See what we are smiling about here at Apollo Junior High!

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Reflections Results are In!

We had 9 Apollo students' work advance to the RISD area judging for Reflections. Two 7th Grade
students, Michael Knapp and Devyn Pontzer received an Award of Excellence. Their work advanced to the Dallas area level of judging.

Results will be released within the next few weeks.
The following is the list of Awards that our students received at the RISD area judging:

Aysha Najjab, Honorable Mention Photography
Michael Knapp, Award of Excellence Video/Film
Han Kim Chieu, Award of Merit Literature
Jennifer Vo, Award of Merit Literature
Spencer Edmunds, Honorable Mention Literature
Devyn Pontzer, Award of Excellence Literature
Margaret Flemister, Award of Merit Literature
Tammy Hguyen, Honorable Mention Literature
Kaleena Thai, Honorable Mention Literature

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Congratulations to Apollo Musicians!

The Orchestra All-Region Clinic and Concert was held on Jan. 19 and 20 at West Mesquite High School, with 11 of our Apollo students and
3 of our area elementary students participating. Jonathan Shames, the conductor for the junior high
group, worked well with the students and together they performed an amazing concert.

Congratulations to our wonderful AJH orchestra students!
Thomas Baek, Hanna Choi, Kimberly Larson, Tiffany Lin, Daniel Machuca, Kathryn Siverling, Benjamin Su, Daisy Su, Lisa Sun, Tiffany Wong and Rebecca Yen.

Apollo Panther Band students participated in the district-wide All- Star Junior High Band Festival program on January 13th. After auditioning for slots in the elite group, those selected gathered to
work with guest clinicians Kathy Johnson and Cheryl Floyd, to perform a concert of music learned during the two day rehearsal process. In fact, due to inclement weather, students had even less
time to rehearse the music, but the concert was an overwhelming success.

Congratulations to these Apollo students selected to participate in the Richardson All Star Bands!

Concert Band: Kirati Amin, Regina Ahn, Jennifer Carpenter, Marcela Leon, Nathan Collins, Eduardo
Marinero, Sarah Pylate, Garrett Lindholm, Hannah Sweeden, Stephen Cervantes, Brad Marvin,
Colin Mosley, Bryan Patterson, Preston Dunlap, Michael Wolf.

Symphonic Band: Jay Cho, Boston Yoder, Mieko Chery, Audrey Cox, Maddie Owens, Rebecca
Hawthorne, Sierra Anderson, Sarah Luckett, Lauren Gresslin, Hunter Balch, Sara Johnsen, Marlie Austin,
George Bander, Brandon Castle, Alexander Flores, Micah Mosley, Bethany Golio, Ben Weaver, Tyler
Busby.

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Thank you Duck Creek HOA!

Thanks to the Duck Creek Homeowners Association for an annual donation of $500 to Apollo. We
greatly appreciate the continuing financial support
of this organization.

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Apollo Receives Recognition!

At the January Board of Trustees Meeting, Apollo received recognition from the Texas Education Agency for outstanding performance in four areas-
Attendance, Reading/Language Arts, Writing, Social Studies. This honor is a tribute to the Apollo
staff that provides quality instruction to their students and to the students themselves who
respond to that instruction in a positive manner. Congratulations Apollo students and staff!!

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Apollo Receives Medallion Award!

Apollo was recently honored at the annual Board of Trustees ’ and Superintendent’s Medallion Award Ceremony. We received our second Superintendent’s Medallion Award for sustaining and improving math scores on the TAKS tests and our Recognized School banner. The medallion
is displayed on the west wall in the office and the
banner is hung at the front entrance of the school. I know you as parents are aware of the effort on the part of the Apollo teachers that it took to meet the high standards to receive these awards. Thanks
also to the Apollo students who worked to perform at their very best level.

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Panther Band Stays Busy

The Panther Band has been busy this fall. They performed at several football games to show our support of the Panther football team. The Panther
Band gave a fall concert in the large gym on October 26th for a huge audience!! The concert
consisted of music the band has been playing this fall at the football games, including We Will
Rock You and the Chicago favorite, 25 or 6 to 4.
The band’s spooky Halloween party was a great success, held on October 30th in the band
hall. Lots of students showed up with fantastic costumes and prizes were awarded. The
candy was plentiful and everyone seemed to have a great time.

On November 10th, students participated in the All-Star Band “practice-a-thon.” Students enjoyed tips and instruction from hired professional players and a free pizza party.

Coming up: the RISD All-Star Band Try-outs, to be held on November 18th; a pizza party rewarding all
the students for auditioning for the All-Star band
on November 27th; and to wrap up a great first
semester, the holiday concert, to be held on December 11th in the Berkner Audtorium. Go Panther Band!!

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Girls Cross Country Runs Away

Apollo’s Cross-Country team has been running
away with the meets at Huffines Park. Margaret Acres has been leading the 7th grade team
of Emily Henderson, Roxanne Reichl, Mikaela Enters,
Chelsea Burn, Grace Sulley, Rachel Barton, Emily Watson, Vanessa Galdamez, Angela Minkley,
Brianna Ramos, Jessica Ricco, Channing Ricker,
Beth Weeren and Hanna Woldemichael, to victory.
Brooke Johnson has been leading the 8th grade team of Stephanie Carter, Haley Hamlett, Courtney Baxter, Jessica Hood, Anne Killingsworth, Janelle Largent, Ruby Rios, Kadashia White, Michael Wolf and Ariana Ontiveros to victory.

The remaining meets are Nov. 7, 14 and the district
meet on Nov.20 at Huffines. Come watch these
endurance athletes run!

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State Representative, Fred Hill Visits Apollo

In August, 2006 Apollo student Nicholas Gould
became an American citizen. Last week on Thursday, October 26, State Representative
Fred Hill presented Nick with a Texas flag that was flown over the State capitol in Nick’s honor. Interim Superintendent Patty Kieker, Assistant Principal Bob DuVoll as well as Mrs. Gould, Mr. Noteware, Ms. Beam and Mr. Bill were in attendance as were several friends of Nick’s and other faculty members. Mr. Hill spoke of the importance and the privileges of citizenship which the have been studying about in U. S. History. We were all proud of Nick’s accomplishment of becoming both an American
citizen and a Texan!