School Zone
Points of Pride
35 DCPS
Students Named Semifinalists in the 2008 National Merit®
Scholarship Program
More than 1.4 million juniors
in nearly 21,000 high schools entered the 2008 National
Merit Program by taking the 2006 Preliminary
SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®),
which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
35 students from DCPS were among the 16,000
Semifinalists named in the 53rd annual National Merit
Scholarship Program. These academically talented high
school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the
competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship® awards,
worth $34 million, that will be offered next spring.
Click here to see the official press release and the
names of Duval’s semifinalists.
It’s
Official! Mandarin Middle breaks Guinness World Record
Over the summer, Guinness
approved the newest record of Most People Reading Aloud
Simultaneously in Multiple Locations, making it official
that Mandarin Middle School’s language arts teacher Jane
Feber’s brainchild was a success. Feber came up with the
idea of setting the simultaneous record in 2005 in an
attempt to get middle school students to read. Feber
then submitted her idea to Governor Jeb Bush and had it
approved by the Florida Department of Education.
In December 2006, Governor
Bush said, "Our goal in Florida is to ensure that all
students are able to read at or above grade level by the
year 2012." He also stated, "Our middle school students
are showing improvement in reading with 57 percent
reading successfully last year. No mater what the
results are from Guinness, Florida's middle school
students are already succeeding in one of life's most
valuable skills — reading."
On September 28, 2006 at
11:25 a.m. 186,054 middle school students across the
state broke Guinness’ record for Most People Reading
Aloud Simultaneously in Multiple Locations by reading an
excerpt from Peter and the Starcatchers, written
by Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson.
The record for this category
was previously set in 2004 when 155,528 students read
the poem Daffodils, by William Wordsworth.
DASOTA
Wind Symphony Performing at the
Music Educators National Conference
(MENC)
Congratulations to the
Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Wind Symphony for
being invited to perform at the Music Educators National
Ccnference National Convention in April of 2008 in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The MENC, is the largest, national
professional organization for music educators. Every
other year, for their biennial convention, they invite
middle school, high school and college bands, choirs and
orchestras to audition to perform a concert at the
conference, and this year the DA Wind Symphony was one
of the ensembles chosen for this prestigious event.
This acceptance is another big honor for the band, as
they will be able to share their music making with some
of the finest band directors in the country. Two years
ago, the band was invited to the National Concert Band
Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana, so this invitation
continues a string of performances for the band at the
national level.
Upon being selected for this
performance, Band Director Shawn Barat said, "This is
another great honor for our band program, and it gives
us a new opportunity to perform on a national level. The
students and I are extremely excited about the entire
trip, from music preparation and performance to being
able to travel together to Wisconsin." |
