcio, Anthony Suleski, Haleigh Sutton, Hunter Torres, Shayne Wassell, Doug Waters, Jacob Weitzel, Nicholas Wells, Grace Whah, Alexandra Wierzbicki, Mikaela Yoder. The director of the CHS Symphonic Band is Michael Scheiber.

For information on this or any CHS Music event, please contact the CHS Music Dept. at 983-3730 ext. 7172.