Tag Archives: Pioneer High School

News from Pioneer

NAMM Foundation names AAPS one of ‘Best Communities for Music Education’

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Huron High School alum, and U.S. Marine Band clarinetist Jonathon Troy returned to the district for a Picnic Pop performance May 20, 2012. Troy also gave workshops with students at the high school.

Huron High School alum and U.S. Marine Band clarinetist Jonathon Troy returned to the district for a Picnic Pop performance May 20, 2012. “I just wanted to let you know that the music programs in the Ann Arbor Public Schools are extraordinary,” he said to the audience.

 

The NAMM Foundation has named the Ann Arbor Public Schools one of its “Best Communities for Music Education” this year, and it’s just one of three communities from Michigan to get the honor.

NAMM, which stands for the National Association of Music Merchants, named 307 districts across the country on the list this year. According to NAMM, the “designation recognizes collaborative, from-the-ground-up efforts of teachers, administrators, students and parents who continually work to keep comprehensive music education as an integral part of the core curriculum.”

It is no surprise that the Ann Arbor Public Schools is being honored by NAMM, because it continues to show tremendous success in and dedication to music education throughout the district. Pioneer High School’s music department has received seven GRAMMY® awards, including the unprecedented honor of honor of being selected twice as a National GRAMMY® Signature School. Continue reading →

The Mandarin Bridge from Ann Arbor to China

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Spring Break trip to China

Photo provided by Anne Gere

By Anne Gere

Just back from a spring break trip to China, Holden Mass, a ninth grader at Pioneer High School, commented, “I was shocked by how many people there were;  I knew there were a lot, but…”

Holden and ten other Ann Arbor students traveled to China over this year’s spring break with their Mandarin teacher, Fan Wu.  Ranging from fourth to tenth grade and representing Huron High School, Community High School, and Summers-Knoll School as well as Pioneer, the group  visited with their counterparts from the Hangzhou Foreign Language School and the Beijing International School. The students paid for their own trip.

“The world is a village, and language is a bridge,” explained Fan Wu.  She began planning this trip over a year ago, organizing travel arrangements, making contact with schools in China, and, especially, helping her students become more fluent in Mandarin.  Her goal was to help students add to their learning with real-world experience, understand diversity, and develop a broader knowledge about China by learning about its history, religions, culture, and education.   Continue reading →

Pioneer holds 28th annual College and Career Fair

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College and Career Fair at Pioneer April 10, 2013

Hundreds of colleges and organizations gathered in the Pioneer High School cafeteria for the school’s 28th annual College and Career Fair.

The event attracts over 1,000 high school students, said Joyce Williams, one of the organizers. “We invite students from all across the county. It’s a madhouse like this every year!” Continue reading →

Pioneer to perform ‘Shrek the Musical’

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Chelsea Stauffer, Joe Riesterer and Mitch Fehrle show off two of Princess Fiona's dresses that the costuming students created. Fiona undergoes many physical transformations in the show, necessitating dresses of different sizes and a fat suit.

Chelsea Stauffer, Joe Riesterer and Mitch Fehrle show off two of Princess Fiona’s dresses that the costuming students created. Fiona undergoes many physical transformations in the show, necessitating dresses of different sizes and a fat suit.

By Tara Cavanaugh

Oh, for the love of Pete! The Pioneer Theater Guild is performing “Shrek the Musical” from April 27 to May 5, and the performance dates can’t come soon enough.

Pioneer is workshopping the musical, which means that the school can produce it without paying for the rights –– a cost of up to $7,000, said producer Susan Hurwitz. It also means that the director, producers and set designers have extra creative liberty, and the performance can influence the final version of the musical that is licensed by Musical Theater International.

“It’s so clever on so many levels,” said Hurwitz at a recent after-school rehearsal. “In other shows, sometimes characters are a bit one-dimensional. These characters are not. They’re so funny because they’re all so twisted.”

Workshopping is an opportunity earned by few theaters. Pioneer is just one of two high schools in the country to workshop Shrek. And this is Pioneer’s third workshop experience: It has previously workshopped Miss Saigon and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Continue reading →

Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop donates over $50K to PTOs, clubs, field trips and more

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PTO Thrift shopper

The Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop is located at 2280 S. Industrial Highway. The shop sells furniture, clothing, books, home goods, electronics, craft supplies and more.

By Tara Cavanaugh 

The Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop’s mission is to support the schools. And three times each year, its support comes in the form of a small but valuable slip of paper: a check.

On Jan. 29 the shop distributed $50,020 total between all 33 of the Ann Arbor Public Schools (see comprehensive list below). The money supports enrichment opportunities for students in the form of field trips, sports clubs, academic supplies, camps and plenty more.

“It’s exciting to celebrate a great year in 2012 and immediately start another with this kind of vigorous funding,” said Ann Farnham, the shop’s executive director. ”What a couple of high notes for our shop and for our AAPS community.” Continue reading →

Cartoonist Dave Coverly visits Pioneer

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Cartoonist Dave Coverly visits Pioneer High School English class

Cartoonist Dave Coverly is third from right. Photo provided by Barbara Klaver.

Dave Coverly, cartoonist creator of Speedbump and father of Pioneer senior Alayna Coverly, visited English teacher Barbara Klaver’s classroom to discuss the graphic novel Maus. Pioneer High School’s Contemporary World Literature classes were studying the Pulitzer Prize winning work by Art Spiegelman. Continue reading →

French Dukes reunite with Pioneer for NAAPID celebration

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Calvin Ross and Kenneth Mitchell of the French Dukes Drill team.

Calvin Ross and Kenneth Mitchell of the French Dukes Drill team on Feb. 12 at Pioneer High School. 

By Tara Cavanaugh

The French Dukes drill team, which won dozens of national and state-level championships after its inception in the sixties, visited the school where it all began on Tuesday.

The Dukes performed at Pioneer High School’s celebration of National African American Parent Involvement Day. NAAPID is usually marked the first Monday of February, but the performance was moved after the snow day on Monday.

The Dukes performed with just two members, but the audience was still wowed by their talent and precision.

One of the performers was Kenneth Mitchell, whose older brother was a founding member.

“It taught us discipline, built up our self-esteem, gave us something to be proud of and a sense of community,” Mitchell said about his early days with the team. Mitchell is now the Dukes’ executive officer.

“We loved getting together,” Mitchell added. “Everybody had rank, and it was a matter of earning your way up.” He pointed to a pin on his collar. “I’m up to six stripes and a star in the middle. Everyone starts off with one stripe.”

Calvin Ross, who earned his way up to becoming the Dukes’ commander, recalled winning dozens of national and state-level titles. The team went undefeated for 20 years in a row.

Ross and Mitchell are planning a recruitment campaign in the spring or summer.

“We’re trying to drill ourselves out of our positions–– literally!” Mitchell joked, adding that he and Ross are in their early 60s. “We want them to replace us.”

Ann Arbor’s famous Harbaugh brothers face off in Super Bowl

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John and Jim Harbaugh

Photo from the L.A. Times.

Ann Arbor is abuzz about Sunday’s Super Bowl, and for a very special reason: the competing teams’ head coaches are a notable part of the city’s history.

Jim and John Harbaugh, brothers who attended Pioneer High School, boast an impressive list of accomplishments: Jim played quarterback for the University of Michigan, was an NFL quarterback, was the head football coach of at Stanford and is now head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Jim’s older brother John was a defensive back and special teams coach for the Philadelphia Eagles and is now the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

Their biggest accomplishment is yet to come, and it will only be won by one of them: this Sunday they’ll face off in the Super Bowl.

The brothers, who made history by being the first brothers to compete for a national title Thanksgiving 2011, have recently attracted plenty of media attention –– see the list below. Continue reading →

Pioneer gift baskets help families over holiday break

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Pioneer food baskets

Pioneer Community Assistant Taryn Reid started a holiday gift basket program last year, reaching 15 families. This season, food is going to 27 families.

By Tara Cavanaugh

Thanks to the collaboration of staff, parents and students at Pioneer High School, 27 families are getting a small boost over winter break.

They’re picking up bags of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner that will last the next two weeks.

“These kids typically eat their breakfast and lunch here,” said Taryn Reid, a community assistant at Pioneer.  “A lot of times they’re coming to us after school asking for something to eat. Typically I pack extra in my lunch because I know that somebody is going to ask for it.” Continue reading →

Google Career Day inspires AAPS juniors, seniors

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Google AAPS Career Day Panel Discussion

By Tara Cavanaugh 

When you think of Google, you think of Google Docs, Gmail and its all-knowing search engine. Its creative and innovative products stem from a deliberately unique and inspiring work environment –– and last month the company shared its inspiration with AAPS students.

Google’s Ann Arbor office hosted 43 Ann Arbor Public Schools juniors and seniors at its Career Day event on Nov. 29. The high schoolers took a tour of Google’s eclectic offices and talked one-on-one with employees, taking away lessons and tips for their future college and career experiences.

Continue reading →

Cindy Leaman named new Principal of Pioneer High School

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Cindy Leaman, currently the principal of Clague Middle School, speaks at Clague’s 40th Anniversary celebration last month.

Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Patricia P. Green is pleased to announce that Cindy Leaman has been named the new Principal at Pioneer High School.

Ms. Leaman is currently the Principal at Clague Middle School. She will take the leadership position at Pioneer starting on Monday, Jan. 7, 2013.

Judy Hayes, current Assistant Principal at Clague, has been named the Interim Principal until the position is filled. Continue reading →

Community Builders Program strengthens learning communities, fosters student leadership

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The student delegates at the first Student Leadership Assembly Nov. 30.

The student delegates at the first Student Leadership Assembly Nov. 30.

Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Patricia Green has instigated a new Community Builders Program, which provides leadership opportunities for students that focus on three levels of peace education: peacekeeping, peace building and peace making skills.

“Developing student leadership should start early in school and this is a program designed to utilize high school student leaders in connection with elementary student leaders, under the guidance of teacher facilitators,” said Dr. Green. “The Community Builders program is a new, formalized district-wide elementary student leadership program recognizing and celebrating those schools demonstrating the most respectful behaviors as a school. It is designed to reinforce the concept of creating and keeping caring communities.” Continue reading →

Argus Planetarium to receive $100K gift from IMRA America, Inc.

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The planetarium will be updated with the new DigiStar 5 operating system. View a demo of the system at http://vimeo.com/47740434

By Tara Cavanaugh

A longtime treasure of the Ann Arbor Public Schools is about to get a major update.

Pioneer High School’s Argus Planetarium will receive a $100,000 gift from IMRA America, Inc.

“The district is very grateful for this generous donation from IMRA,” said AAPS Superintendent Dr. Patricia Green.  “This donation will enable the district to continue to provide the rich science curriculum the planetarium provides to not only AAPS students but to the community.”

In appreciation of the company’s generosity, the planetarium will be renamed the Argus IMRA Planetarium for the next 25 years. Continue reading →