Language lessons Barricade meeting incites passion

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16 • December 8, 2010 SAMMAMISH REVIEW
Smith students to sing with Sammamish Symphony
By Christopher Huber
Sixth-grader Oindrilla Banerjee
really likes to sing. She also loves
to perform, she said, which
makes a good combination of
interests for her upcoming musical
opportunity.
The Samantha Smith
Elementary student and about 80
of her peers will sing with the
Sammamish Symphony
Orchestra in a professional holiday
performance Dec. 11 and 12.
“I really look forward to performing
all the time,” Banerjee
said after rehearsal Dec. 3.
The annual Holiday Pops concert
happens at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11
and 2 p.m. Dec. 12 at the
Eastlake Performing Arts Center
(Eastlake High School).
This year is different, according
to organizers. In the past, the
symphony has played with the
choir from Newcastle
Elementary, said Joseph Scott,
conductor and music director. He
decided it would be fitting to
invite a Sammamish school to
participate.
“It’s a fun part of Christmas to
have the kids,” he said. “And they
all enjoy it.”
The Smith choir will sing with
the approximately 80-piece symphony
for two pieces during the
Holiday Pops concert. They will
perform White Christmas and
Christmas Memories, a medley of
holiday favorites, Scott said.
“They’re all very excited. It’s
an honor to be recognized by the
community,” said Smith music
teacher Adam Gross, who himself
performed with the local philharmonic
as a child in New York.
“I’m excited because it’s a great
opportunity for the kids.”
Gross and his individual choir
classes have been perfecting
their parts for the Pops concert
since September, he said. The
two pieces for the symphony performance
are in addition to the
songs the first- through sixthgraders
have been preparing for
the school holiday concert.
“The chorus will be quite popular.
People love to see the children
perform,” Scott said. “It gets
you in the holiday spirit.”
In addition to the two joint
pieces, the symphony will perform
arrangements of “The Little
Drummer Boy,” “Brazilian Sleigh
Bells,” and “O Holy Night,” as
well as “The Twelve Days of
Christmas” by Tyzik and
Waldteufel’s “The Skaters’ Waltz.”
Concert goers will likely
appreciate hearing some of their
personal favorite songs at the
Holiday Pops performance, Scott
Photo by Katie McDorman
Discovery Elementary students Kiley Prutzman (left) and Anjai
Bhuthpur run laps around the school baseball diamond during
lunch recess.
Photo by Christopher Huber
Members of the Smith Elementary choir rehearse with Joseph Scott, conductor and music director
of the Sammamish Symphony Orchestra, Dec. 3.
said.
“Everybody enjoys it because
it’s almost always familiar,” he
said.
Discovery Elementary students
run a marathon a bit at a time
By Laura Geggel
A total of 30 students laced
their shoes, stretched their legs
and — during a two-month period
— ran a marathon.
Discovery Elementary School
first-grade teacher Reyna
Yamamoto started the running
club in late September, teaching
her students how to warm up and
cheering them on as they ran
laps around the school’s baseball
diamonds during recess and early
morning Thursday practices.
Just as in a walkathon, students
carried cards marking their
progress. Every six laps around
the diamonds equals one mile,
and the students tried to run at
least three miles per week, gaining
endurance and confidence for
the Nov. 27 Seattle Marathon.
For those who had accrued
enough miles, the 1.2-mile
Seattle Children’s Kids Marathon
pushed the Discovery students to
reach the 26.2-mile mark.
Yamamoto said she had wanted
to form a running club for
years, but could never make it to
But a few pieces may be new
to some.
“The traditional Slavic music
— almost no one will recognize
the Seattle Marathon, held during
Thanksgiving weekend, because
she was usually out of town. This
year, she decided to stay home,
and found a bevy of parent volunteers
to help her coach her students.
“I like to run marathons
myself,” Yamamoto said. “It’s my
passion.”
Locally, she has run the Rock
‘n’ Roll Seattle Marathon, the
Seattle Half Marathon and the
GoodLife Fitness Victoria
Marathon. She and parent Lisa
Scher, an iron-man coach, taught
the students essential stretches
before and after their workouts.
Discovery physical education
teacher Nick Lombardo taught
them about pacing, as well as
stretching.
“I like the monster walk,” firstgrade
student Anjali Bhuthpur
said, demonstrating how to walk
forward with both her feet and
hands on the ground.
Her classmate, Sydnee
Campbell, said she always
stretches now before running.
“If you don’t stretch, you won’t
it, but it’s beautiful and very
nice,” Scott said.
See SING, Page 17
run long enough,” she said.
“You’ll get tired out real quickly.”
At first, only seven students
joined the club, but as word
spread, more joined, bringing the
number to 30. Some middle
school students who have
younger siblings at Discovery
have also joined the running
club, logging their hours every
week.
“I never knew what a
marathon was so I wanted to
have the experience,” fifth-grader
Isha Kshirsagar said.
Yamamoto decided students
shouldn’t get caught up in how
fast they were running, but that
they should warm up and cool
down properly, as well as learn
how to follow a project for weeks
on end.
“We weren’t concentrating on
pace, we were concentrating on
setting a goal,” she said.
Once students paid $16.50 to
register for the children’s
marathon, they received tokens
for every five miles they ran. The
See RUN, Page 17