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MHS Musings is a column devoted to what goes on at Millburn High School. Max Sauberman is member of the Class of 2013.The Music Department of Millburn High School proudly presents the annual Pops Concert on Wednesday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. The MHS Music Boosters will serve light refreshments during the concert. This concert and refreshments are free and open to the public. The concert will feature Pops Strings, Millburnaires and Millburnettes (the school's two acappella groups), Stage Band, and Lab Band (the two jazz bands). Musical selections will include contemporary pop songs including Adele's "Turning Tables", Neon Trees' "Everybody Talks", and a Lady Gaga medley... while …
Tomorrow evening at MHS will be the Make-A-Wish Club's annual benefit concert, "So You Think You Can Idol". Performances include an acappella song from MHS' Soulfege, the Pixie Dust Players (led by MHS senior Lindsay Maron), student soloists and bands, and much more. MHS teachers will guest star as Idol judges, and the faculty have a performance of their own. All proceeds will be donated to the Make-A-Wish foundation. Tickets are $7, and additional donations will be accepted. There will also be a special collection and sales for Brooke Haely.
The Millburn Forensics Team, Millburn High School’s largest student organization (with more than 120 active team members), kicked off February with a bang. The team traveled to many tournaments throughout the month, including large national tournaments at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, the Millburn Forensics Team is ranked third in the entire nation, according to debaterankings.com. The month began with junior Chase Harrison named tournament champion in Extemporaneous Speaking, fourth place finalist in Original Orator, and fourth place finalist in Impromptu Speaking on…
The Millburn High School Limelight Players will present its spring production of Kaufman and Hart’s Pulitzer-Prize winning comedy, “You Can’t Take It With You”, beginning this weekend. The performances will take place on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Millburn High School auditorium. Tickets are $10 in advance (until noon Friday), and $12 at the door. Tickets may also be purchased in advance via email at millburnlimelight@gmail.com. High school students can purchase tickets during lunchtime this week. Seats are reserved. You Can’t Take It With You, directed by Paul Weinstein and …
The Millburn Forensics Team, MHS’ most popular club and academic team, traveled around the state throughout the month of January, and is already off to a great 2013. This past weekend, the team traveled to Bridgewater-Raritan High School and Union Catholic High School. At Bridgewater, junior Eleanor Konrad won the prose event with her cut from Jodi Picoult’s “My Sister’s Keeper” and came in sixth place in poetry with a program on family featuring Sarah Kay’s “If I Should Have A Daughter.” Senior Allie Mazzella came in third place in original oratory with her speech on the beauties of life. In…
The Millburn High School auditorium was the place to be on Wednesday to watch the Millburn choral and orchestral ensembles present their Winter Concert. The groups have been practicing since the first week of school. The concert, under the direction of orchestra director Karen Conrad and choral director Rodrigo Vega, opened with the Cantica Nova, Millburn's 53-strong freshman chorus, the biggest it's been in recent history. The ensemble, which rehearses daily during fourth period, began with the Ghanaian rhythmic folk piece "Pete Pete!," which implemented African folk techniques of call-and-…
It seems a plurality of my columns over the past three years involve the incomparable experience offered by the Millburn High School Limelight Players. Limelight, which puts on a fall musical and spring drama each year, has been an integral part of my MHS experience since the beginning of my freshman year. I have made many of my closest friends through the shows, and have shared experiences I will never forget. Now, entering my senior year, I am sad to have only one of each type of show left before i leave, but am very excited for what is in store for this year. The musical production will be…
Every morning at 9:19 a.m., senior class president, Ray Holloway, would come on the loudspeaker, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and deliver the day's news. "Good morning Millburn High School" was his tagline. Principal Dr. William Miron pointed out at the 117th MHS Commencement Ceremony, Holloway truly was the "voice of Millburn High School" this year. So when it seemed like Holloway wouldn't be permitted to address his classmates at the graduation ceremony, it didn't surprise anyone when the entire senior class rallied around their president, eventually winning him back the opportunity …
The Millburn High School Drama Club presented its 10th annual Millburn Cares benefit concert for the Broadway House for Continuing Care in Newark on Wednesday, and hundreds of people were in attendance, beating the heat to support the performers and the cause. Members of the current MHS drama club and alums who graduated during the last 10 years performed 29 songs from Tony-nominated Broadway musicals of the past decade. So far, the concert raised more than $1,700 for the cause and donations are still coming in. Drama club advisor Suzanne Snyder has worked with Millburn Cares since its very …
The Millburn High School Drama Club (also known as the Limelight Players) have had a very busy year of performances, between presenting the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie in the fall and Woody Allen's comedy Don't Drink the Water in March. In addition to these creative efforts, MHS Drama Club members are passionate about raising money and awareness for HIV/AIDS. Since 2007, Drama Club has spearheaded many fundraisers for Broadway House for Continuing Care in Newark, New Jersey’s only special care facility for people living with HIV/AIDS. We visit Broadway House a few times each year, and to…
The Millburn High School concert bands and wind ensemble concluded a busy year of music on a high note. Last Wednesday night, May 23, the bands, under direction of Matt Spatz and Mindy Scheierman, presented their annual Spring Concert to family, friends, and members of the community. The theme of this year's concert was "Folk Songs from Around the World". Songs from many different cultures, countries, and eras were performed. The Concert Band, the freshman ensemble who rehearse with Spatz, performed first. Their program began with "Prairie Schooner" and continued with "Rhythm Stand", and "A …
All English teachers and school administrators donned blue T-shirts on Wednesday to announce "Millburn's Big Read," a brand new initiative to unite the school and the Millburn-Short Hills community in reading. The premise of the "Big Read" is simple: to get everyone in the school to read the same book, which will allow critical discussion in class, amongst friends, between academic departments, between grade levels, and throughout the entire community. The "Big Read" replaces the previous summer reading model, which had students in different grade levels and different levels of English …
Millburn High School's Make-A-Wish Foundation Club is putting on its annual talent show "So You Think You Can Idol?" Thursday, April 5 at 7 p.m. in the High School auditorium. Students from MHS will be showing off their various musical talents through performances ranging from rapping to singing to dancing. Just some of the show's highlights include Soulfege, the MHS a cappella group, an original hip hop dance by Kai Rapelyea and Hassan Syed, a cover of Sara Bareilles's "Gravity" by Eleanor Konrad, and a rendition of Coldplay's "The Scientist" from Evan Wolf. There will also be a bake sale …
Crowds filled the MHS cafeteria Wednesday night for the annual Pops Concert, a night where the music department's exclusive ensembles presented a more light, entertaining repertoire, abandoning the classical music for contemporary jazz and pop standards. The Lab Band, one of MHS' two jazz ensembles opened the performance. The group is led by associate band director Matthew Spatz and rehearses for three hours on Thursday nights. The Lab Band presented "Leap Frog," "Peg," and "Soulin.'" Soloists in the Lab Band included saxophones Sam Curtis, Louis Danowsky, and Justin Dower; percussionist Nick…
Fellow MHS junior Sahil Gupta has an interesting proposal for the Millburn Board of Education. Seeing the success of the online education tool Khan Academy (recently featured on CBS' 60 Minutes and the TED Talks), he sees the benefits of implementing the tool to mathematics education in the Millburn Public Schools, especially at MHS. He believes that Khan Academy will rekindle student interest in math, and allow Millburn students to truly work at their own pace, which would foster maximum interest in the subject. He also sees promise in the dynamic new educational model that Khan follows. …
The Millburn High School Limelight Players are excited to present their spring production of Woody Allen's rousing comedy, Don't Drink the Water, a hilarious two-act play this weekend. Tonight's performance begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Millburn High School auditorium. Tickets are $8 in advance (up until noon on Friday), and $10 at the door. Email millburnlimelight@gmail.com to reserve tickets in advance. High school students can purchase tickets during lunchtime this week. Seats are reserved (and going fast), so write in with your order soon. Don't Drink the Water, directed by Paul Weinstein …
Editor's note: MHS Musings writer Max Sauberman is co-captain of the Forensics team. The Millburn Forensics team sent 50 competitors to the NJ Forensic League State Championship tournament at Ridge High School on Saturday and was entered in all 18 events. The team placed sixth overall in the entire state (behind Ridge, Montville, Freehold Township, Randolph and Matawan Regional), something all hundred-plus team members can be proud of. In addition, both the speech and debate sub-teams are ranked sixth in the state. Many Millburn competitors broke into the final rounds of their respective …
The Millburn Forensics Team, which is headed to state championship competition this weekend, has been having a tremendous season. The team competes in speech and debate events at weekly tournaments. With more than 100 students as active members of the team, Forensics is “arguably” the school’s most popular academic team and extracurricular pursuit. Saturday's tournament at Ridge High School was the final tournament for the team before the New Jersey State Championship, which will also be held at Ridge this Friday and Saturday. At last week's tournament, many team members broke into the final …
After a full season of entertaining crowds at every Millers home football game, the Millburn High School bands began working on their concert band repertoire in November in preparation for their first of two annual concerts. The MHS Concert Band, Wind Ensemble and two Symphonic Bands, which involve about 200 students, performed their songs at the concert on Wednesday, which was a huge success. The bands are under the direction of Mindy Scheierman, MHS Director of Bands and conductor of the 2011 All-North Jersey Honors Symphonic Band, and Matthew Spatz, MHS Associate Director of Bands and …
The choral and orchestral ensembles from Millburn High School showcased their hard work and talent at the annual Winter Concert on Thursday night. The groups have been practicing since the beginning of school. The concert was under the direction of orchestra director Karen Conrad and choral director Rodrigo Vega. Student teacher Aimee McPeak from Rutgers University also conducted pieces with the Chamber Strings and Symphonic Orchestra. The night opened with the Cantica Nova, Millburn's freshman chorus, who rehearse daily with Vega. They sang the English madrigal "Sing we and Chant It," Bernon…
