Connor Smith, a student at Western Christian High School, has been selected for the 2010 American High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall.

He will be a part of the Honors Choir as a tenor. Selection to the Honors Orchestra, Honors Band, and Honors Choir is limited to the 200 highest-rated high school performers from across North America.

Connor auditioned this past fall for the Honors Performance Series and was accepted after a review by a master conductor and Selection Board committee.

Connor studies music under the direction of Western Christian’s director, Jason Bradley. He is a member of the school’s choir and its audition group, “Hilltop Faith.” Additionally, he is active in the drama program, has performed for the Association of Christian Schools International and is a member of The Gary Bonner Singers.

Finalists will come together for five days in June in New York City to have the opportunity to learn from world-renowned choral conductor, Dr. Eph Ehly, attend a Juilliard seminar and visit the city.

The June 26 performance is available to the public and specially invited representatives from collegiate music programs and the New York arts community.

Information: www.honorsperformance.org.

Dear Mr. Blessinger,

Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that the 2009 Western Christian High School yearbook has been inducted into Walsworth Publishing Company’s Gallery of Excellence.

The Gallery of Excellence is a showcase of the finest yearbooks produced by Walsworth customers. Only a small percentage of the yearbooks we publish are selected for this honor. It is an enormous task of combining a great theme with great design, and adding compelling coverage and photography throughout the book, to come up with that winuing combination that tells the story of the year for each student. Your book was selected for the Gallery of Excellence because it is an extraordinary example of all of the parts of a yearbook working in harmony.

Many people will view all or part of your 2009 yearbook in several venues. Gallery yearbooks are used by our nationwide sales force as well-crafted examples, loaned to schools across the country to serve as idea generators, and displayed at regional, state and national conventions and workshops. Also, spreads from many of these yearbooks are used for example illustrations in Walsworth’s educational materials.

You and your staff are to be commended for your hard work and dedication to excellence. Congratulations again, and we at Walsworth look forward to our publishing partnership with you for many years to come.

Sincerely,
Jim Worthington
National Sales Manager

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://westernchristian.org/highschool/2010/03/17/wchs-drama-presents-get-smart-opening-this-weekend/feed/ 0 http://westernchristian.org/news/2010/01/21/wchs-student-selected-to-perform-at-carnegie-hall/ http://westernchristian.org/news/2010/01/21/wchs-student-selected-to-perform-at-carnegie-hall/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:01:14 +0000 admin http://westernchristian.org/news/?p=1816 Upland, California  –  Connor Smith, a student at Western Christian High School, has been selected for the 2010 American High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall.  He will be a part of the Honors Choir as a Tenor.  Participation in the Honors Orchestra, Honors Band, and Honors Choir is limited to the highest rated high school performers from across North America.  Approximately 200 students are selected for this prestigious educational event.

Connor auditioned this past fall for the Honors Performance Series and was accepted after a review by a master conductor and Selection Board committee.  Acceptance to this elite group is a direct result of the talent, dedication, and achievements demonstrated in his application and audition recording.  Connor will join other performers from the United States, Canada, and Bermuda for a special performance at world-famous Carnegie Hall in New York, a venue that marks the pinnacle of musical achievement.

Connor studies music under the direction of Western Christian High School’s Director Mr. Jason Bradley and is a member of the school’s choir and its audition group, “Hilltop Faith.”  Additionally, he is active in the drama program, has performed for the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) and is a member of The Gary Bonner Singers.

Finalists will come together for five days in June 2010 in New York City to have the opportunity to learn from world-renowned choral conductor, Dr. Eph Ehly, work with other Finalists, attend a Juilliard Seminar, and get a taste of New York City.  The Saturday, June 26th command performance is available to the public and specially-invited representatives from collegiate music programs and the New York arts community.

The Honors Performance Series was created to showcase accomplished individual high school performers by allowing them to study under master conductors and perform in the celebrated venue, Carnegie Hall. Learn more by visiting www.honorsperformance.org.

Luke Snyder, 17, Jacob Fletcher, 15, and David Reynosa, 17

Article from DailyBulletin.com
By Sandra Emerson
Staff Writer

Sometimes with a little creativity, a small budget can go a long way.

Three film students at Western Christian High School in Upland recently won a video contest held by Bite Me Energy Drink in Corona, which included a $2,000 prize.

Jacob Fletcher, 15, Luke Snyder, 17, and David Reynosa, 17, used the lessons they learned in film class and from freelance filming jobs to put the video together.

“I didn’t expect to win, but I was really relieved that we did because $2,000 is a good amount of money for a film project, so it was very satisfying,” said Luke.

Their video was voted on publicly before going on to be judged by Bite Me Energy Drink officials.

“I was really excited,” said Jacob, who has a starring role in the video. “I didn’t know how lucky we’d get, but I thought it was great to hear.”

Perhaps it was the Bite Me energy drink the students consumed during the filming that helped get the video done quickly. It took the students only a few days to do the filming and editing.

“We were pretty hyper during the shoot. We drank five energy drinks. We had to calm ourselves down for the takes,” said David, who has won a video contest in the past.

Using a video camera David purchased through a class he took at Citrus College and whatever they could find lying around, the students made their video with a low operating budget.

“Just kind of things you’d find about the house that you wouldn’t typically use for filming, but when on a budget you find everything you need,” David said.

David, who hopes to attend film school after he graduates in June, had won a contest before that focused on different ways to eat a pomegranate.

This was the first video contest for Luke and Jacob, who are also brothers.

The three students have been shooting video and editing together for some time now, but for the time being they intend to focus on their class projects.

“We’re working on our film project for school, and we will not enter any contests yet,” Luke said. “We will try to find one that doesn’t involve public voting because those can be pretty rigged.”

To get as many votes needed to even get in the top five, they had to send mass e-mails out to friends and family. They even took to the streets.

“We went on probably the biggest campaign ever,” David said. “We were grabbing people off the street saying `Hey, vote for this video.’ ”

The students’ videos, including the winning Bite Me Energy Drink commercial, can be watched on You Tube under the name “InTheLunchBox.”

sandra.emerson@inlandnewspapers.com

(909) 483-8555

This was partially due to an outstanding veteran cast of Seniors. Everyone’s favorite 45 year old high school Senior-Montana Tavis-brought life and conviction to the hapless CEO of World Wide Wickets. Senior Greg Bargaehr’s portrayal of Bud Frump left the audience in stitches as the boss’ nephew with no qualms about letting everyone know it. Senior Jessica Luchtenburg added her own quirks to make Miss Jones arguably one of the most awkward love interests in theatre.

But make no mistake, “How to Succeed…” was a show that required talented performances from every member of the cast, from chorus to lead. The protagonist, Finch required a demanding balance between mischief-maker and quality friend, cleverly handled by Connor Smith. “The show was about having fun at work,” said Smith, “and I think we did just that.”

And so the success of the spring musical is a credit to the cast who made sure there was nothing but funny business on stage.

Lucky stiff 

 Cast List

Harry Witherspoon……………………………Nick Mercer 

Annabel Glick…………………………………Jessica Luchtenburg

Rita La Porta……………………………………Rachel Khattar

Dr. Vincent DiRuzzio…………………………Greg Sukert

Luigi Guadi…………..………….………………Montana Tavis

Dominique Du Monaco………………………Carlin Castellano

Landlady/Ensemble……………………………Amanda Mizell

Spinster/Ensemble……………………………Coryn Carrera

Nurse/Ensemble………………………………Rachel Sedory

Solicitor/Ensemble………..…………………Connor Smith

Waiter/Ensemble………………………………Greg Bargaehr

French Maid…………….………………………Nicole Dinisi

Congratulations to All!

Get a free preview and check out the music video here

Fridays, March 7 and 14 @ 7pm
Saturdays, March 8 and 15 @ 2pm and 7pm
General Seating $8 (Western faculty, staff, students, children) and $10 (adults) Preferred Seating $12 (all ages, first three rows)
All performances held in the WCHS Auditorium