ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The Iowa High School Music Association has awarded its Distinguished Academic Achievement Award to the following Urbandale High School Bands for the Fall 2016 semester.
Marching Band: 3.546 GPA
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC DEPARTMENT
As a whole, students of the instrumental music department gave over 30 public performances throughout the school year.
CONCERT BAND
The Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band each performed 3 local concerts while the Wind Symphony performed 6 concerts and all groups performed at State Large Group held at Johnson High School in May. In 2017, the Wind Symphony earned a Division “I” rating; this is Wind Ensemble’s 25th Division “I” rating in the past 26 years.
MARCHING BAND
The 173-member J-Hawk Marching Band is UCSD’s largest single performing ensemble. They proudly performed at all home games, three regional festivals and in September of 2016 hosted the 19th Annual Urbandale Marching Invitational. The band received a “Division I” rating at State Marching Contest, its 33rd in a row. They also performed, as they do each year, at the Urbandale Independence Day Parade and Homecoming Parade.
JAZZ BAND
The Jazz Bands performed at 4 local concerts, 2 regional contests, and earned a birth into the Iowa Jazz Championships. In February of 2017, they hosted the 14th Annual Urbandale Jazz Colloquium – a non-competitive jazz festival with 15 visiting bands from several different Iowa schools. In addition to formal concerts and contests, the jazz bands also performed at several community events such as elementary school assemblies.
SOLO AND CHAMBER ENSEMBLE FESTIVALS RESULTS
In the spring of 2017, 118 students participated in 101 Solo or Chamber Ensemble performances at the Urbandale Solo Festival and Perry Band Olympics. 65 of the entries received Division “I” ratings. 18 of the entries received further recognition as top 5 performances within each respective instrument category.
ALL-STATE BAND AND ORCHESTRA
30 instrumentalists auditioned for the Iowa All-State Music Festival. The following 4 students were selected or alternates for the All-State Band and Orchestra in November of 2016.
Sera Veeder, 2nd alternate, horn, sophomore
Robert Kaman, 1st alternate, trombone, junior
Anne Gage, 1st year, euphonium, sophomore
Abbie Hunt, 1st year, bassoon, senior
ALL-STATE JAZZ BAND
Several students auditioned for the Iowa All-State Jazz Band. Robert Kaman, junior, was accepted into the 4A Iowa All-State Jazz Band. This is Robert’s 2nd acceptance to the All-State Jazz Band. Only 20 students from across Iowa are selected for the 4A band, which performed on May 11th, at the Iowa Bandmasters Association Conference in Des Moines.
South Central Iowa Bandmasters Association (SCIBA) District Honor Band
25 instrumentalists auditioned for the SCIBA Honor Band. The following 7 students were selected for participation.
Robert Kaman, trombone
Tyler Gajewsky, trombone
Hannah Kuehl, horn
Sera Veeder, horn
Josh Flory, tuba
Sejla Pujagic, clarinet
Bryson Cook, tenor saxophone
IOWA BANDMASTER’S AWARD OF MERIT
Senior, Erika Bartschat was awarded the Iowa Bandmaster’s Award of Merit for her musical achievement, work ethic and service to the organization over the course of her entire tenure in high school band.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG JAZZ AWARD
Senior, Bryson Cook was awarded the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award for his contributions, achievement, study of jazz music.
VARSITY LETTER WINNERS
Each year band students have the opportunity to earn a Varsity Letter in band by participating in numerous optional performance and educational opportunities. In 2017, 90 band students, or 53%, earned a Varsity Letter.
Freshmen Letter Winners
Reed Andrews, Mary Bergstrom, Mahayla Claiser, Jacob Cochran, Michael Cochran, Hunter DeJager, Cassidy Killam, Hannah Kuehl, Nick Long, Zach Mataya, Neil Pack, Sierra Ruden, Emma Schaben, Anne Schroeder, Peter Schumacher, Laurel Stice, Michael Walters
Sophomore Letter Winners
Alec Albrecht, Nate Baysinger, Chris Becker, Logan Boyles, Amanda Brown, Brooke Dannenfeldt, Anne Gage, Julia Gyure, Sydney Hartman, Ethan Holub, Lindsey Ingraham, Hope Johnson, Anna Kerr, Brandon King, Aditya Kotla, Rose Koua, Jonah Larsen, Robert Luke, Erik Ly, Josh Muller, Andre Namink, Eli Noble, Robby Rice, Jacob Sammon, Ethan Spidle, Kit Stoelk, Rachel Vander Hart, Riley Vander Hart, Varun Vepa
Junior Letter Winners
Erika Avaux, Brenda Benitez, Tyler Gajewsky, Mason Hamilton, Megan Hess, Jack Kaman, Robert Kaman, Emma Klein, Katherine Koele, Jordan Page, Jack Pearson, Michael Rackham, Caroline Riedinger, Sam Sonius, Connor Story, Devon Valle, Ellie Van Roekel, Claire Weihs, Sophi Wilker, Alexander Young
Senior Letter Winners
Erika Bartschat, Maslin Boten, Alex Brown, Bryson Cook, Ashley Correa, Katie Danielson, Caty Elgin, Josh Flory, Abbie Hunt, Garrett Johnson, Lauren Johnson, Alena Kamencic, Mary Kieffer, Emma Kuehl, Zeke Ledbetter, Kelsi Nguyen, Spencer Pack, Sejla Pujagic, Reid Schroeder, Max Sherwood, Morgan Staub, Ben Stewart, Sreeja Vepa, Dayton Wright
Participants
Ene Babadiya, Nathan Belmaster, Emma Birdwell, Sarah Bogaards, Jenna Booth, Jenna Brady, Belden Bremser, Matt Brockway, Kellie Brown, Quinten Burnett, Nora Burroughs, Briar Conrey, Alex Correa, Thomas Critelli-O’Donnell, Nate Cronk, Hayden Day, Emily Engelen, Jessica Finer, Ryan Finer, Kenny Flory, Michael Friedrickson, Sydney Furgerson, Rhea Gaskins, Garrett Hanson, Jessica Hanson, Charles Harmon, Elijah Harris, Arturo Hernandez-Garcia, Brenda Hernandez, Dawson Herteen, Aleka Hickman, David Hollingsworth, Justin Hosch, Elise Huey, Abby Huls, Thomas Huynh, Serena Ibsais, Megan Johansen, Aaron Johnson, Emma Kellogg, Audrey Krukow, Kelsie LeGary, Blair Liveringhouse, Solomon Mamola, Ashleigh Martin, Hannah McCue, Andrew Menke, John Meyer, Ben Moeckly, Marixa Moreno, Haley Morgan, Jean-Pierre Namink, Chaz Nell, Jared Nell, Savannah Paine, Anna Perdue, Abbie Purcell, Macayla Rhodes, Riley Rotert, Katy Sawyer, Annabel Saychareun, Sam Schweizer, Maddie Sebastian, Drew Simmons, Tori Snow, Olivia Sobek, James Sorbo, Chris Spangler, Mataya St.Aubin, Jessica Stoelk, Hailley Stolarz, Zach Stolarz, Tessa Streich, Cassie Swacker, Dumbari Taoh, Michelle Taylor, Andrew VanZante, Aiden Vedder, Sera Veeder, Jillian Westhoff, Evan Witke, Evan Wong, Parker Woods, Jordan Wright, Melissa Yazel, Mikayla Zmolek