JAZZ AND BAND FESTIVAL WINNERS
Hockinson High School musicians took home numerous awards during three days of music festivals, April 14 to 16.
At the University of Portland Jazz Festival, Hockinson took first place in Division II — competing one division higher than it qualified for. Outstanding soloists were Dennis Baciuc on trumpet and Alexander Lee on alto sax. Dennis Baciuc on trumpet won top soloist award for Division II.
At the Columbia Basin College Band Festival in Pasco, the Wind Ensemble earned the gold medal in the AA Division, with Jazz Band winning second. Shannon Dally on oboe; Vanessa Heller, French horn, Dennis Baciuc, trumpet; Will Gaines, baritone sax; and Alexander Lee, alto sax, were named outstanding soloists. Drew Henderson and Will Gaines, both on tuba, won outstanding musicians. Alexander Lee, Olivia Gaines, Jesse Smith, Jack Broer and Will Gaines won Best Sax Section for the A/AA Division, and Dennis Baciuc, Dana Robertson, Alex Ulman, Bret Morris and Julia Zora won Best Trumpet Section.
The ultimate prize at the Columbia Basin College Band Festival was the Outstanding Instrumental Music Program Award — given to one band in each division with the highest Concert Band and Jazz Band combined scores — and Hockinson High School musicians won it.
WASHINGTON STATE HISTORY DAY WINNERS
Eighth graders from Pleasant Valley Middle School were winners at the Washington State History Day finals, April 23 in Auburn. The students were led by history teacher Rene Soohoo.
Kyra Crosby, Amber Holmgren and Emma McKune were first-place winners in the junior group category with their presentation “Moral Choices 1975: Encountering Callousness or Compassion; Exchanging Cultures,” which also won the State Archivist’s Special Award. They will advance to the national contest in June at the University of Maryland. The girls interviewed former Gov. Daniel Evans, former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, Vietnam refugees, and accessed hundreds of documents at the state archives in Olympia. Their design showed the waves of immigration beginning with the fall of Saigon on April 29, 1975, and the refugee crisis as the United States’ southeast Asian allies fled the communist takeover of South Vietnam.
Grace Adams, Jaylee Aho and Erik Hughes won the Washington State Special Award for Preservation or Historical and Cultural Resources with their documentary “Chinook Wawa: The Language of Exploration, Encounter, Exchange.” The project placed first in its section and fifth overall out of 27 in their category from all over the state. The students interviewed Chinook Chairman Tony Johnson, Vice Chairman Sam Robinson and others to tell the story of how the Chinook themselves saved their language from extinction.
Submissions: pauline.sipponen@columbian.com or 360-735-4524.
