Popcorn Anyone?
Westchester Intermediate Principal Shawn Longacre passes out popcorn at their sixth grade culminating in-school theater experience of 1930s style. Teachers created an atmosphere for the students to experience what it was like to go to the movie theater in the 1930s complete with a ticket booth, concessions and old movies from the 1930s. This activity was prompted after sixth grade students read the book, Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift.
Yost Builds Four Buddy Benches
Yost Elementary fourth grade Girl Scout Juniors from Troop 30154 enlisted the help of their Yostie classmates to collect plastic lids and caps from Sept.-Dec. The collected caps will be melted into buddy benches for the Yost playground to encourage friendship and kindness. The original school goal was 400 lbs. but, Yosties successfully collected 1848 lbs. of caps! That's enough to build four buddy benches (one of which will be donated to Hawthorne Park). Pictured with the bags of collected caps are, front row, left to right, co-leaders Natalie Williamson and Abby Demeter, Principal Anne Stillman and co-leader Amber Jakel. Back row, left to right, Leader Lora Swickard, Brielle Dishno, Paige Hancock, Claire Demeter, Bailey Dolson, Natalie Leensvaart, Kennedy Williamson, Drea Givens, Natalie McCormick, Madeline Jakel, Samantha Benzer, Kelly Swickard, co-leader Karen Benzer. Absent from photo is Destiny Landry and Chayse Pendergrass.
All Region Honor Band
Chesterton Middle School had six students selected as representatives at the 2016 Indiana Bandmasters Association All-Region Honor Band recently. Those students are, left to right, Emerson Stobbe, John Petro, Mark Sullivan, Ian Rutherford, Aidan Healy, and Andrew Engel. All-Region Honor Band was hosted at Portage High School and included approximately 100 seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students representing 25 area schools. The ensemble was directed by band director Bill Laughlin (Paoli High School). During the weekend event, the students spent one day in rehearsal and the following day, the students participated in a dress rehearsal followed by a concert performance for the public. The CMS band director is Vince Arizzi.
Donuts with Dads
Westchester Intermediate School hosted their annual Donuts with Mr. Longacre this week before school. The event was an opportunity for the positive male role models in students’ lives to visit school to socialize with students, other visitors, teachers, school personnel and the school principal. Pictured Dad/Grandfather’s visiting with their sixth grader at the event are, clockwise from left, Denny Wilcox, Max Wilcox, Richard Deadman, Summer Bokodi, Payton Mohoi and Mike Sutter.
Indiana All State Orchestra
The Chesterton High School Music Department is proud to have four students, left to right, Holly Kittredge, Sarah Harmon, Tristan Dooley and Pieter Ausema selected for the Indiana All-State Orchestra. The students selected for this honor represent the top performing orchestra students from around the state and are chosen based on recorded auditions. Guest conductor Andrew H. Dabczynski, Emeritus Professor of Music Education at Brigham Young University, will lead the students in the music of William Walton, Beethoven, Aleksander Borodin, Vaughan-Williams, Charles Ives and movie composer John Williams. Rehearsals will take place on the second Friday of January with the concert performance on the afternoon of Sunday, January 15. The All-State Orchestra is one of many ensembles that performed at the Indiana Music Education Association Convention this past weekend at the Grand Wayne Convention Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The CHS Orchestra teacher is Phil Loos.