MISD Fine Arts Showcase is March 23-24
The annual Mercer Island Fine Arts Showcase will take place at Mercer Island High School next week on March 23 and 24.
On Tuesday, March 23, the visual arts show, including hallways filled with student art, will take place from 5:30 to 9 p.m., with the jazz ensemble performing at 7 p.m., followed by the Midnight Blues jazz choir at 7:45 p.m. in the high school commons.
The following night, the showcase will feature students in the steel drums classes beginning at 6 p.m. A variety of musical groups from throughout the district will perform in the performing arts center with the first round at 6:30 p.m. and the second at 8:15 p.m.
Admission for students, staff and those under age 18 is free. For all other adults, admission is by donation, but $7 per single advance ticket or $10 at the door is suggested.
For more information, visit: www.mifineartsed.org/Home.asp.
Four Islanders receive Mary Gates Endowment scholarships
The Mary Gates Endowment for Students at the University of Washington announced a total of 112 awardees for its respected scholarship program today, with 24 scholars originally from the greater Seattle area.
The applicants were selected to receive the award for their work in research and leadership projects. The four winners from Mercer Island include:
• Cynthia Hsu:
“Chromosomal Abnormalities in Brain Development and Epilepsy.”
•Daniel Tetsunori Kashima:
“Eph receptors and ephrins: A midline expression gradient in the chicken sound localization circuit.”
•Jeffrey Paul Benca:
“Morphometrics analyses on the Mid-Devonian lycopsid genus Leclercqia from the Chilliwack group, Washington.”
•Michael Albert Choi:
“The Effect of Hypoxia on Stem Cells and Cancer Stem Cells.”
A highly competitive scholarship program, the Mary Gates Endowment for Students promotes undergraduate scholars through financial and community support in research projects and leadership building experiences. This year, over 500 University of Washington applicants from across disciplines were judged on their quality of experience, academic achievements and growth in their fields. Following extensive review by University of Washington faculty, only the most outstanding candidates were selected to receive the award.
This latest offering of scholarships supported a range of leadership and research projects, from analyzing mutation rates in cancerous cells, to the development of a nonprofit organization that supports families with special needs children. Many of the scholars’ projects are focused on tackling real-world issues relevant in our local communities and on a global scale.
Local students named National Merit finalists
Several local students have been named to the list of National Merit finalists and will have the chance to become National Merit scholars.
Six students from Mercer Island High School, including Aaron Azose, Matthew Johnson, Aaron King, Alisa Owens, Martina Unutzer and Matthew Wiens, were named as local finalists. Jonah Kohen, who attends Northwest Yeshiva High School, was also named to the list, as were Ishani Deo, Anna Franklin and Stewart Hackett Landerfeld of Lakeside Prep in Seattle.
The group of semifinalists is among the 8,200 students across the United States who already earned semi-finalist status.
If you know of a student who has also been named as a National Merit finalist and is not on this list, please let us know. E-mail mmanagan@mi-reporter.com.
MIHS music staff earn state honors
Two staff members in the Mercer Island High School music department recently earned state honors.
Parker Bixby, the director of the music and band program, earned the Outstanding Music Educator for the Eastshore region at the Washington Music Educator’s state conference, while Julie Naylor earned the 2010 Friend of Music award for her work as the fine arts coordinating secretary at the high school.
Unutzer is nominated for Presidential Scholar
The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars and the United States Department of Education recently announced that Martina Unutzer has been selected as the Mercer Island High School candidate for the Presidential Scholar Award. Annually, up to 141 scholars are chosen based on exceptional scholarship, leadership, service to the community and are occasionally awarded due to talent in the arts areas.
