Batavia HS

The Genesee Wyoming Music Educators Association is honoring past scholarship winner Elise Hoerbelt, a trumpet player and a 2019 graduate of Batavia High School.

Here instructors through the years have included Dawn Mark, Jane Haggett, and Derek Reiss.

Her secondary instruments are voice, french horn, and violin.

She is attending Ithaca College and majoring in Music Education.

What are your favorite college/ high school music experiences?

My favorite music experience in my career so far has been my first concert at Ithaca College. It was amazing getting to play with so many talented musicians and it was the first concert of my college career. 

What ensembles/performance opportunities do you aspire to be a part of?
Since I aspire to be a music educator, I would like to be the conductor of a band of students someday. 

What is your favorite performance venue you have performed at? 
My favorite performance venue was at Kodak Hall in the Eastman School of Music when I performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in the Holiday Pops Chorus. 

What are your main musical influences and/or role models?
My teachers and friends have been my main influences in my musical career.

What is your ultimate music goal or music dream?

My goal is to become a music educator and teach students about the power of music.

Three local companies that normally compete with each other have come together to support the community and Batavia High School Students by creating and printing a series of T-shirts that feature the Blue Devils logo.

The shirts are being produced and sold in cooperation with BHS by Extreme Streetwear, John’s Studio and T-Shirts Etc.

Each shop created its own design. The options included short sleeve T-shirts, long sleeve T-shirts, crew neck sweatshirts, and hooded sweatshirts.

The shirts can be purchased online at an online team store.

The store will be open until May 31. Once closed, each shop will have one week to produce their apparel. There will be shipping available via UPS as well as local pickup option at BHS on June 6.

The store owners, in a statement, said they came together to highlight a local option for branded and commemorative apparel and encourage people to shop local. 

Especially in these times, we all feel that shopping local is essential. COVID-19 brought with it so many uncertainties, trials, and hardships, but what has remained consistent is the loyalty and strength in our local business community.

The Genesee Wyoming Music Educators Association celebrates previous scholarship winner Andrea Gilebarto, a former Batavia High School who will graduate this spring with a degree in music education from SUNY Fredonia.

Press release:

Primary Instrument: Voice -- studying with Robert Strauss at SUNY Fredonia Secondary Instruments: Ukulele, Piano, and Flute

When asked what her favorite High School and College memories are Andrea Responded: My favorite high school experience is playing Mary Poppins in "Mary Poppins the musical." My favorite college musical experience was when I was in Chamber Choir under the direction of Dr. Vernon Huff. I think a close second was playing one of the stepsisters in the Hillman Opera's production of "Cendrillon" by Massenet, the French opera of the "Cinderella" story.

When asked where is your favorite performance venue you have performed at Andrea responded:

My favorite venue was when the Chamber Choir went to Churchville Chili High School to be a part of a promotional tour. We performed four songs that evening, and closed out the concert. The auditorium was huge and had plenty of space for our sound to resonate in. My favorite song we performed that night was "All My Trials" and "Rockin' Jerusalem," both arranged by Stacey Gibbs.

In addition to teaching, Andrea aspires to be a part of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus one day. She also aspires to be in more operas down the line.

When asked who her main influences are Andrea responded: My main musical influences are Joyce Didonato, Billy Joel and Luciano Pavarotti. I have tickets to see Billy Joel in concert, and cannot wait to see him live!

Andreas ultimate music goal is to be able to teach middle school general music and choral music while still having time to participate in an opera or a musical theater performance.

Andrea loves playing ukulele! She finds chords to pop songs she loves, and plays along to recordings.

We would like to congratulate Andrea on all of her accomplishments up to this point! We wish you much luck as you start your career as a music educator!

Tribute to Batavia High School's 2020 baseball team by Nickie Fazio.

Lydia Geiger is the second winner of a 2020 John Mikulski Scholarship announced by the Genesee Wyoming Music Educators Association. 

Geiger is a senior at Batavia High School. Her primary interest is flute.

Press release:

When asked what her greatest HS memory was Lydia responded: 
College visits and auditions, masterclasses, lessons, and playing in orchestras.

Lydia's goal is to become a music educator and performer.

When asked what her favorite performance venue she had performed at she responded: 
The Musical Arts Center at The Jacobs School of Music in 2018 with the Indiana University Summer Music Clinic Orchestra. We performed Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5.

Lydia's main influences are her music teachers.

Lydia is undecided as to where she will be attending school for Music however she has these amazing colleges to choose from: 
Schulich School of Music at McGill University, Ithaca College, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, or SUNY Potsdam.

Lydia is very excited to be performing at the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna, Austria with the Honors Performance Series in 2021.

Nickie Fazio, wife of Batavia High School softball Coach Jim Fazio, made this video as a tribute to the 2020 softball team, whose season has been canceled by the coronavirus pandemic.

Fazio said:

I wanted to do something special for the Varsity girls since they did not get to play this year. My heart goes out to all of them, but especially the seniors. Took me the whole week to get it done. Thank you to everyone that sent me pictures to help me put this together. It evolved into something much bigger than I originally planned. This was the best way Coach and I could express how much these girls mean to us.

For the Class of 2020, the traditional rites of spring, such as prom, and commencement ceremonies jeopardized, parents and teachers have been looking for other ways to celebrate the accomplishments of this year's graduates.

Yesterday, staff and teachers at Batavia High School drove to the homes of seniors and installed law signs to help recognize those on the cusp of receiving diplomas.

The effort was initiated by Kristen Fix.

Macayla Burke reciting "Oh me! Oh life!" by Walt Whitman. Burke is a student at Batavia High School.

Interview with Michael Bromley, athletic director at Batavia High School. Scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

From Coach Jim Fazio: "Players and coaches from the Batavia varsity softball team participated in the Section V Softball Challenge.

"Previously high schools from Waterloo and Rush Henrietta came up with the idea of practicing social distancing by still being involved with their teams in a unique way with softball related skills and players' imaginations.

"Since Alexander High School and others did a fantastic job with their videos, this challenge took off and we thought it would be a great idea to join in and have some fun while practicing social distancing and playing safe."

Last week, Batavia scored 310 points in the final round of the Scholastic Bowl season to become the 2020 champions. Batavia beat out other finalists, Pembroke (270 points) and Attica (230).

Photos and write-up submitted by Coach Nicholas Burk.

The Batavia Indoor Track Team had a phenomenal meet yesterday competing in the Sectional Championships at RIT.

The girls' team accomplished an amazing feat, winning their 16th Sectional Championship in 18 years. This was their seventh consecutive championship.

The Blue Devils scored 92 points, edging out Pittsford Mendon with 89.5 points and Pittsford Sutherland with 82 points.

Batavia had a number of clutch performances, highlighted by our throwers. Rebekah Daniszewski won the Shot Put with a throw of 37-8.5, and Maggie Andersen won the Weight Throw with a throw of 44-11.75. Both girls have achieved the State and National standards in their events and will look to qualify for the NYS Championships next weekend.

Arianna Brown continued her impressive season winning the 55 Hurdles with a time of 9.07. She also finished in third in the High Jump clearing 5-0, and third in Long Jump with a 16-3.5. Sarah Adams finished second in the triple jump with a distance of 33-10 and second in Long Jump with a distance of 16-4.75. Sydney Konieczny had a very strong race in the 1000m finishing in secnd place with a time of 3:23.45.

Not to be outdone, older sister Gavin Konieczny was able to earn a second-place finish in the Pole Vault with a height of 9-0. Jianna Torcello and Liz Kingston finished in fourth and fifth place in the 1500m Racewalk.

Batavia's 4x800 Relay of Melanie Quinones, Sydney DellaPenna, Brooke Scott, and Makayla Andalora finished in fifth place with a time of 11:13.70 and the 4x400 Relay of Aurelia Colby, Sydney Konieczny, Maddie Taggart, and Noelia Ventura finished in fourth place with a time of 4:37.98.

This championship was a total team effort and demonstrated that the Batavia girls deeply care for the standard of excellence that the school has established in Section V Track and Field.

"Our strong desire to maintain our winning traditions each year lead our girls to compete at a very high level in this meet," said Coach Nicholas Burk. "We seem to always find a way to get the job done."

The boys' team had a very gritty performance while being down almost the entire meet, but inevitably finding a way to pull out the Championship in the last few events of the evening. Batavia finished with 105.5 points, edging Pittsford Mendon, who scored 101 points.

This is the boys' team's ninth Sectional Championship and its fourth consecutive one. Just like the girls, the boy's team was led by our Impressive group of throwers.

Batavia had seven out of 13 competitors in the Shot Put with Alex Rood repeating as the Sectional Champion with a throw of 54-9.5. Alex is currently ranked second in New York in the Shot and has the State and National Standard as well. Cody Eisenberger finished second in shot with a throw of 48-9.25 and Austyn Fernandez finished fifth with a throw of 42-5.

In the Weight Throw, Batavia had 10 out of 16 Competitors with Alex Rood finishing second with a throw of 53-10.25 and Cody Eisenberger finishing in fourth with a throw of 50-5.25.

The Batavia Pole Vaulters turned the tide of the meet with four athletes placing in the top six.

Daemon Konieczny won the Sectional Championship vaulting 11-6. Andrew Lin finished third with a height of 11-0; Jacob Torcello finished fourth with a height of 10-6; and Quinten Betances finished fifth with a height of 9-6. The 22 points from these athletes turned the tide in this meet and put Batavia ahead by four points with only three events left to score.

Daemon Konieczny finished off his very strong meet with a second place in the High Jump clearing 5-10 and a second place in the Triple Jump with a distance of 42-3.

Also in the high Jump, Jesse Reinhart finished fifth with a height of 5-8.

Batavia's distance athletes battled all meet long and had some clutch races which contributed to the team's success.

Garrick Havens placed fifth in the 3200m with a time of 10:25.39, and he was fourth in the 1600m with a time of 4:47.82. Mario Rosales placed fourth in the 1000m with a time of 2:47.53; Wyatt Gaus Finished sixth in the 1600m with a time of 4:48.48; and Jonah Epps placed fifth in the 600m with a time of 1:30.21.

Terrez Smith placed sixth in the 55m with a time of 6.73; and Jamarion Richardson placed sixth in the Long Jump with a distance of 20-5.25.

The boys' 4x800 Relay of Mario Rosales, Jonah Epps, Cody Harloff, and Garrick Havens had a very clutch performance, edging out a talented Pittsford Mendon team, finishing in second place with a time of 8:46.46.

The 4x400 Relay of Zack Anderson, Ayden Dowd-Devay, Wyatt Gaus, and Max Tomaszewski had a tremendous race, winning the Sectional Championship with a time of 3:44.38.

The final running event was the 4x200 Relay -- consisting of Terrez Smith, Joey Gefell, Gabriel Reyes Mercado, and Max Tomaszewski -- and they placed sixth with a time of 1:37.31.

This was a very impressive meet by the Batavia boys' team as they were down significantly through the first half of the competition.

Many of these athletes fought for those fifth- and sixth-place finishes, which turned out to be the difference in the meet. The depth of our team was on display as each group, the throwers, distance runners, jumpers, and sprinters scored points and contributed to the team's total score.

The Batavia Track and Field program has continued to demonstrate strong character, dedication, and toughness toward accomplishing the goal to uphold the tradition and reputation of the school's track teams.

A number of other athletes trained with Batavia this winter from other Genesee Region schools:

• Emily Tait -- Attica: second in the Class C Long Jump (18-4.5); second in the Class C Triple Jump (38-9.75)
• Veronica Duell -- Byron Bergen: third in Class C Long Jump (16-6.75); ninth in Class C 300m (47.96)
• Dylan Rykert -- Oakfield Alabama: first in Class D Weight Throw (39-4.25); first in Class D Shot Put (43-9.25)
• Zack Hall -- Oakfield Alabama: first in Class D 1000m (2:40.06)
• Nick Munger -- Oakfield Alabama: first in Class D Pole Vault (10-0); fifth in Class D 1000m (3:00.15)
• Fanny Vanegas -- Elba: first in Class D 1500m (5:26.71)
• Kelly Mickey -- Elba: third in Class D 55m (7.89); fifth in Class D 300m (46.32)

Eighteen winter guard teams from throughout WNY and Canada were in Batavia on Saturday night for the 20th annual competition in the Batavia High School gymnasium. 

Top three photos of the Batavia varsity team, followed by photos of a senior guard team, called Luminosa made up of students from throughout the region, then the team from Medina. 

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Camden White checked off a big life goal yesterday when he signed a letter of intent to attend Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., on a football scholarship.

"Just growing up, I fell in love with football," White said. "The main dream was being able to go to college for free. I always wanted to get a scholarship and Mercyhurst gave me a pretty good offer. I'm almost going to college for free so the dream came true."

White will study sports medicine, strength, and conditioning.

Mercyhurst is a Division II program.

It's no surprise to Batavia's head football coach, Brennan Briggs, that White landed a football scholarship.

"He's a product of hard work," Briggs said. "He came and played football with us when he was younger and he was a little smaller and he just dedicated himself to the weight room. He decided he was going to put his mind toward playing college football. His worth ethic and effort paid off and I just know he's going to have a great career at Mercyhurst."

His father, Al White, said he's glad Cam picked a school close to home.

"It was a good option," he said. "He could have gone further away but academically and athletically, it was the right choice for him."

Top photo: Front row, Caeden White, Al White, Camden White, Tina White, and Gavin White. Back row: Ted Stevens, Buddy Brasky, Brennan Briggs, Chris Harloff, and Javaughn Johnson.

Write-up and photos submitted by Matt Holman.

It was a cold and clear night for the Batavia High School Ski Team as they wrapped up their regular season on Wednesday, with a two-run slalom race on Wheels Run at Swain Resort.

Junior Zach Wagner was the team's top skier with a combined time of 1:45.39, which put him in 14th place for the boys.

After a spectacular first run, putting her in sixth place, Aubrey Towner fell at the top of the course, but got up, hiked and finished her season and career at Swain with a two-run finish in 21st. Eighth-grader Lily Wagner was 23rd and Junior Lily Whiting missed a gate on the first run, but her second was good enough for 14th.

The season ends with the girls with a fourth-place team finish in the Southern Tier Race League.

Aubrey Towner finished in ninth, earning a spot on the league's all-star team. The first time in many years that Batavia has had a girl in the top 10. Lily Whiting also had a very successful season finishing in 14th, Lily Wagner finished 24th and Zach Wagner finished in 13th on the boy's side.

The Alpine Ski Team will next compete at the sectionals on Feb. 11th and 12th at Bristol Mountain.

Top photo: Zach Wagner

Lily Whiting

 

Aubrey Towner

In girls' basketball on Saturday afternoon, the Batavia Blue Devils beat South Seneca 51-27.

Brynn Wormley scored 23 points for Batavia, hitting five three-pointers. Emma Krolczyk scored 12. Mackenzie Riegle scored 10.

Even though Pittsford-Sutherland had a size advantage down low, the Blue Devils kept their home game Wednesday night close until the third quarter.

Then Pittsford-Sutherland's guards started dropping threes like gumdrops in a five-and-dime. 

Drew Kull, Jalyn Moorehead and Owen Flisnik combined for seven makes beyond the arc and sealed the deal of a 58-42 win for the Knights.

For Batavia, the only player in double digits scoring was Alex Hale with 11 points. Zach Gilebarto scored nine, Caeden White, eight, and Camden White scored seven.

The Blue Devils are now 7-6 on the season.

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Write up and photos submitted by Matt Holeman.

SWAIN -- The Batavia Ski Team competed Wednesday night at Swain Resort in a two-run Giant Slalom race on Wheels Run. With the recent cold temperatures and clear sky, the temperature dipped to make the race conditions nearly perfect. The snow was hard, but not icy holding together with minimal ruts and you could almost see the stars shining through.

Junior Zach Wagner was the team's top finisher, recovering from a potential crash on his second run, completing a combined two run time of 1.50.59 was good enough for seventh place.

It was a night to forget for the girls' varsity team as two of the three skiers (Senior Aubrey Towner and eighth-grader Lily Wagner) ended up crashing, losing a ski and not finishing the race. Junior Lily Whiting, however, had a great night finishing with a combined time of 2.10.92 finishing in 12th place.

Modified finishers included Ethan Bradly in 15th and Abby Bestine in 19th. 

Midseason Standings had the Batavia Girls Team was tied for third with Livonia, both sitting behind Keshequa and Arkport-Canaseraga in the Southern Tier Race League.

Aubrey Towner is currently in sixth place for the season, Lily Whiting in 13th and Zach Wagner is sitting in 10th for the boys. Finishing in the top 10 for the season would send them to the league's all-star team.

Tech is increasingly part of the learning environment in City School classrooms and at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting, two teachers -- Alexander Veltz, Social Studies (photo), and Andrew Kiebala, Math -- shared how they're using Chromebooks and Google classroom tools to aid in their instruction.

Their presentions came as part of the information technology review by Director of Technology Jeff McKinney.

Veltz shared how he can use Google tools to share assignments, worksheets, handouts, and ensure that not only are they available in the classroom, but students (and their guardians) have access to the material at home. The availability of the material is helping him meet the new demands for greater reading comprehension in state exams.

With the tools, students can answer questions and get immediate feedback on their responses. 

Another tool allows students to sort through documents, which is especially helpful for a project that requires them to write an essay based on pre-assigned material that they must study, find a common theme, and then organize in order to write the essay.

"There is a shift in New York State where it's less about retention and more about argumentation based on perspective and point of view," Veltz said. "Retention is a skill New York is moving away from."

Trustee Shawn Murphy, who teaches at Genesee Community College, asked if the use of the tools was taking away from classroom engagement. Veltz said not at all.

McKinney added, "We are not switching over to where kids just sit in front of a computer. That's not the intent at all."

Kiebala shared tools that students can use to study geometric properties. 

He also shared a program that allows students to work on quizzes that he guides from his own computer and see where they need help. He said the program allows students to ask questions and make observations that he can then share with the class. The process allows students who might normally be shy about raising their hands to contribute more readily to classroom learning.

"This is my favorite thing to do," Kiebala said. "It allows them to be independent and also allows me to have control, so it's the best of both worlds for a teacher."

Kiebala shared a study published by NPR that indicated most people in the work world don't spend a lot of time doing trigonometry or geometry but they do spend a lot of time working in Excel, so his statistics class is heavy into spreadsheets.

"I tell the class, 'this is what you're going to spend your time doing because this is what you're going to use,' " Kiebala said. "You don't have to do anything by hand anymore because you either have a calculator or a spreadsheet but you still need to know what the numbers mean."