11/29/24 Fine Arts Department News

After learning about forestry in Environmental Science, teams of 4 students each selected a national forest (in Colorado, North Carolina, Wyoming, California, Washington, & Louisiana). Then, using the topographic maps downloaded from the USGS, they interpreted the site grades and built a topography model of part of the forest at 1"=300' scale out of foam core board, and added toothpicks to indicate tree density. Son they will begin designing their ecologically appropriate forest station!

The Highlander Band is holding auditions for Winter Guard! Winter Guard is open to all HPISD students in 7th-12th grade! Winter Guard is a creative, talented, and fun group of students that performs at indoor competitions in the winter. Auditions are December 3rd and 4th from 4-:6:30 pm in the HPHS Band Hall. For more information please contact Daren Jordan at (jordand@hpisd.org). No experience is necessary!

HPHS hosted the Region 20 Pre-Area competition on Monday, November 18! Highland Park Choir had 5 students place in the competition. Three of these students will move on to the final round of the All-State competition and compete at Area in January. Congratulations to all our singing scots who auditioned!

Highlander Band musician Chiara Shawver competed in the Marimba Solo Contest at the Lone Star Classic Drumline Competition and won FIRST PLACE! Congratulations, Chiara!

Five members of the Highlander Band were selected to the Region Orchestra for Region 20, which includes brass, wind, and string players from eleven school districts in the DFW area. Congratulations to Highlander Band musicians Jack Teter, Romi Segal, Lakshmi Vemula, Lucy Zeng, and Charlie Lampe!

Since 1934, Highland Park has proudly upheld a bagpipe tradition, and now we're welcoming the next generation of pipers! Starting in January, 7th and 8th grade band students can join the new session, with year-round enrollment available for high schoolers. Thanks to an HP Arts grant, a professional piper will provide instruction. Don’t miss your chance to join this unique tradition! If interested, please fill out this form, and more information will be sent via email before January.

The halls of MIS are buzzing with excitement for The Sound of Music! Come watch our talented fifth and sixth-grade students bring this classic musical to the stage. The showtimes are as follows:

Thursday, Dec. 5 at 6:00 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 6 at 4:00 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets are $8 each. Click here to purchase pre-sale tickets online (available until 11/30).

General admission tickets will also be available at the door and in the cafeteria during show week.

On Saturday, 65 brave and awesome Raider Band students auditioned for the TMEA All Region Band. Out of the 1000+ students who entered from all across north Texas, 42 HPMS students were selected to the bands. HPMS placed more students than any other middle school in region 20. This represents countless hours of practice and study. We are proud of ALL students who auditioned. Please congratulate the following students.

Armstrong Second Graders have been learning to play the hand chimes on one of our Thanksgiving songs while learning to read the notes.

Armstrong Fourth Graders have been learning to play the recorder in Music class, and have been competing to see who can earn their Recorder Black Belt first. Twins Delphine and Petra Collins became the first black belt winners by playing their songs together! Congratulations to these hard-working students!

On Monday, Nov. 11, second-grade Bulldogs proudly honored Veterans Day with a beautiful program, singing songs of freedom and hosting a Q&A with veterans from all branches. Special thanks to everyone who attended, and a heartfelt thanks to our veterans for your service and sacrifice!

We were graciously donated baseballs from Coach Yoder at HPHS for a 4th grade art project! Each year 4th grade decorates their brag books and collect memories and projects throughout the year in these books. This year our school's theme is "Homerun Hyer" and we used the baseballs to create prints on our gelli plates for our covers. The students had so much fun using nontraditional supplies to make their art! Also, we were generously donated the gelli prints from HPArts last year and we love them! Thank you to Coach Yoder and HPArts for making this project happen!