We recently learned that Maine West junior, Ben Pluta, has been selected by the faculty of the College of Fine Arts and Communications (COFAC) at Western Illinois University to participate in the inaugural COFAC Young Artist Awards Day on Thursday, April 6, 2023.
The awards competition recognizes talented high school juniors in various artistic categories, including music, musical theatre, dance, acting, visual arts, broadcasting and journalism. Ben received this recognition for his achievement in broadcasting through his participation in Advanced TV & Film classes at Maine West, as well as his extensive involvement in WMTH.
On April 6, 2023, Ben will be participating in a day of activities at the College of Fine Arts and Communication at Western Illinois University, and will be receiving his award recognition.
Congratulations to Ben and to his broadcasting teacher Ms. Rebecca Orr on this wonderful recognition!
Brooke Capper receiving a Crystal Pillar award at NATAS Silver Circle Dinner.
The Foundation of The National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) announced the nominees for the 2022 National Student Production Awards. Nominees were selected from high school student entries from across the United States in 25 different programming and craft categories.
"The EMMY® Awards are the “gold standard” in the television broadcast industry - recognizing the very best of the best. Similarly, the National Student Production Awards recognize the very best from our industry’s next generation of media creators and leaders.,” said Terry O’Reilly, Chairman, NATAS. “The work they’re doing today promises an amazing future ahead - for them, and for the entire television community."
“The work created by our nominees is exemplary,” said Danielle Mannion, Education Chair, NATAS. “Each year the students and their teachers raise the bar of excellence higher. The future of the industry looks bright with these talented individuals leading the way!”
This year’s submissions were successfully culled from over 2000 entries from the regional chapters of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Entries were judged by selected industry professionals and media academics.
Maine West's Brooke Capper received a national nomination in the category of light news for her piece, The Hope Wall.
Brooke will find out if she has received a national award on November 17, 2022 via a web stream produced by NATAS. This and all NATAS ceremonies are available on NATAS’ dedicated viewing platform powered by Vimeo, available on the web at Watch.TheEmmys.TV and via The Emmys® apps for iOS, tvOS, Android, FireTV, Roku and Samsung TV (full list at apps.theemmys.tv).
Congratulations to Brooke and to her broadcasting teacher, Ms. Orr, on this distinguished nomination!
Sophia Luong, an active member of the Maine West band program was featured on Fox 32 news for her achievements as a composer, specifically about her piece, March 2020, a work about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maine West student musicians have earned placement into the 2021 Illinois Music Education (ILMEA) All-District Band, Choir and Orchestra. Audition videos were submitted to ILMEA, judged by a panel of professional musicians, and the top placing scores were selected for participation in the District 7 Honors Ensembles. These elite student musicians will be performing in the District Music Festivals on Saturday, November 6, 2021.
Selection to these ensembles is an incredible honor and accomplishment, a testament to years of practice. The Fine Arts faculty are tremendously proud of these students, who will be representing Maine West and District 207 at this prestigious event.
Congratulations to the following Maine West musicians earning ILMEA District Honors:
SENIOR CHORUS
Dulf Vincent Genis (12) - Bass
SENIOR ORCHESTRA
Augustus Freitag (12) - Cello
SENIOR BAND
Aurelia Lawson (11) - Flute
To learn more about ILMEA, please visit their website.
Each season, Fellows of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the premiere training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony, are provided with resources to develop and implement a creative project of their own design. In 2020/21, Civic Fellows Joe Bricker and Hannah Christiansen used this opportunity to launch "Chicago, From Scratch," a collaborative composition program presented in partnership with the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative and Guarneri Hall.
Maine West High School Junior, Sophia Luong, learned of the program and decided to enroll. The "Chicago from Scratch" program afforded Sophia four weeks of training in music composition. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sophia wanted to write a piece that captured her experience of this unprecedented and challenging time, and used the process of writing music to reflect on some of her thoughts and feelings spurred by the pandemic. She began her compositional process by sitting at a piano and improvising, writing down musical ideas from her improvisations as they caught her interest. The result is her composition, March 2020. The piece portrays the emotions Sophia was feeling as a result of the pandemic, captures some of her observations of others' feelings and responses to the pandemic, and recognizes the political and social unrest that was occurring at the time, specifically giving attention to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Her piece, March 2020, was recorded at Guarneri Hall in Chicago on May 31, 2021, and it premiered on YouTube on September 17, 2021.
Listen to Sophia's piece, March 2020, in the video below. Her piece is the first featured in the video. Also featured is music composed by Brandon Harper, Malik Ali Muhammad, Nazeeh Shahid, and Noëlle Streuber-Eden. All of the pieces are performed by Joe Bricker, percussion and Hannah Christiansen, violin.
