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INSIDE• Principal’s Message• Department Updates• Student Services Update

Volume 12 • No. 2March 2015

Published Quarterly

Cover photo courtesy of Tom Hagerty

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sUpcoming Performances

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All performances at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.Purchase tickets at www.harrisonarts.com

March6 Focal Point, Art Reception, 6 p.m.6-8 The Wiz / 2 p.m. on March 810 Choral Chamber Concert14 Roll Out The Red Carpet, 7 p.m.17 Piano Concert20 Wind Ensemble Concert22 Music at Pinewood (Bok Tower), 5 p.m.26 String Ensemble ConcertApril16-19 Bus Stop / 2 p.m. on April 1921 Guitar Concert24 Blurred Vision, Art Reception, 6 p.m.24-25 Motion Picture Arts Showcase25 Motion Picture Arts Showcase, 2 p.m.May1-2 Dance Concert7 Orchestra Concert14 Choral Concert21 Jazz Band Concert

Principal’sMessage

Daryl Ward, Ph.D.

I want to begin this message with a profound thank you to all of the

many volunteers who make Har-rison such a special place to learn and work. This month we submit our volunteer hours for the Golden and Silver School Awards and it has allowed me to reflect on how much time, effort, and financial support our volunteers (parents and oth-erwise) provide our school. There is no question Harrison students would not achieve the artistic and general academic success that they do without all of our volunteer as-sistance. Perhaps nowhere is this volunteer spirit more evident than with our annual parents’ associa-tion fundraiser, Roll Out the Red Carpet for Harrison. This event, set for March 14 at 7:00 p.m., has become a highlight of the Harrison year as it not only provides funding for the parents’ association budget, but it also showcases the best Har-rison has to offer in terms of student performances. This year, to cel-ebrate Harrison’s 25 years, we’ve altered the traditional format some-what and have invited several Har-rison alumni to return and perform for the evening. We’re excited that 1994 grad and Tony Award-winner, Karen Olivo will headline the event

in addition to Quentin Darrington and Yurel Echezarretta joining us – all with Broadway credits to their resume. We will also have perfor-mances by our Musical Theatre stu-dents, the Harrison Singers, and the Harrison Symphony. If you haven’t yet purchased your tickets for this fabulous celebration of Harrison’s magic, then please visit www.har-risonarts.com to do so. I’m also thrilled to unveil the very first class of inductees for the Harrison Hall of Fame. Nomi-nees were selected from three dis-tinct categories: Harrison alumni, Harrison retired staff/faculty, and Friend of Harrison. We have four inductees in this inaugural group: Karen Olivo (alumni), Kristen Grady Milligan (alumni), Karen DeMichael (faculty), and Beth Ma-son (Friend of Harrison). I hope you’ll join me on Friday evening, March 14 at 7:00 p.m. in the Har-rison theatre to honor these fine rep-resentatives of our school. We were blessed to have so many wonderful nominees to choose from and this stellar group is certainly worthy of this recognition.

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Students performing in West Side Story.

Anita and company dancing in West Side Story.

Chorus students perform at Bok Tower. The orchestra students perform at Music of the Season.

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Creative Writing students were recently rec-ognized and awarded by Sister Cities Inter-

national of Lakeland. Students submitted poems and essays to the organization’s writing compe-tition, and took home both monetary awards as well as ribbons and certificates. Taking first place was Mariva DeBorde, whose essay was “Food as Community Peace Builder.” Second place was awarded to Mary Helen Goldstein, who wrote the poem “Brick Heart.” Third place was awarded to Abby Kalen Belanger, whose poem was entitled “Ptolemy’s Fatal Fault.” All three students will be attending an awards ceremony in May, where they will receive their monetary awards. The Creative Writing Department also held a Celebration of African American Litera-ture in February. As part of this program, they hosted award-winning poet Erica Dawson and had students read great works from African-American authors.

TheatreCreative WritingThe Theatre Department is in the middle of a

Kansas City blizzard as the cast and crew pre-pare for the spring play Bus Stop by William Inge. The award-winning play was adapted for the screen and starred Marilyn Monroe. The play runs April 16-19 in the Black Box Theatre and promises a touch-ing journey of love, loneliness, and the unexpected things that can happen when the weather causes a detour. In March students from Theatre and Musical Theatre will perform at the Florida State Thespian Festival in Tampa. Students who received Superior ratings at the District Festival in December will par-ticipate in the state competition and four days of events and workshops. In January, sixty theatre students set out via charter bus for American Stage in St. Pete, to see August Wilson’s moving and award-winning play Radio Golf. Audience members to the ISO’s winter performance of LaTraviata were transported to Victorian Paris, with pre-show entertainment provided by students in the theatre department. And, a winter stage combat workshop with Ilene Fins allowed students to fine tune their skills with swords and stage fighting. Ms. Fins will be joining us again this spring in prepara-tion for Bus Stop. Seniors, Allie Iakovidis and Michaela Pat-terson, last featured here for their starring roles in a short film, have been selected as the top two winners in the Downtown Rotary Speech Contest. Each stu-dent in the contest presented a 5-7 minute speech on the topic “Light Up Rotary.”

Karyne Jean-Bart and Ragan Lineberger provide someentertainment before a recent event at the Lakeland Center.

Maguire Schmid was recently selected from over 1,500 applicants to travel to Washington D.C. in July to speak to congress on behalf of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). He will be there with about 150 other students from across the country to ask Congress to continue to support the Special Diabetes Program (SDP), which funds re-search for treatment and a cure. Maguire will be there as the sole representative for the Tampa Bay Chapter, which included Polk, Hillsborough & Pi-nellas counties. Maguire is a 9th grader in the Gui-tar Department.

HSA Student to Address Congress

The Harrison Jazz Orchestra has had a fantastic first semester and is forging through a great second one!

On February 12, the HJO extended a streak of straight Superior ratings at the Florida Bandmasters Association (FBA) District Jazz Music Performance Assessment. Including the old Harrison Jazz Ensembles, this streak has lasted since the reinstatement of the festival by the FBA 15 years ago. Two jazz combos also performed and received Superior ratings that evening as well. Jazz students participated in the Florida Band-masters Association District Solo & Ensemble Music Performance Assessment on February 13-14. Students performed either solos or in small ensembles. Along with the HSO Winds and Percussion, 62 HSA events occurred and 91 Superior medals were awarded. Many of these students have chosen to go to the next level and enter their events at the FBA State level Solo & Ensemble MPA on March 24 at Buchholz High School in Gainesville, FL. HJO students are now busy preparing for the Wind Ensemble concert to be given March 20 at 7:30 p.m. The concert is a collaborative effort between the HJO and the HSO Wind and Percussion students featur-ing music written for band. This year we welcome The

Lawton Chiles Middle Academy Symphonic Band with conductor Jane Sholine. We are tremendously excited about the opportunity to perform music that rounds out musical experiences for students from both groups as well as working with such fine musicians and a respect-ed conductor and colleague. Soon after the Wind Ensemble concert, the HJO will be traveling to The Villages to perform a concert for the Jazz Lovers’ Club. The concert is scheduled for April 14 at 7 p.m. Students will travel by charter bus and perform a mixture of full band charts as well as combo tunes. It is sure to be a fun-filled trip! Students will also be performing with the Polk All County Or-chestra and the All County Band at Florida Southern College during coming months. As always, feel free to contact Mr. Lambert with any questions! Be sure to keep up to date with the monthly calendar as well as following the HJO on Face-book (Harrison Jazz Orchestra) and Twitter (@hjojazz). You can also sign up for text message reminders from Remind.com. Type “81010” for the number and type “@hjojazz” in the text space. Upon successfully enroll-ing, you will be sure to receive the latest information related to all things HJO!

The Musical Theatre Department is ready to “Ease on Down the Road” with a spectacular production of

The Wiz. Performances are March 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m. and March 8 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale through www.harrisonarts.com. A special thanks to all of the par-ents and volunteers who have made this such a success-ful rehearsal process. The cast will perform in a compli-mentary matinee on March 6 for schools in Polk County. This past fall, guest artist Alumni Virginia Mun-day taught advanced choreography classes and modern dance. We have also hosted alumni guest artists Yurel Echezaretta, Caitlin Pilette, and Sarah Claire Smith who taught dance classes and shared their experiences since their graduation. One of the best experiences we had this year was the musical theatre workshop presentation at the 2015 Florida Music Educators Association Professional Development Convention in Tampa. The students per-formed several solos and group numbers for over 200 music teachers while the faculty gave information on auditioning, performing, and choreographing musical theatre performances.

On March 9th, a majority of the musical theatre department will gather to help Roll Out the Red Car-pet for Harrison by performing “Sit Down Your Rockin’ the Boat” choreographed by sophomore Ryland Marbutt and featuring alumni Quinten Darrington In addition to class work and jury preparation, students are also getting ready for our showcases in the spring. Our Freshman/Sophomore Showcase will be Fri-day, May 8 at 7:30 p.m., the Junior Showcase will be Tuesday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m., and our Senior Showcase will be Friday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. The showcases are an opportunity for students to present individual class work and exceptional ensemble work created through-out the school year. In addition to the showcases, our Juniors are put-ting the finishing touches on their script and choreogra-phy for their partnership with the Doris Sanders Learn-ing Center. Every year our Juniors teach and perform with the physically and mentally challenged individuals from the center which culminates in a performance at Lakeland’s MayFaire on Saturday, May 9.

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Musical Theatre

Jazz

After a festive “Music of the Season” concert and a restful winter holiday, the Harrison Symphony

members started back in January with the Florida Mu-sic Educators Convention in Tampa. The following HSO members participated in the All-State Bands and Orchestras at the Convention: Jaida Hawkins, Dixie Ortiz, Emily Haight, Michael Jean, Chet Humphries and Sophia Jean. Participating in All-State Band and Orchestra is one of the highest musical honors given in the state and we are very proud of these students’ achievement! The orchestra students have been treated to great performances and workshops by visiting en-sembles these past two months. On January 29, the re-nowned string ensemble DaPonte String Quartet visited for a master class and a performance of Mendelssohn’s Quartet No 2. On February 2, the orchestra was treated to a performance and workshop from the St. Olaf Col-lege Orchestra. The St. Olaf Orchestra gave a wonder-ful performance as well as a “side by side” performance with the Harrison Symphony. Finally, on February 12, musicians from “Beyond the Chamber” worked with string students during class and during our after school chamber rehearsals. You can check out these groups at their websites: http://www.daponte.org/, http://wp.stolaf.edu/stolaf-orch/, and http://www.musicbe-yondthechamber.org/. The Wind and Percussion students recently par-ticipated in the Florida Bandmasters Association Solo and Ensemble Music Performance Assessment. Each student performed in either a solo or as a member of a small ensemble; some performed in multiple events. Along with the Jazz students, there were 68 events and a total of 91 Superior medals awarded. Many of these students have chosen to go to the next level and enter

their events at the FBA State level Solo & Ensemble MPA on March 24 at Buchholz High School in Gaines-ville, FL. HSO wind and percussion students are now busy preparing for the Wind En-semble concert to be given March 20 at 7:30 p.m. The concert is a collab-orative effort between the HJO and the HSO Winds and Percussion fea-turing music written for band. This year we welcome The Lawton Chiles Middle Academy Symphonic Band with conductor, Jane Sholine. We are tremendously excited about the opportunity to perform music that rounds out musical experiences for students from both groups as well as working with such fine mu-sicians and a respected conductor and colleague. String students are busy preparing for their Spring Juries which will be held in the orchestra room the week after spring break in April. Students will per-form a grade level solo that demonstrates his/her musi-cal development. These solos are recorded each year are reviewed with students to provide students exam-ples of their musical growth. Other HSO events include the String Ensemble Concert on March 26 and All-County Band April 9-10. As always, feel free to contact Mr. Lambert and Mr. Davis with any questions! Be sure to keep up to date with the monthly calendar as well as following the HSO on Facebook (Harrison Symphony Orchestra 2014-15) and Twitter (@hsoorch). You can also sign up for text message reminders from Remind.com. Type “81010” for the number and type “@hsoorch” in the text space. Upon successfully enrolling, you will be sure to receive the latest information related to all things HSO!

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Congratulations to Evan Budd, a senior in the Guitar Department, for being named a Finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program. The National

Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and schol-arships that uses PSAT scores as an initial screen of approximately 1.5 million entrants each year. Semifinalists advance to Finalist standing in the competition by meeting high academic standards and all other program requirements. Each year the competition names approximately 15,000 finalists nationwide. After being noti-fied that he had been named a finalist in the competition, Evan said the news was completely “shocking” to him and that he was “extremely happy and excited.”

HSA Senior Named National Merit Finalist

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The Piano Department is currently in rehearsal for our Spring Piano Concert, which will take place on

March 17, 7:30 p.m., in the Harrison Theatre. This con-cert will feature not only several solo piano repertoire works, but some delightful ensemble pieces that the students have diligently been working on this semester. Please mark this date on your calendar and come sup-port our piano students! You are sure to have a good time. Many of our piano students generously give of their time and talents by performing throughout our community. Such places would be: nursing homes, as-sisted living centers, community events, churches, and school related events. A special thank you to these stu-dents who do this on a regular basis: Andrew Brown, Zac Cochran, Jared Clark, Jessica Sokolski, Kendal McDowell, and Chris Suryo. Our department will be working on some fun projects this semester. Robert Fleitz will be returning to Harrison to work with our piano students in a master class and an individual instruction setting. Robert is a senior piano performance major at the Julliard School of Music. We will also have a master class from former student, Derik Thomas, who will be sharing various ca-reer avenues of music business, song writing, and per-formance. Our students will continue to explore careers of musicians, particularly pianists; accompanying; and stylistic components of composers. We will conclude our year with our Senior Piano Jury Recital, which is scheduled for May 15 in the Harrison Theatre. This concert is a final exam for our seniors, which is open to the public at no charge. They are responsible for their repertoire, programming, and preparation as part of their final jury exam. This is always an enjoyable performance as our graduating seniors select some of their favorite piano repertoire to perform.

PianoMotion Picture Arts had five films accepted into

the 2015 Gasparilla International Film Festi-val. The films are Caught Dead, Conduction, Eye of the Beholder, The Photographer, and Cri de Coeur. The event is scheduled for Sunday, March 29 in Ybor City. Two films were accepted into the Palm Beach International Film Festival’s Student Showcase of Films. Eye of the Beholder and Withdrawal were both accepted and both placed in the Top Ten. The ceremony is Thursday, March 12.

Motion Picture Arts

Dezi Bennett on the set of Conduction.

Jake Mitchell and Ragan Lineberger on theset of The Photographer.

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GuitarThe Guitar Department is enjoying a busy and suc-

cessful school year. Our winter concert on Decem-ber 16 was the best attended guitar concert to date. Stu-dents performed a mix of ensemble music and solos. Soloists included Evan Budd, Emily Jones, Cameron Clark, Cole Yrastorza, Miguel Velez-Marrero, Holt Russell, Maxwell Hedman, John Butz, and Jacob Bow-en. Harrison Guitar also dominated the All State Guitar Ensemble (as is becoming our habit!) with 12 of our students performing in the 44 student ensemble. Those students were Jake Bowen, Evan Budd, John Butz, Cam Clark, Max Hedman, Emily Jones, Ian Ly-ons-Stafford, Zach McDonald, Kavi Saxena, Devon Taylor, Miguel Velez-Marrero, and Cole Yrastorza. Four sophomores, Jake Bowen, John Butz, Cam Clark, and Max Hedman, who are all members of Aeolian, have been performing as a guitar quartet which we have now dubbed The Aeolian Guitar Quar-tet (AGQ). AGQ has represented Harrison Guitar bril-liantly at Carpenters Estates on January 20, Mountain Lake on January 21, and the Pinewood Estate at Bok Tower Gardens. The Pinewood performance was a full concert, AGQ’s first and the first in a series of 3 that Harrison is giving there. The concerts take place in a small room with a very high wooden ceiling that gives the room a rich acoustic ambience. There is room for about 50 people with a small overflow area of about

12 more seats, which were completely filled. AGQ re-ceived a standing ovation and performed an encore. The Guitar Department has also been raising money for two major projects. Aeolian used a variety of sources including Kickstarter (a web based crowd sourcing platform) to help fund their upcoming trip to Brownsville, TX, for a national guitar ensemble com-petition. The goal of $4,000 was reached. The Guitar Department has also been raising money to buy an acoustical shell which has now been completely fund-ed. Other guitar highlights have included two infor-mal recitals, one in the Harrison Guitar Suite and anoth-er in a private home, and a visit from touring guitarist Muriel Anderson.

The members of the Aeolian Guitar Quartet after one of their many recent performances in the community.

The Dance Department is looking forward to a great ending for our 2014-2015 school year. We are very

proud of our Seniors! Congratulations to Savannah Applewhite, Saxon Ballard, Keely Browning, Haley Bryan, Reagan Cheyne, Kharma Grimes-Hardie, Josh Hilliard, Anna-Marie Knutson, Gabriella Torres, and Ke’Ron Wilson. Please put the Senior Concert on your calendar, May 18! The Dance Department has been pleased to present diverse guest artists with diverse views and tal-ents to our students this semester. On February 4th, Erika Lawlor Schmidt of Vital Spark North taught a master class for the upper classmen. Mrs. Schmidt is a choreographer, visual art-ist, musician, and film maker. She has been creating

work since 1995 that integrates dance, physical theater, music /soundscape, kinetic sculpture, and video. Mrs. Schmidt received her formal dance training in Chicago, IL, and earned her M.F.A. in Art from University of South Florida in Tampa, FL. Mrs. Schmidt is also the parent of two Harrison graduates Kyra and Ava! Miss Layla Amis will be returning to teach a master class on March 16. Miss Amis is an alumna of Harrison and the Artistic Director of the MODAS Sum-mer Intensive. Miss Amis attended New World College of the Arts in Miami on a full scholarship. She continued her education in Chicago, training with Hubbard Street Chicago and on a full scholarship at Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Center. Miss Amis has danced professionally with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and... continued p.9

Dance

(Above) Students working during their master class with Guest Artist Erika Schmidt.

(Left) Students take a moment to pose for a photo with Erika Schmidt.

Page 9... cont. p.8 ...as a principal dancer with Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, the Gail Gilbert Dance Ensemble, and Moving People Dance Santa Fe. In 2005, Miss Amis accepted the position of School Director for Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet in San Francisco. During her time at LINES, Miss Amis helped build the LINES Ballet Summer Program to one of the premiere Summer In-tensive programs in the country, along with creating a Year Round Training Program. The students enjoyed her class earlier this year and are looking forward to her return. Guest artist Camille A. Brown was on campus Wednesday, February 25, for a master class and the stu-dents, accompanied by Mrs. Bourgeois, attended the performance of Ms. Brown on Friday, February 27 at Polk State in Winter Haven. Ms. Brown is an award winning choreographer. She holds a Bessie Award, two-time Princess Grace Award Recipient for choreog-raphy and works in progress Residency, a 2015 TED Fellow, a two-time recipient of the 2014 Joyce Award with Dance Cleveland, a 2014 NYC Center Choreogra-phy fellow, and she was also the 2013 recipient of The International Association of Blacks in Dance Founders Award to name a few. She is a graduate of La Guardia High School of the Performing Arts and holds a BFA from the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts. We were thrilled by her master class and perfor-mance. Don’t miss the Spring Dance Concert! The dates are May 1 and 2 in the Harrison Theatre. Featured on the program will be new works by Mrs. Bourgeois and classical works mounted by Ms. Olson. Guest Art-ist Virginia Munday will be performing as we contin-

ue to recognize our alumni in this year of 25x25. Ms. Munday graduated from the Harrison Dance depart-ment in 2002. Ms. Munday was the recipient of the Florida First Lady Arts Scholarship 2002. She also won the Ruth Eckerd Hall Scholarship for dance with her original modern choreography as well as the Harrison departmental scholarship for dance. After graduating from University of Illinois with a BFA, Ms. Munday pursued her MFA in Choreography with Distinction at Roehampton University in London, England. While in England her works, “Maybe We Should” and “Things to Make and Do” were premiered as part of Resolution! Congratulations to the following students who were accepted into and/or are attending the following prestigious National Summer Inten-sives: Imani Manzanno- Simmons (The American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive, the Orlando Ballet Summer Intensive), McKenzie Aranda (The Orlando Ballet Summer Intensive), Eve Royal (Florida State University Summer Intensive, Patel Conservatory Summer Inten-sive), Lyla Saxena (The American Ballet Theatre Sum-mer Intensive, the Orlando Ballet Summer Intensive), Megan Pieske (The Orlando Ballet Summer Intensive) Amanda Rodriguez (The Orlando Ballet Summer In-tensive) and Anyssa Tucker (The American Ballet The-atre Summer Intensive, Florida State University Sum-mer Intensive, the Orlando Ballet Summer Intensive). As always we wish to send a special thank you to Mrs. Tucker our HPA VP and all the wonderful par-ents who keep our department glowing and going!

L A K E L A N D , F L O R I D A | W W W . H A R R I S O N A R T S . C O M

CELEBRATING 25 YEARSOF STUDENT ARTISTRY

1989 | 2014

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Seniors: A reminder to save all letters of acceptance to colleges/universities, as well as proof of all scholarship monies offered to you. You will be asked to report this information later this semester.

Junior Conferences for Students and Parents: We had a great turnout for the junior conferences held in Febru-ary. Thank you, parents, for making your participation a priority. Please remember to review the items shared in the conference and prioritize tasks to make the most of the remainder of your junior year.

Sophomore and Freshmen Class Conferences: Will be held late March/early April through Harrison classes. Students will review their scholastic records, gradua-tion requirements, complete course registration for the 2015-16 school year, develop/update their 4-year plan, review Bright Futures scholarships guidelines and oth-er scholarship/financial aid information.

Email System: All parents and students are encouraged to join our email system. This allows you to stay up-to-date with the latest happenings at Harrison. To register, go to www.harrisonarts.com and click “Email Sign Up” on the home page. This is a separate email system than your departmental email listserv.

Portal: Parent Parent and Student Portals are available for keeping up-to-date with student grades and atten-dance. For information, please contact our Network Manager, Mrs. Moroney at karen.moroney@polk-fl.net.

Scholarship Bulletin: Updated monthly and available via our website, sent via our email system, and posted in each Harrison classroom. Scholarships are available for students in grades 9-12.

Community Service Hours: Harrison students, grades 9-11, must have all community service hours docu-mented and submitted via Noble Hour by April 15. The deadline for Harrison seniors to submit hours is May 1. Noble Hour may be accessed via the Harrison website, www.harrisonarts.com. There is a Noble Hour tutorial on the Harrison website. Please contact Mrs. Moroney, community service coordinator, at karen.moroney@polk-fl.net for assistance.

LHS/Harrison AP (Advanced Placement) Night: Mon-day, May 18 in the LHS cafeteria. Meeting at 6:00 p.m. for students new to AP courses; 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. – drop in for students who have previously taken AP courses. AP teachers will be in attendance. Students and parents will have the opportunity to learn more about Advanced Placement coursework, purpose, and expectations.

Underclassmen Awards: This year’s Underclassmen Awards will be held on Tuesday, May 12 in the Har-rison Theatre. Awards for Freshmen will take place at 6:00 p.m. with awards for Sophomores and Juniors be-ginning at 7:30 p.m.

Student Services Update