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The Warrior Crew needs our help

13 Feb

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I received a very well-written and impassioned email the other day from a representative of the Warrior Crew, Webster Schroeder’s student fan section.

This completely student-run pep squad shows up at Schroeder sports contests, cheering on the teams with an unparalleled energy and volume. And that’s not just an opinion — the Crew actually came in first place last year in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association “Battle of the Fans” competition, which recognizes top student cheering sections.

Believe it or not, they have a chance to win that contest again this year, and be the first-ever back-to-back Battle of the Fans champions.

The Warrior Crew has been named a finalist in the 2016-2017 competition, and NYSPHSAA judges visited the school recently, during the school’s basketball game against Bishop Kearney. “It was a fantastic experience, and we think the judges had just as much fun as we did,” the email said.

But now comes the hard part: getting the votes, as the eloquent emailer pointed out.

“Although we feel that the Warrior Crew impressed many people, and also proved that it is still the best in New York, this battle does not come down to a decision from the judges… We deserve to win again and become the first ever back-to-back Battle of the Fans Champions, but we need your help in order to accomplish this goal. The representatives from NYSPHSAA will post a picture for all four finalists on three different forms of social media: Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Each “like” on those posts is equivalent to one vote cast for that school. The student section with the most votes wins.”

The Crew is asking that, once the links are posted, everybody go online and on Instagram and cast a vote by “liking” the Webster Schroeder entry.  Voting will start this Wednesday, February 15 at noon, and end on Friday at noon. Stay posted to my blog and I’ll let you know what the links are as soon as I find out.

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I would be remiss if I stopped there. The email went on to give some background on the Warrior Crew and how they have expanded their focus from sports to the entire school community and beyond.

We pride ourselves on dedicated support of our classmates. We have created an awesome family atmosphere over the years, which, these days, is rare at high schools. We are proud of the fact that we are able to unite all aspects of our school into one Crew. We draw from rich tradition, but also innovate and improve each year. Last year, we were named NYSPHSAA “Battle of the Fans” champions after our senior leadership culminated their high school careers with the remarkable feat of uniting our school like never before.

This year, we have continued the traditions of being loud, positive, and supportive at athletic events, but also branched off into other areas within the school (music, technology, art, etc.), and even in the community. We strive for having a great time cheering on our Warriors, inclusion, unity, and constant support of others. With these goals in mind, and using our great platform as reigning NYS champions, we launched the “Warrior Crew Cares” campaign this past Fall. Through a t-shirt fundraiser we were able to support other teens at the Rochester Center for Youth. Just as important as our donation to the Center, were the ideas about the importance of giving to others that spread through our school after that.

You can connect with the Warrior Crew on Twitter @WSWarriorCrew, on Instagram @thewarriorcrew, and their website, warriorcrew.weebly.com.  Also, check out this video for a good idea of what they’re all about.

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Great Webster news (and not so great)

12 Feb
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Webster’s own Kate Lee on stage at the Grammys. (Provided photo)

I have some great Webster news to share with you this morning.

If you saw this morning’s paper, you saw a big story about local phenom fiddler Kate Lee, a 2010 Webster Schroeder graduate. This is an exciting day for Kate and her bluegrass group The O’Connor Band, because they have been nominated for a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.

I have had the honor of knowing Kate for many years. She attended Schroeder with my son, and they occasionally played together  at musical events. She was an amazing talent those many years ago and has only gotten better.

Click through to the D&C website to read Jeff Spevak’s story about Kate’s rise to fame, and sample some of the top-shelf music created by her and her O’Connor Band-mates. Then make sure to stay tuned this afternoon for their performance at the pre-ceremony, and then the award announcement later this afternoon, both of which will be streamed live.

Kate posted some details on Facebook this morning with the above photo from their rehearsal:

Here’s a picture of O’Connor Band sound checking this morning for our performance at the Grammy Premiere Ceremony tomorrow! You can watch us perform if you visit Grammy.com around 1:10p Pacific Time to stream the pretelecast live from Microsoft Theatre in LA! And the Best Bluegrass Album category will be announced around 2:45p Pacific Time!!

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Here’s another recent article from the D&C that might interest you, but this time the news is not so good.

After trying to make it a go for a little over a year, the Original Mac and Cheez restaurant on East Main Street has closed.

Saturday was the last day of operation for the storefront, but co-owner David Piergiacomi assures everyone that the very popular food truck will be back on the streets in April.  Read the whole story here, written by Tracy Schuhmacher.

As another East Main Street business bites the dust, that end of the village has become a ghost town. I swear there are more closed storefronts down there than there are open ones. Something needs to be done, and done soon, to start attracting more small businesses to town before Webster stops becoming a destination altogether.

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Webster Kidets join this year’s Kiddie Parade

9 Jul

Director Brian Wilt leads his Kidets on a march around the Schroeder parking lot.

Our little village has its share of parades, but I think my favorite of them all is the Kiddie Parade. This adorable event is Webster’s smallest parade, which takes place every year the evening before Webster’s biggest parade, the Firemen’s Parade.

Compared to the Firemen’s Parade, which marches down Main Street for a full mile and lasts about two hours, The Kiddie Parade winds through south-side neighborhood streets, and lasts maybe 15 minutes.

But it’s the cutest thing EVER.

The Kiddie Parade gives children young and old (read: “adults”) perhaps the only chance they’ll ever have to march in a real parade. Entire families gussy up their wagons and scooters with streamers and signs and dress in coordinated costumes, and just have a blast. Many of the kids even get into true parade spirit and whip candy at the assembled crowds as they march.

This year’s Kiddie Parade, which takes place this Wednesday beginning at 7:00 pm, will be better than most because there’s going to be a special guest of sorts. This year marks the very first appearance of the Webster Kidets, a performance group introduced this year to give younger musicians a chance to see what being in a marching band is like.

The Kidets are comprised of about 20 fifth and sixth-grade musicians and four color guard members, all of whom have been practicing on and off for the last few months under the tutelage of Webster Marching Band Director Brian Wilt and a whole host of Marching Band student and adult assistants. In that short time these kids have learned a brand new piece of music and learned to march as a unit. Sort of.

I stopped by the band’s final practice last night at Webster Schroeder High School and came away very impressed by how far this band has come in such a short time. Sure, the performance wasn’t as tight as you’d expect from a polished marching band; the instrumentation was rather rough and the marching not particularly coordinated. But in step or not, these kids marched with poise and pride, befitting the fact they are a Webster marching band.

I can’t wait to see — and hear — them in the Kiddie Parade tomorrow night.

The Webster Kiddie Parade begins at 7:00 pm on Wednesday July 10 at Spry Middle School on South Avenue. It marches north on South Avenue, turns east onto Dunning, then heading down Sanford Street to the Firemen’s Field to officially open the carnival.

I took a bunch of photos at last night’s rehearsal. Click here or on any one of these to go to a gallery.

 

 

Webster Thomas grad back in town to perform

3 Jul

Click the photo to see the performance. Rmani Crawford is at the far left.

Back in March I posted a blog about a performance by a former Webster student at a March Madness basketball game.

Rmani Crawford, a 2010 Webster Thomas grad, sang the National Anthem with his Pepperdine University a cappella group, Won by One, before one of the Elite 8 games. Someone posted a video of the performance on YouTube, which you can see by clicking here or on the photo to the left.  (You can also see the original blog by clicking here.)

Well, Rmani and his group Won by One will be in town on Saturday, July 6, to perform in a concert at the Northside Church of Christ, 634 Hudson Avenue in Rochester.The concert begins at 5:00 and is free.  It’d be great if some of Rmani’s hometown friends could go out to support him.

You can find out more about Won by One by checking out their website here or their Facebook page here.

 

School supply recycling gets better every year

23 Jun

Anyone who has been following my blog for a while should be very familiar with the school supply recycling effort I help coordinate at Thomas High School at the end of every school year.  We do it in conjunction with an organization called Greenseed Educational Supplies, led by an amazing man named Mitch Nellis. Mitch has been heading this effort for years, working with dozens of schools all over the county, saving perfectly good school supplies from the trash and distributing them to schools and organizations who will put them to good use.

Well I’m pleased to report that this year’s effort at Thomas High was one again successful. I dare say it was our best year yet.  Last Wednesday and Thursday, I made three trips to the School Supply Recycling Command Center at Eastridge High School (actually two science classrooms), my SUV packed to the rafters with cartons.

Here’s a quick rundown on what we collected this year:

* 29 cartons of binders (easily more than 500 binders)
* a shoe box each of pencils, pens, colored pencils, markers, crayons and hi-liters
* one carton each of trapper-keepers, report covers, miscellaneous desk supplies, locker doo-dads, review books, graph paper, tab dividers and composition notebooks
* two cartons each of lined paper and 2-pocket folders
* four cartons of spiral notebooks
* two shoe boxes of index cards

So basically we’re talking hundreds of dollars worth of good school supplies saved from the garbage. And that’s just what I collected at Thomas. Mitch tells me that Willink and Spry middle schools came through big time as well.  And a thousand thanks also to the teachers and staff at Plank Road North Elementary — they filled their 40-gallon recycling bin to overflowing.

Scroll down to see some photos from the sorting and distribution effort at Eastridge, a monumental task which Mitch and his worker-bees accomplish over a matter of just two days.

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This is the army of students who helped Mitch Nellis sort the thousands upon thousands of school supplies collected. They’re from National Honor Society and Eastridge’s International Baccalaureate and AVID programs. Plus there are a few graduates. Mitch Nellis is third from the left in the back row.

School Supply Command Center (a.k.a. Mitch Nellis’ science classroom)

Representatives from community organizations started arriving to select supplies even before they were all sorted.

 

Tuesday mailbag

10 Jun

News items about summer events are starting to come in fast and furious, so you might be seeing these “mailbags” a bit more often. If your organization has a special event coming up, make sure to let me know about it so I can help spread the word!

Hope for Pets 5th Annual Dog Walk

On Saturday June 15, the greater Rochester community will come together to help pet owners in need at Rochester Hope for Pets’ 5th Annual Dog Walk & Pet Education Expo. The event will take place in Ellison Park’s Orchard Grove Shelter. Registration begins at 9 am and the walk begins at 10.

This year’s event will include adoptable animals from local shelters and pet health education stations featuring information about pet first aid, dog and cat wellness tips, common household foods and substances that are toxic to a pet, and careers in veterinary medicine. There will also be demonstrations by K-9 teams from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the Rochester Police Department and Town of Greece. Joyce Palumbo, Crime Stoppers board member and media spokesperson, believes supporting the K-9 units is a logical extension of helping law enforcement.

For more information, visit http://RochesterHopeforPets.org/events.php or contact Beth Zogby at Rochester Hope for Pets at (585) 271-2733 ext. 26 or hopeforpetszogby@gmail.com.

Benefit Music Festival

Also on Saturday June 15 is the Sarah Anne Bryan Charity Music & Arts Festival, from 12-8 pm at the gazebo in Veterans Memorial Park, North Ave. in the village of Webster.

The festival will feature entertainment for the kids, raffles, and a “Taste of Webster” restaurant tour featuring The Coach Sports Bar, Marvin Mozzeroni’s, the Vino Wine Lounge, Hatters Pub, Brimont Bistro and BC’s Chicken Coop. Donations will benefit DePaul Community Services and the West Webster Volunteer Firemen’s Association.

For more information, visit facebook.com/sarahannebryanbenefit.

Schlegel Road Reunion

The annual Schlegel Road Elementary School Reunion Trip is back.  This year’s event will be at Seabreeze on Friday, June 21. Tickets cost $14.50 for students (less for adults), and must be reserved by June 19 so they can all be purchased together.

Interested alumni can reserve their tickets by calling Jill Sicke at 749-8914 or by email at Jill_Sicke@websterschools.org.

Schroeder student chosen by Red Sox

Congratulations to Webster Schroeder sophomore Oliver Pena, who recently received a phone call from the Boston Red Sox, informing him that he was selected as one of the ten participants for the team’s Lindos Sueños program in the Dominican Republic.

Oliver was selected from a nationwide search of thousands of applicants, and has been going through a rigorous interview process for several months.  This summer he’ll be working with the people of the Dominican Republic to help improve their lives. But he’ll also be playing baseball and receiving training from Boston Red Sox players and coaches.

 

 

Bonus mailbag!

5 Jun

BONUS BLOG!

I wanted to waste no more time in passing along information about a few events coming up in the next several days.

The first is the annual Webster Museum Barn Sale which will run from 9 am to 6 pm, Thursday June 6 (tomorrow!) through Saturday June 8, at 394 Phillips Road.  The ladies at the museum tell me that they’ll have a “Picker’s Paradise, lots of old tools, antiques, garden art, plants and collectibles.”

All proceeds will benefit the Museum’s ongoing programs and efforts to preserve and celebrate Webster’s history.

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The Webster Marching Band’s semi-annual (or is it bi-annual…in any case, two times a year) Bottle and Can Drive returns this Saturday June 8.  This is a time when more than 150 dedicated student and adult volunteers scour Webster for donations, and end up collecting and sorting more than 250,000 bottles and cans.  This is the band’s biggest fund-raiser of the year, and they’d really appreciate your help, because they have some very exciting — and expensive — trips in the works.

Chances are you received a flyer in your door this week telling you about the bottle and can drive. Simply collect all your returnables in a garbage bag and place them at the curb by 9:30 am for pick-up. You can also drop them off at Schroeder High School between 9:30 am and 4 pm.

You might also consider supporting the band’s “Just $5” campaign to raise funds for aging uniforms and equipment. You can get more information about that at webstermarchingband.org.  If you have any questions, or want to schedule a pick- up, call 234-8684 Option 1.

 

 

A follow-up on the clean-up

17 May

In one of my blogs a few days ago I mentioned how I recently drove by a group of Webster High School Marching Band parents and students who were cleaning up a stretch of Ridge Road.  I lamented the fact that I didn’t know about it ahead of time so I couldn’t snap any photos.

Well, a big thanks to Patty Homeier for sending along the following two photos from her team.  Patty wrote that her group of three adults and three kids worked for about an hour and a half, and collected 10 large bags of trash (and a few car parts).

They and three other groups cleaned both sides of Ridge from Hegedorns to the movie theater.

Patty also mentioned in her email that her family is new to the marching band.  I think it’s pretty cool that even though they’re new to the organization, they’re already participating in events like this.  It’s a great example of how much Webster Marching Band families are committed to this community.

Thank you to the Webster Marching Band for cleaning up our Ridge.

I love the hard hats. (L-R) Mikayla Cassidy, Theresa Homeier and Anna Halpa.

Theresa Homeier works in the woods.

 

 

An exciting opportunity for your musicians

12 May

Several days ago when I was driving through town I noticed a group of young people and adults picking up trash along Ridge Road. My first thought was, “Huh. I’ll bet that’s folks from the Webster High School Marching Band. I think this is the stretch of highway they adopted.”  That was immediately followed by my next thought, “I wonder why they didn’t tell me they were going to be doing this so I could come out and take photos?”

Ah, well. Maybe next year. But seeing them did remind me of the great new program for young musicians which the Marching Band has introduced this year.  I’ve mentioned it before, but it deserves much more attention. It’s THAT great an idea.

It’s called the Webster Kidets Marching Band, and it’s designed for 5th and 6th graders in the Webster School District who’d like to see what it’s like to be part of a real live marching band.

To participate, a student should already be playing a musical instrument in school; chorus and orchestra students are encouraged to learn a percussion instrument to play with the group.The colorguard section is open to any student.

The band will hold four practices on June 3, June 24, June 26 and July 8, and then march in the huge Firemen’s Parade on July 10.  Brass, woodwind and percussion musicians are invited to sign up, as well as students interested in performing with the Kidets colorguard.

Registration is $30 per student, which includes a parade uniform (t-shirt) which the student can keep. The program can provide drums, mellophones, euphoniums and colorguard flags.  Flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets and trombones must be provided by the students.

What a wonderful opportunity this is for young musicians to get a taste of the excitement and pride that comes with being part of a marching band.

For more details, including rehearsal times, log onto the Webster Kidets webpage.

 

Mr. Ahlquist goes to Washington

29 Apr

Webster Thomas High School social studies teacher Greg Ahlquist had the opportunity to meet President Obama last week on a trip to Washington D.C.  The honor was one of many that Ahlquist has received after being named New York State Teacher of the Year for 2013.

Since receiving the honor last October, Ahlquist has spent much of this school year traveling around the country as an ambassador for the state and the school district.

The two shots below are from the photo op with President Obama and all of the nation’s Teachers of the Year. Ahlquist can be seen in the back row on the left in the first photo — he’s the tall one next to the flag. In the second photo, you can just see his face peeking out from behind at top right (he’s wearing glasses).

 

 

 

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