Mount Rainier High School & Pacific Middle School PTSA are holding a “Together” Auction fundraiser on Friday, Nov. 20th from 5:30pm to 11pm at the Normandy Park Cove.
Here are the details:
WHAT: Mount Rainier High School & Pacific Middle School PTSA’s “Together” Auction fundraiser
WHEN: Friday, November 20, 2009, from 5:30pm – 11:00pm
WHERE: Normandy Park Cove
INFO: The annual 2009 “TOGETHER” will include:
- Master of Ceremonies: Susan West, KCPQ Channel 13
- Auctioneer: Dick Fain, KJR 950 Sports Radio & Voice of the Storm
- International Cuisine: Christi’s Catering
- Boogie Down: KJR FM – Radio Parties !!
- Complimentary Beer and Wine
You truly do not want to miss this opportunity to contribute directly to the “Wish List” submitted by staff/admin from MRHS & Pacific for student academic success! Be a successful bidder for fun, healthy, imaginative, cool, ok…VERY COOL items that have been contributed for sale! Food is going to be delicious, bidding lively, and we did mention dancing? Yes! Dancing….LOTS of it !!
Looking forward to hearing from You! Thanking you in advance for your contributions and consideration!
RSVP to either school or mail to:
Kay Duncanson
19625 Marine View Drive SW
Normandy Park, WA 98166Questions? Contact Lora Bolding at 206-456-9284 or via email: prauction2009@gmail.com.
The Highline School District has been awarded $200,000 towards a five-year $1 million grant to expand and establish community schools programs at Des Moines’ own Pacific Middle School, as well as at Chinook (SeaTac), Cascade (White Center) and Sylvester (Burien) middle schools.
The grant is funded by The Seattle Foundation and the Raikes Foundation.
According to a press release:
Highline partners with the non-profit Community Schools Collaboration to provide academic and enrichment programs to students after school, as well as other support services to student and their families. The partnership will use the grant funds to create a support system that will help students achieve their maximum potential in school, work and life, including programs that ease the elementary school-to-middle school and middle school-to-high school transitions.
“This initiative helps schools connect to nonprofits and other neighborhood resources in ways that really make a difference for middle-schoolers in our community,” said Michael Brown, vice president of community leadership at The Seattle Foundation.
“We are grateful for the Seattle Foundation’s investment in Highline and the prospect of a long-term partnership,” said John Welch, superintendent of Highline Public Schools. “Thanks to the Foundation’s funding, many of our students will benefit from academic support and enrichment programs that will effectively extend their school day and their opportunities for learning.”
The Seattle Foundation is the oldest and largest community foundation in the region. It’s mission is create a healthy community through engaged philanthropy, community knowledge and leadership.
The Raikes Foundation is a private family foundation focused on support for young adolescents so that they can grow up to be healthy, contributing members of society.
More information on the Highline School District available at their website.
Des Moines’ Pacific Middle School Choir and Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Jeffrey Steen, are heading to Anaheim, California next Thursday (May 21st) for the annual Heritage Festival competition.
No, they’re not just going to Disneyland (although that’s a definite stop) – they’re going to perform and attend a clinic held by Dr. Tony Mazzaferro, Director of Bands Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Fullerton College.
Following the requisite sprint through Disneyland, the Wind Ensemble will play at the Disney Soundtrack Recording Session, where they will step into a sound studio for a simulated recording session.
A Disney Musical director will treat them as though they were studio musicians hired to play the score of various Disney film segments. The workshop ends with a viewing of the animated segment combined with the studio-recorded track. This will expose the players to expectations and opportunities in the instrument.
Competition pieces for the Choir include “The Peace Song”, “All Join In” by Emily Crocker, and “Sing It to Me”. The pieces the Wind Ensemble will perform including “Of Wizards and Warriors” by Roland Barrett, “Intermezzo” by Jan DeHaan, and “Colonel Bogey” arranged by Andre Valent.
Best of luck to the Choir and Wind Ensemble, and here’s hoping they can again bring home the Gold!
At a time when school districts are struggling to maintain music programs, Des Moines’ Pacific Middle School has quietly been building an award-winning Wind Ensemble and Choir while cultivating Concert, Jazz and Symphonic bands.
Under the direction of Jeffrey Steen, Pacific is the only middle school in the Highline School District that offers this degree of musical instruction. In competitions with middle schools from area districts, Pacific fields more musicians and brings home more honors – this was most recently achieved at the Soundview Solo and Ensemble Contest held on January 31st – Pacific had over 60 entries from the Wind Ensemble and Choir; other district middle schools brought less than a dozen each.
Pacific Wind Ensemble is also preparing to go to California over Memorial Day to compete in the Heritage Festival, and they’re currently in the midst of fundraising.
Recognizing the value of the music programs, the Pacific Band Boosters formed as a non-profit last year to support the band program and to enhance musical opportunities throughout the district. As a fundraising body, we serve to fill in where levies or tax dollars fall short in the musical arena. This year, we’ve purchased harnesses for the new Drum Line class, paid to refurbish the drum sets, purchased instruments to make them available for low income students, and helped some students pay for trips to out-of-the-area competitions.
The importance of music instruction cannot be understated – over 40 years of research shows that music education improves reading and math skills. As Jeffrey Steen explained it:
When humans play music there are some special things going on in the brain.
Playing music activates several cognitive centers of the brain and creates pathways and synapses between those centers. Right behind the ears are the music centers of the brain. If you do not play or sing music there is very little, if any at all, brain activity in this part of the brain.
Since music notation is similar to reading text, studies have shown that our linguistic center of the brain is also activated. The music and linguistic areas of the brain work together and create pathways of thought.
Music is also mathematical. Rhythm, time signature, tempo and the relation of harmonic pitches are all based on mathematical principals.
Music is, afterall, just organized mathematical principals happening in a metered time. Now the music, linguistic and math centers all work together to create pathways. If you use an instrument to play music you have to activate the motor functions (kinesthetic). The musician has to play in tune and watch the conductor so the student has to activate interpersonal intelligence. There is also a tremendous amount activity in our creative areas (right side) of the brain. There is no other activity that uses so wide and varied areas of the brain all at the same time. When you play music it super-charges the brain for learning and intelligence.
It is apparent that music should be viewed as fundamental to any core curriculum.
The Pacific Band Boosters typically depend on band member parents to raise funds, but are widening their search to include outside contributors. Those interested are welcome to contact Mysty Beal at johnjbeal@comcast.net, and she’ll be happy to detail the sponsor package.
On Thursday afternoon (March 5th), students at Des Moines’ Pacific Middle School were treated to a special, surprise performance by Seattle’s popular hip-hop duo the Blue Scholars, seen in the slideshow above by Photographer Tom Sirgedas.
The concert was a reward for students who have no tardies, unexcused absences, or referrals for the month of February, part of Pacific’s “Fun Friday” program that rewards students for excellent behavior and attendance. The students knew they were getting an assembly of some kind, but the band’s appearance was a total surprise for them.
Blue Scholars plays to sell-out crowds in Seattle and beyond, and has opened for such acclaimed artists as Kanye West at Bumbershoot in 2006. The duo is also known for its political and community organizing, including work with the Washington Asian Pacific Islander Families Against Substance Abuse youth program. The group’s lyrics often center on social justice and youth empowerment.
“I am so grateful to the band for reaching out to our kids,” said Sarah Ruppert, a teacher at Pacific. “Blue Scholars are amazing role models, and their message is so positive and empowering.”
The duo was created in 2002 while the members, Geologic and Sabzi, were a part of The SHOW (Student Hip Hop Organization of Washington) at the University of Washington (Seattle). The group consists of one DJ, Sabzi (Saba Mohajerjasbi) and one MC, Geologic (George Quibuyen).
The duo’s name, “Blue Scholars,” is a play on the term “blue collar,” which is an idiom for workers who often earn meager hourly wages for manual labor. Their music and lyrics often focus on struggles between socioeconomic classes, challenging authority and youth empowerment, as evidenced in the songs “Blink” and “Commencement Day.” These themes are often specifically addressed in relation to the Seattle region, as in “Southside Revival”, “North by Northwest”, and “The Ave.”
If you aren’t a middle school student, and feel like re-living this moment, here is a Blue Scholars video to show you what you missed:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qREupDMEPAU[/youtube]
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