__________________________________________________________________________

 

KUDOS TO EMERSON KIDS
 

___________________________________________________________________
DEXTER-ANN ARBOR 5K
Congratulations to the students and staff members who ran in the Dexter-Ann Arbor race last weekend. Mara Mueting (4) was the overall winner for the 12 and under age bracket in the 5K race with a time of 22:34! Sejal Gunaratnam (6), and Divya (6) and Supriya Macha (3) all competed in the 5K as well.
___________________________________________________________________

MICHIGAN 8 AND UNDER SWIM CHAMPION
Sophia Kunisaki (3), a participant in the Michigan 8 and Under Championship Swim Meet, won a first place medal in the 200 yard freestyle relay, a second place medal in both the individual 50 yard butterfly and the 100 yard medley relay, and a third place medal in both the individual 50 yard breast stroke and the individual 100 yard freestyle. Sophia is the Washtenaw County girls 8 and under 25 yard breast stroke champion! Way to go Sophia!

____________________________________________________________________

A FAMILY OF RUNNERS!
Zachary Reynolds (8), and his brother Dylan, and mother Helen, completed the Bayshore Half-Marathon this past Saturday. Congratulations to the family runners!
___________________________________________________________________

NATIONAL FRENCH CONTEST WINNERS
Every year, the 7th and 8th grade French students participate in the National French Contest (le Concours National). Ten students participated at the 7th grade level, and there were 4,700 participants nationwide. Here are the students who scored in the top ten:
Student              State Nation
Powel Kazanjian    7      11
Hojin Han              9      13
Katie Riles            10     14
Lizzie Riles           10     14
Students with more experience with the language or who grew up in a French speaking area were measured against 207 students with a similar background.
Maureen Coster     1       1
Nine 8th graders competed against a group of 17,889 participants. Here are their results:
Student              State Nation
Veronica Correa    2       3
Tim Arvan             3       4
Matty Hack            4       5
John Nicklas          7       8
Abe Weiner           10     11
One student competed against other native French speakers:
Charlotte Coster    1       1
Congratulations to all of our Emerson French students for their outstanding efforts!!!

___________________________________________________________________

MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE OLYMPIAD TEAM PLACES 8TH IN STATE

The Emerson Middle School Science Olympiad team earned an 8th place finish at the state Science Olympiad tournament. The Emerson team, which competed against 47 other middle school teams from all over the state, was led by a dedicated, hardworking, and talented group of 8th graders including Olivia Popp, John Nicklas, Zach Reynolds, Shea Sanvordenker, Tim Arvan, Anna Argento, Chandra Krishnan, Arjun Lama, Marcell Benkes-Toth, Connor Todd, Nate Holden, Marco Lorenzon, and Ethan Tucker. The Emerson team earned seven top-six medal places in the tournament, which is a tremendous accomplishment considering the high level of competition experienced at the state meet.
Individual medals (for places 1st through 6th) were as follows: 1st Place, Bottle Rockets- John Nicklas and Marco Lorenzon 1st Place, Disease Detectives- John Nicklas and Arjun Lama 4th Place, Crime Busters- Shea Sanvordenker and Tim Arvan 5th Place, Anatomy- Zach Reynolds and OliviaPopp 5th Place, Compute This- Olivia Popp and Hojin Han 6th Place, Mission Possible- Connor Todd, Shea Sanvordenker, and Zach Reynolds 6th Place, Optics- Shea Sanvordenker and Marco Lorenzon. It is worthwhile to note that Shea Sanvordenker (3), John Nicklas (2), Olivia Popp (2), Zach Reynolds (2) and Marco Lorenzon (2) all earned medals in multiple events.
___________________________________________________________________

WASHTENAW ELEMENTARY SCIENCE OLYMPIAD

Congratulations to the ninety Emerson students who participated in this year's Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad which was held on Saturday, April 21st, at Pioneer High School. With over 25 schools and 1600 students participating, our grade 2-5 students represented Emerson so well--we are very proud of their participation and achievements.

Congratulations to our terrific Science Olympians: Phillip Crumm, Ryan Wang, Cari Bohm, Arvid Jonsson, Zoe Beekman, Regan McKee, Marggie Yang, Clara Ballard, Mert Oral, Kidus Tewodros, Christopher Bernitsas, Luca Bichakjian, Nicole Schmidt, Kenichi Lobbezoo, Jack Bruienne, Josh Moss, Luka Hecht, Sefa Agnew, Charlotte Hauptman, Arnav Brahmasandra, Arjun Purohit, Lily Hetherman, Francesca Weller, Kajal Patel, Nikhil Gunaratnam, Kieran Hueng, Steven Theisen, Leif Ferguson, Samantha Durrant, Esme' Cohen, Sophia Emerson, Supriya Macha, Stephanie Smith, Lacey Cooper, Meredith Vohland, Hayg Balis, Shailen Chugh, Meg Nightingale, Evelynne Crumm, Claire Derksen, Katie Ballard, Maya Vijan, Robby Riles, Cameron Cowland, Milin Macha, Sahil Deenadayalu, Kaan Oral, Michael Stewart, Emerson Li, Ella Cunningham, Luke Warhurst, JJ Tracy, Quade Pohlman, Katie Wu, Shaunak Bhagat, Harrison He, Ashley Harlock, Nikki Lama, Anvit Rao, Casey Lewis, Brenan Dionne, Randie Jo Evans, Delenn Bauer, Krishna Kotecha, Kieran Witgen, Justin Zhang, Lindsay Michaels, Madeleine Yang, Henry Fleischmann, Nikhil Deenadayalu, Michael Pelosi, Vincent Pelosi, Marinos Bernitsas, Samir Hafez, Grace Carvette, Jack Lasinski, Mobin Mazloomian, Ben Chambers, Andie Tappenden, Biruk Tewodros, Nia Moore, Panayiotis Georgakas, Meera Bhagat, Lukas Jonsson, Tyler Lee, Liam Coolican, Emma Nightingale, Elie Spoor, Hazel Byers, and Isabelle Crumm.

Emerson placed in seventeen events this year: No Bones About It Gr. 2 (Mert Oral, Christopher Bernitsas, & Kidus Tewodros); Sink or Float Gr. 2 (Phillip Crumm & Ryan Wang); Mystery Architecture Gr. 2 (Cari Bohm & Arvid Jonsson); No Bones About It Gr. 3 (Josh Moss & Luka Hecht); To Infinity & Beyond Gr. 3 (Esme' Cohen & Sophia Emerson); Map Reading Gr. 4 (Sahil Deenadayalu & Kaan Oral); Circuit Wizardry Gr. 4 (Anvit Rao, Brenan Dionne, & Casey Lewis); To Infinity & Beyond Gr. 4 (Maya Vijan & Katie Ballard); No Bones About It Gr. 4 (Kaan Oral & Maya Vijan); On Target Gr. 4 (Robby Riles, Milin Macha, & Cameron Cowland); Straw Tower Gr. 5 (Liam Coolican & Mobin Mazloomian); No Bones About It Gr. 5 (Marinos Bernitsas, Samir Hafez, Grace Carvette); Water Rockets Gr. 5 (Emma Nightingale, Isabelle Crumm, Hazel Byers, & Elie Spoor); Feathered Friends Gr. 5 (Kieran Witgen & Justin Zhang); Circuit Wizardry Gr. 5 (Randie Jo Evans, Krishna Kotecha, Delenn Bauer); To Infinity & Beyond Gr. 5 (Madeleine Yang & Lindsay Michaels); and Science Jeopardy Gr. 5 (Lukas Jonsson, Tyler Lee, Madeleine Yang, & Biruk Tewodros).
___________________________________________________________________

EMERSON STUDENTS & ALUMS PERFORM TOGETHER

Congratulations to the musically talented Emerson students and alums that performed last Saturday in Carmina Burana at Hill Auditorium with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra.
Veronica Correa (8), Augie Guo (5), and Jack Pribble (4) performed with the youth choir, and alums Adriana Hassan, Victoria Johnson, Katie Kennedy, Liz Kennedy, Ari Axelrod, and Sam Kidd, performed with their high school choirs.

___________________________________________________________________

EMERSON ACTORS IN THE KING AND I
Come and see Emerson students Ben Chambers (5), Emma Throm (5), Sefa Agnew (3), and Lacey Cooper (3) in YPT’s production of The King and I at the Power Center May 18-20.
____________________________________________________________________

EMERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL - 2ND PLACE AT REGIONAL SCIENCE OLYMPIAD

In one of the most competitive tournaments in recent memory, Emerson Middle School came away with a 2nd place finish and a return to the Science Olympiad State Tournament, which will be held on Saturday, April 28th at Michigan State University. Students on the Emerson Science Olympiad team finished in the top six places in 22 out of 23 events, and came within just two points of beating first-place Hudson Middle School, who had 69 points.
1st Place Medals: Zachary Reynolds & Olivia Popp (Anatomy), John Nicklas & Marco Lorenzon (Bottle Rockets), Shea Sanvordenker & Marco Lorenzon (Optics), Tim Arvan & Chandra Krishnan (Road Scholar), Nate Holden & Marcell Benkes-Toth (Write It-Do It), Noah Kim (Reach for the Stars). 2nd Place Medals: Tim Arvan & Shea Sanvordenker (Crime Busters), Arjun Lama & John Nicklas (Disease Detectives), Chandra Krishnan & Marco Lorenzon (Keep the Heat), Arjun Lama & Connor Todd (Meteorology), Z. Reynolds, S. Sanvordenker, & C. Todd (Mission Possible), Tori Schumacher & John Nicklas (Reach for the Stars), Olivia Popp & Marcell Benkes-Toth (Towers), Jonathan Roberts & Cole Hildebrandt (Bottle Rockets), Molly Pribble, Tejal, and J. Roberts (Mission Possible). 3rd Place Medals: John Nicklas & Connor Todd (Awesome Aquifer) , Anna Argento & Marcell Benkes-Toth (Forestry),
Noah Kim & Jonathan Roberts (Mousetrap Vehicle). 4th Place Ribbons: Lydia Gilbert (Storm the Castle), Olivia Popp & Hojin Han (Compute This), Anna Argento & Zach Reynolds (Dynamic Planet), Caleb Burgess & Hojin Han (Microbe Mission), Arjun Lama & Chandra Krishnan (Mousetrap Vehicle).  5th Place Ribbons: Caleb Burgess & Hojin Han (Food Science), Tim Arvan & Tori Schumacher (Rocks and Minerals), Anna Argento & Olivia Popp (Water Quality)  6th Place Ribbons: Olivia Popp, Tim Arvan, and Shea Sanvordenker (Experimental Design).
____________________________________________________________________

EMERSON MATHLETES GO TO MATHCOUNTS STATE COMPETITION
The Emerson MathCounts team went to the state competition in Big Rapids on Saturday, March 17. The team finished 10th out of approximately 26 teams. Hojin Han was the top individual finisher from Emerson tied for 33rd place (out of ~175 competitors). The other Emerson mathletes were Marco Lorenzon, Olivia Popp, and Marcell Benkes-Toth. Way to go Mathletes!

____________________________________________________________________

HOCKEY STATE CHAMPIONS

 

Congratulations to Spencer Kimball (7th) and his hockey team, Compuware 99 AAA Pee Wee Majors, who won the State Championship and are contenders for the National title in Buffalo, NY at the end of this month. ____________________________________________________________________

JAPANESE QUIZ BOWL CONTESTANTS TRIUMPH
Congratulations to participants of this year’s Japanese Quiz Bowl who won 1st and 2nd in almost all divisions, and got a lot of compliments from other teachers and university professors about their performance and behavior. Emerson students did a wonderful job and almost swiped in all divisions.
Here are the results of each round: Middle school Division I, 6th grade team - first place. Division II, 7th grade teams – second and fifth place. Division III, 8th grade teams - first and second place. Division IV Emerson Alumni team – fourth place. Division V Emerson Alumni teams – first and third place. Division II and III were competing against high school teams.
_____________________________________________________________________

MATHCOUNTS TEAM PLACES SECOND AT CHAPTER COMPETION
This year's Mathcounts team of Marco Lorenzon, Hojin Han, Olivia Popp and Marcel Benkes-Toth finished second at the local competition at Weber's Inn on February 14th. As a result they have qualified for the state MathCounts competition, which will
be held on March 17th at Ferris State University in Big Rapids MI. Marco, Olivia and Hojin all finished in the Top 10 and Hojin received an individual sixth place. This is the first time in at least ten years that the team has qualified for the state competition. Also attending the competition were Johnny Dodson, Emily Lock, Tejal Patel, Johnathan Roberts and Tyler Carvette. Congratulations to all of our Mathletes!
______________________________________________________________________

FIRST ANNUAL MICHIGAN MUSIC EDUCATORS CHORAL FESTIVAL
Five young musicians, Augusta Guo, Nia Moore, Riley and Quade Polhman, and Katie Wu, joined 40 others from schools in southeastern Michigan at the First Choral Festival on Saturday, February 4, held at Detroit Country Day Upper School. Led by clinician Dr. Julie Skadsem from the the University of Michigan, all students from 4th through 6th grade rehearsed and performed three songs from 9am-noon. Mrs. Barthwell's eyes may have closed for the picture, but the student's eyes were wide open, enjoying the experience. Bravo to all!
_____________________________________________________________________

MICHIGAN ELEMENTARY CHESS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Emerson School's Chess Team competed in Michigan's Elementary Chess Team Championship last weekend, winning the majority of their games. The Eagles tied with Troy Barnard School with 4 wins, and Emerson took 3rd place on tiebreak’s missing 2nd place by merely 1.5 points. Individual honors went to Harrison He, who scored the perfect score of 5 wins for a Gold Medal. Anvit Rao and Marinos Bernitsas scored 3.5 for Bronze medals. Robbie Riles scored 3 for a plus score. Chris Bernitsas was our alternate player and played other alternates for rating points in a side event and won 4 out of 5 games - an excellent achievement. Unfortunately he was not eligible for any prizes, but if he were would have won a Silver medal!
_____________________________________________________________________

SKATER QUALIFIES FOR SYNCHRONIZED SKATING NATIONALS
Samy Delva (6), a member of the Juvenile Hockettes Synchronized Skating team competed at the Mid Western championships and qualified to compete at Nationals, which will take place in Boston February 28th-March 3rd. Congratulations to Samy and her team!
_____________________________________________________________________
NENGAJO CONTEST WINNERS
The results from the Nengajo contests from the Japanese Consulate of Detroit are in! Emerson swept all three categories for the elementary division, and 4 students placed in the top three for middle school. Emerson alums placed second and third in the comical division. Congratulations!  ELEMENTARY: Artistic 1st - Meera Bhagat; 2nd - Bridget Chamberlin.  Comical 1st - Laure Coster; 2nd - Jada Wooten.  Original: 1st - Claire Derksen; 2nd - Emma Nightingale.  MIDDLE SCHOOL: Artistic 3rd - Katy Ross.  Comical 1st - Calise Wang.  Original: 1st - Cole Hildebrandt; 3rd - Alex Vidovic.

_____________________________________________________________________
ALL-STATE ENSEMBLES MUSICIANS
Four of our Emerson MS band and orchestra members were selected from among the Michigan's top musicians to perform in the All-State Ensembles on Jan. 21. They will participate in three exciting and intense days of rehearsals, and perform for a large audience of families and music teachers. Please give your congratulations to Katy Ross, Orly Rubinfeld, Hojin Han, and Marco Lorenzon when you see them.
_____________________________________________________________________
U.S. JUNIOR NATIONALS SILVER MEDAL
Congratulations to Alicia Bertsch (6) and her partner Austin Hale, as they skated their hearts out Tuesday at the U.S. Junior Nationals in the juvenile pairs division. They earned second place in the nation - the silver medal - in December 2011.
Austin lives in Ft. Wayne Indiana and the two meet each weekend to work together. It was amazing to see such a new pair who does not get the opportunity to train together daily, accomplish such a difficult task in such a short period of time.
_____________________________________________________________________
APPLAUSE FOR EMERSON ACTORS
Ben Chambers, grade 5, as the Artful Dodger, and Emma Throm, grade 5, appear in Oliver!, the Young People's Theatre production at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, University of Michigan, on November 17-20, 2011. 
______________________________________________________________________
ICE DANCING HONORS

Congratulations to Alicia Bertsch (6) for qualifying for the U. S. Nationals for solo ice dancing. She competed in Colorado Springs in eight events/ice dances and medaled in each category!   For the final championship round of the U.S. Nationals, she placed 5th in the entire nation.  All the other contenders at the silver level were high school students or older!  We are proud of the confidence, maturity, and achievements of Alicia. 9/2011

 

_______________________________________________________________________


CARMEN'S CHOIR
Isabelle Ross (6) and Caleb Burgess (6) will be performing in the children’s chorus in Arbor Opera Theater's upcoming production of Bizet's Carmen. The production runs June 16-19 at Lydia Mendelssohn Theater. Break a leg Isabelle and Caleb!
 _____________________________________________________________________
PAPER PLATE AWARDS!!
On one of the last days of the year everyone was a winner at 6th grade lunch.  Two 6th graders, Ariana Spoor and Alex Drain, decided that they wanted to end this year on an even more-positive note, so they created paper plate awards for everyone in their grade.  Each award came with a story and positive words about each student.  Thank you, Ariana and Alex for your thoughtful, inspiring and creative idea!  You even surprised the teachers!

 

 _____________________________________________________________________ 

T-SHIRT DESIGN WINNER
Congratulations to Emerson 4th grader, Meera Bhagat, for her T-shirt design for Emerson's Summer Program. This is the third year that the design contest has been held.  Meera's tangerine creation is a standout!

 

 

 

 

 

_____________________________________________________________________


TechTwilight HONOREES
Hats off to the Emerson Students who were selected to display their Goldberg Gadget Science Fair projects at Ann Arbor's annual TechTwilight - Jonathan and Sarah Roberts (5 & 3), "Dog Treat Dispenser;" Emma and Meg Nightingale (4 & 3) and Emma Hall (4), "The Skittle Machine;" Alec Pinson (6), "Press a Button;" Daniel Giampetroni (4), "Turn on a Light."  Regional companies displayed high-tech innovations at the event, and Emerson's "Best in Show" award was a humorous nod to the family-friendly tone of the evening.  The award was a talking Albert Einstein bobble head doll (just so no one takes the winning too seriously!).  Read more about the evening. 

 

 

 _____________________________________________________________________

 

 

SPANISH NATIONAL EXAM 2011

Congratulations to the many Spanish students from Emerson School who attained national recognition for excellent performance on the 2011 National Spanish Examinations. “Attaining a medal or honorable mention for any student on the National Spanish Examinations is very prestigious,” said Kevin Cessna-Buscemi, National Director of the Exams, “because the exams are the largest of their kind in the United States with 140,373 students participating in 2011.”
The National Spanish Examinations are administered each year in grades 6 through 12, and are sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.
Level 01
Gold: Veronica Correa, Olivia Popp, Anjali Purohit, Orly Rubinfeld
Silver: Anna Argento, Nadina Hassan, Anjuli Kapila, Chandra Krishnan, Shea
Sanvordenker, Darien Skifstad
Bronze: Arjun Lama, Marie Rucinski
Honor: Marcell Benkes-Toth, Cameryn Boyd, Matthew Brown, Lydia Leonor
Level 1
Gold: Nishant Kheterpal, Milan Patel, Lauren Weinberg, Natalie Zummer
Silver: Adam Kahana
Bronze: Kaylee Brant, Rahul Gupta
Honor: Michael Halloran, Alec Lasinski, Louis Leonor
________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

SALINE DESTINATION IMAGINATION TEAM
Congratulations to Johnathan Roberts and Jon-Michael Taylor who are a part of the Saline Destination Imagination Team, The French Five. They came in first place at their Regional Competition on March 5, 2011 and this Saturday they will compete at the Affiliate Final. Johnathan and Jon-Michael would like to give a shout out to Marchell Burgess for volunteering to be their team's Appraiser for the 2011 season.
_________________________________________________________________________

JAPANESE QUIZ BOWL CHAMPS
The Emerson elementary quiz bowl teams won first and second place in Michigan. Both teams did very well in the preliminary rounds and had to face each other in the final. Emerson elementary teams have won the first and second place in the event for three years in a row. The first place team is Divya Macha, Miriam Freedman, Cole Hildebrandt, Jacob Berger, and Molly Pribble. The second place team is Hannah Park, Peter Lanzon, Jared Kehn, Oriana Gulvezan and Matthew Krivan. The middle school teams did very well in the competition. The 7th grade team ( Philip Ognenovski, Grant Kehn, Eli Knapp, Jordan Smith-Hays, Powel Kazanjian) came 2 points short to make the final in Division II, and 8th grade team ( Elijah Reische, Emily Newman, Ben Freedman, Olga Sokolova and Avery Whitaker ) team came 1 point short and came in third. The 8th grade team was actually competing division one level higher than their age group, and beat the Emerson Alumni team in the preliminary round, who won first place in Division IV. Emerson alumni team (Duncan Braun, Ben Giampetroni, Lauren Carpenter and Em Winfield) won 1st place in Division IV. Another alumni team (Caleb Nusbaum, Yasha Shultz, Shahzaib Chugtai, Miles Grofsorean and Andrew Chou) came in 3rd, 1 point short to make it to the final in the highest Division V. These Emerson alumni students have continued to study Japanese after leaving Emerson. Duncan Braun, Caleb Nusbaum, Em Winfield, Lauren Carpenter, Andrew Chou, and Mile Grofsorean were selected as finalists in Michigan Japanese Speech Contest, which will be held this Saturday before the Consulate General of Japan. It is a great honor to be invited to make a speech at this contest.

_________________________________________________________________________
EMERSON CHESS CHAMPIONS 
Congratulations to Anvit Rao for placing 3rd place out of 54 players in the Young Children Reserve (K-3) Chess Tournament this past weekend with 4 of possible 5 points. Congratulations also to Robby Riles for placing 5th overall out of 21 players in the Young Children Chess Championship (K-3) with 3.5 out of possible 5 points. Great job boys!!
_________________________________________________________________________

EMERSON 2dTETRABOTS
Victor Boyse-Peacor and Avery Whitaker (8) won first place at a Robofest regional robot competition. They now advance to State championships in April.
__________________________________________________________________________

STUDENT CHARITY INITIATIVE
Kudos to John McClure (8th) for organizing and hosting a potluck supper at his home last week and donating all of the proceeds to the Emerson Financial Aid Fund. John and his classmates raised $1000.00 for the financial aid at Emerson!
__________________________________________________________________________

 2011 SCIENCE OLYMPIAD SUCCESS
Once each year, our students compete in 23 science events, at a Regional level, with 12 or more other schools. This year was our third year in competition and we are therefore a “young” school within the program.  Emerson Middle School team earned a second place overall in this year’s competition, held at Hillsdale College on February 26th. This earns them the honor of continuing the competition at the State level on April 30th.
Congratulations to the following students: Nishant Kheterpal, John Nicklas, Olivia Popp, Marco Lorenzon, Noah Knoerl-Morrill, Olga Sokolov, Victor Boyce-Peacor, Shea Sanvordenker, Zach Reynolds, Tim Arvan, Marcell Benkes-Toth, Connor Todd, Chandra Krishnan, Nate Holden, Arjun Lama, Sonal Bahl, Tori Schumacher, Caleb Burgess and Matt Brown.
Thanks to Tim Wilson and Mary Ellen Flaherty for coaching this effort, along with all our dedicated parent and student coaches. This was truly a team effort!
Our students won seven 1st place awards, three 2nd place awards, and a number of 4th, 5th and 6th place awards.
__________________________________________________________________________

EMERSON CHESS TEAM COMPETES IN JUNIOR HIGH TEAM TOURNAMENT
The Emerson School Chess team, comprised of Daniel Motoc, Michael Motoc, Daniel Stein and Robbie Riles, competed at the Junior High Team Tournament (grades K-9) at Oakland University over break. Sixteen teams participated and Emerson took 5th overall which is a very good result, especially considering many of the other teams had much older players. Daniel Motoc and Daniel Stein each won 4 out of 5 of their games, earning a silver medal. Thank you to the parents that attended the full-day event and great job boys!
__________________________________________________________________________
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BEE
Nishant Kheterpal, winner of the Emerson Geography Bee, has qualified to represent Emerson and participate at the state level of the National Geographic Bee. Nishant will compete with the best geography students in the state on April 1, at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

________________________________________________________________________

GIRLS' BASKETBALL TEAM INSPIRES!

Emerson Girls' Basketball Team members Molly Pribble, Katie and Lizzie Riles, and Kahshiada Kidd played an awe-inspiring game against St. Paul on February 15.  Taking on a full 12 player squad, they played 4 against 5 the entire game, coming up just a basket short, falling 19-17. They dialed up the pressure in the 4th quarter with a full court press!  A tip of our caps to the four team-mates for their effort, spirit and sportsmanship!

_________________________________________________________________________

STATE TROPHIES FOR EMERSON CHESS TEAM
Emerson's Chess Team competed in the annual State's Elementary Championship on February 5 in East Lansing.  Both Emerson teams earned trophies, despite playing with only 3 players on each team against competitors with 4 players, causing Emerson to forfeit one game each round.  Our first team of Daniel Motoc, Michael Motoc and Robby Riles took 7th place in the state.  Our second team of Zach Stein Perlman, Anvit Rao and Daniel Stein took 10th place.  Individual medals were won by Robby Riles for Silver with 4/5 points and Daniel Motoc with a perfect score of 5/5 for a Gold medal.  Kudos also to the Emerson parents who supported the team's endeavors!

_________________________________________________________________________

ALL-STATE HONORS ENSEMBLES
Congratulations to Marie Rucinski, Sonal Bahl, and Elijah Reische for participating in the All-State Honors Ensembles performance last weekend in Grand Rapids. These girls were selected from over 2200 students from Michigan who auditioned for the opportunity to participate in the program. The concert was absolutely amazing and we were very fortunate to have such excellent student representation in the ensembles.
_________________________________________________________________________

GEOGRAPHY BEE RESULTS
On December 6, the Emerson Geography Bee was held. Students from grades 4 through 8 participated in the friendly competition, answering questions on topics such as U.S. geography, continents, physical geography, fresh water resources and cultural geography. As the bee progressed the number of contestants was whittled down, with a tie-breaker at the end of the 7 preliminary rounds resulting in Bridget Chemberlin and Nikhil Deenadayalu joining Sonal Bahl, Jamie Todd, Cammie Treiber, Samir Hafez, Stanley Chapel and Nishant Kheterpal as finalists. Those 8 were pared to 2 for the championship rounds. Youngster Samir took on grizzled veteran and defending champion Nishant in the 3-question round, with Nishant eventually earning the crown. A fun time was had by all, and the future looks bright as 6 of the finalists were elementary students.
__________________________________________________________________________
BOYCHOIR OF ANN ARBOR
Eigth-grader, Noah Knoerl-Morrill, has been a member of the Boychoir of Ann Arbor for nearly 5 years. The choir kicked off their holiday season having just performed at both the Annual Holiday Tree-Lighting Ceremony at The Henry Ford on November 22nd, and singing as part of the Academy of Russian Classical Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker on December 5th in Brighton.
__________________________________________________________________________

FIFTH GRADER SKATES IN HOLIDAY DREAMS ON ICE
Perani Arena and Event Center in Flint, Mich., will host “Holiday Dreams on Ice,” featuring three-time U.S. National Figure-Skating champion and two-time U.S. Olympian Johnny Weir and other elite skaters in a one-time show on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010. Emerson’s own Alicia Bertsch (5) will perform alongside Weir and other championship-level performers. She will skate with the 100 kids for one of the acts, but she has also been selected as one of the 2 or 3 elves that will skate with Johnny and Santa Claus.
__________________________________________________________________________
SIX STUDENTS IN ANNUAL MICHIGAN SCHOLASTIC CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
Six students represented Emerson School in the annual Michigan Scholastic Club championships this past Saturday. There were over 350 players from all over the state and one team from Canada. Samy Delva, Robby Riles, Daniel Motoc, Michael Motoc, Anvit Rao, and Daniel Stein all played their best and each earned a score of 2 or 3 out of 5 possible points.
__________________________________________________________________________

SCHOLASTIC NEWS KIDS PRESS CORP
Congratulations to Molly Pribble (5th) who was chosen to join the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps for the 2010-2011 school year. Read all about it in the Heritage newspaper.
__________________________________________________________________________
5th GRADE POET IS PUBLISHED
Congratulations to Calise Huan Wang (5th) who had one of her poems published in the Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans.  

SEASONAL BIRD FRIENDS
Fly, fly, fly the birds come back
Where they belong in the spring,
Whistle, Whistle, Whistle,
They are whistling crazily,
Before long they will soon leave their home,
The birds flying in summer giving joy to nature,
Fall, fall, fall,
It has finally come where the birds
Are getting ready to leave,
Cry, cry, cry,
The birds finally have to leave in the winter,
Our friends will migrate,
We watch as a cloud of birds fly away,
Good-bye to our bird friends.
__________________________________________________________________________ 
DESTINATION IMAGINATION TEAM TAKES TROPHY
Congratulations to Jon-Michael Taylor (4) and the Saline Seven, a Destination ImagiNation Team of fourth graders for their astonishing first place finish at the Affiliate State Competition April 17, 2010! The Saline Seven was the only team to get a grade of “Outstanding” for their performance, earning them a 1st place trophy and a trip to the Global competition in Knoxville, Tennessee. They represented the State of Michigan, and competed against 30 countries in the Project Outreach middle school level May 25- May 29th.
__________________________________________________________________________
A2 SKATEPARK BENEFIT ART SHOW
Congratulations to Celeste Adams, Hannah Glick, Sydney Hutnik, Syd Ohl, Elijah Reische, Gabby Skifstad, and Danielle Sarns for their participation in The A2 Skatepark Benefit Art Show. The event benefits the design & construction of Ann Arbor's first Skatepark. 50 artists custom designed and painted skate decks to be judged by a panel. After the May 15 show at the Vault of Midnight, the decks were on display for two weeks.
__________________________________________________________________________
2010 NATIONAL FRENCH CONTEST WINNERS
The National French Exam is a standardized test that is administrated nation-wide once a year. Students are measured against other students with the same approximate amount of contact hours with French. A total of 15 Emerson students took the test. 7 landed in the top 10 in the state. Congratulations to one and all!
Winners by Level, Chapter, and National Rank:
SEVENTH GRADE: 01A 1 Hannah Cesnik 6; 01A 2 Rae Brigham 8; 01A 7 Sophie Anderson 13; 01A 7 Madeleine Caughey 13
EIGHTH GRADE: 1A 2 Savannah Rodriguez 5; 1A 7 Celia Knapp 10; 1A 9 Henry Ellis 1 2
________________________________________________________________________
EMERSON ARTISTS TAKE A BOW AT MICHIGAN ELEMENTARY EXHIBITION
Artwork by Anagha Nayak (5) and Claire Conway (3) has been selected by the Michigan Art Education Association for a state display of superior artwork! Their pieces were displayed in the Elementary State Exhibition from June 14-25, 2010 at the Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids. Congratulations!
__________________________________________________________________________
GOOD WISHES TO A GOOD FRIEND
Two Emerson Middle School girls, Therese Larson and Sarah Ferris heard that a good friend from another school was diagnosed with leukemia. A friend, fellow athlete, and peer was going to be facing some difficult times. In an effort to cheer her up and keep her aware of how much we all care, Therese approached the 6th grade girls' advisories. They worked together to create a bulletin board of good cheer and good humor. The girls made a flower out of the bulletin board, each petal carrying well wishes on one side and a joke to brighten her day on the other.
__________________________________________________________________________
2010 WINNING CHESS MOVES
Sam Kidd and Robbie Riles both took first place in their respective grade/divisions at the Wardcliff Tournament in Okemos. They both scored 4.5 out of 5 games. This has been an amazing chess year for Emerson, winning the State Championship in February and the doing so well in other tournaments.
__________________________________________________________________________
SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT AND STRAIGHT ON!
Emerson students Gabby Keen (8), Jeremy Glick (8), Olivia (5) and Soleil (2) Ponce de Leon, and Ashley Harlock (2) appeared in the Young People’s Theater presentation of Peter Pan. Emerson alum, Ari Axelrod, played the role of Captain Hook. Performances were April 22-25 at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, University of Michigan.
__________________________________________________________________________
EMERSON WRITERS IN ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY
Five 3rd graders in Gillian Ferrington's class have been honored by The Anthology of Poetry: Bridget Chemberlin, Omar Hassan, Nikhil Deenadayalu, Panayiotis Georgakas and Ava Hoffman. The student's work will appear in The Anthology of Poetry which is published once a year and accepts students' entries from all over the country. Congratulations!   
__________________________________________________________________________

2010 EMERSON SCIENCE OLYMPIAD
Emerson made a strong showing against older and more experienced teams as the school competed in the Science Olympiad for the second year. With eleven 6th graders, we were the youngest team in the competition. Emerson placed 6th overall out of 15 teams, medaled in 12 out of 23 events, and won three 1st place medals: Dynamic Planet, Shock Value and Science Crime Busters. Other medals included one 2nd place (Solar System), three 3rds (Battery Buggy, Wright Stuff and Compute This), two 4ths (Fossils and Bio-Process Lab) and three 6ths (Ecology, Ornithology and Junkyard Challenge). Hats off to Emerson's scientists! 

___________________________________________________________________________
2010 JAPANESE QUIZ BOWL RESULTS
Every year the Emerson teams do well in Japanese Quiz Bowl -- and this year they did very well indeed! Of 10 Emerson teams, 6 went to the finals in this statewide competition, in two cases competing against each other for highest award. These are the students who participated in the quiz bowl:
Jake, Emi, Daria, Ethan, Grace: 2nd place in Elementary division.
Rephael, Powel, Hayden, Truman, Alex: 1st place in Elementary division
Therese, Katy, Nani, Haley, Eli: 1st place in Division I
Philip, Grant, John, Zeb, Jordan: did't make it to final, but got total of 30 points (2 wins, 1 loss)
Josh, William, Avery, Alec: didn't make it to final, but got total of 32 points (2 wins, 1 loss against high school team)
Tim, Alex, Michael, Ethan: did not make it to the final, but they got 33 points ( 2 wins, 1 loss against high school teams )
Elijah, Ben, Emily, Olga: Division III 2nd place against all high school teams
Zane, Ben, Duncan, Claire, Gabbie: Division III 1st place against all high school teams
Caleb, Yasha, Shahzaib, Em, Lauren  ( Alumni team ) 3rd place in Division IV, tied with the other Emerson alumni team and lost at the tie breaker
Margot, Miles; 2nd place in Division IV
___________________________________________________________________________
2010 NENGAJO CONTEST WINNERS
Congratulations to Emerson's Japanese Language Students for their artistic - and often comical - Nengajo (New Year's Card) Contest submissions. The annual competition among state schools with Japanese programs is sponsored by the Japanese Teachers Association of Michigan and the Japanese Consulate in Detroit. Several of Emerson's creative card makers received awards. ELEMENTARY: Artistic-1st place in all Michigan, Annelore Fleischmann;  3rd place in all Michigan, Jake Hutnik; Original 2nd place in all Michigan, Anya Nayak; Comical 2nd place in all Michigan, Connor Fancett.  MIDDLE SCHOOL: Original 1st place in all Michigan, Emily Newman; 3rd place in all Michigan, Alec Vidovic; Comical 1st place in all Michigan, Olga Sokolova; 2nd place in all Michigan, Duncan Braun.   

___________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD!
November 2009 - Emerson students Ben Chambers, Ashley Harlock and Alexandra Howell, along with past Emerson Alum, Mackenzie Kimball, showed their acting talents in the classic epic, The Wizard of Oz.  The Young People's Theater of Ann Arbor production appears at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre located on the University of Michigan campus.
___________________________________________________________________________
2009 BETTER NEWSPAPER CONTEST AWARDS
Members of Iowa Press Association studied over thousands of entries submitted by Michigan newspapers when they judged the 2009 Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.
Heritage Newspapers' Washtenaw County publications have earned 24 awards in the Michigan Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest, including 12-year-old movie reviewer Ryan Michaels (8).  He is now a two-time MPA award winner, grabbing honorable mention for columnist again with his reviews in the Milan paper. Congratulations Ryan!
___________________________________________________________________________
NATIONAL FRENCH EXAM RESULTS
Each year, the 7th and 8th graders take the National French Exam (Le Concours National). This is a standardized test. At the seventh grade level (01A), approx. 8,000 students nationwide took the test. At the eighth grade level, (1A), approx. 25,000 students participated.
Here are our Emerson results:
Seventh graders: Savannah Rodriquez, 1st in the state and 4th in the nation; Jeremy Glick, 4th in the state and 8th in the nation; Celia Knapp, 5th in the state and 10th in the nation; Henry Ellis, 6th in the state; Kat Marx, 8th in the state; Sydney Ohl, 10th in the state.
Eighth graders: Daniel Rothschild, 1st in the state, 3rd in the nation; Tori Johnson, 2nd in the state, 4th in the nation; Rachel Parker, 4th in the state, 6th in the nation; Emma Powell, 4th in the state and 6th and nation; Katherine Loreman, 5th in the state, 7th in the nation. Shalini Kota, 6th in the state, 8th in the nation; Dana Johnson, 7th in the state, 9th in the nation; Lalitha Ramaswamy, 8th in the state, 10th in the nation; Shoham Geva, 10th in the state; Emily Wu, 10th in the state.
Congratulations to our hardworking students!
___________________________________________________________________________
SPANISH NATIONAL EXAMS
Congratulations to world language students who received recognition for excellent performance on the 2008 National Spanish Examinations.   “Attaining any placement or honorable mention for any student on the National Spanish Examinations is very prestigious,” said Kevin Cessna, National Director of the Exams, “because the exams are the largest of their kind in the United States with well over 115,000 students participating in 2009.” The exams are administered each year from grades 6-12, and are sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.
Silver Award, 8th Grade: Joe Hakim; Bronze Award, 8th Grade: Evan Chavis; Honorable Mention, 8th Grade: Chris Klein, Cecilie Simo, Shreya Bahl, Thomas Hadl, Ben Merte, Ryan Ferris; Gold Award, 7th Grade: Julia Doyle***Grand Prize Winner; Silver Award: Adriana Hassan, Eitan Rubinfeld, Gabriela Skifstad, Morgan Bradford, Caroline Zubieta; Bronze Award, 7th Grade: Niket Parikh, Sajani Desai, Lauren Lanzo; Honorable Mention: Sarah Ferris, Noah Crimmi, Matthew Shanley, Annie Rudisill, Danielle Sarns, Ryan Michaels.