STUDENT NEWS
LANDON TODAY S T U D E N T N E W S
Kudos Ryan Curto ’14 won two gold and one silver medal at the 2012 USA Gymnastic’s Region 6 Tumbling and Trampoline Championships. He also finished fifth in the Level 10- doublemini trampoline event at the Junior Olympics National Gymnastics Trampoline and Tumbling Championship.
Poolworthy: using only cardboard and duct tape, Kodiak Bears created a boat that carried a student across the dixon Pool at the spring Bear Games. The Brown Bears triumphed in the semi-annual games. Book Drive Times Three Upper School students spearheaded three end-of-year book drives. Jack Sears ’13 led Landon’s annual book donation to the World Bank Book Project. As his Eagle Scout project, Randy Staples ’14 organized a book drive
for Arcola Elementary School in Silver Spring. Alec Merski ’14 led Libros Para Niños (Books for Children), a service project he started in 2011 to promote literacy, learning and a love of reading among underprivileged Hispanic youth in the D.C. area.
Making Music ... and History ... in China
i
n July, an ensemble featuring Landon students became the first high school band to play at the national center for the arts in Beijing, according to Earl Jackson, chair of Landon’s performing arts department. The nine-person ensemble included seven Landon students: Aaron Beguelin ’14, Alex Christner ’15, Michael Harris ’12, Tumi Onaghise ’14, Grant Smith ’14, Henry Smith ’16 and Culver van Vleck ’14. “This was a great opportunity to present Landon’s music program to the Beijing band community,” Jackson said. The highlight of the trip, according to Jackson, was playing at the u.S. embassy in Beijing, one of the largest american embassies in the world.
6 Landon Magazine
Vincent Kindfuller ’12 was one of only 29 students in Montgomery County to receive a 2012 National Merit $2,500 Scholarship. Earlier in the year, Kindfuller, who served as editor of the Landon News, head of the debate team and captain of the riflery and rugby teams, was featured as a Bethesda Magazine Top Teen in March. He will attend M.I.T. on a Naval R.O.T.C. scholarship. Ryan Rose ’13 qualified to compete in the National Chemistry Olympiad based on his top-scoring performance on the local section of the exam. He was one of only 19 local students who advanced to the national level.
“Playing ‘God Bless the u.S.a.’ at that concert gave us a chance to play a song about freedom in the hub of communism and gave the audience an opportunity to witness american music on american soil,” Jackson said. The group also played with Beijing’s high School 166 and at the Beijing international Band festival as the closing ensemble in conjunction with the Beijing Wind orchestra. Jackson serves as president of the Beijing Wind festival and also spent time conducting clinics and judging competitions during the trip. Landon adjunct music faculty member Ronnie Shaw and Gilbert Pryor, a former adjunct music faculty member, joined Jackson on the trip. — rob yunich