Dancing, singing, and the sea

On April 4, Lincolnview and Crestview got together to host the Ennio Emmanuel Concert at the NPAC.  Students had the opportunity to participate in many on stage activities and to sing along with Ennio.  We were joined by over 500 students from 11 area schools.  Crestview had a group of three girls who sang with Ennio and Lincolnview had 14 dancers who performed on stage.  Ennio is from Puerto Rico and is in his first year on the concert tour.  He was very personable and the students enjoyed interacting with him.  We then went on to Mi Ranchito Mexican Restaurant for some authentic Mexican food.  We want to thank Paul Hoverman, executive Director and Hugh Saunier, Technical/Production Manager and all the other people at the NPAC for their help in bringing Ennio to VanWert.

At the April 4 All Boards Dinner program, the top three Vantage students in each area (Trade, Business, and Service) spoke about the teacher who had influenced them the most in the past two years. Tressa Ringwald, a Lincolnview student and a member of the Interactive Media program at Vantage, honored her lab teacher, Jill DeWert, by saying she was the most influential teacher. Tressa shared all the things that DeWert taught her, which went beyond just Interactive Media material. Tressa was awarded the Vantage 2013 Outstanding Student Award.

The Lincolnview High School art department, under the supervision of Kay Wilusz, recently completed and submitted their shoes in Vans high school art competition.  The lead designers were Alexandra Kleman and Shae Friemoth. In its fourth year, the Vans Custom Culture art competition inspires high school students across the United States to embrace their creativity and draw attention to the importance of art as an integral part of our schools’ focus in the face of shrinking budgets.

The first 1,500 U.S.-based public or private high schools that registered for Vans Custom Culture received four pairs of Vans shoes (styles: 106, Sk8-Hi, Slip On and Authentic) to make their own creations. Each pair must represent one of four themes: Action Sports, defined as boards and bikes, not stick and ball, Music, Art, and Local Flavor, a theme inspired by your surrounding community or state.

Alexandra worked on the art shoes and the local themed shoes. She decorated the art shoes with actual pieces of colored pencils the she sawed, sanded and glued to the shoes. Her locally inspired shoes focused on Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon and featured a rocket leaving Earth and the craters of the moon with an American flag mounted in the shoe. Shae’s music themed shoes concentrated on Bob Marley featuring a silhouette, his Jamaican heritage and philosophy and words. Her sports based hi-tops depicted skateboarding. It contained many small plastic wheels and profiles of skateboarders inside the leather segment along the ankle within a nonfigurative multicolored design.

Many other students, including Ally Evans, Ethan Kleman and Ali Gorman, helped with the painting and ideas.  Top Five finalists will be flown to New York City for an exclusive final event where the winner will be selected. The grand prize winning school will receive a $50,000 prize for their art program and the chance for their shoes to be produced and sold in Vans’ retail stores. The four runners up schools will also receive money for their art programs
Both students plan to major in art next year in college. Alexandra Kleman is headed to Columbus College of Art and Design and plans to major in advertising and graphic design while Shae is going to Owens State Community College to major in interior design.