New Band Director | Final Senior Salutes

Ballard Performing Arts News

June 15, 2021

Featured News

Jay Gillespie Hired as Permanent Band Director!

We are thrilled to welcome Jay Gillespie as Ballard High School’s permanent director of bands. Parents and students have been inspired by his enthusiasm and creativity this year. We appreciate everything Mr. Gillespie did to keep students engaged and look forward to more to come! Say congrats to him at jrgillespie@seattleschools.org.

From principal Keven Wynkoop: “When we brought in Mr. Gillespie to be Ballard’s Interim Band Director this year, we were looking for someone who would be dependable and provide consistency for the rest of the school year. It quickly became apparent that he was far more than a caretaker for the position and that he had the passion, skill, knowledge, flexibility and interest in students that we were looking for in a permanent Band Director. When we recently learned from Mr. Gillespie that he was so excited about the position that he and his family had decided that he was interested in continuing, we started to get feedback from students and parents in the program. What we heard confirmed that others were as excited about Mr. Gillespie as we were. Therefore, I am thrilled to officially announce that Mr. Jay Gillespie will be continuing as the permanent Ballard High School Band Director for 21-22 and beyond. I can’t wait to watch the Band Program flourish and evolve under his leadership!”

Student News

Student Awards for 2020-2021

Congratulations to all of our students for your resilience this year. These students in particular were selected by the directors for the annual end-of-year awards that were presented at the concerts.

Choir

Vocal Music Award of Excellence: Gavin Bradler and Samara Bunn Hartman
Outstanding Choral: JJ Benefiel, Connor Fatland, Mercedes Tucker
Ella Fitzgerald Vocal Jazz: Gavin Eachus
Most Improved: Jacob Bragg

Orchestra

Conductor’s Award: Hadley Mollman
Dedication Award: Kate Sauter
National Orchestra Award: Evan Mount
Make Music Anyway Award: 5 1/2 Cats (Monse Eckert-Mariscal, Lina McRoberts, Carson Steffens, Colin Dunlap)

Band

John Philip Sousa Award: Mercedes Tucker and James Shepherd
Louis Armstrong Jazz Award: Tarkel Price and David Nicollela
Award of Excellence: Paul Basiji, Charles Burns, Ian Semroc
Drum Major: Mercedes Tucker, Kat Moen and Mattie Holec
Outstanding Freshman: Lydia Blair, Rose Kibelstis, Sadie Kibelstis,
Most Improved: Griffin Chen, Tristan Cheyne

Congratulations to our Seniors

This week, we salute the final group of seniors:

Hadley Mollman

Al Johnson

Erik Anderson

Vangie Laufert

Andreas de la Jara

Henry Ramstad

Evan Mount

Check out our Senior Salutes here.

Best of luck on all of your future endeavors!

Congrats to our Volunteer Award Winners!

The Golden Note Award

Given to volunteers who have made outstanding contributions over their tenure of multiple years volunteering with the boosters club.

This year’s award recipients are:

Debbie Anderson—Our longtime calendar coordinator who kept us in the know.
Connie Olson—Volunteer Coordinator, BPA Booster secretary, and so much more.

The Mara Lim Award

Established in 2020, the Mara Lim award is named after uber-volunteer and longtime president of the BPA Boosters Club to recognize her 8-year run. This award is given to a volunteer who made contributions above and beyond expectations during the current school year.

This year's award recipient is:

Amanda Workman--Ballardperformingarts.org webmaster.

Thank you so much for your contributions, and thank you to everyone on the Booster Board!

Program Updates

Band

Return Your Borrowed Instruments!

Band students should return any borrowed music equipment during the last week of school. Mr. Gillespie will be doing inventory and sending instruments for repair and maintenance.

Choir

Vocal jazz auditions will be in the fall.

Stay tuned; we'll announce the details in the newsletter, website, and social media channels.

Theatre

Buy a Seat Campaign

Want to be a part of Ballard High School’s Performing Arts Boosters forever? Buy a seat in the theatre and have a message that you choose engraved and placed on the arm rest. Proceeds go into a theatre maintenance fund in the ASB Drama account to offset the cost for upkeep of the performing arts center, which is not funded by the district.

Download the form

Help Fund Our Programs

The district only pays for teacher’s salaries; everything else we have to raise or donate.

Attention all BPA Golfers! The 21st Annual Ballard High School Foundation Golf Classic, presented by the Ballard High School Foundation in partnership with the Ballard High School Athletics & Performing Arts Booster Clubs, is Monday, August 30, 2021. Early Bird pricing until July 15, 2021.

100% OF BPA registration funds go back to the Ballard Performing Arts Booster Club. We have one foursome signed up already (thank you, Russ!) How about another group to join in the fun?

Help Procure Items for the Auction

Please help us build an amazing repertoire of items to include in the “Celebrating All Things Ballard” auction this year, held virtually on Sunday, August 29 at 7 p.m. We have procured one item so far; a Swanson's gift card for $100. That's a minimum of $100 coming back to BPA. Do you have a gift card you can donate or do you own a business that can donate a gift card?

100% of the funds raised from auction items we procure go to our program.

Email Jill Hansen with your contributions and ideas.

Desserts needed

Ballard Performing Arts Boosters is looking for volunteers willing to bake a dessert for the virtual Dessert Dash/Delivery portion of the virtual auction. All proceeds from the Dessert Dash/Delivery will directly benefit the performing arts programs.

No desserts are needed on the day of the auction. Delivery will be mutually agreed upon by the baker and bidder. The online auction will take place on August 29 at 7 p.m.

Please see the Sign Up Genius for more details and to volunteer.

Help Wanted

Parent Volunteer Roles for 2021-2022 school year

We implore parents to consider donating time to help make every child's experience in Ballard Performing Arts the best that it can be. Most volunteers work full time, do not necessarily have experience with their volunteer position, and share only a few hours or less each week to support this program. Here are the BPA Booster opportunities for the upcoming year:

Fundraising Chair

Take on one major fundraiser event or effort and supervise/be the point person on the leadership team for other fundraising efforts. No fundraising experience required and lots of guidance is available! Contact Jeannette at bpabpresident@gmail.com for more info.

Spaghetti Dinner Leads

Coordinate and organize the most fun event of the year that involves all the performing arts groups. Work with a friend as a team! Join a group of outstanding parents who procures the food, sells tickets, organizes volunteers, etc. Contact Jeannette at bpabpresident@gmail.com if you’re interested.

Grant Writer

Research grants to apply for and write grant proposals for Ballard Performing Arts Boosters Club as assigned by directors. Grant writing experience a plus but not necessary. Email Jeannette at bpabpresident@gmail.com if you’re interested.