Belleville jazz bands win state contest

The junior high band of Belleville District 118 again turned heads and ears with their music at the Illinois State Jazz Invitational over the weekend.

For the second year in a row, the Central Junior High students took first place in the Junior High Division; the District 118 Jazz Combo also won first place competing in the High School Division. The Jazz Combo is made up of Nina Goodrich, Jeremiah Williams, Isaiah Hein, Braden Valerius, Jada Dorsey and Kaleb Powell.

Isaiah Hein and Jeremiah Williams, both eighth-graders at Central Junior High, took home two of the five overall outstanding soloist awards for the two-day festival. They are the only junior high students to win the honor; and also each earned outstanding soloist last year.

The band was also asked to be in the festival’s celebration concert, the first time a junior high band earned the honor, said Tony DiPasquale, the band’s director.

Belleville East has future business leaders

Belleville East students placed in the recent Future Business Leaders of America state competition. The contest was April 1 at the state capital in Springfield.

Ray McCann, a senior, took first place in business law. Jessica Heilig, Jessica Loving, Montez Douglas, Carrington Davis and Peanina Porter took fourth place for their community service project; and Peanina Porter and Carrington Davis also took fourth place for hospitality management. Hessuca Geukug came in ninth place for accounting.

The FBLA club is sponsored by Julie Siebers and Kassandra Korte.

Buddy bench

The new buddy bench at St. John Neumann Catholic School in Maryville comes courtesy of the Girl Scouts. It was installed Friday.

Girl Scout Troop 68 had a bake sale to raise money for the buddy bench; in so doing they also earned their “Random Acts of Kindness” badge.

Buddy benches are used in playgrounds around the metro-east and beyond; when a student is feeling sad or lonely he or she can sit on the bench and other students know to approach and converse or ask the child to play.

Art awards

The Regional Office of Education for Monroe and Randolph counties announced the winners of the art contest at Waterloo Junior High School on April 5. Fifth through eighth-grade students competed in illustrated drawing, cartooning, figure drawing, sculpture and still life.

One student was chosen from each grade as the Judges Choice Award. They were:

▪  Still life: Sydney Wahle, fifth-grader at Immaculate Conception; Kylie Fortner, sixth-grader at St. John Lutheran in Chester; Ivy Thornberry, seventh-grader at Red Bud Elementary; and Alyssa Terry, eighth-grader at Columbia Middle School.

▪  Illustrated drawing: Alyson Evans, fifth-grader at Gardner Elementary in Waterloo; Jared Landeros, sixth-grader at St. Mary’s; Lauren Soellner, seventh-grader at St. Mary’s, and Renata Delre, eighth-grader at Waterloo Junior High.

▪  Cartooning: Emma Smith, fifth-grader at Columbia Middle; Ashley Ottoson, sixth-grader at St. John Lutheran; and Kalia Jerkatis, a seventh- grader.

▪  Figure drawing: DaKota L’Hote, fifth-grader at Immaculate Conception School; Ally Curry, sixth-grader at Immaculate Conception; Reagen Hermann, seventh-grader at Immaculate Conception; and Sophia Liefer, eight-grader at St. John Lutheran.

▪  Sculpture: Meagan Dehne, fifth-grader at Red Bud Elementary; Claire Wasson, sixth-grader at St. Mark’s in Steeleville; Danica Heuer, seventh-grader at Waterloo Junior High; and Sophia Mitchell, eighth-grader at Saints Peter and Paul.

In addition, Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic School provided the winners from it’s school. They were Faith Miskell and Rachel Bradley for figure drawing; Paden Schultz, Ashlyn Wightman and Lauren Eichholz for still life; and Hannah Gundlach, Mary Ellen Koeninger and Keaton Grohmann for cartooning.

Flag presentation

Pre-kindergarteners at Washington School in Belleville had an assembly oApril 8 to present a special flag, one flown in Afghanistan where a student’s father was deployed for much of the year.

Jason Fowler, father to pre-kindergarten student Arabella Fowler, sent the flag to show his and his unit’s appreciation for the students care package earlier of snowflake ornaments that the students made, as well as hygiene products.

Students cheered as Arabella announced at the assembly that her father would be home over the weekend.

“Dad made it home safely on Saturday,” Principal Jamie Buss said in email. “And according to mom, Arabella hasn’t let him out of her sight.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 12:37 PM with the headline "Belleville jazz bands win state contest."