schools
june6
2013
Band Instructor Izzett Leaving Vernonia
Vernonia Band instructor Rob
Izzett announced on Wednesday, May
29 th that he will leaving the Vernonia
School District to accept a position in
Klamath Falls. Izzett was responsible
for rebuilding the Vernonia music
program and led the VHS Band to first
place in the State Contest in 2012.
On Wednesday evening during
the annual Awards Ceremony, three
of Izzett’s students, Sarah Wagner,
Jennifer Reid and Nicole Glass made the
following presentation to Izzett:
“Mr. Izzett has done so much for
this school.
For seven years Mr. Izzett has
taught at this school. He took the mess of
a band program that we had and turned
it around. Mr. Izzett stepped onto a
sinking ship, because he felt somewhere
deep down, there was something here.
In his fifth year of directing in
Vernonia, he accomplished something
that hadn’t been done in years. He took
the band to the State contest. We all put
our trust in him and with his leadership
the band placed fifth. That day we
proved he had made the right decision
by coming to the school.
The next year we were excited.
We knew we could only get better from
the year previous. We worked hard,
our fearless leader powering through a
broken hip. That year at State he limped
on stage with the best of them. Perhaps
he had literally “broken a leg” for luck,
because that year we brought home the
big blue trophy, first place.
This past year, after losing so
much of our band to graduating seniors,
Mr. Izzett simply sat us down and we
talked.
“It’s up to you guys, what you
want to do,” he told us. “If you want to
go to State, you’ll have to work for it. It
is all your decision.”
So we worked hard, and he
Rob Izzett conducting his final performance
with the VHS Band.
pushed us. Against what the whole band
believed, we made it to State again, for
the third year. Three must have been our
lucky, because that is how we placed.
Mr. Izzett has done so much for
our school. For some of you, he may
17
seem like just the band teacher. But to
those who have stuck with him for long
enough know he is so much more. He
knows when one of us is having a bad
day or a hard time with something. He
is understanding and always willing
to help. He knows his musician’s skill
levels and is able to push them forward
without pushing them over the edge.
Mr. Izzett has added a sense of
school pride that wasn’t there before.
In many ways he is much more than a
teacher. And for that, Mr. Izzett, we the
members of the band, and the students
of Vernonia High School, would like to
thank you.”
On Thursday evening May 30 th ,
Izzett led his final performance with
the Middle School Band in their annual
spring concert. On June 1st he conducted
his final performance with the VHS
Band at the Class of 2013 Graduation
Ceremony.
Fleck Wins Second State Championship continued from front page
the 4x100 relay and also broke the
school record in the triple jump. Se-
nior Rowan Cheney picked up a medal
in the 4x400.
“I thought the kids did great,
really exceeding everyone’s expecta-
tions,” said Brown. “It was really a
great season, especially for the girls
team, and to cap it off with such an in-
credible performance at historic Hay-
ward Field will make it memorable for
a long time to come.”
The previous week the team
competed in the District Track and
Field Meet on May 17 th and 18 th at
Portland Christian’s track and came
Nathan Fleck receives his gold medal from
Logger head coach Byron Brown.
home with several district champions.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Fleck.
This was the state qualifying meet,
meet ranked fourth in
where the top 2 in each
the district.
event go on to the state
Meghan Sullivan is
track meet.
district champ in the
There were sev-
100 meter dash. Sul-
eral big stories and out-
livan and Maina Mar-
standing performances
tin finished 1-2 in the
for the Loggers at the
event. According to
District meet. Nathan
Logger head coach By-
Fleck set a new district
ron Brown, Sullivan
meet record in the 800
and Martin just kept
meters at 2:00.
getting faster at every
S a m a n a t h a
track meet.
Lindauer won the dis-
Other state qualifi-
trict in the 3K, leading
ers for the Loggers—
her race from start to
Drew Cheney who fin-
finish.
Dezi Roberts took 6th place in ished 2 nd in the Men’s
Lane Sullivan
the High Jump at State.
3K; Dezi Roberts in
won the district long
Photo courtesy of
the girls in high jump
jump after going into the
Silje Jacobsen.
and triple jump, the girls 4 x 100
relay (Meghan Sullivan, Sammy
Lindauer, Dezi Roberts and Maina
Martin); and the girls 4x400 relay
(Rowan Cheney, Meghan Sulli-
van, Maina Martin and Samantha
Lindauer) who ran a season best at
the district meet.
The girls team finished with a
very strong 2 nd place overall, out-
distancing all other NWL teams,
running up 124 points. “This was
maybe the best performance by a
VHS girls team ever at a district
meet,” said head coach Brown.
“Almost everyone achieved a season’s
best performance at the meet, always
one of our main goals. We got a lot
of compliments from the other league
coaches and parents about our competi-
tors and the impressive showing of our
team. We are building a solid reputation
in track, even without the facilities of
our competition. The keys to our suc-
cess is in getting our top athletes to com-
mit to track and getting large numbers
of our kids to come out for the team. It
allows us to compete in events that we
never previously competed in and gives
us the depth necessary to be a top team.”
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