Each year the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens hold a Photo Contest. In 2004, Evans Deputy Town Clerk Lynn Stoessel took the photo shown at left of her daughter Christina during a spring visit to the Botanical Gardens and was urged to enter it in the 2004 Photo Contest. There were a total of 86 entries as shutterbugs tried to capture the Botanical Gardens’ loviest images in three categories, architecture, human interest and flora. After the judging was complete, Ms. Stoessel received a call that she had won 2nd place in the human interest catagory with her submission. Following that call, Ms. Stoessel received a second call asking for permission to use the picture on the cover of a local Senior publication. Evans newest covergirl! The Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens are located at 2655 South Park Avenue (Rt 62), Buffalo, NY 14218 and are open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 10am to 5pm, and Thursday 10am to 7pm. They are closed on Monday. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for students (with ID) and seniors (55+) , $10 for families (defined as parent or grandparent with dependent age children). Children under 14 (accompanied by an adult) are Free as are Gardens members. For more information on the Botanical Gardens, visit their web site at www.buffalogardens.com.

After two years of fund raising and countless hours of hard work and rehearsals, the Senior High Symphonic and Concert Band brought home 2 gold ratings and 2 first place trophies from NYC. Both bands, under the direction of Mr. Eric Blodgett, attended a national band competition hosted by the Performing Arts Consultants, “The National Freedom Festival”, at the College of Staten Island on Saturday, April 9th. The bands competed against schools from California, Oregon, Iowa, Michigan, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Ontario Canada. The gold rating signifies that both groups scored higher than 90%, essentially obtaining an A as a grade. The first place trophies were awarded to both bands because they scored the highest out of any school in their class. Our bands literally blew away the competition! In addition to the musical achievements of the bands, some other phenomenal experiences also happened on the tour. The first thing the students did when they arrived in NYC was to participate in workshop held at the historic Riverside Church, in the room the New York Philharmonic rehearses in, with Leslie Steiflman, the Musical Director and Conductor of the Broadway show “Chicago”. The students impressed her to the point where she actually invited two of them, David Vogan – Principal Trumpet and Brad Flower – Principal Percussion, to sit in with the “Chicago” orchestra when we attended the musical the next night. Of course all of our students were exhilarated as the young men were representing our entire school. However, the story gets better. As the lights come up during the show, the orchestra was not situated in a recessed pit, they were actually part of the show on a tiered band stand right on stage. You could see the boys as they became part of the show. To top it off, during the entr’acte and the closing music, David Vogan was given the opportunity to stand up and perform with the orchestra! In addition to these great experiences, the bands toured the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Radio City Music Hall, had a 4 hour guided tour of all of the historical landmarks of the city, visited “Ground Zero”, toured Little Italy and Chinatown, spent time in Time Square, Rockefeller Center, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and ate at Medieval Times Dinner Theater as well Mars 2112. All of the students represented the Lake Shore School District and community with pride and experienced memories that will truly last a lifetime. Members of the Concert Band include: Whitney Brooks, Christine Pearl , Theresa Weimer, Liz Relosky, Anne Veith, Elizabeth Quesenberry, Kathleen Schmittendorf, Danielle Guenot, Jillian Pelechaty, Danille Buergin, Kelly Swartz, Caitlyn Gubala, Cathy Ball, Arwen Tisdale, Caitlyn Rosiek, Sarah Trimm, Carla Trinca-Conley, Rhonda Halas, Thomas Castle, Aaron Jurkiewicz, Amanda Fox, Lauren Huson, Jennifer Jenkins, Stephanie Polakiewicz, Meagan Burke, Maggie McGough, Kelsey Senger, Katherine White, Janell Dutchess, Theresa Cerabone, Nick Lindstrom, Sheala Mohawk, Sarah Barber, Stephanie Urgo, Sarah Veith, Christian McMullen, Jessica McFarland, Becky Ells, Jennifer Roth, Brittany Schmidle, Jessica Gelyon, Falicia McMillan, Jim Castle, Vicki Busch, Marion Pardoe, Brian Morlock, Katie Milks, Fred Garrasi, Alexandra Catalano, Michael Zeffiro, Katherine Jost, Malorie Cummings, Jessica Shean, Christian McCulle, Pam Mende, Sarah Walczak, Nathan Cox, Nicholas Orcutt, Sean Farrell, Brandon Lippke, Bobby Motz, Sam Atti, Sean Mahan, Matt Trask, Ian Widmer-Wick, Andrew Jasinski, Cory Sandor, Patrick Mahan, Joe McClure, James Kowal, Robert Piasecki , Jeffery Mancuso, Kara Connors, Chris Ohnmeiss, Tyler May, Bradley Weber, Nicolas Tyler, Jordan Smith, Eugene Duffey, Trisha Ippolito, Annilee Obrochta, David Farley, Ashley Gadomski, Anna Pingitore, Aubrey Sedor, Chris Perry, Sean Will, Corey Farrell, Shannon Griffin, Michelle Macro, Samantha Henson, Alexandra Kane, Derek Greiner, Anthony Bonaducci, Jeff Wilmore, Amanda Willard, Dan Glover, Nick O’Hare, Robert Beck, Kurtis Driscoll, Kirsten Jost, Andrea Parks, Lindsey Petruczok, Jared Wygant. Members of the Symphonic Band include: Tiffany Reiche, Megan Dennis, Alicia Jeffers, Whitney Brooks, Michelle Macro, Jessica King, Elizabeth Quesenberry, Laura Zailac, Jesselyn Zailac, Casey Cephas, Nicole Smith, Stephanie Lance, Amanda Tobin, Lauren Valtin, Stephanie Cummings, Lauren Huson, Jennifer Jenkins, Amanda Barry, Nicole Buergin, Megan Maslach, Bronwyn McNamara, Kassi Lippke, Kelsey Senger, Crystal Collado, Katherine White, Jackie Ball, Jessica Latimore, Chincia Bahne, Ashley Kowalski, Laura Ells, Emma Grennell, Matt Driscoll, Jason Gleason, Danielle Dubose, Justin Hubert, Joann Duhan, David Vogan, Bethany McNamara, Greg Conley, Brian Tyler, Chris Valites, Eric Carlson, Shannon Griffin, Calle Fitzgerald, Katie Troidl, Jessica Moore, Shawna Haberer, Tom Heater, Mark Hageman, Jezzelyn Widmer-Wick, Derek Greiner, Emily Clark, Matt Walker, Matt Ells, Daniel Ornowski, Joe Bartolucci, Brad Flower, Nick O’Hare, Erin Parks, Justin Hoelzle, Sarah Ruffles.