Hart District Marching Bands Enjoy Great Success at State Event

The HartSchool District has a legacy of wonderfully talented musicians. Their legacy just made amazing history when all six of the high school marching bands qualified for the state championships at the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association championships. The SCSBOA championships took place on November 23rd at three different venues in Southern California, with more than 72 marching bands competing from all over California. Taking home top honors were the HartHigh School and ValenciaHigh School marching bands, which both won gold medals in their divisions! Also placing in the band category in each of their divisions were CanyonHigh School in fourth place, SaugusHigh School in seventh place, Golden ValleyHigh School in eighth place and WestRanchHigh School in fifth place. Each high school marching band did a stellar job of representing the fantastic music programs offered in the Hart District. The Hart School District Governing Board is planning to recognize all six marching bands and color guard units during their school board meeting on Feb. 5, 2014. Having all six of the high school marching bands qualify for the state championships is an exciting way to help close out 2013. Following are the category results for each HartSchool District band listed by division, which is determined by number of musicians in the band.

Hart District Juniors Participate in VIA Connecting to Success

Some 2,000 seniors from the Hart District’s comprehensive high schools and BowmanHigh School attended the Valley Industry Association (VIA) Connecting to Success conference held on three dates in October and November. The field trip was an opportunity for students to interact with community and business leaders and to learn about the skills needed for successful employment. Students engaged in small group discussions about Ethics: Doing the Right Thing; and Building Your Image for Success and Money Smarts. The featured keynote speaker, Dan Williams, of Purpose 2 Purpose was inspiring and captured all students with his presentation kicking off the half-day event.  The Hart School District thanks the VIA Education Committee for sharing this program with Hart School District juniors each year and the following sponsors that made this event possible: Newhall Foundation, Southern California Edison, Poole & Shaffery LLP, California United Bank, Custom Human Resource Solutions, WiSH Education Foundation, Vons Foundation, Logix Federal Credit Union, Higher Vision Church and PIHRA Foundation.

Hart District Students Commended as National Merit Scholars

Forty students in the HartSchool District have received academic commendations in the National Merit Scholarship Program, including three semifinalists. The National Merit Scholarship Program was established in 1955 as a competition amongst students for academic recognition and scholarships. Qualifying students must score amongst the top 50,000 of 1.5 million students nationwide on the Preliminary SAT which tests students’ critical reading, mathematics and writing skills. From these students, 34,000 receive letters of commendation in recognition for their outstanding academic promise. The Hart District students receiving commendation letters were from six of the district’s high schools this year. The following students are to be congratulated for their excellent performance:  Valencia High School: Kristen Chua, Shannon Flores, Mustafa Gobulukoglu, Sjel Holter, Nathan Jung, Eugene Kim, Chelsea Ko, Jessica Kwon, Christopher Lee, Sharon Lee, Sabrin Sidhu, Calvin Tsai and Hahwon Yoo; West Ranch High School: Ori Brian, Diane Cho, Nicholas Garcia, Paige Jacobsen, Alice Kim, Harmonie Lee, Andria So, Celine Vartany and Rhys Wheatley; Academy of the Canyons: Ashwin Trisal, Spencer Honadel, Evan Holguin, Michael Levin, Jessica Horning, Courteney Shipley and Colleen Lee; Canyon High School: Andrew Jacobsen, Sarah Masson and Yee-Ann Wong; Golden Valley High School: Gerardo Aguilar, Sam S. Jeon, William Oh and Yash J Shah and Hart High School: Ajay Balarm, Alexis Block, Justin Park, Steven Shatkin. Although commended students are not eligible for the designated National Merit scholarships, some of these students will be eligible for special scholarships sponsored by businesses and corporations. Additionally special recognition goes to WestRanchHigh School’s two National Merit Scholar semifinalists Lawrence Chen and Kevin Lin, as well as semifinalist Ravi Jayanthi from ValenciaHigh School.  Chen, Lin and Jayanthi are part of the elite group of 16,000 students nationwide who obtained the highest scores on their PSATs. Semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program are eligible for consideration to win a National Merit Scholarship and can apply for the award through materials provided to their high schools. The finalists for the scholarships are notified by mail in February. Winners are selected based on their abilities, skills, accomplishments, test scores, written recommendations, student activities and an essay written by the student. Congratulations to all of the Hart District scholars for their achievements and commitment to academic excellence.

AOC Supports Philippines Relief Efforts with Superhero Event

Academy of the Canyons held a “Be a Superhero for the Philippines” event, which gave the student body an opportunity to dress like their favorite superheroes while collecting donations that have been donated to the Fil-Am of Santa Clarita, a local non-profit organization. Students were also encouraged to donate clothes, canned goods, and other non-perishable food products. After school, AOC held a movie viewing of Spiderman complete with a movie night raffle. All proceeds from the raffle were donated to the Philippines relief efforts. Overall, AOC donated more than $500 and two carloads of clothes and other goods. It was a successful day full of giving and charity that ultimately went to help people devastated by the recent typhoon that hit that country last month.