Metro-east students shine in talent, academic contests

The concert band and wind ensemble from Granite City High School brought home seven awards from an early April competition in April, including the Grand Champion Sweepstakes Trophy. The WorldStrides Onstage National Band Competition in Nashville, Tenn., had bands from eight other states.

Granite City won the Grand Champion for its combined scores between the concert band and the wind ensemble. The concert band earned its first Gold Rating in a national competition as well as the Maestro Award for the best soloist, Reanna Farley. Reanna plays the clarinet.

The wind ensemble earned a Gold Rating, as well as the Instrumental Adjudicators Award and the Outstanding Band Award, given to the group with the highest score of the entire festival. Trumpet soloist Ian Cowley earned the Winds the Maestro Award for the best soloist in their class.

Because of their awards, the Granite City bands were invited to the WorldStrides Onstage Festival of Gold, coming to Chicago’s Orchestra Hall in April of 2017.

Earlier this month, the school’s marching band was asked to be part of the celebrations for Granite City native Kevin Greene’s induction into the NFL Hall of Fame. The band will need to raise $50,000 to make the trip, in addition to its other fundraising efforts for other trips and contests.

The Warriors are planning a “Meet Hall of Famer Kevin Greene Day” at 2 p.m. May 21 at the high school. The $20 admission, limited to 2,000 tickets, includes entry into a drawing to win one of 10 autographed photos of Greene. They’ll also have raffle tickets for an autographed helmet and more.

Buy tickets from any band member, or email Director of Bands Wyatt Roberds at wyatt.roberds@gcsd9.net.

The induction parade and ceremony is Aug. 6.

Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a short summary of a business plan – like what one would say to an important businessperson one rides an elevator with. It needs to be entertaining, enticing and concise.

Twenty area students will give their best elevator pitches at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Southwestern Illinois College, Room 2313. The annual Allsup Elevator Pitch Competition offers a $500 prize. For more infomration, call 618-235-2700, ext. 5434 or email sue.taylor@swic.edu.

SWIC Computer Contest

Southwestern Illinois College sponsored to the 24th annual SWIC Computer Contest on April 8. Twenty-six teams, from eight metro-east high schools, competed in Software Applications, Computer Programming and Web design at the contest.

▪ Mascoutah High School students came in first place in Software Applications.

▪ Belleville West Team No. 2 took first place in Computer Programming. Edwardsville High School Team No. 1 and 2 took second and third, respectfully.

▪ New Athens High School Team No. 1 took second place in Web design. O’Fallon High School Team No. 1 took third in the category.

Fabulous Fox talent show

Three metro-east students have emerged to be among the top 12 high school acts in the greater St. Louis area to make into the final found of the 2016 St. Louis Teen Talent Competition.

Rayna Campbell and Abby Zaiz, both of Belleville East, Christina Jones, of O’Fallon Township High School, are competing for college scholarships, cash prizes and other special awards.

Go to https://vimeo.com/158579671 to see previews of the finalists.

The contest starts at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Fox Theater in St. Louis. Tickets are free, but it is a ticketed event. Visit www.foxpacf.org/ for tickets and more information.

Girl Scout Gold Awards

Four area Scouts have earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn. It recognizes her commitment to excellence as she develops skills and values to meet present and future challenges in her life. The Girl Scout must design and carry out a project that fulfills a need within a girl’s community, creates change and is sustainable. The project must be completed with a suggested minimum of 80 hours of work. Only about 5 percent of eligible girls earn the prestigious Gold Award.

▪ Sarah Pavlisin, of Lebanon and a senior at O’Fallon Township High School, earned the Girl Scout Gold Award for her project called The Joy of Reading. Sarah created a library for special education students in St. Louis, with areas specifally where they could read in a safe haven from any school or life stress. She created sensory bags and balloons filled with flour that help the children and supplied the library with beanbag chairs, a fish tank, and even mood lighting to make the space welcoming and kid-friendly. With the help of a handyman, she built shelves for the books, toys and games for the library. “The children’s bright smiles and bubbling excitement at the library’s grand opening ceremony made me realize that my project meant so much to them,” Sarah said.

▪ Allison Demetria LaSalvia, of Swansea and a sophomore at Belleville East, earned the Girl Scout Gold Award for her project Growing Roots. She was inspired by a mission trip in 2014, and noticed how her group benefited from creating bueatiful things with limited resources and being outside. Allison thinks that military youth could benefit from similar experiences, and built two raised bed gardens and two trellises for the Scott Air Force Base Youth Center. She also had activities with the center’s youth to inspire them to garden. “Above all, I learned that even if I only impacted one life, that is the most fulfilling thing that I can ever do in life,” Allison said.

▪ Adrienna Ridgeway, of Troy and a senior at Triad Senior High School, earned her Girl Scout Gold Award for her Flames of Glory project. She improved the fire pit area at part of the Girl Scout camp Camp Torqua. Adrienna extended the fire pit area by adding rock, and built and stained benches for expanded seating. The firepit is now updated and safer for other Girl Scouts and their families. “I learned what a big responsibility it is to conduct and complete a project. I also learned to work as a team to accomplish my goal,” Adrienna said about her project.

▪ Nicole L. Laflen, of Belleville and a sophomore at Belleville West, earned her Gold Scout Award for Strides for Strays – Racing to Rescue – Service for Smiles project. She had a 5K and informational fair to bring awareness to the shelter animals that could be used as service animals. The race and fair had about 225 registered participants and about 18 vendors. She also made beds and blankets to donate to the shelter animals. “My Girl Scout Gold Award project taught me that no matter what roadblocks I faced, I knew I could overcome them,” Nicole said.

Chicago-bound

Four students from Collinsville will go to Chicago on April 26 to compete in the Personal Finance Challenge at the Chicago Federal Reserve.

Seniors Ben Frey, Katie Loyet and John Collins, and junior Chloe Parsons, will compete in four rounds of competition, as both individuals and a team.

The four were a team that competed against 124 other Illinois teams in an online exam that covered income, insurance and credit, among other topes. The top scoring team from each of five Illinois regions joined the top five high scoring teams in the state for the finals.

CHS business teacher and team adviser Vicki Fuhrhop said it is the fifth consecutive year that the school advanced to the state competition.

Scholarship awards

Three children of Olin Corporation employees have been awarded $2,500 for college, renewable for another three years for a possible total of $10,000.

Based on ACT scores, the metro-east winners are Jacob Levin, of Edwardsville High School and Kara Luechtefeld, of Belleville West High School.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 11:55 AM.