Woodbury Fiddle Factory and Shaker Heights Middle School Orchestra plays at the Cleveland ClinicThe Woodbury Fiddle Factory and Shaker Heights Middle School Orchestra traveled to the Cleveland Clinic on December 19 for an outreach performance in the Karos Grand Lobby, which attracted a number of patients and caregivers.
The students performed a selection of classical music, a Latin rock song and a selection of holiday tunes. Middle School orchestra teacher Nicole Clouser was surprised by the number of doctors, nurses and staff who came to listen. “One woman explained that her mother was in the hospital and that she needed a break from the stress,” Mrs. Clouser says. “She told us that the music brought her joy.”
Mrs. Clouser is planning additional outreach opportunities for Woodbury and Middle School students in the coming months, including a second Middle School Orchestra National Anthem performance at a Cleveland Cavaliers game. Last year, Mrs. Clouser coordinated National Anthem performances for the Middle School Orchestra at a Cavaliers game and a Cleveland Indians game. “We really want to bring our music programs into the local community,” Mrs. Clouser explains. “These valuable performance opportunities bring relevance to the students’ music studies.”
Shaker Heights High School Senior Abigail Beard Published in Scientific JournalCongratulations to IB Diploma Programme Candidate and Shaker Heights High School senior Abigail Beard, who was named as a secondary author in the November 22, 2018 issue of the scientific journal Oncogene for her research that contributed to the article, "The lncRNA BORG facilitates the survival and chemoresistance of triple-negative breast cancers." The article—and Abigail’s research—investigates one of the mechanisms behind a breast cancer cell’s escape from dormancy to metastatic outgrowth.
For the past two summers, Abigail has participated in Case Western Reserve University's Scientific Enrichment and Opportunity Program, which teaches high school students about the biomedical field and prepares them for college. “I have an interest in medicine and I thought this would be a great opportunity to develop my research skills,” she says. “After this experience, I can definitely see my place in science.”
Abigail says she learned so much more about herself than she expected. “I realized that the world is so much bigger than we think it is,” she says. “We can all find a place where we can make a contribution and grow as human beings. The opportunities are out there. All it takes is a little reaching out to find them.”
High School Diploma Programme Students Raise Money for WeHelpTwo
Shaker Heights High School IB students have partnered with WeHelpTwo—a nonprofit that sells packs of cool, colorful, funky socks as a fundraiser—in a Socks for Legs campaign. The idea is simple: for every 90 packs of socks sold, a child amputee in a developing country gets a prosthetic leg. In developing countries, most children walk to school, so purchasing WeHelpTwo socks gives a child the gift of education. Also, for every pack of socks sold, one pair of warm socks is donated to Cleveland shelters.
Overall, the students raised more than $1,800 and sold 150 packs of socks, which is enough for one child to receive a prosthetic leg. The High School students who led the campaign included Maggie Perry, Rebecca Powers, Isaac Weiss, Caitlyn Shelley, Lia Snyder, Tomasina DeLong and Molly Harper. Well done, students!
High School Environmental Club Purchases Solar Panels This past fall, two arrays of solar panels were installed at the High School, thanks to the efforts of the High School Environmental Club and the generosity of a matching donation from the Sandstone Foundation. The club began raising money four years ago with bake sales and recycling electronics and by last year, had accumulated $5,000. "At first, we didn't know what we wanted to do with the money we'd raised, but then we started brainstorming and decided that the panels would be something we could give that would have some lasting impact," says senior and club president Katrina Cassell.
Last year, Katrina began investigating how to make the solar panels a reality. She connected with Better Together Solar, which provided the solar panels, and with students from the Hathaway Brown Green Club, to learn more their experience the school's solar panels.
Today, the panels are in place on a south-facing roof outside Room 300 in the High School Science Wing. The panels will generate about 3,200 kWh per year, about 1/3 of what an average home consumes in a year. The panels will offset approximately 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide and more than 68 tons over their 30-plus year life. The Environmental Club estimates this array will generate enough electricity to power two average classrooms each year.
Moving forward, the Shaker Schools Foundation hopes to provide educational signage in the classroom to explain more about the panels. Cassell also hopes to provide and share a public link that shows how much power the arrays generate daily.
"Now that we have the panels in place, it's easier and less expensive to add more," Cassell explains. "Maybe one day, we'll be able to power more classrooms."