LC musicians named to All-State groups
What do jazz saxophonist Kenny G, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist David Horsey and Spokane County Sheriff Mark Sterk have in common?
They all participated in Washington Music Educators Association All-State music competitions in their younger years.
Joining these well-known Washingtonians are Lewis and Clark High School students Jeffrey Barkert, who plays the French horn in the Chamber Orchestra; Trace Cassel, tuba, and Melissa Lindsay, French horn, in the LC Concert Band; and R.J. LeClaire and Joe Sullivan who both play trumpet in the Wind Ensemble.
These students have received top honors by being selected to participate in the 52nd annual WMEA All-State bands, orchestras, choirs and jazz ensembles. They will join 1,100 other outstanding student musicians in Yakima in mid-February.
The All-State jazz, bands, orchestra and choirs will meet Feb. 15-20, and the top high school musicians in each category will rehearse together under the direction of world-renowned conductors.
They will present their final concerts in the Capitol Theatre and SunDome.
Ferris support Cancer Society
The Ferris Scream Team is sponsoring its annual Chain of Hope fund-raiser to benefit the Cancer Society.
Paper links will be sold for $1 throughout the community and at the school’s sporting events through Dec. 16 and again Jan. 2 to 4. Donations can also be made at the school’s business office.
Contributors can write the name of friends or loved ones who have been touched by cancer on a link.
Students from Chase Middle School and Hamblen Elementary School are also selling links for the chain.
The goal is to raise $6,000 to donate to the American Cancer Society. The fund-raiser began in 2001 to honor Ferris basketball coach and teacher Wayne Gilman, who died of cancer in April that year.
The chain will be displayed and a check will be presented to the Cancer Society during halftime at the Rubber Chicken basketball game with South Side rival Lewis and Clark High School on Jan. 5.
LC band, jazz ensemble perform
The Lewis and Clark High School concert band and jazz ensemble will perform a free concert at 7:30 tonight in the school auditorium, 521 W. Fourth Ave.
The band, directed by Larry Jay, will present a program of marches, holiday music and American folk tunes.
The jazz ensemble, under the direction of Don Goodwin, will perform selected contemporary pieces as well as traditional Dixieland music.
The jazz ensemble recently participated in a special studies program at Eastern Washington University, where it captured the Best Trumpet Section award.
St. George’s wins grant
For the second year in a row, St. George’s School’s robotic program has been awarded a grant from NASA.
The $6,000 grant is one of two awarded to schools in Washington state and just 127 schools nationwide. The grant will fund the school’s participation in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition in Las Vegas in the spring.
Second-year grants are awarded to teams that have demonstrated success during their initial year in FIRST Robotics competitions. Judges considered how schools integrated robotics into the school curriculum, worked to partner with local corporations, and reached out to the community.
The St. George’s Robotics Team won the Northwest regional competition last spring in Portland and traveled to the national competition in Atlanta in April, finishing as one of the highest ranked rookie teams in the nation.