There's still time to reserve your place at Shaker by Starlight, an evening with Planetarium Director (and NASA Solar System Ambassador) Gene Zajac and members of the Astronomy Club. Sessions begin at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. on April 25. The 45-minute program will include an update on Space Shuttle 118, which is taking educator astronaut Barbara Morgan into space. Learn about becoming an astronaut and see celestial objects in the summer sky, visible planets, and recent discoveries in the cosmos. Bring the whole family! Admission is free, but seating is limited. For reservations, contact Colleen McCreary at 295-6144 or by e-mail. Please give your name and the time you wish to attend, and number of people attending.

Shaker by Starlight is just one of the many concerts, theatrical performances, exhibits, open houses and other celebrations that are part of this year's Shakerfest. Please join us! View the complete Shakerfest schedule.

Shaker seniors have continued to do well in admissions to highly selective colleges. In the spring round, Shaker students have been accepted at Amherst, Barnard, Columbia, Georgetown, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern, St. Lawrence, the University of North Carolina, and Wesleyan, among others. Additional Shaker students have joined those accepted through early admission at several schools, including Brown, Colgate, Cornell, Hamilton, Harvard, Skidmore, Vassar, and Wellesley.

Shaker seniors Chris Butler and Adam Shands are among just over 800 students nationwide who have been awarded National Achievement Scholarships by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). The National Achievement Scholarship Program honors the nation's top Black seniors who demonstrate "the strongest record of accomplishments and the greatest potential for academic success." The winners were chosen from more than 140,000 eligible students nationwide. The NMSC will announce winners of National Merit Scholarships this spring in two categories: those sponsored by corporations that employ the candidate's parent(s) and those sponsored by NMSC. Shaker is expected to have multiple winners of NMSC- sponsored National Merit Scholarships.

A number of major capital projects, made possible by the bond issue approved by Shaker voters in 2004, are slated for this spring and summer:

• Replacement of windows at Boulevard Elementary School and Shaker Heights High School with more energy-efficient, low-maintenance windows designed to complement the buildings' architecture;
• The restoration of the High School's Large Auditorium, in partnership with the Shaker Schools Foundation, as a performance and meeting space;
• Expansion of the High School cafeteria for student and community use; and
• Repair of the home side bleachers, restrooms, and storage areas at the High School stadium.

Forty-six Shaker students have qualified for the finals of the Ohio History Day competition in Columbus on May 5th after dominating the district contest at Case Western Reserve University. All told, 53 Shaker students received recognition at districts, and Shaker earned first place in every category. See the list of winners.

Shaker's JETS-TEAMS (Junior Engineering Technical Society - Test of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science) group ranked second in the region, second in the state, and seventh in the nation in its division. Of the 250 teams in the division nationwide, 51 went to the national level. Shaker was the highest ranking Ohio school in its division. The students on this year's team are Dong Joo Kim, Niranjan Kumar, Hyunho Lee, Philip Marcotty, David Somach, Daniel Strassfeld, Hannah T'Kindt, and Carter Wang. Joe Marencik is their advisor.

Trey Modlin, an eighth grader at Shaker Heights Middle School, placed first in the Grades 7-8 National Chess Tournament, the Queen City Classic, on March 30 in Cincinnati. More than 500 students competed in the event, one of the largest scholastic chess tournaments in the nation.

The Middle School Science Olympiad competed at the state level after placing fifth in the regional round at Case Western Reserve University. The team consisted of Hannah Chelimsky, Mark Lewandowski, Elana Curry, Kristofer Jackson, CeCe Mercer, Ian Murphy, Thomas Miller, Ian Limoli, Lindsay White, Noah Eisen, Danielle Swales, Annika Weder, Spencer Seballos, Nia Morgan, Karim Ragab, Colin Sweeney, and Grace Clements. Their coaches were science teachers Jeremy Bishko, Kelly Anderson, Paul Repasy, and Michael Schwenn.

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