Save the Date!

Coming up in March

SINGING IN THE RAIN Friday March 3rd

7:00 PM @ Booker High School

SINGING IN THE RAIN Saturday March 4th 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM @ Booker

High School

SPRING BAND CONCERT Thursday March 9th 7:00 PM @ Booker Middle School

Cafeteria

DRAGONFLY CAFE Thursday March 23rd 6:30 PM @ Booker Middle School

Room 130

VPA FUNDRAISER Friday March 24th

6:00 PM @ The Francis

SPRING MULTIMEDIA ART

SHOW Thursday March 30th 6:00 PM @ Booker Middle School

Tornado Gallery

SPRING CHORUS CONCERT Thursday March 30th 7:00 PM @ Booker Middle School

Cafeteria

We’d Love Your Support

We have a very excited and jam-packed month ahead of us. So

many performances, activities, and our big fundraiser event on

March 24th. We would love for you to volunteer or attend. You

can find more information about the event on our website

Bookermiddleschoolvpa.weebly.com. If you are interested in

volunteering or helping in any way email

BookerMiddleVPA@gmail.com. We would love to have your

support!

VPA GALA Friday March 24th

M A R C H 2 0 1 7

6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

The Francis Banquet Hall

1262 N Palm Ave.

Sarasota, FL 34236

2017: A Year of Creation!

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Beyoncé Knowles (Brianna’s choice for artist of the month)!

Our teachers think very highly of Brianna and her talents. Mr Batista said, ”she’s very eager

to learn new and exciting movement in dance

class,” and from Ms. Herbert, “Briana is talented, fun, smart and a wonderfully kind individual. She excels at finding creative solutions for every

artistic problem given her to solve, so much so that her work has already developed a unique

mature style. Whatever career path Briana chooses to pursue in her life, I am convinced she

will amazingly successful! Clearly people outside our school are admiring of her talents as well. She has been chosen to receive an award this

month! Congratulations Brianna!

Brianna Witlarge-Isaacs is an 8th grader,

originally from the Bahamas (how neat!), who

participates in the Dance and 2D/3D Art

disciplines. She has been dancing since she was 3

(but took 3 years off). She said she loves expressing

herself through movement. Leaps, turns, and

extensions make it very exciting, she said. Brianna

hasn’t been doing visual art as long (only a couple

years), but has already shown great talent and

enthusiasm for that discipline as well.

As if dance and 2D/3D Art aren’t enough,

Brianna also writes. She would like to be a writer one day and said, “I think my education in dance

and 2D/3D have really helped my writing skills.”

It’s no wonder that this girl who has so many talents, finds inspiration in the multi-talented artist

Singer-Dancer-Songwriter-Actress Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she performed in various singing and dancing

competitions as a child and rose to fame in the late 1990s as lead singer of R&B girl-

group Destiny's Child before going solo. Throughout her career, she has sold over 100

million records as a solo artist, and a further 60 million with Destiny's Child, making

her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She has won 22 Grammy

Awards and is the most nominated woman in the award's history. She is the most

awarded artist at the MTV Video Music Awards, with 24 wins. The Recording Industry

Association of America recognized her as the Top Certified Artist in America during the

2000s (decade). In 2009, Billboard named her the Top Radio Songs Artist of the

Decade, the Top Female Artist of the 2000s (decade) and awarded her their Millennium

Award in 2011. In 2014, she became the highest-paid black musician in history and was

listed among Time's 100 most influential people in the world for a second year in a row.

Forbes listed her as the most powerful female in entertainment of 2015, and in 2016 she

occupied the sixth place for Person of the Year.Source: Wikipedia.com

Briana’s Artist Pick:

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MPA Solo and Ensemble Festival Mr. Neilson’s students participated in MPAs (musical

performance assessments) at the Solo and Ensemble Festival.

BMS students received 14 Superior (that the highest!) and 2

Excellent ratings on their solo performances. The judges and

other participating schools were extremely impressed with our

student’s level of talent and expertise!

It was beautiful evening of music and entertainment. Our

guitar and orchestra students rocked thanks to their hard work

both in and outside of the classroom. A big thanks to Ms.

Heinz for all her efforts in getting the students prepared!

Guitar and Orchestra Concert

There have been an abundance of projects and activities in which our students and our

teachers have been involved!!

Last Month in Arts Education

LAST MONTH IN THE ARTS MARCH 2017

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It was a fun-filled weekend of workshops, events, and

performing competitions in Orlando at the Florida Jr

Thespian Festival. The students who participated were Abbey

Holdway, Anthony Lobo, Christina Brush, Emily Mollin,

Emma Clarke, Izzy Pizarro, Julien Loucks, Kaity Cairo,

Luke Cooper, Ryan Modjeski, and Shayla White.

Florida Jr. Thespian Festival

Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards A big CONGRATULATIONS to Lily Johnson who

received Honorable Mention for her short story submission

to the Scholastic National Arts and Writing Awards. Her

story is titled “Test Subject 009.” Well done Lily!

On February 16th BMS VPA students from the creative

writing and vocal performance disciplines went to an

invited dress rehearsal of The Italian Girl in Algiers at the

Sarasota Opera. And that’s not all… After the

performance, the students were treated to some

educational activities including a Q&A with two of the

cast members!

Visit to the Opera

…but wait… there’s more!

This month our orchestra students received another visit

from the Suncoast Perlman Music Program. This time it

was a quartet alumni visitation. We are so grateful for the

support the Perlman Music Program gives to our students

and our school!

Perlman Music Visit

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Sarasota Against ViolencE (SAVE) was funded by the

U.S. Department of Education through the Project

Prevent (P2). Funds to be provided by this additional

P2 grant will be integrated with the existing VPA

programs, but will supplement those activities to

provide student-focused activities which align with P2

goals in general and with specific SAVE program goals.

This month our staff and students participated in

activities in association with this grant

Art Students: Continued to work with artist Richie

Brasil has put the final touches on the mural. We

would love for you to come by and check it out! It is

great it pictures, but so much cooler in person!!

Orchestra, Chorus, and Band Students:

The collaborative piece is fantastic and is being

rerecorded so it sounds even better. It is an original

piece that carries an anti-bullying message.

Dance Students:

Guest Artist choreographer Mia Redding has had

several dance workshops with Mr. Batista’s dance

students.

SAVE Grant Update

Orchestra District MPAs Booker Middle School Orchestra received straight superiors

on Thursday evening at District MPA's. We received

superior in sight reading as well as 3 superiors from the

adjudicators for our prepared performance. The scores were

based on many categories, including tone, pitch, bowing,

rhythmic accuracy, dynamics, tempo, style, balance,

expression, and artistry. We are extremely proud of how

they presented themselves among the orchestras from several

counties.

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Our Logo

You may have noticed we have a sleek new logo on our

website and on all of our materials. “Where did this

fabulous logo come from?” you may be asking yourself?

Why, it came from one of our talented students, of course!

Graphic design student Jaylah Wilson who is currently in

the 6th grade is the mystery artist behind our new logo.

Great work Jaylyn!

Solo and Ensemble and District

Choral MPA’s Chorus attended the Solo and Ensemble District Choral MPA’s

this month. At solo and ensemble, Paris Levine, 7th grader,

performed the solo “Amazing Grace” and received an Excellent.

Ariel Samedi, 6th grader, performed the solo “To the Sky” and

received an Excellent. Briana Wilder, 6th grader, performed the

solo “She’s Like the Swallow” and received a Superior! All 3 girls

are in the Intermediate Chorus. At District Choral MPA’s, the

Advanced and Intermediate Chorus performed “I Will Extol Thee,

My God” and “Hush My Babe”. They received 2 Superiors and an

Excellent from the 3 adjudicators for their stage performance. In

sight reading they received a Superior, which gave us an overall

rating of a Superior! This is the highest rating you can receive.

… and some more

Each grade level has a Month of Mondays where their

families come together to share food, art, and writing.

This month it was the 8th graders and their families’

turn. Here are some pictures from that experience.

Family Writing Night – Month of Mondays

We had a wonderful turnout for our VPA program’s

auditions on Saturday February 4th. We are so excited

for the new talent coming into our program for the

2017/2018 school year.

VPA Auditions

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Jill Salak

Karin Strauss

Patricia Tellbuescher

Valerie Solum

Derek Swartzendruber

Kanani Kekahuna

Angela Wittstruck

Karima Habity Danielle Holdway

Stacy Bloom

Eric LoStorto,

Stacey Gentile

Stacey Gold Leiber

Jennifer Brancati

Toni Swartzendruber

Linda Darby

Krista Baker

Mitzi Smith Bill & Shelley Cairo

Maria Savino,

Cathy Brush

Amy O’Connor

Shannon Kraska-Cooper

Kim & Gregg Barker

Jamie & Nancy Milholland,

Dawn & JR Ramon

Jennifer Modjeski

Shannon Kraska

Cathy Pizarro

Dr. Shelley and Booker High School, thank you for generous use of your beautiful facilities and resources!

CALLING ALL BUSINESSES!!!!

Would YOU like to get the word out, AND

support children’s arts education? Place an

advertisement in the Booker Middle VPA

Newsletter! For more information, email

bookermiddlevpa@gmail.com

Thank you parents, partners, donors,

and volunteers!!!

2605 University Pkwy Sarasota, FL 34243

3572 17th St. Sarasota, FL 34235

(941) 951-2919

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For more information on Booker Middle School VPA activities or admissions contact VPA Coordinator Savannah Holds at bookermiddlevpa@gmail.com.

LOOKING AHEAD