CHARLOTTE — Emma Joseph of Charlotte Catholic High School and Megan Sie of Holy Trinity Middle School recently performed with the North Carolina All-State Band.
The North Carolina Music Educators Association and the North Carolina Bandmasters Association sponsored the event, which was held May 5-6 at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Joseph and Sie were joined by other top student musicians from the state and spent the weekend performing advanced wind band repertoire.
They auditioned for the All-State Band in March and were chosen based on their high scores from the adjudicators.
— Timothy Cook
ASHEVILLE — Four Asheville Catholic School students are headed to the National History Bee this summer, and it’s the most the school has had qualified at one time.
Eighth-grade students Emma Brown and Liz Vaughan, seventh-grader Tyler Gordon and fifth-grader Dalton Etheridge advanced to the national competition after thriving in the regional competition held in Charlotte in March.
“I like to learn about history,” Brown said. “Going back in time has a certain allure to me. I like to look at patterns throughout history and predict what will happen in the future.
“Competing at the regional competition was nerve-wracking. I got really nervous about it; I didn’t expect to continue on. It’s a big honor to advance to a national level.”
Four Asheville Catholic School students have qualified for the National History Bee in June. Pictured are (from left) fifth-grader Dalton Etheridge, eighth-grader Liz Vaughan, eighth-grader Emma Brown and seventh-grader Tyler Gordon. (Photo provided by Margaret Beale)
The National History Bee will be held June 1-2 in Atlanta. Like the regional competition, it consists of exam questions and buzzer-style rounds.
“I really enjoy the buzzer rounds,” Brown said. “I’m not amazing in stressful situations. It was actually easier than the tests for me. I had a lot of fun with it. It was one of those things you don’t expect to do well, but that was probably my strength.”
Etheridge agrees that the competition was stressful, except for the buzzer rounds.
Etheridge and the other students are working to prepare for the next level, even staying after school once a week to study together.
“We quiz each other. We look up terms. We make notes and challenge each other,” he said.
Gordon said he knows how difficult it is to compete at the national level, and said he wasn’t as prepared as he could have been before.
‘It’s hard. The competition is tough,” he said.
The highlight of regionals for Vaughan was when they announced that she qualified for nationals.
“With that many people competing, that was really nice,” she said.
Learning how historical events shaped our lives has been fascinating for Vaughan.
“I like learning about the ways history has affected me, how something led to this event and led to a development I use every day,” she said.
Having a student qualify for the national competition isn’t new, said Margaret Beale, who teaches history at Asheville Catholic School, but this year it’s the most the school has had qualify.
This is the third time Gordon has qualified for the national competition. A recent graduate, Spencer Arndt, will be competing in the world competition in Berlin, Germany, this summer, she added.
It’s rewarding to see the students compete and watch them surprise themselves at how well they did, Beale said.
“I want to give them every advantage possible, not just knowledge,” she said. “It was very thrilling to see them all shine. They all did so wonderful. I’m really proud of these kids.”
All four students’ achievements in the subject of history demonstrate their innate curiosity and love of learning – not just about history, but about other subjects.
Brown said her interest in history is connected to her interest in politics.
“I like to keep up with current politics, and I’ve learned a lot about politics in ancient times. I look at the foundations of political ideas and philosophies and see how they grown into modern times,” she said.
Brown also said she likes to go back as far as she can in history and look at the different civilizations and their differences.
“They had irrigation and plumbing in medieval times and so much went away. It’s cool to think about how we could be different today if so much of it hadn’t been lost,” she said.
Gordon said he’s interested in World War II, especially the development of modern weapons. Etheridge said he likes learning about the Revolutionary War and architecture, specifically how ancient buildings were constructed.
Vaughan also likes learning about ancient history.
“Life was so much different back then,” she said. “It’s impacted us in modern history.”
— Kimberly Bender, online reporter