April 11

Finally, Mr. Zlotky thanked Julian for his service on the sound and tech crew throughout his middle school years.

Music Teacher Kay Siebert has been directing

Alex Chanay onstage since he was a two-year-old pre-schooler and she was his teacher.

He's older now, but she's still his teacher.

In presenting him with the Musical Theater Award, Mrs. Siebert cited Alex's many talents - singing, composing, playing. He even composed a song for last year's middle school play.

Alex earned a 1+ and a spot in the Honors Recital this year at the Washburn Solo Music

Festival.

Mrs. Siebert predicts with confidence: We'll continue to see Alex onstage.

Patrick Elisha is the Music Award winner this year. Mrs. Siebert says Patrick has been making "amazing music" ever since she first knew him as a second grader.

He plays classical piano and cello, but also keyboard in the band Bop Doo Wops with three classmates. He's played the school song at all-school assemblies, and earned a 1+ in piano this year and last (and a 1 in cello) at the Washburn Solo Festival, along with invitations to play in the Honors Recital.

"It won't be the same without him next year," Mrs. Siebert said of this gifted musician, but (another prediction) "he will make his life in music."

Mrs. Zachritz describes this year's Art Award winner, Haley Prekopy, as "the most open vessel for receiving knowledge I have ever seen.

Her artwork, her effort to her artwork and learning new things is extraordinary."

"Head down, hard at and engaged only in her work is the way I most easily recognize her."

"Her art is joyful and happy. It is happy for me to see someone who loves it so and it is happy for her when she creates it. I know that she will have art in her life, either visual or performing, because creative expression has always been a wonderful part of her life, both in school and out of school. It comes to her from deep within her soul, and her roots. Both past and present. I love being her teacher."

Mr. MacDonald and Mrs. Moyer single Auction Chairs

out this year's winner of the Language Arts Award as exemplary in all areas of language arts. In their award presentation, the teachers said Nicky Henriquez possesses "a voracious appetite for reading challenging, deep, philosophical novels." Not only does he "understand the depth of these works," he leads class discussions about them. "He writes superior expository papers, and thrives on in-depth research and critical analysis. It seems he never tackles any simple subject matter."

But Nicky's passion, according to his teachers, is poetry. "If you have heard him read his poetry, you have been impressed. When he reads in class, there is a short, absolute silence of awe from his peers. They know they have heard something powerful."

"There is no doubt in our minds that this young man has the heart, the soul and most importantly, the passion to be an excellent poet. But a warning about this passion of his: Stephen Leigh put it simpy, 'A writer never has a vacation, for a writer's life consists of either writing or thinking about writing. You may be able to take a break from writing, but you will never be able to take a break from being a writer!'"

This year's winner of the Spanish Award is Rebecca Kaye. Mr. Martinez says she was always eager to help and participate in class. She never complained about translations or grammar. And she loves to speak Spanish!

Mr. Martinez noted Becca's passion for languages, and said it had been a pleasure to be her teacher.

She possesses a curiousity and willingness to consistently improved, he said, while showing respect and good character.

"Becca is an outstanding student and a wonderful person," concluded Mr. Martinez.

This year's Latin Award winner has the distinction of having "translated more text than any student - ever!" according to Mrs. Franklin, who also describes Haley Ramirez as "remarkably talented" and "a gifted student of languages."

In presenting the award, which depicts laurel leaves, Mrs. Franklin noted that laurel leaves are given to poets, heroes, and persons of distinction - like Haley!

Mr. Lamb says he's never had a more complete

history student than Shelby Carpenter - this year's winner of the History Award. In explaining that declaration, Mr. Lamb noted that Shelby was president of History Club this year. Working in groups, he said, "Shelby can lead or follow, depending on the dynamic. She's that flexible."

As a sixth grader, when she finished third at state History Day competition, remembered Mr. Lamb, some people felt she had been slighted. Not Shelby. "Don't worry," she said to the judges, "I'll see you next year." And she did. As a seventh grader, Shelby qualified for the national finals, among the top 14 in the individual performance category. She came down with the flu, but insisted on performing, even joking with Mr. Lamb about when would be the most dramatic point in her performance to throw up! This summer, Shelby is again bound for National History Day competition in College Park, Maryland.

Mr. Shinn says this year's winner of the Science Award - Patrick Elisha - began standing out in the fourth grade. It was then, as part of Real World Science summer camp that Mr. Shinn noticed Patrick engrossed in performing surgery on a chicken breast, putting a cast on a "broken" arm, and always asking questions.

As he grew older, Patrick proved himself to be an "enthusiastic, serious student in class, with a commitment to excellence and an interest that went beyond class material and led him to do outside research."

Patrick was a valuable member of the Science Olympiad team throughout middle school, competing in a variety of events, some very difficult and time consuming. Mr. Shinn concedes that, considering his musical gifts, Patrick will probably not become a scientist, but Mr. Shinn is confident he will always retain his scientific curiosity.

Mrs. Hoyt presents the Math Award to Edward Collazo, the only 8th grader with an A+ class average for the year. "Edward relishes going beyond," said Mrs. Hoyt, "he seeks the challenge of the more difficult problems. What impresses me so much is the rapid growth I have seen in his math skills. Although he has always been an excellent student, this year he became STELLAR."

"He started out the year with a perfect score on the math portion of the SSAT. In the Mathcounts chapter competition, his individual written score was the second highest of all students from the Topeka and Lawrence middle schools. On the AMC 8 and 10, he was the second highest TCS scorer."

Finally, concluded Mrs. Hoyt, "I am so proud of Edward, for he shows that being good is OK, but striving for one's best and seeking the challenge is where true growth occurs."

Nicky Henriquez studied math independently this year, and was presented the Math Award by his instructor, David McCoy. Mr. McCoy said he resolved at the outset to push Nicky beyond his comfort zone, and make sure not only that he was challenged, but that he struggled. In pursuit of that goal, Nicky learned about Non-Euclidean Geometry, Four-Dimensional Space, and Number Theory.

This year, Nicky took first place as an individual in chapter MATHCOUNTS, winning a $1000 scholarship to the KU School of Engineering. He was the highest scorer in the school for three years on AMC-8 (American Mathematics Contest) and the highest scorer in the state on AMC-8 for the past two years. He was second in the state (and top 8th grader) on the AMC-10. Nicky scored in the top 1% of the nation's high school students on the AMC-10, which qualified him to compete at the next level, the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination).

And he scored a perfect 800 on the math portion of the SAT!