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Honors and awards: Beaumont Middle School wins jazz competition
2/4/2019Beaumont Middle School jazz program continued its strong year with a first-place finish in the 57th Annual Clark College Jazz Festival in Vancouver, Wash., last month.
Beaumont was represented by its Jazz Ambassadors, a 20-member group that is selected by auditions. After finishing second at Clark the last two years, Beaumont took the top spot, something it had done one other time in the event, in 2015.
“We had a pretty powerful program this year,” said Cynthia Plank, who is in her 17th year as Beaumont’s band director.
The Clark competition involved bands playing 25-minute sets in the afternoon, with three bands advancing to the evening finals. A blind draw determined the order for the 15-minute finals sets, and although Plank says bands prefer to go last, Beaumont went first and still won.
In addition to the team win, three Beaumont students earned outstanding musician certificates for solos during the afternoon sessions. Veronica Bianco was honored for an alto flute solo, Dakarai Dove for a percussion solo and Eva Lieberman for an alto saxophone solo.
The Jazz Ambassadors are part of a thriving music department at Beaumont, which includes another full jazz band with 40 members and two small jazz combos. Plank leads a fund-raising effort that included a recent concert at the Mission Theatre involving six bands and guest artist Carlton Jackson, a renowned local musician.
The fund-raising is a crucial part of being able to give all students opportunities to learn music at Beaumont, where Principal Harriette Vimegnon is a strong supporter of the music program, Plank said.
“We aim to foster a culture that encourages everyone to strive to the highest level that they can achieve, regardless of their financial ability to participate,” Plank said.
Beaumont has found success at other competitions this year. At Skyview High School in Vancouver, the band won the sight-reading event, which entails the musicians receiving a piece of music that they have five minutes to look at before performing it for judges. Beaumont also won five individual awards at a competition at the University of Oregon, where the three musicians who won awards at Clark were honored along with bandmates Riley Hoffer (alto sax) and Luke Chaplain (vibes).
Here is the Jazz Ambassadors' performance at Clark:
Also at the Clark event, three students from Robert Gray Middle School won outstanding musician certificates: Margot Puller, Peter Platosh and Emma Hayes. Two musicians from Lincoln, Jack Baker and Thomas Tuerff, were recognized as outstanding musicians for the high school portion of the event.
Lincoln wins state Constitution competition: For the 20th time, Lincoln is the Oregon champion of the “We the People” state Constitution competition. Lincoln won the title on Jan. 26 at the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse, ending the two-year reign of Grant, which finished second. Also from PPS, Franklin finished fourth, and Cleveland fifth.
The competition, which started in 1987, has been won each year by either Lincoln or Grant, which has won 12 times.
The win earned Lincoln a spot at the national competition, which will be held April 26-28 in Washington, D.C. Lincoln has won the national championship six times, the last in 2016.
Grant will also compete at nationals as a wild-card berth. Last year the Generals won the national title for the fourth time.
Grant rebuild wins award: The rebuilding of Grant High School has earned an award for its effort to prevent theft and vandalism during construction. The project will receive the Partnership Award from the Construction Industry Crime Prevention Program of the Pacific Northwest at a ceremony at the Multnomah Athletic Club on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
Portland Public Schools is one seven partners on the project that will be recognized, along with Anderson/Colas Construction, Portland Parks & Recreation, the Portland Police Bureau, the Portland Office of Community and Civic Life, Safeguard Security and CICP.
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