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Final concert marks the end of an era

30 May

I had another one of those moments last night. One of those “This-is-the-last-time-I’m-going-to-do-this” moments. I find they’re happening pretty frequently now that the youngest of my three kids is close to graduating from Webster Schroeder.

Last night I attended what probably was my last high school concert ever (that is, of course, unless I have some musically talented grandchildren some day). My daughter is a member of the Webster Schroeder Chorale which, along with the school’s wind ensemble and orchestra, performed their final concert of the year last night.  For many of the seniors — like my daughter — that also meant it was the last time they would take to the Schroeder stage.

The Last Concert. My daughter is third from the left, reddish hair and pigtails.

Rosenberry kids have been involved in the Webster schools music scene for more than 13 years, starting at Plank Road North, where my daughter joined her first chorus and my son started to learn the violin. Of course there were concerts and of course we were the proud parents.

As the kids progressed through Spry Middle School and finally to Schroeder, their musical involvement (and the number of concerts) increased. There were select vocal ensembles, a cappella groups, fiddle club, and of course the spring musicals.  We found ourselves in the Schroeder auditorium so often it felt like we had season tickets.

Last night, though, it all finally came to an end. Part of me is happy I’m not going to have to sit through any more concerts (frankly, I love choral pieces but classical strings and jazz aren’t my thing).  But I know that when school starts up again this fall, and I hear the Thomas chorus rehearsing down the hall, I’m going to miss the good ol’ days when my kids were up on those risers.

Plank North community plants tree to remember a young Pioneer

27 May

The spirit of a young Webster boy who succumbed to cancer last autumn will live on for years at Plank Road North Elementary School.

Simon with his good friend Lily in February 2011.

Almost a hundred people gathered in Plank North’s front courtyard Friday afternoon to take part in the dedication of a Bartlett pear tree in memory of Simon Harris, who passed away last October at 11 years of age, after a courageous battle with neuroblastoma. The crowd was filled with family members, neighbors, school friends, karate family friends, and staff members from both Plank North and Spry Middle School.

The sign which now hangs on the tree sums up Simon’s spirit.

Several speakers, led by Simon’s dad Andrew Harris, spoke of Simon’s courage and the difference he made in the lives of everyone around him. Patti Pawluk, whom Simon had as a teacher in second and third grade, remembered Simon’s irrepressible spirit. “Simon always had a huge smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye,” she said. “When I think of Simon, I think of sunshine.” The tree is located immediately outside Pawluk’s classroom window, where she and her students will be able to see its white flowers bloom every spring.

Simon’s dad Andrew Harris speaks at the dedication ceremony.

In a particularly moving part of the ceremony, Andrew invited Simon’s little brother Manny up to be the first to shovel soil onto the base of the new tree. Manny, Andrew explained, never complained throughout the entire ordeal of Simon’s illness, no matter what happened or what needed to be done. After that, family members and friends were invited to also pick up a shovel and help “plant” the tree.

Finally, after a rousing cheer of “Simon! Simon! Simon!” led by Andrew and enthusiastically joined by the entire crowd, dozens of multicolored balloons were released and raced toward the sky.

Abby and Ryan Smith show the special balloons which were released.

As he watched the balloons disappear into the distance, Andrew said, “I’m sure Simon’s smiling from heaven.”

Click on any of the photos to see a gallery of several more.

And they’re off!

Webster odds ‘n’ ends

21 May

Every once in a while, several little blog ideas pile up, none of which seems appropriate for a whole posting unto itself. And so you have this edition of Odds ‘n’ Ends:

A Channel 8 cameraman catches the action as Webster Thomas counselor Sue Stacy chats with a student.

Congratulations to Webster Thomas School High School counselor Susan Stacy, who was awarded the Golden Apple Award last week from WROC Channel 8. The station presents the award about once a week to recognize the positive things teachers (and in this case, counselors) do for students. Mrs. Stacy was nominated by 2010 graduate Antonio Garzone, who credits Mrs. Stacy’s guidance and encouragement with making it possible for him to go to college.

Channel 8 sent a reporter and cameraman to film the award presentation. The piece will air tomorrow, May 22 at 5:30 pm on Channel 8 and at 10 pm on Fox.

* * *

I had the real pleasure of meeting Pat and Debbie Bush a few weeks ago, the new owners of Webster Hots on East Main Street. I’d heard that the restaurant had changed ownership in January, but never followed up on the news, so I took the opportunity to pump Pat and Debbie for information, and invite them to email me anything else they wanted to let people know.

What I got from Debbie does a nice job of summing up the new and old, so allow me to quote from the email:

We have made a few changes to the place, things like changing the staff, cleaning things up and really focusing on customer service. The menu has stayed, for the most part, the same other than a few things. We are now serving a Guinness Beer Battered Fish Fry on Fridays. I started it last week and the customer have all said that it is fantastic.

Some other things that we have that is not the “norm” would be the Zinnger Plate, mmmmm…it is soooo good (the former owner came up with it). It is phili steak, chicken fingers, peppers, onions and Mozzs cheese all slathered in buffalo wing sauce and placed on two sides (usually mac and home fries) We also do a battered deep fried hot dog that many customers have become addicted to. For those with a sweet tooth we have deep fried apple pies, brownies and fresh baked cookies. The hot sauce and mac salad are homemade. With the nice weather people have been taking advantage of the outside deck to eat.

I am having fun and have really enjoyed getting to know the village and our customers.

* * *

Back in February I wrote that the Maplewood Nursing Home’s website was up for an award from the Rochester Business Journal. Well, turns out they didn’t get that award. But the folks there recently informed me that their website designers DID just win a different award – or to be more accurate, two awards.

The occasion was the 2012 Summit Creative Award® competition, and Maplewood’s website designers Bob Wright Creative were recognized with a Gold Award in the Consumer Service Website category, and a Silver Award in the Health/Medicine Website category.

All entries were judged in 23 major categories, in which judges look for innovative and creative concepts, strong executions and the ability to communicate and persuade.

Check out The Maplewood’s award-winning website for yourself by clicking on the picture above.

Annual school budget vote is Tuesday

13 May

I’d be willing to bet that’s not news to you. It seems you can’t turn around lately without seeing a sign advertising the school budget vote. You’ve seen it in school newsletters, in the local papers, and every Webster School District household received a slick brochure in the mail.

But just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks, here’s what you’ve missed:

The annual school budget vote and Board of Education election will be held on Tuesday, May 15. Polls will be open between 6 am and 9 pm in the Webster Schroeder High School gymnasium, 875 Ridge Road.

The 2012-13 budget proposal of $143,574,945 reflects a 2.13% increase over the current spending plan and continues to fund a comprehensive academic program for WCSD’s nearly 9,000 K-12 students.

Tax rates are estimated to increase by approximately 1.92%. For a Webster home that is assessed at $150,000 and has the Basic STAR exemption, property taxes would increase by $54 a year, or $4.50 a month. This increase is based on estimated assessed values and 2011-12 equalization rates. Final tax rates will be set in August and are subject to change pending final assessments and 2012-13 equalization rates. WCSD’s tax levy increase of 2.67% is below the 2.76% allowable tax levy limit. Property tax limits are based on a state approved 8-step formula with results that vary from district to district.

In addition to the budget, a school bus proposition of $1,220,000 will go before voters to purchase ten 65-passenger buses and three 29-passenger buses.

Voters will also see two candidates for two board of education seats on the ballot: Frederick “Fritz” Killian and Suzanne Casey. Killian was appointed to the board in February to replace Chris Inzinga, who resigned suddenly. Casey’s been a board member for 15 years.

You’ll find a lot more detail about the budget and the school board candidates on the Webster School District website. Or you can go straight to a .pdf of the slick brochure by clicking here.

 

PTSA looking for calendar artists

12 May

The Webster Central Schools PTSA has just announced that its 2012-2013 PTSA Calendar Cover Art Contest has officially begun.

The contest is open to all students in grades K-11 in the Webster Central Schools.  There will be two winners, one for the smaller size calendar and one for the larger size calendar. Each winner will receive a $50 United States Savings bond and have their art work reproduced on more than 2000 calendars sold by the Webster Central PTSA.

Entries must be submitted by Wednesday, May 30 (no late entries will be accepted), and the artwork will not be returned.  Entries must conform to the rules below and will be judged on their artistic merit and the ability to reproduce the work on the calendar.  The subject of the drawing must relate to education.

Alexandra Carpenter, then a 6th grader at Willink Middle School, created this design used on the 2010-11 calendar.

Here’s the fine print:

ALL ENTRIES MUST:

  • be hand drawn in black ink or black marker on white paper no larger than 11” high by 14” wide (or smaller than 8 ½ X 11″); landscape format preferred;
  • must not include copyrighted characters or images such as Snoopy or Mickey Mouse;
  • must not be folded;
  • must not include the name of a specific school or teacher, and must not contain any misspelled words;
  • must have the following information printed on the back of the artwork: student’s name, current school and grade, and home telephone number;
  • Artwork should reflect education and/or positive youth values (such as the 40 Developmental Assets).

Artwork must be submitted to your school office or library by Wednesday, May 30.  For any questions contact your school’s PTSA Chair or Terri Edwards at 872-3993 (tme @rochester.rr.com).

Webster Schroeder shines at Stars of Tomorrow

8 May

The cast of Fiddler on the Roof perform at the Stars of Tomorrow ceremony in this image from the SOT website.

More great news from our schools today.

Webster Schroeder High School rocked the Auditorium Theater stage last week when the Rochester Broadway Theater League held its annual Stars of Tomorrow program. Thirty-six schools from a nine-county area competed for honors, and Schroeder’s March production of Fiddler on the Roof garnered awards in nine categories, including:

* Outstanding Dance Ensemble
* Outstanding Production Crew
* Outstanding Student Orchestra
* Outstanding Singing Ensemble
* Outstanding Supporting Actor (Mathew Burley as Lazar Wolf)
* Outstanding Supporting Actress (Hadley Strelau as Tzeitel)
* Outstanding Lead Actor (Paul Urriola as Tevye)
* Outstanding Lead Actress (Alyssa Willmarth as Golde)
* Outstanding Musical Production

The Stars of Tomorrow judges also gave special recognition to Leah Hecht as Grandma Tzeitel, Brendan Messner as Sasha, Jacob Murphy as the constable, Alessandra Devia as the Fiddler on the Roof, the entire string section of the pit orchestra, and individual pit members Emily Dorsey, Ajay Phatak and Melanie Pozdol.

The road to success continues for Paul Urriola and Alyssa Willmarth. Both will perform in the New York City Bound National High School Music Theatre Association competition on May 24 at the Auditorium Theater.  In this annual competition, the 32 Leading Male and Female role award recipients from the Stars of Tomorrow compete in “American Idol”  fashion, ultimately narrowed down by a panel of judges until one Leading Male and one Leading Female are selected to represent Rochester. From there, young actors can win college scholarships, professional internships, career coaching and opportunities for auditions.

Community members can vote online for their fan favorites (that would be our Alyssa and Paul, of course) to help them win an additional prize package valued at more than $500. CLICK HERE or on the photo above to vote.

2012 Oak Tree Award Winners announced

8 May

Congratulations to Christine Dunne and Marcia Napolitano, who were recently named this year’s Oak Tree Award Teachers of the Year.

Award winners Christine Dunne (L) and Marcia Napolitano

The Oak Tree Award promotes community recognition and respect for teaching as a profession by selecting a representative Oak Tree Award winners Christine Dunne (L) and exemplary educator at the elementary and secondary levels in Webster Schools. A nominee must be characterized as an exemplary teacher, be currently teaching in a full-time position in the Webster Central School District, have a minimum of five years’ teaching experience in Webster, and plan to continue to teach in the following school year in/or retire from the Webster Central School District.

Other nominees this year included Lynda Courage, Erin Lantzer, Kathy Scerra, William Schoff, Pam Smith, Kristin Chatfield, Diane DiGravio, Julie McGuigan and Deb Ostertag. Winners were chosen by a selection committee comprised of representatives from the Webster Teachers Association and Webster Parent Teachers Student Association.

Marcia Napolitano is the Oak Tree Award recipient for the elementary level.  Colleague Ann Merkey nominated the Plank Road North Elementary School fourth grade teacher.

Christine Dunne, who teaches foreign language at Willink Middle School and Webster Thomas High School, is the recipient for the secondary level. She was nominated by her former student, Beth Gillis, and by her colleague, Kathleen Lehman.

As Oak Tree Award honorees, Napolitano and Dunn were presented with their plaques at the Board of Education meeting on May 3. These plaques will hang in their buildings (Dunne’s will be at Willink) as a proud display for their colleagues and visitors to the schools.  They also each received a hand-lathed, wood pen and a $500 award.

Webster’s Show Choir takes top honors at Disney

3 May

Last weekend, many of our Webster Schroeder music students traveled to Walt Disney World in Orlando to participate in the annual Festival Disney.  Several performance groups were represented, including the Webster Show Choir, comprised of students from both Thomas and Schroeder high schools.

Yesterday I received a press release from Show Choir Director Laura D’Angelo letting me know that along with a few sunburns, lots of souvenirs and tons of great memories, these kids also brought back some pretty impressive bling.

Festival Disney allows high school performing groups from around the country to perform for a panel of three eminent college professors, who provide constructive feedback in the form of a brief clinic. At the event last Saturday, 45 choirs were adjudicated in various aspects of performance and given final numeric scores reflecting overall level of preparation and competence.

Of the 15 “Specialty Choirs” represented, Webster achieved the highest ratings of “Gold” and “Best In Class” with an average rating of 97. This was not only the highest score in the Specialty Choirs class, but the highest overall score among all 45 choirs of all classes. The adjudicators also made special mention of the show choir’s pit band, unique among the 15 choirs in their class.

Proud directors: Kim Eckler and Laura D’Angelo

Webster Show Choir is an auditioned extra-curricular group which meets for one two hour rehearsal per week for eight months of the year.  The students from Show Choir who attended this festival were:  Brianna Adams; Stephen Adams; Hayley Alexander; Dan Bennett; Abby Blackmon; Hannah Boddery; Jon Christiano; Tom Curran; Kayleigh DeBrine; Jordan Diggory; Emma Germano; Tim Hight; Gabby Jerzak; Carson Klasner; Selene Klasner; Diana Lohrman; Alec Nevin; Dan Parry; Justin Smith; Allison Snavely; Hadley Strelau; Evan Sundquist; Paul Urriola; and Julian Wicks.

The pit band included: Nick Mastrolonardo and John Killigrew, Trumpet; Frank Regelski, Tenor Sax; Zak Smith, Bass; and Kevin Killigrew, Drums.

Congratulations to all the performers, and Show Choir directors Laura D’Angelo and Kim Eckler for this terrific accomplishment. You made Webster proud again.

Extreme artistic talent

27 Apr

Today I offer a follow-up on a blog I wrote a few days ago.

If you happened to click through to the gallery of photos I posted as part of my blog on Community Arts Day on Saturday,  you saw this one:

I was so impressed with this piece, my caption simply said, “This. Is. Awesome.”

Since that blog, I’ve gotten quite a few comments about that photo, and it has racked up several “likes.”   Turns out, the student who painted that piece, is a Thomas High School Advanced Placement art student, so found out a little more about it, and about the artist himself, from Webster Thomas art teacher Todd Stahl.

The artist is Austin Frank, and he is so good at what he does that he’s been offered the Presidential Scholarship from the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Art, where he’ll be studying Industrial Design this fall.  The award is offered to only a few incoming freshmen every year, and will cover his entire tuition for all four years.

But, proud art papa that he is, Todd didn’t want to talk only about Austin. He pointed out that several of his students have received impressive scholarships. Like Beth Peterson, who “received a major scholarship from almost every major art college in the country east of Chicago — every school she applied to.”

Other outstanding students from the program include Dennis Moore and Jessie Schnall. Todd gave me the actual figures, and so far these four students alone have pulled in a total of $863,000 in art school scholarships so far.

Webster Schroeder also has its share of top-notch art students.  Schroeder AP art teacher Bill Stephens told me that his students Tristan Cannan, Briana Jewell, Michaela Jewell, Danielle Capizzi and Katie Papas have also scored some big bucks. Check out some of their artwork below.

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Katie Papas
Michaela Jewell
Tristan Cannan

These Thomas High kids don’t complain about their homework

26 Apr

Mary Heveron-Smith, a teacher colleague of mine at Webster Thomas, told me a funny story the other day which I just had to pass along.

It was the day before Spring Break, and Mary was working late at school, finishing up some last-minute tasks before leaving for a week’s vacation in Tennessee. They included collecting her students’ writing folders so she could grade papers while they drove (do teachers EVER take real vacations?) and posting the following week’s vocabulary homework onto her classroom website.  When everything was packed up, posted and ready to go, she and her husband headed off for a much-anticipated visit with their son and daughter-in-law.

Jump ahead to the Monday after break. Mary’s AP Language students were settled into their seats. Standing at the front of the classroom, Mary started discussing the vocabulary words she had posted, which her students were to have worked on over break.

But the lesson came to a halt when one of her most soft-spoken students interrupted, and said almost inaudibly from the front row, “You didn’t post vocabulary. You posted a cookie recipe.”

In her haste that Thursday afternoon before break, Mary had mistakenly posted not a vocabulary lesson, but a recipe for chocolate-orange cookies which was located right next to it in her computer directory.

“I was mortified,” Mary said, “completely embarrassed that I had posted a recipe instead of their homework.”

But she didn’t have anything to worry about. It became immediately clear that her students had taken her goof in stride, when one of them revealed a batch of chocolate-orange cookies she had made the night before. Five more students in her next two classes had also done their “homework” and presented Mary with plates filled with chocolate-orange cookies.

“I couldn’t believe what I’d done,” she  said, “but I loved my students for having a sense of humor about it.”

She added,

I am impressed that some students figured, well, when in doubt, just bake. And I was equally impressed with their baking skills. This recipe even called for orange zest, a step that puts this recipe out of the league of beginning bakers. Students improvised, using whatever did the job — substituting cheese graters for zesters and Clementine rinds for orange rinds! The cookies all tasted delicious and looked just elegant, with threads of orange running through the dark chocolate. All in all, this made for a wonderfully fun first day back for me.”

Naturally, the student bakers all suggested they receive extra credit for their efforts, something which Mary says she’s “mulling over.”

I am TOTALLY jealous that I never had a teacher who assigned cookies for homework.

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