The Woodlands Lifestyles and Homes magazine Dec 2009: Campus1

The Woodlands HS Theater Wins Second Place Sweepstakes in State Tournament - The Woodlands High School theater department proved its talent versatility by winning in several events and placing a record number of students in finals at the Lamar Consolidated High School State Qualifying Speech Tournament resulting in a second-place win in overall Sweepstakes.

In addition, two duet teams qualified for the Texas Forensic Association State Tournament in March. Winning first and qualifying for state is the duet acting team of Keith Hale and Tyler Lewis. Placing second and also qualifying for state in duet is the team of Kris Jacobsen and Joe Dougherty. Placing third is the team of Craig Putman and Cecily Breaux, and the fourth- place team is Katlin Newman and Katelyn Mattingly.

Keith Hale also won first place in Dramatic Interpretation and Vic Shuttee placed seventh, with Katlin Newman placing eighth. In Humorous Interpretation Will Rogers placed second and Craig Putman placed third.

The Woodlands High School first-time competitors also did well placing first in Novice Duet Acting with the team of Holly Rogers and Jonathan Bouillet, and third place with Jacey Martin and Ryan Breuer.

First-grade students in Sue Lloyd’s class at The John Cooper School act out the children’s book, The Story of Ferdinand, about a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in Spanish bullfights. Fourth-grade students performed the story and invited first graders to join them in acting out the parts.

Cooper Celebrates Book Fair Spain ‘09 - Each year, the Parents’ Forum of The John Cooper School sponsors Book Fair Week and salutes a different country of the world. Cooper ’s Book Fair 2009 celebrated the rich people, art and culture of Spain.

The annual fundraiser for the school’s libraries featured a reading race entitled “Let’s Book Through Spain” and other educational activities and demonstrations throughout the week, including a “moving museum” of Spanish items, a visit from a local teen author and performances by Spanish guitarists and Granaderos, a group that demonstrates the importance of Spanish Americans in U.S. history. The week ended with an outdoor family festival that featured Spanish tapas food, professional Flamenco dancing and student performances and visual artwork. A mural, created by third-graders in the style of Picasso, was auctioned off and all proceeds benefit the school's libraries.

Book Fair Spain was co-chaired by Sheena Mani and Amanda Mussalli.

Dr. David Norton (right) and Program Manager Elaine Christian (left) recognize Shiv Pande.

Woodlands HS Student Recognized by EfTA - Education for Tomorrow Alliance Executive Director Dr. David Norton and Program Manager Elaine Christian recognized Shiv Pande, a senior from The Woodlands High School, for submitting the winning artwork in EfTA ’s annual SCI://TECH poster competition. Pande’s artwork will be featured on all promotional items for SCI://TECH 2010 “From Imagination to Reality.” Special thanks go to Dr. Anne Morrison at The Woodlands High School and all faculty district-wide for managing the contest at participating campuses. EfTA ’s founding program in 1989, SCI://TECH has become one of the largest regional science fairs in the nation. To learn more about this event and how to become involved, visit www.efta-us.org.

Theater Group Collects Food For Food Bank - As a part of the International Thespian Society’s annual project to help underprivileged children and their families, The Woodlands High School ’s Theater Troupe took initiative this Halloween by participating in the 2009 Trick or Treat so Kids Can Eat program.

The Woodlands Theater troupe collected and donated hundreds of pounds for the local Montgomery County Food Bank, towards the nationwide goal of 325,000 pounds.

Girls Varsity Sets Gold Standard for Central Region - The Rowing Club of The Woodlands Juniors varsity girls double gathered another gold medal at the hometown “Slay the Dragon” regatta. A grueling 4,000-meter Head race on Lake Woodlands, Marjorie Ferrone and Tara Dalton recorded the top time of 20:04.4 minutes, 1:21 minutes faster than the second place Greater Houston Rowing Club. This is the eighth consecutive victory for the dynamic duo.

The RCTW Juniors entered 18 separate events and came away with eight gold medals. Grace Carbajal and Cambridge Bolen took first in the Women’s Novice double with a time of 21:37.80. Novice girls A quad Grace Carbajal, Jill Wethington, Cambridge Bolen and Stephanie Mallard recorded the top time of 21:04.7.

Novice boys A quad M. Hunt, JD Telford, Casner Peirce and Hugo Gomez rowed a clean race and won gold, clocking a time of 18:17.6 while the Novice boys B boat consisting of Mark Racioppi, Surahbi Reddy, Nate Johnson and Paolo Holgado garnered a silver with a time of 19:36.7. Upsetting the varsity boys doubles A boat, with a gold winning time of 17:08.5, the B boat Thomas Eastwick and Justin Koch crossed the finish line 9.7 seconds ahead. The novices also put together two mixed quads to win first and second place.

Finally, in one of the last races of the day, the varsity boys quad with Clint Bokorney, Justin Koch and Thomas Eastwick set the course record for the day achieving an amazing time of 15:35.0, passing three collegiate 8x boats on the water.

In the Shadows at Cunae International School - It’s lights out, lights on and shadow puppets as the JR humanities class presented Mulan. Students revised the ancient Chinese poem Ode to Mulan into a play.

Puppets, staging and decorum were designed by students as they learned of Ancient China ’s contribution to entertainment and the arts through shadow puppetry.