Winton Woods Choir Wins GOLD at World Choir Games
All the weeks of hard work and practice, tired voices, repetition, postponed family vacations and volunteered time was worth it on Sunday, July 8, as the Winton Woods High School Varsity Ensemble won a gold medal at this year’s World Choir Games. “It was an incredible honor to perform in the championship division with the top choirs in the world and receive the recognition of a gold medal,” said Choir Director David Bell. “To be selected as being among the ‘best of the best’ is the strongest possible endorsement of our young singers and the Winton Woods City Schools music program.”
The Varsity Ensemble competed in the mixed youth competition, which included groups of male and female singers ages 12-24. “We came in fifth place overall behind Hangzhou Normal University from China who were the grand champions, Mansfield University Choir, the Lehigh Valley School for the Performing Arts, and the SKH Lam Woo Memorial High School of Hong Kong,” said Bell. Judges for the category came from the Taipei China, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Japan and the United States.
“Winning a gold medal qualifies us to participate in the World Choir Games at the Championship Level for the next five years,” said Bell, who was asked be the guest conductor this week and warm up the 500 voice international stage choir for the closing ceremonies. Some of the members of the Varsity Ensemble will also be singing in the closing ceremony.
Winton Woods Music is $10,000 Winner in Glee Give a Note Contest
The Winton Woods High School music department is $10,000 richer thanks to their video being chosen as a second place winner in the Glee Give a Note Contest. There were 492 schools across America that submitted videos, and over two million votes cast to determine the winners.
“I am so thrilled that our video was chosen as one of the winners,” said Winton Woods High School Assistant Choir Director Elizabeth Barth, who was in charge of creating the video. “There were many great videos and very deserving schools, and I am excited about the possibilities that this money will bring for our program and our students. The money will be split up so that the orchestra, band, choir and a cappella groups each receive a part of it. The directors of those ensembles can decide how it can best be used.”
The $1 million awarded to schools by the contest was divided into 73 prizes. Three schools won the grand prize of $50,000; 10 schools won the first place prize of $25,000 and 60 schools won the second prize of $10,000. Videos of winning schools can be seen at www.gleegiveanote.com.
"I am so proud of Lizbee Barth, who with the assistance of Fine Arts Director Dave Bell, her music colleagues, and Winton Woods High School music students produced the winning Glee Give a Note video,” said Principal Dr. Terri Holden. “Our students are the school's and the community's most valuable resource. It is critical that we support music education as a way for students to develop their musical talents as well as learn how to be a better citizen by collaborating with others and broadening their horizons.”
The Glee Give a Note campaign was created to bring attention to the importance of music education in schools and also to help provide funding to school music programs in need. The $1 million was funded through sales of the Glee DVDs – $1 of each DVD sold went toward the $1,000,000. The Glee Give a Note contest invited eligible schools to submit videos about why their school was in need of a music education grant. After a public voting period, videos were evaluated by teams of NAfME music educators who looked at its relevance to music education, emotional and inspirational appeal, demonstration of financial need and public voting.
“The selection of your school’s video entry as a contest winner is a tremendous achievement, and is a testament to the hard work of everyone associated with your school and your music program,” said Jane M. Balek, assistant executive director for the National Association for Music Education in a letter to Holden.
I’m thankful to everyone in the community and across the country who voted for our video, to the students for helping to put the video together and for being a daily source of inspiration, and to all of the Winton Woods staff, administration and school board for always being so supportive of our program,” said Barth.
Winton Woods High School Receives $10,000 Educational Program Donation
Rehana Mubarak, a former Winton Woods High School exchange student from Germay, has always had a special place in her heart for her American school and the friends she made while here in 1999-2000. “Rehana has never forgotten her time here,” said Cindy Marcou, district nurse and exchange coordinator for the EF Foundation for Foreign Study, who stays in touch with Mubarak.
Those fond memories have led to the donation of 510 language learning programs worth $10,200 by Mubarak’s employer, Omicron Electronics in Austria. The company paid shipping and customs fees as well.
“Two USB software programs were donated, both of which are loaded onto USBs and allow students to customize their learning by creating their own learning modules,” said Michelle Sisk, media specialist at Winton Woods High School. “One of the titles is ‘Chinese Characters,’ which is designed to help students memorize and understand more than 3000 Chinese words. That software has already been issued to all of the students enrolled in Chinese class at the high school.”
Sisk said the other program is called "Prep for the SAT" and it “helps students prepare for the critical reading, mathematics and writing portions of the SAT test.” The SAT prep software will be distributed to students taking the SAT/ACT prep classes.
Additional copies of both titles may be checked out by individual students with teacher/librarian permission.
"We are so grateful that Rehana felt so strongly about her positive experiences at Winton Woods High School that she wanted to give back,” said Principal Dr.Terri Holden. “Our students will make good use of these programs as they seek to improve their college readiness skills."
Winton Woods School District Awarded for Financial Excellence
Winton Woods City Schools has been awarded the Certificate of Excellence (COE) in Financial Reporting by the Association of School Business Officials International. The award is given to school systems that have met or exceeded the stringent standards of the COE criteria.Winton Woods City Schools was recognized for its high quality Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year 2010.
The COE award confirms the school business office’s commitment to financial accountability and transparency. Recognition through the COE program can help strengthen a district’s presentation for bond issuance statements and promotes a high level of financial reporting.
The Association of School Business Officials International was founded in 1910 and is a professional association of more than 5,000 members that provides programs and services to promote the highest standards of school business management practices, professional growth and effective use of educational resources.
Winton Woods District Honors Globe Award Winners
Four employees of Winton Woods City Schools were honored for their outstanding work in the district with Globe Awards at the district’s convocation on Monday, August 15. Receiving awards were Dr. Terri Socol, the district’s new executive director of teaching and learning; Sam Woods, head custodian at Winton Woods High School; Linda Ball, first grade teacher at Winton Woods Primary South; and LeAnne Montgomery, human resources associate for Winton Woods City Schools. 
Staff members were nominated from each classification—teachers, administrators, exempt and classified employees—and Winton Woods Superintendent Dr. Camille Nasbe chose the winners. The award winners were presented with a small globe trophy with their name and “2011 WWCS Globe Award Winner” on it. They will also be featured on the district’s website banner which shows highlights of events and honors throughout the district. |