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Washington Middle School Seattle, Washington




Washington Middle School is an ethnically diverse school located in the central district of Seattle .

It is the only middle school in Seattle with APP (or the Accelerated Progress Program). It is fed into by Lowell Elementary and the APP students are guaranteed entrance to Garfield High School should they choose to attend it instead of their local school.

The Washington Middle School's music department has been mentioned in the Seattle Times and Seattle-Post Intelligencer, as well as many other media sources for the Senior Jazz Band, which has won numerous awards at National Level.

The 8th grade students participate in an annual Worlds Apart, HeARTS Together program sponsored by the University Of Washington , where students from South Africa travel to the school for three weeks in April to learn about American culture and teach the students about their own culture. To kick off the program in 2006, Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited Washington Middle School to speak to the students about diversity.

The sports teams are very successful, and Washington Middle School's boys and girls Basketball teams have won three championships in a row.

The Head Coach of the boy's team is Craig McKinney, and the Assistant Coach is Danny Cage.

Roster: Tony Wroten, Darian Brooks, Salim Gloyd, Marcell Davis, Marquis Harris, Luke Richard, Chris-Micheal Garrett, Darell Jack, Matthew Dick, Cole Story, Abe Stephenson, James Spencer, and Andy Boelter.

The current principal is Jon Halfaker.

The Senior Jazz Band has been fairly successful in 2007. Achievements include:
Bellevue Community College Jazz Festival:
1st place
Solo Awards: Fiona Majeau on trumpet
Ian Frost on tenor saxophone
Willem De Koch on trombone

Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival
Big Band: Adjudicator's Mention
Combo (Fiona Majeau, Willem De Koch, Graham Davis, August (Gus) Comstock, Adam Stansell,
and Nicholas (Nick) Bissiri): Adjudicator's Mention

Reno Jazz Festival
Big Band: 3rd Place
Combo (Fiona Majeau, Willem De Koch, Graham Davis, August (Gus) Comstock, Adam Stansell,
and Nicholas (Nick) Bissiri): 1st Place
Combo (Ian Frost, Ian Zapolsky, August (Gus) Comstock,
and Nicholas (Nick) Bissiri): 3rd Place
Solo Award: Graham Davis on trumpet

NW Jazz Band Festival
Big Band: 1st Place
Combo (Fiona Majeau, Willem De Koch, Graham Davis, August (Gus) Comstock, Adam Stansell,
and Nicholas (Nick) Bissiri): 1st Place
Combo (Ian Frost, Ian Zapolsky, August (Gus) Comstock,
and Nicholas (Nick) Bissiri): 2nd Place

Anaheim Heritage Festival (May 17-20)
see below
Every year for the past number of years, Sr. Band and Sr. Jazz Band (led by Robert Knatt), Choir, and Sr. Orchestra (led by Elizabeth Fortune-Gobo, and Frederick West as an assistant choir director)compete in the Heritage Music Festival in Anaheim, California. All four groups usually do well at this competition (all but Choir won first in their division last year). This year's trip is May 17-20.

Everyone did well at the festival this year, which is open to middle and high schools. About 1300 students from four different states competed this year. The school as a whole took home the Instrumental Sweepstakes and the Festival Sweepstakes. The following is a list of the awards that each ensemble won:

Choir: Gold Award (above 90 points), 1st place (concert choir, middle school division)

Sr. Orchestra: Gold Award (above 90 points), 1st place (orchestra, middle school division), Adjudicator’s Award, Outstanding Orchestra (best in festival), invitation to Invitational Heritage Music Festival for ensembles in New York City next year

Sr. Jazz Band: Gold Award (above 90 points), 1st place (jazz band, middle school division), Adjudicator's Award, Outstanding Contributions by individuals went to Ian Zapolsky (piano), Fiona Majeau (trumpet), and Willem De Koch (trombone)

Sr. Band: Gold Award (above 90 points), 1st place (concert band, middle school division), Adjudicator's Award, Outstanding Band (best in festival), Outstanding Contribution by an individual went to Monica Chinn (flute), invitation to Invitational Heritage Music Festival for ensembles in New York City next year


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