Frank Hearn ’16 makes final splash for family diving tradition

On February 19, senior diver Frank Hearn took his final plunge as a Crusader to capture 4th Place at the 2016 WIAA State Swim & Dive Meet. His performance was also the last by a string of siblings who were all Edgewood High School diving standouts for more than a decade.

Frank and his three older sisters each qualified for State in every year of their high school careers and here are their top finishes:

Kiley ’06 – State Champion 2004, 2005; UW-Madison Dive Team; former EHS Dive Coach

Morgan ’08 – State Champion 2007; UW-Milwaukee Dive Team; EHS Boys and Girls Dive Coach

Sheridan ’12 – 3rd Place at 2010 WIAA State

Frank ’16 – 4th Place at 2016 WIAA State

Sheridan, Frank, Kiley and Morgan Hearn

Frank has been coached by all three of his sisters, who have also coached local club dive teams.

Even after the Hearn sisters all graduated, the Crusader Girls Diving has remained strong as EHS junior Ginger Lingard, who went undefeated throughout the 2015 season, was crowned State Champ for the third straight year last fall and sophomore teammate Grace Conroy placed 8th. Their performance contributed to the Crusader Girls Swim & Dive Team taking its first WIAA State Championship!

Help a fellow EHS alumnus and his family recover from tragedy

Michael Johnson ’02, his wife Andrea, and their three young boys lost everything to a house fire, on February 19, in Oregon, Wisconsin. Mike was at work and his wife was picking up the children from school when the fire happened, so they are all ok, but sadly, their two pet dogs Malcolm and Sadie died in the fire. The house is a total loss and the family lost all their possessions, including Mike’s military service medals/awards for his time spent the Middle East.

The Johnson family needs our help and support. Contributions to a relief fund at MyEvent (the page has now closed) provided more than $8,000 to support them with food, clothing, and everyday necessities. All donations are greatly appreciated.

On February 21, this family updated was posted at MyEvent:
The Johnson family is so very thankful for everyone and all the donations! They are so blessed to have all of you!  They are in the process of finding a house to rent that will make the boys and themselves feel like it’s home again. There has been so many donations beyond here as well for the boys and they are getting better day by day. They ask a lot of questions, but still don’t really understand the whole process of this. But they all know there are so many people helping them all that helps put smiles on their faces!                        

Tony Burrows ’12 recognized with fellow senior ROTC cadets

Pam Burrows, Tony Burrows ’12, 

Nick Burrows, and Danielle Burrows ’14.

Tony Burrows ’12 was recognized for leadership and excellence on Friday, February 12, at the Golden Eagle Battalion Ball honoring seniors in ROTC from Marquette University and UW-Milwaukee. The Ball is a black tie event that was held at the Italian Community Center. Danielle graduated in 2014. Both attend UW-Milwaukee.

 

Luke Landgraf ’11 and Brendan Anderson ’13 are guest presenters during Fine Arts Festival

Edgewood High School Fine Arts Festival is February 24-26, 2016!

Art by Cassie Jacobsen

View a full listing of events and guest artists.

Luke Landgraf ’11 is thrilled to be back at Edgewood High School during his favorite week of the year. Since graduating, he attended the CAP21 Musical Theatre Training Program in New York City, and was recently seen in a workshop of Carousel with Broadway actors Leslie Odom Jr. (famed for the musical Hamilton) and Alice Ripley (from Next to Normal and the upcoming American Psycho). Luke will offer a Guest Artist Day presentation on Wednesday, February 24, where he will share with students how he prepares for a musical audition, and what it takes to be an actor living in NYC. He’ll review the different styles of music needed in an actor’s audition book in order to successfully book a musical theatre job. Luke will also give a Wednesday evening workshop on auditioning and vocal performance and will talk about the overall process of preparing to pursue musical theatre.

Brendan Anderson ’13 is currently attending Marquette University where he is majoring in economics and minoring in film. Brendan has a passion for the subject of film and has been giving presentations for the Edgewood Fine Arts week film festival since his sophomore year at EHS. Previous presentations have been about Alfred Hitchcock, Sherlock Holmes, and the history of the action movie genre. This year, he’ll be a Film Festival Day guest on Friday, February 26, presenting Star Wars: Origins of the Force, reviewing mythology and classic films in order to piece together the sources of the blockbuster space saga.  Brendan continues to write a blog where he posts reviews of both current and classic films.

Cassidy McDonald ’13 wins New York Times journalism contest

Cassidy McDonald photo from Notre Dame News

Cassidy McDonald ’13, a junior at University of Notre Dame, will be going on assignment with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nick Kristof from the New York Times. As this year’s winner of Kristof’s annual “Win A Trip with Nick” contest, Cassidy’s prize is to travel this summer with the NYT columnist to a developing country to raise awareness about neglected global issues. During the trip, she will report for a blog and may appear in videos that will be published on the Times website.

At Notre Dame, Cassidy is majoring in marketing, with a minor in the John W. Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy. She is managing editor and writer for Scholastic, the University’s monthly student news magazine. Cassidy also serves as a student video assistant and co-hosts the program ND Top Ten for Fighting Irish Media (FIM) in the University’s athletics department.

During the fall of 2015, Cassidy worked in Washington, D.C., as an intern for the 60 Minutes television program, creating research reports on Russian military weapons, gun death statistics, nuclear capabilities of Middle Eastern countries and more. She also managed a shoot in West Virginia and worked to fact-check the show’s scripts.

Of this most recent honor, Cassidy says, “I’m incredibly honored by the opportunity to travel alongside Mr. Kristof; his reporting is my favorite example of journalism as a force for good. He reports on the world’s most marginalized people, but his work doesn’t discourage—it inspires.”

 Read the full Notre Dame News story and view Cassidy’s application video for the trip accompanied by her attention-grabbing written entry that opens:
I once went viral when I wrote a story about cheese.
…The assignment wasn’t the hardest-hitting piece I’d done, but I decided to have fun with it: “Wisconsin cheesemakers found their whey Friday at the American Cheese Society Competition in Providence, Rhode Island, where they did better than gouda – they did grate.”

Congrats to alumnae runners!

On Friday, February 5, three EHS alumna participated in the 2016 Armory Track Invitational College Seeded Distance and Field Events.

In the Women’s 5000 Meter, Michele Lee ’12,  who is currently attending UW-Madison, placed 3rd with a time of 16:31.57, after also placing 3rd in the first group. See her Badger profile.

In the Women’s 3000 Meter, Ave Grosenheider ’15,  a student at Richmond College, finished 34th overall, with a time of 10:19.91, having placed 12th in her group. See her Richmond Spiders profile.

In the Women’s Distance Relay, Amy Davis ’15, was a member of the 5th place UW-Madison team that finished with a time of 11.41.21. See her Badger profile.

Orchestra students participate in area schools Honors Orchestra concert

Edgewood's annual Fine Arts Festival will be held February 24-26, and in anticipation of it, here is a recent example of students participating in the arts...

For all those alumni who participated in the music program, here’s a post that should bring back memories of the excitement of being selected to perform with students from other schools under the baton of a special guest conductor. Nine Edgewood students were chosen to be members of the Badger Conference Honors Orchestra along with students from Mt. Horeb, Reedsburg, Fort Atkinson, Oregon, Stoughton, and Waunakee to offer a free concert, conducted by Dr. Janet Jensen from UW-Madison, at Monona Grove High School on February 9.  The participating EHS students were Will Atkinson, Rachael Brolin, Sam Fremgen, John McKee, Lillian Otteson, Alex Pigarelli, Gwen Pyeatt, Molly Raichle and Aden Stier.

Watch for more posts on the Fine Arts Festival and this year's spring musical, The Music Man.

Claudia Arndt ’15 Pursues Adventure and Assists a Cause in Sri Lanka

Claudia Arndt ’15 is currently climbing Adam's Peak, a sacred and beautiful mountain in Sri Lanka, to raise money for the elephants that stay and receive care at the Millennium Elephant Foundation. The money that is donated is going towards making a “Free Roaming Area” for the elephants to be able to walk freely and socialize without people. Other donations will go towards providing care for sick elephants. You can follow Claudia’s adventures through her Facebook page.

Millennium Elephant Foundation (MEF) is situated on a beautiful 15-acre estate known as ‘Samaragiri,’ which has been home to the Samarasinghe family for many generations. The family has owned elephants since the 1960s. In 1979 the family opened the estate to the public as Club Concept Elephant Bath. The MEF charity was then founded in 1999 and has been working since then to improve the care, protection and treatment of elephants in Sri Lanka by providing a place of safety, medical services and facilities. It is the only certified non-profit organisation working with captive elephants in Sri Lanka.