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North Mason High School

DISTRICT SPOT LIGHTNMHS Band: Music, Marching, Jazz & FUN

Piggy-backing on the success of last year’s competitive field show routine, the

North Mason High School Band is marching back for more.

The band returned to the regional marching field this fall to compete at the Peninsula Classic (Silverdale), the Auburn Veteran’s Day Competition (Auburn) and the Tenino Band Festival (Tenino).

Band musicians earned honors and recognition for 1st Section, Best Color Guard and Best Drum Major. Wow!

These are major accomplishments

for a program two years into the competitive field shows circuit.

During the band’s rebuilding phase under new band director Chris Drewry, student musicians have developed a finalist-placing percussion ensemble and an award-winning color guard with plans to continue competing in local dance and winter guard festivals throughout the year.

In February, the band will also be sending (senior?junior?) John Marks to the Washington Music Educators Association (WMEA) All-State Wind symphony in Yakima. Marks, (a flute player?) auditioned for one of 70 spots in the ensemble, competing against students from across the state.

In addition to the marching band, the North Mason Jazz Band continues to swing into action as they perform locally. They have some concerts coming up, but are always looking for events and venues at which to play. If your organization or business is interested in giving these young musicians an opportunity to perform, please call band director Chris Drewry.

Band members are currently raising money to cover the cost of travels for a northwest tour. The NMHS Band is hoping to spread the music and goodwill of North Mason throughout western Washington.

Plans and performance venues are always unfolding. If you would like to donate to the NMHS Music program, please contact the band for ways you can help. You can also find the NMHS Band on facebook!

This is just the beginning for the NMHS band program. Following is a schedule of upcoming events and performances. We hope you will come join us for great music and fun.

Dec. 7SHELTON CHRISTMAS PARADE

Dec. 10WINTER HOLIDAY CONCERT 7pm NMHS theatre

Feb. 22SOLO/ ENSEMBLE CONTESTCentral Kitsap HS

March 20 SPRING CONCERT7pm NMHS theatre

April 25 JAZZ NIGHT7pm NMHS Theater

May 17 PORT TOWNSEND PARADE

May 31SHELTON PARADE

From the SCHOOL BOARD

NM Citizen ScientistsKnowledgable About Nature

by John Campbell, District 4jcampbell@northmasonschools.org

Matt Lonsdale teaches Marine Biology at North

Mason High School. Juniors and seniors in Lonsdale’s classes learn science from many different angles.

For example, students learn how to read articles from science journals. They discuss the technical meaning of what they have read and also its implications for their role as citizens. While the students are learning how to read and understand science, Lonsdale also gives them an opportunity to engage with professional scientists so they can put their new knowledge to work.

Dave Kangiser is a professional fisheries biologist at the Pacific Northwest Salmon Center (PNWSC) in Belfair. The PNWSC is located near the headwaters of Hood Canal where it meets the mouth of the Union River. Among Kangiser’s many responsibilities at the PNWSC is the task of documenting the changes that are occurring to the land as it returns to salmon habitat.

Enter Lonsdale and his students.

They have formed a collaboration with Kangiser and the PNWSC that unites the aims of the Marine Biology class and the educational, research and community outreach mission of the PNWSC.

Under the direction of Lonsdale and Kangiser, the students have seined the main channel (newly dug by engineers last summer) as it is now being shaped by the ebb and flow of the saltwater tides of Hood Canal. They have collected specimens and are counting and cataloguing the returning marine life.

Add to this the students’ project of comparative soil sampling between the old marsh and the new and we see a further example of how our students are not only studying science, but creating it. Future generations of North Mason students of Marine Biology will add to the record of natural history that Lonsdale and his students are compiling today.

From the new walkways spanning the wetlands trails where dikes once separated the farm from the marsh, visitors at low tide may occasionally

see NMHS students contributing to science. These students are evidence of the common goal shared by all of our science classes at NMSD. With the support of our community and with partnerships such as those we enjoy through the PNWSC, our schools hope to educate an entire generation of citizen scientists – citizens who will be knowledgeable about nature and alert to the implications of their choices for the web of life and for the common good.

– John Campbell

L-R: Seth Elsen (PNWSC), NMHS student Andrew Ness, Dave Kangiser (PNWSC) and student (girl in pink and white name?) watch as students Yuriko Kobayashi and Kelly Simms seine one of the new channels constructed for salmon habitat near the Union River estuary in Belfair. NMHS students are studying Marine Biology.

Members of the North Mason High School Band show off their multiple talents as they play music and march in crisp formation at the Auburn Veteran’s Day Parade and Marching Competition.

Future generations of North Mason students of Marine Biology will add to the record of natural history that Lonsdale and his students are compiling today.