Category: Education

DownBeat Magazine presents 15 awards to KCKCC

by Kelly Rogge, public relations manager, KCKCC

Students from Kansas City Kansas Community College’s vocal and instrumental jazz ensembles received a combined 15 awards in DownBeat Magazine’s 2022 Student Music Awards.

DownBeat has the widest circulation of any jazz magazine in the United States and has been recognizing student achievement at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels with the Student Music Awards since 1978.

“I’m both honored and humbled by the whole situation. Our students and faculty are a hard-working group of individuals that want to be artistic and want to experience the joy of creating music at a high-level. It’s pleasing to receive recognition for our work, especially from Downbeat,” said John Stafford, director of choral activities at KCKCC. “It’s quite remarkable and our success has to do with the character of our students. This is all about them and having them succeed. To receive this recognition, particularly this year, is a testament to their work ethic and commitment. I’m just honored to be a part of this process.”

Among the awards are two Community College winners – Jessie Glennon for blues-pop-rock soloist (electric guitar) and the Blue Devil Funk Band in the blues-pop-rock group category.

Directed by Dr. Justin Binek, the Blue Devil Funk Band performs jazz-influenced funk, soul, rhythm and blues and pop music ranging from classic Motown and Stax Records hits to contemporary artists like Beyonce and Vulfpeck. The group currently includes five singers, four horns and five rhythm section members. The ensemble has been part of KCKCC’s award-winning music ensembles since fall 2018.

“Obviously, this is a huge honor for our students and faculty. Being recognized this way in the DownBeat Student Music Awards is a remarkable recognition of what we do at KCKCC, presented on a national scale,” Binek said. “What I’m most proud of is that the awards we received this year cover the full spectrum of what we do with commercial music at KCKCC – jazz, pop/rock-R&B, vocal, instrumental, large ensembles, combos, soloists, songwriters and audio engineers. We’ve got a remarkable team in place – Jim Mair, John Stafford, Ian Corbett in Audio Engineering and me – and we’ve got some pretty wonderful students. These awards recognize a very cool culture that we’ve built in our program, one in which students challenge themselves to both perform and create excellent music and have a great time doing so.”

In addition to the overall awards, KCKCC received 13 other awards this year. These include:

• Jaylen Ward, Community College Outstanding Performance, Jazz Soloist (drums)
• Christian Anderson, Community College Outstanding Performance, Vocal Jazz Soloist
• John Stafford II, guest conductor for the Iowa All-State Jazz Choir, High School Honors Ensemble Outstanding Performance, Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble
• The Standard Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Community College Outstanding Performance, Asynchronous Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble
• The Standard Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Community College Outstanding Performance, Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble
• Maddie Huwe, Community College Outstanding Performance, Outstanding Soloist on “Magnolia,” Asynchronous Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble
• Calvin Haverkamp, Community College Outstanding Performance, Blues-Pop-Rock Soloist (electric guitar)
• Jaylen Ward, Community College Outstanding Performance, Blues-Pop-Rock Soloist (drums)
• KCKCC Luck20, Community College Outstanding Performance, Blues-Pop-Rock Group
• Samuel Anderson Band, Community College Outstanding Performance, Blues-Pop-Rock Group
• Henry Fears, “Frost,” Community College Outstanding Performance, Original Composition-Small Ensemble
• Jordan Faught, “Apology Peach,” Community College Outstanding Performance, Original Composition – Small Ensemble
• Joe Straws, Community College Outstanding Recording, Engineered Live Recording

“I continue to be surprised,” Mair said of the number of awards KCKCC won this year. “We set the bar high both musically and personally for our students. We teach them to treat music like a business and make sure they have employable skills. They are extremely hard working.”

This continues a remarkable run of recognition for KCKCC from DownBeat, as the school’s students and faculty have now been the recipients of more than 30 awards in the past six years. This recognition of a single community college by DownBeat is extraordinary.

“I’m still trying to process the fact that we received 15 Student Music Awards this year,” Binek said. “That’s a number that schools like Berklee College of Music, the University of Miami and the University of Northern Colorado receive. The idea that KCKCC is in that company is extremely special, and honestly, a bit surreal. It’s a special thing for us as a department to be recognized like this on a national level.”

School naming committee gives preliminary nod to ‘Wolves’ for Arrowhead Middle mascot

by Mary Rupert

A Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools naming committee on Thursday morning gave a preliminary nod to the name “Wolves” for its recommendation for the new mascot of Arrowhead Middle School.

The mascot is in the process of being changed from “Apaches” because of objections of some district patrons.

After it makes its final recommendation, the committee will send the name to the full school board for approval.

There were three finalists for the mascot name, according to Dr. Ralph Teran, chief finance and operating officer for the district. They were Wolves, Blue Jays and Phoenix. Wolves were leading by only five votes over Blue Jays.

Four surveys were included for Arrowhead, including one taken in the school building, one on an online district survey with three choices from the previous March 9 meeting, an incoming sixth-grade survey from feeder schools and a ballot box at the West Wyandotte Library, Dr. Teran said.

The total votes were 370 for Wolves, 365 for Phoenix and 360 for Blue Jays, he said.

Rachel Russell, a board member who was leading the committee on Thursday, said she preferred not to make a school color recommendation for Arrowhead. The school colors previously were blue and yellow, with some support from the building for continuing them, according to Dr. Teran.

Russell said she supported the principal and building choosing their colors. She didn’t want schools to feel they needed to come to the board about school color choice. The renaming committee meeting was on Zoom.

Dr. Stacy Yeager, who serves on the renaming committee, said the board was more focused on renaming schools than on the school colors in its previous school renamings.

The school renaming committee also is in the process of renaming the Fairfax Learning Center.

Dr. Teran said the name that received the most votes was Alfred Fairfax Academy. Other names that were in the running for Fairfax were Charles Langston and Rosa Parks.

Alfred Fairfax, the first African American Kansas state reprsentatie, received the most votes by a wide margin, according to Dr. Teran. In the 1880s, Fairfax sponsored legislation that would ensure equal access to public education for all Kansas children.

Currently, the Fairfax Learning Center is located at the former White Church Elementary School building at 2226 N. 85th St., Kansas City, Kansas. It moved there in 2021.

The next step is for the renaming committee to make a written recommendation to the school board.

At this time, there are plans for additional community response between May 10 and May 31, Russell said. The district will provide opportunities for more community feedback. The renaming could go to the full school board at the March 31 meeting, she said.

Grant elementary school students receive T-shirts in incentive program

Students at Grant Elementary School in Kansas City, Kansas, received T-shirts in an incentive program on Tuesday. The T-shirts were distributed by Walter Edwin, owner of IMKC Clothing Store, courtesy of Henderson Entertainment. Students received the T-shirts for attendance and commitment. (Photo from Moses Wyatt, Jegna Klub)

Third through fifth-graders at Grant Elementary School in Kansas City, Kansas, received T-shirts as incentives for attendance and commitment recently.

Walter Edwin, owner of IMKC Clothing Store, visited the school courtesy of Henderson Entertainment on Tuesday to meet with the Jegna Klub’s Connecting the Dottes after school program at Grant.

“This is what giving back looks like,” said Moses Wyatt, founder of the Jegna Klub, as Edwin handed each student a T-shirt. In all, 65 students received T-shirts.