Spotlight Shines on School District 64’s Outstanding Students for 2012-13

Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 at the May 20 Board of Education meeting recognized students for their outstanding achievements during the 2012-13 school year, including remarkable academic, artistic, literary and musical efforts.
 
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Dating back to 1923, the nation-wide Scholastic Art & Writing Awards recognize youth and teens in grades 7-12 in 28 categories of art and writing.  Students compete to win scholarships and have their works exhibited or published.  This year, more than 230,000 works were submitted in regional judging for their “originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal voice or vision.”

District 64 this year had two grade 8 students receive awards:

• Writing - Lincoln Middle School student Anastasia Dalianis was a national winner and received a Silver Medal in the category of Novel Writing for her work, “The Experiments.”
• Art – Emerson Middle School student Emma Asson was a regional winner in Photography, and was awarded: Honorable Mention for “Beach At Sunset;” a Silver Key for “Oregon Coast;” and, a Gold Key for “Quiet Beach.”

Young Authors
In the literary category, the District-level winners of the annual Young Authors creative writing competition were announced.  Students wrote and illustrated an original story independently at home, and were selected from a pool of outstanding school winners at all grade levels.

This year’s outstanding Young Authors are:

• Kindergarten – “The Adventures of Space Bunny on Earth,” Noah Felipe Munoz-Lo, Field School
• Grade 1 – “Dolphin and the Seal,” Maddie Parrino, Washington School
• Grade 2 – “A Girl Who Wanted to be President,” Irene Zheng, Franklin School
• Grade 3 – “Mr. Bean in the Farmer’s House,” Nathan Fernando Munoz-Lo, Field School
• Grade 4 – “Secrets of the World,” Billy Buerk (author) & Danny Guay (illustrator), Field School
• Grade 5 – “Lavender,” Keeley Flynn, Carpenter School
• Grade 6 – “The Thing from Area 57,” Gus Ebling, Emerson Middle School
• Grade 7 – “Nova,” Margaret F. Muellner, Emerson Middle School
• Grade 8 – “Finding Drakons,” Robbie Skoronski & Joey Maltese-Miller, Emerson Middle School

Spelling Bee
Also in the academic area, the District’s annual Spelling Bee winners were recognized. This year’s bee broke the record for overall participation, with 303 students competing at bees held at all seven schools as an extracurricular activity for students in grades 3-8.  The top three spellers from each school participated in a District 64 competition as part of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The District 64 Bee lasted a record 58 rounds, with students returning the following day to complete rounds 22-58. The two final spellers – both from Lincoln Middle School – dueled during the final 36 rounds, with 7th grader Elisa Marr spelling the word “kudzu" correctly to capture the championship over 8th grader Abigail Ekstrom.  Third place went to Christo Fosse, a 7th grade student from Emerson.

Music Achievements
Turning to musical achievements, 15 students were acknowledged for being selected to perform with three all-star instrumental music ensembles assembled by the Illinois Music Educators Association (IMEA) in competition among outstanding students in a 50-school northern Illinois region.

The District 64 middle school students selected following rigorous auditions were:

• IMEA Band – Emerson – Joseph Hands, clarinet; Johnny Maltese-Miller, baritone sax; Lincoln – Dominique DiValerio, French horn; Emily Donahue, clarinet; and Benjamin Levin-O'Leary, trumpet.
• IMEA Jazz Band – Emerson – Christo Fosse and Owen Kopka, trombone; Johnny Maltese-Miller, baritone sax; Joey Maltese-Miller and Kara Swanson, trumpet; Lincoln – John Bauch, tenor sax; and Wesley Dziedzic and Shea Walters, piano.
• IMEA Orchestra – Emerson – Eva Nicholson, violin; and Lincoln – Julia Benbenek, violin.

In addition, District 64 reported that choral groups maintained a busy schedule this year:

• Middle school choral groups performed at the Maine South Choral Festival in January alongside their high school counterparts.  Middle school choruses also performed in the community throughout the year, including appearances at St. Matthew’s Rehabilitation Center, the Kalo Foundation, and the Golf Mill mall among other events.
• Grades 4-5 elementary school choral groups from Field, Roosevelt and Washington schools also performed in service concerts locally at Resurrection Nursing, Bethany Terrace Health and Rehabilitation Center, Summit Square, Iannelli Studios, Park Ridge Fire Department’s Patriot Day memorial, and the Park Ridge Police memorial, among other appearances.