Archmere alumni return for holiday concert
CLAYMONT – Archmere Academy will host “Coming Home for Christmas,” a family concert featuring more than 30 alumni Mastersingers returning to perform holiday favorites. The performance, which is hosted by the Friends of the Patio, will feature student instrumentalists.
It is scheduled for Dec. 15 at 3 p.m. at the Patio courtyard on the Claymont campus, located at 3600 Philadelphia Pike. This will open the 2013-14 Helena Springer Green Raskob Concert Series, a fundraising initiative that benefits the restoration of the Patio.
Tickets are $35 for adults and $20 for students and may be purchased online at www.archmereacademy.com/friendsofthepatio/greenconcertseries. A reception will follow. For more information, contact Archmere at (302) 798-6632.
Local students, parish join forces for Christmas concert
WILMINGTON – Student singers from Padua Academy and Ursuline Academy are joining forces with the St. Helena Choir to form “Enchanted: A Young Woman’s Choir” that will perform Sunday, Dec. 15, at 3 p.m. at the mansion at Bellevue State Park in Bellefonte.
Tickets are $10 and available by calling (302) 761-6963 or at the park office by 4 p.m. on Friday. They are $12 at the door. Seating is limited, and light refreshments will be served.
St. Mark’s student attends national 4-H Congress
WILMINGTON – Benjamin Shaffer, a senior at St. Mark’s High School, attended the 2013 National 4-H Congress Nov. 29-Dec 3 in Atlanta. Shaffer and other delegates took part in leadership-development experiences, workshops, cross-cultural experiences and community service.
Candidates for the national congress must participate in several projects; maintain positions of leadership at the local, county and state levels; act as mentors to younger members; and participate in service activities. Shaffer has been involved in 4-H for 10 years.
St. Mark’s sophomore headed to Carnegie Hall
WILMINGTON – Nicolo Bautista has been selected as a member of the honors choir for the 2014 High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall in New York. The St. Mark’s sophomore will perform as a tenor in the choir for five days in February.
To qualify, Bautista had to be nominated by a teacher and submit a biography and recorded audition CD. According to Pauline DeAscanis, chair of the performing arts department at St. Mark’s, he is the first student of hers to apply to the program.
Ursuline, Padua students named to honors orchestra
WILMINGTON – Ursuline Academy seventh-grader Katya Linton and Padua Academy sophomore Madeline Russell have been named to the first violin section of the Delaware Honors Orchestra, which is presented by the University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series. The orchestra will perform Feb. 2 at 3 p.m. at Mitchell Hall on the Newark campus.
Katya has played the violin for nine years and studies at the Music School of Delaware. This was the first year she auditioned for a state-level orchestra. She and Russell will audition for an individual seat in mid-January.
Katya also has played at Lincoln Center in New York, and the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She is a member of the Brandywine Fiddlers Club. Next summer, she will be part of a group that will tour Austria and Hungary to play pieces from European composers.
St. Mark’s alum awarded NASA fellowship
J. Matthew Kuczmarski, a 2003 graduate of St. Mark’s High School, has received a First Award Fellowship from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. During the two-year program, Kuczmarski will conduct research with the aim of helping protect astronaut health during long-duration space flights.
The grant will allow Kuczmarski to receive mentorship at Texas A&M University, and he will join one of the NSBRI’s seven research teams.
He is the son of Diane Kuczmarski of St. Mark’s EMMAUS department. He lives with his wife, Sarah, in Texas.
