Features

The Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education took more than an hour of its meeting Wednesday night to honor some of Berkeley High School’s outstanding students. 

The special recognition awards were recommended by School Board Director Pamela Doolan, who has a child graduating from BHS this year. 

• The women’s basketball team was honored for its success this season, winning the East Bay Athletic League and the North Coast Section. The team placed second in the state championship game at Arco Arena. Players Aisha Hollans, Erica McGlaston, Sabrina Keys, Robin Roberson and Angelita Hutton were recognized for their performances this year. Coach Gene Nakamura also was honored by the school board. 

• The men’s basketball team, the wrestling squad and Ivan Holmes from the boys golf team were recognized. The basketball team won the league title and made the section playoffs. Austin Nichols, David Doubley and Zillion Cash were honored. The wrestling team placed sixth in league, and Marcus Glass placed 14th at the state tournament. Glass, Parker Robinson, Misha Balmer and Warren Howe were recognized by the board. Holmes was the first BHS golfer to make the NorCal Championships, after placing fifth in the section tournament. 

• The women’s crew was recognized for its three groups making the finals of the state championships. The varsity pair, Juliet and Veronica Bonszkowski, earned a bronze medal at state, and the freshman 8 earned a gold. 

• The school’s five state qualifiers in track and field were recognized. Daveed Diggs, Simone Brooks, Katrina Keith, Aisha Margain, T’carra Penick and Raqueta Margain all competed in last weekend’s state meet in Cerritos, and the girls earned second place in total team points. The girls 4x100 relay won the state championship. 

• The school’s chess team – Andrew Fan, David Petty, Simion Kreimer, Eric Plamer and Nicholas Gilbert – took second place in the state championship. Petty placed fifth in individual competition, Fan took seventh and Kreimer came in 17th in the state. 

• Nine students were honored for qualifying for the American Invitational Mathematics Exam: James Bloomsburgh, Lawrence Evans, Andrew Fan, Marcus Graly, Daniel Krause, Andrew Robinson-Sum, Morgan Sonderegger, Miriam Sorell and Jin Yu Yang. 

• The Berkeley High Jacket was recognized for its awards and accomplishments this year, including a Pacemaker award from the National Scholastic Press Association/Journalism Education Association; and the George H. Gallup Award, from the Quill and Scroll, the international honor society for high school journalists. The Mayor’s Award recognition went to Illiana Montauk and Megan Greenwell for their work on the Indian immigrant story, Varun Paul and Katie Flynn for their work on the fire story, and Steven Barrie-Anthony for his overall leadership. 

• Youth Radio was honored for its Silver Baton Award from the Alfred I. duPont Columbia University School of Journalism, presented for excellence in broadcast journalism, for the series of e-mails from Kosovo that aired on National Public Radio during 1999. The organization’s Youth Voices on Kosovo was also recognized. BHS student Finnegan Hammill began the series through his correspondence with Adona during the war, and Bella Mayeno-Choy of Berkeley gave voice to the e-mails. 

• Emma Bassein was recognized for winning the 2001 Congressional Seminar Essay Contest, and Sarah Wakeman won the “Avoid the 21” campaign essay contest. 

• Dan Seeman won the National Conference for Community and Justice High School Press Award for his essay “Who’s Failing Who?” 

• Rebecca Witcox and Jonah Van Bourg won the Etude Club of Berkeley’s music competition. 

• BHS orchestra director Karen Wells was recognized for her work in helping the orchestra grow and improve since the fall of 1994. 

• The BHS Jazz Ensemble and Combo participated in the Monterey 30th Annual High School Jazz Competition. The groups won first place in the Combo division and second place in the Big Band division. Seven BHS students auditioned and were chosen for the Monterey High School All-Star Band: Charles Altura, Tom Altura, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jonathan Finlayson, Cole Brandley, Jacob Fiss-Hobart, and David Grunwald. The Ensemble and Combos also were the sweepstakes winners at the Reno Jazz Festival in April. 

• Molly Berger was honored for her selection as the Ninth Congressional District winner in the 19th Annual Congressional High School Art Competition. Her work goes on display June 20 in Washington, D.C., where it will remain for a year. 

• Berkeley Alternative High School art teacher Larry Stefl and student Louis Rubio have been chosen to participate in an art exchange program in Paris this summer. 

• The board honored winners in recent poetry slam competitions, including Niles Xi’an Lichtenstein, who won first place at the fourth annual Youth Speaks Regional Poetry Finals; and the trio of Lichtenstein, Chinaka Hodge and Daniel Palou, who performed a group poem and earned a perfect score.