Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Distinguished Alumni nominees being sought

Do you know a Lapeer Community Schools high school alumnus worthy of induction in the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Honor?

Nominations for candidates for the sixth annual Lapeer Community Schools Distinguished Alumni Award program are being accepted for the fall induction program.

The Distinguished Alumni Award program is a coordinated effort by the District and the Lapeer High School Alumni Association.

To be eligible for the award, a person, living or dead, must have graduated from the Lapeer Community Schools at least 10 years ago and be noted in his or her field of endeavor or recognized for expertise and good works.

The person must be considered a role model for youth and demonstrated positive leadership and outstanding achievement, service or contributions to society. Honorees will attend the Distinguished Alumni Induction Ceremony this fall.

Applications are available in District buildings or by calling Mary Linn Voss at (810) 538-1634. Deadline for applications is Friday, April 29.

Art project provides mementoes for orphans

Lapeer East art students are busily putting the finishing touches on their work for the Memory Project, an international program that provides personal portraits for orphans from around the world.

This year, Debbie Helbig’s art students at East are creating portraits for orphaned children in Indonesia and Thailand.

Student artists who work on the Memory Project create portraits (drawings, paintings, graphic design, etc) for children and teens world who have been orphaned, neglected or disadvantaged.

The artists receive photos of kids waiting for portraits and then create the portraits. Memory Project volunteers deliver the portraits to the kids as special gifts. The goal of the project is to inspire caring, global friendship, and a positive sense of self.

The program was begun by University of Wisconsin grad Ben Schumaker after a chance encounter with a young man in Guatemala. The man said that he didn’t have any photographs of himself as a child, no belongings from his early years, no parents to share memories with. His childhood was a blank slate, and he didn’t want any other orphaned kids to share in his fate.

Schumaker thought that if he could get high school art students to paint pictures of the orphans and send them as gifts, the children would have a memento of their youth, a bit of history to hold on to.

The program began with 100 art teachers and their students in 2004 and has since grown to produce a total of 25,000 portraits for children around the world.
Lapeer West art students are just now beginning to work on their Memory Project creations for this year. Artists from both Lapeer high schools have participated in the project for years.

For a look at photos of some of the East artists at work, visit the Lapeer Community Schools Picasa photo albums at: https://picasaweb.google.com/LapeerCS/EastArtStudentsCreateArtForTheMemoryProject#

Monday, February 7, 2011

New golf program at Zemmer

A new morning golf program is open to 6th-8th grade boys and girls at Zemmer Middle School.

Three pros from Lake Nepessing Golfland and four teachers have volunteered their time to work with the students. The Golf Club currently has 18 students participating.

The club meets on Tuesdays from 7:45 to 8:45 am in the Zemmer gym. Club dues are $10 for the program, which runs through the remainder of the school year.

Space is limited, but there are still a few spaces left. Students can contact Mr. Reitz, Mr. Brinker, Mrs. Peacore or Mrs Yderstad for more information. Students must have a permission slip and dues paid before they can participate.

LCS students perform in honors band concert

More than two dozen high school and middle school music students from Lapeer West, Lapeer East, Zemmer and Rolland-Warner performed in the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association District III Honors Band Festival on Saturday, January 29, at Brandon High School.


Lapeer West High School students participating in the District III MSBOA High School Honors Band Festival included Kayla Haneline, Stephanie Wilcox, Taylor Harvey, Ashley Nugent, Tim Waelde, Deanna Childress, Aidan Smith. Lapeer East High School students included Dakota Hart, Sarah Powers, Whitney Harvey, Hannah Hastings, Keefer Maresh, Alison Gonda, Lillian Miller, Mason Sorenson, Alex Frederick.

Rolland-Warner Middle School students who participated included Sara Burns, Vanessa Sparks, Mark Lutz, Desmond Doneen and Emily Gillis. Zemmer Middle School participants inlcluded Morgan Combs, Shawn Deverell, Blake Clements, Serra Seib, Emily Dice, Meredith Henderson, Mark Lutz.

The Middle School Honors Band was conducted by Roger Weyersberg, director of the Lions of Michigan All-State Band, Low Brass Instructor at Saginaw Valley State University and the retired director of Music in the Ovid-Elsie area schools.

The High School Honors Band was conducted by Scott Boerma, associate director of bands, director of the University of Michigan Marching Band and professor of Conducting at he University of Michigan. He is also an avid composer. The band performed Glimpses, one of his original compositions, at the performance.

The students were nominated by their director and chosen from hundreds of entries around the Thumb, based on outstanding musicianship and participation in solo & ensemble.

Rolland-Warner Band Director Heather Hundt noted, “Their participation is an honor, and they did a wonderful job representing our school and our district and gave an awesome performance Saturday night.”

To view photos from the concert, please visit the Lapeer Community Schools Picasa photo albums at: https://picasaweb.google.com/LapeerCS/MSBOABandFestival#