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Dear Plano West Orchestra Families,

I hope that in this difficult time, your families are navigating the many challenges that the world is throwing at us. In so many ways, our lives have been turned upside down. But regardless of whether your child is attending school remotely or face to face, I know you have seen your child’s teachers adapt and rise to the occasion to continue providing an excellent education and meaningful experiences.

In support of our orchestra teachers, the Plano West Orchestra Boosters are establishing a check-writing fundraiser campaign. As you know, this year’s orchestra fee was reduced to only $20 – an amount that covers only the most basic supplies for orchestra. This amount does not provide room in the budget to purchase additional classroom supplies and gear.

Mr. Ross and Mrs. Gross have provided a wish list to the boosters, and we hope you can do your part to help fund it. They are hoping to have a permanent “recording studio” setup installed in the orchestra room. This project will require hanging four high quality microphones from the orchestra room’s ceiling and running these in to a recording device. This year, they hope to tie this in with the Zoom calls to provide the students at home with quality sound from the in class players. But long term, this will allow the orchestra to be quickly recorded in class. Immediately after recording, they will be able to play back the recording and evaluate it for areas to improve. Previous methods to do this were either extremely time consuming or yielding a low quality recording.

We understand that everyone may not be in a position to contribute. However, if you are, we ask that you consider making a gift to the Plano West Orchestra to help their teachers provide the best possible experience for our children. The Plano West Orchestra Boosters are a 501(c)3 organization, and your donation is tax deductible to the extent provided by tax law. When you donate, we will acknowledge your donation with a thank you letter and receipt to serve as a record of your gift. Many corporations also match donations made to 501(c)3 organizations, so be sure to check. If we need to complete any paperwork to help that along, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Thank you for your consideration! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. All contributions should be made out to “Plano West Orchestra Boosters” and may be mailed to the address below. Alternately, visit planowestorchestra.com and donate through the CheddarUp link on the front page. Our goal is to fully fund the wish list by Friday, November 6, 2020.

Sincerely,

Ritu Agrawal

PWSH Orchestra Boosters President

Mail Contributions To

Plano West Orchestra Boosters

c/o Treasurer Yan Cao

5601 W. Parker Road

Plano, TX 75093

Congratulations to the following students who have earned a place in the 2020 Region 25 All-Region Orchestras. Students with a * next to their name have advanced to the next round of the All-State process.

Violin

3. Sua Bae*, 6. Katie Chang*, 11. Jessica Ding*, 14. Jessica Shin*, 21. Priscilla Lee*, 29. Sherry Rui, 30. Meiyi Lu, 35. Annie Wong, 38. Rohan Thomas, 41. Govardhan Poondi, 44. Victor Tsao, 45. Lidice Sanabria, 46. Jaquelynn Palen, 50. Noa Reddick, 55. Nicholas Li, 56. Nathan Ma, 59. Christin Park, 60. Gina Jeon, 64. Sara Nakagawa, 70. Luke Liu

Viola

4. Arman Deendar*, 8. Christine Kim*, 24. Sarah Bagheri, 26. Kelly Castellano, 29. Sharon Xue, 32. Evan Wu

Cello

4. Joscelynn Palen*, 5. Michael Cao*, 6. Marlon Florez*, 7. Matthew Lin*, 13. Wesley Geng*, 15. Emily Yeh*, 24. MIranda Ye, 25. Akash Naik, 28. Julian Pak

Bass

3. Karthik Iyer*, 6. Cade Medearis*, 7. Aiyana Armstrong*, 9. Arnold Venter*, 11. Nima Sadri*

Piano

4. Michael Chyobotov*

At 5pm CDT on May 22, 2020, watch the raffle live stream! Follow us on Facebook to quickly access the live stream. https://www.facebook.com/PWSHOrchestra

The digital list of entries can be viewed HERE. For those who purchased a physical ticket: Your ticket has been converted in to a digital entry. If a physical ticket is chosen, Mrs. Gross will access the ticket and announce the winner on the live stream.

Hello Students,

This year’s Plano West auditions are now in Google Classroom. To audition, use join code “xovohqy” The new due date and digital submission requirements are posted in the Google Classroom assignment. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out!

Incoming juniors and seniors: Please find the audition music for next school year below.

Current Sophomores (incoming Juniors) will sign up with your high school director for a 5 minute audition the evening of April 6-8, and current Juniors (next year’s Seniors) will audition during their class period that same week.

Students who are transferring to Plano West (from outside the West Cluster or PISD), can email Mr. Ross at ryan.ross@pisd.edu to schedule an audition.

To access the audition music, use the link below.  If you have any issues accessing the music, talk with the orchestra teacher at your campus.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_jniKitcqOc3eHquUzKUWPF5-0LMQgCU

We’re happy to announce our junior officers for this school year. It was an incredible group of candidates, and the decision making process was very difficult.

If you weren’t selected: At the end of the school year, we typically select 2 additional officers to replace the slots left by the two new co-presidents. This gives us a chance to “make right” on any student who we mistakenly left out this first round. If you hope for one of these slots, we hope you’ll continue to lead and serve the orchestra by example.

In addition, please understand that this is a reflection more on the number of quality candidates we met and limited officer slots than the quality of the candidates. We interviewed 55 candidates and could have easily selected a quality officer group of nearly 50.

Officer results are in alpha order by first name.

Congratulations to the following All-State members from Plano West!

Violin – Ashley Tauhert (Symphony 34), Vivian Zhang (Philharmonic 67), Priscilla Lee (Philharmonic 68), Jessica Shin (Sinfonietta 94), Sua Park (Sinfonietta 107), Anqy Tong (Sinfonietta 110)

Viola – Jackie Liu (Symphony 1), Arman Deendar (Symphony 8), Yejean Kim (Symphony 13), Vaibhav Sriram (Sinfonietta 41)

Cello – Bryan Han (Symphony 6), Eddie Xu (Philharmonic 20), Matthew Lin (Philharmonic 26)

Bass – Karthik Iyer (Symphony 7), Kevin Meng (Symphony 9), Sasha Nepomnyashy (Philharmonic 23), Jonathan Vasilyev (Sinfonietta 30)

Congratulations to the following students advancing to the All-State recording round this Saturday.

Violin

Ashley T, Priscilla L, Vivian Z, Annie W, Anqy T, Jessica S, John C, Meige L, Sua P

Viola

Jackie L, Arman D, Yejean K, Grace Z, Andrw Y, Vaibhav S

Cello

Eddie X, Joscie P, Catherine Y, Matthew L, Nathan N, Bryan H, Emily Y

Bass

Kevin M, Jonathan V, Sasha N, Karthik I, Jackson B, Ishaan R

Congratulations to the Plano West students who earned placement in the All-Region Orchestras today!  For those who qualify, the All-State recording screening round is on October 21.

Symphony Violin. Those ranked above 40 qualify for October 21.

Ashely Tauhert 2, Vivian Zhang 3, Jessica Shin 7, Sua Park 17, Priscilla Lee 19, Daniel Liang 20, Annie Wong 21, Meiyi Lu 23, Sanjana Shriram 25, Victor Tsao 27, John Choo 29, Emily Huang 30, Anqy Tong 31, Govardhan Poondi 36, Meige Lu 37

Philharmonic Violin

Christopher Wang 4, Chloe Yang 8, Jimmy Ding 10, Xue Rui 12, Rohan Thomas 16, Michael Lam 17, Kesavan Venkatesh 32, Jaquelynn Palen 33, Shirley Yu 38, Elliot Chen 43, Shido Nakajima (second alternate), Seungyeon Bin (third alternate), Gina Jeon (4th alternate), Ting Mao (9th alternate)

Violas. All listed advance to October 21.

Jackie Liu (Symph 1), Arman Deendar (Symph 6), Andrew Yu (Symph 8), Vaibhav Sriram (Symph 11), Yejean Kim (Symph 14), Grace Zhu (Phil 6), Sharon Xue (Phil 14)

Cellos. All listed advance to October 21.

Marlon Florez (Symph 1), Eddie Xu (Symph 2), Derek Qin (Symph 3), Bryan Han (Symph 5), Matthew Lin (Symph 7), Emily Yeh (Symph 8), Kihan Sung (Symph 9), Catherine Yang (Symph 11), Daniel Cao (Phil 2), Joscelynn Palen (Phil 5), Nathan Nguyen (Phil 6), Wesley Geng (Phil 8), Carter Schmidt (Phil 12), Shenai Chan (Phil 13)

Basses. Those with a * advance to October 21.

Sasha Nepomnyashy* (Symph 3), Jackson Benjamin* (Symph 4), Kevin Meng* (Symph 6), Jonathan Vasilyev* (Phil 2), Karthik Iyer* (Phil 4), Ishaan Roy* (Phil 5), Nima Sadri (Phil 6), Caroline Peters* (Phil 7), William Blake* (Phil 8)

Due to the large number of students we won’t see today due to AP tests, important info for the tonight’s orchestra banquet is here.

Location: Renaissance Hotel (900 E Lookout Dr, Richardson, TX 75082).

Parking: Park in the parking garage directly across from the hotel. You will receive a parking ticket when you go through the gate — KEEP THIS TICKET AND BRING IT INSIDE WITH YOU. There will be a machine in our banquet area to “validate” your ticket, which means you’ll be able to leave the parking garage for free. Don’t lose this ticket or you will have to pay when you leave.

If you park on the street, you will very likely be towed. Only park in the parking garage.

Drop-Offs: If you aren’t parking, there is a car lane that allows for quick and easy drop-off at the hotel. There is no need to drop off far away from the hotel.

Time Frame
6:30 – 7:00: Check in. Check in at your school’s table.
7:00 – 8:00: Dinner
8:00 – 8:45: Individual school presentations
8:45: Dance battle
9:00 – 11:00: Dance

If you are being picked up, you must be picked up promptly at 11:00pm.