Celebrate National Arts in Education Week #BecauseOfArtsEd #WeAreDGN #99Learns

The United States Congress has designated this week National Arts in Education Week to promote and showcase the immense role arts education has in producing engaged, successful, and college and career-ready students.

The DGN Fine Arts Department and the DGN Theatre Program are sponsoring a series of arts-related contests as a way to recognize and celebrate the impact of the arts on our lives. Listen each day to the morning announcements for your chance to win our GRAND PRIZE …

… 2 tickets to see the Tony Award Winning Play, The Humans, at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago!

You can get entered into our contest right away … TODAY … by Tweeting a photo of you or your friends involved in any Fine Arts activity with the dual hash tags:

#BecauseOfArtsEd and #WeAreDGN

DGN Musicians Perform at Downtown DG Fine Arts Festival

District 99 Orchestra / DGN Fine Arts student musicians performed this weekend at the 2017 Downtown Downers Grove Fine Arts Festival.

Thank you Lucie Boyd, Amelia Korbitz, Bryan Monk, Catherine Ramsey, and J.P. Vranas for sharing your musicianship with the regional artistic community and representing @Dist_99 with such professionalism.

DGN Student Finalist in International Harp Competition

Downers Grove North High School student Catherine Ramsey has been selected as a finalist in the Mexico International Harp Competition and Festival, which will be held in Mexico City the week of November 10. Held every three years, youth from around the world compete and are judged by prominent figures in the international harp field.

Ramsey is a sophomore at DGN, and member of District 99 Symphonic Orchestra and the Naperville Youth Symphony Orchestra.

“Attending the Festival is an incredible honor for Catherine, and a tremendous opportunity to continue her artistic development,” says North High Fine Arts Department Chair Brayer Teague. “She’ll be surrounded and inspired by the most talented instructors and peers from across the globe during this once-in-a-lifetime trip.”

Ramsey was selected from video audition as one of nine finalists in the Intermediate 1 Division, which includes student musicians from the U.S., Canada, Columbia, Croatia and Mexico. Guest artists from Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, France, Mexico and Russia will be present at the festival serving as judges and master class instructors.  The mission of the Festival is to develop artistic development of excellence.

For more information about the Festival, please visit http://www.mexihcf.com/en/.

NIU Faculty Master Classes with @dgnbands Musicians

Faculty from the NIU School of Music presented master classes today to students in Wind Ensemble. In addition to coaching how to effectively prepare for an addition, the clinicians discussed artistry in performance and pertinent pedagogy related to wind and percussion techniques.

Special thanks to faculty members Greg Barrett (clarinet), Greg Beyer (percussion), Kelly Langenberg (horn), and Jeremy Moeller (trombone) for sharing their musicianship and teaching expertise with our students today!

Trojan Marching Band at Northwestern University

Friday Night Lights

Congratulations to the members of the Trojan Marching Band, Varsity Athenas and Varsity Cheerleaders for outstanding performances at DGN's first Home Football Game of the season! The sights, sounds and pageantry demonstrated exactly why #WeAreDGN!

Thank You Seniors!

Thank you Class of 2018, for your incredible dedication to the Trojan Bands, and Downers Grove North High School!

Congrats Mr. & Ms. Rivera!

The DGN Band extends congratulations to Marching Band Staff member Mr. Alex Rivera, and former DGN Color Guard Coach Ms. Emily Rivera, on the birth of their son, Evan Alexander Rivera!

Welcome Class of 2021!

DGN Fine Arts welcomes the Class of 2021!  

We look forward to amazing sights and sounds over the next four years. 

Welcome to Downers Grove North High School ... 

#WeAreDGN

DGN Fine Arts Welcomes New Faculty!

The DGN Fine Arts Department is thrilled to welcome and introduce two new faculty members for the 2017-18 academic year. Ms. Robyn Bican (Jewelry/Metalworks, Drawing and Painting) and Mr. Joshua Hoering (Photography and Ceramics) will be teaching courses in DGN's award-winning visual art curriculum.  

Robyn Bican is an ambitious and thoughtful teaching professional trained in a variety of mediums who promotes art appreciation and individual creativity. Ms. Bican is a graduate from Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Art Education and a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from National-Louis University. She began her teaching career in 1995 with District 211 at Schaumburg High School where she taught Fundamentals of Art, Drawing, and Painting. 

A mother of three, Ms. Bican took time to devote several years to her children and volunteer her time to art education. She helped to develop a program to incorporate additional art into the elementary curriculum in Downers Grove School District 58 and became chairman of the Art Awareness Program and Annual Art Exhibition at Lester Elementary School. 

Ms. Bican returned to teaching art in 2012, where she taught Ceramics at Naperville North High School, Drawing and Digital Art at West Aurora High School. For the past three years she has served on the faculty of Downers Grove South High School teaching Drawing, Painting, and Jewelry/Metalworks. 

Ms. Bican is committed to providing her students with a caring and developmentally sound foundation for a lifetime of artistic learning.

Joshua Hoering is a Certified Art, Design, and Photography teacher based in Chicago. He has designed widely published reports for the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) and the online portfolio system for the Illinois High School Art Exhibition (IHSAE). Mr. Hoering has served as a lecturer at the National Art Education Association, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago.  

Skilled at designing community engagement strategies, curricula, assessments, and digital user experiences, Mr. Hoering's artwork has been exhibited nationally and is held in a variety of public and private collections in the United States.  Mr. Hoering was educated at Indiana University, where he received a Master of Science in Education (M.S.Ed.) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) with distinction.

As a teacher, Mr. Hoering's goal is to facilitate student growth and development in the realms of design thinking, concept development, creativity, and visual storytelling.  He believes the ability to communicate visually is imperative to all aspects of art and design, from product to expression.  

Band Camp Showcase 2017

Congratulations to the members of the 2017 Trojan Marching Band on a terrific preview performance at this evening's Band Camp Showcase!

Band Camp Showcase Details / Ice Cream Coupon!

Family and friends of the DGN Band will not want to miss tonight's "Band Camp Showcase" performance, held on the WEST practice field at 6:30 PM. The band's performance and marching demonstration is expected to last approximately 45 minutes.

Spectators are encouraged to bring a folding chair or blanket to sit on as there are no bleachers at the West field.

Parking on the west side of the building is extremely limited, and the lot off of Prince St. will likely be filled to capacity earlier in the evening. Those who cannot walk longer distances may be dropped off near the field, and then cars should proceed to the Main St. lot on the east side of the building. Allow at least 5 minutes to walk from the Main St. lot back to the West field. 

Following the Band Camp Showcase, families are invited to socialize at Every Day's A Sundae in downtown Downers Grove. A mobile coupon is included here. No need to print; you may simply show this coupon on your phone to redeem the "BOGO" offer.

Schedule for Tuesday, August 15:

8 AM - 1 PM: Full Band Practice

1 PM - 4:30 PM: BREAK

4:30 PM - 6:30 PM: Full Band Practice

NOTE: Students who are ordering NEW shoes will be sized at the beginning of the 4:30 PM practice today. We have moved this up 1-hour from the originally published time of 5:30 PM.

6:30 PM: Band Camp Showcase on West Field

7:30 PM: Optional Ice Cream Social at Every Day's A Sundae.

There is NO band practice of any kind scheduled for Wednesday.

After today, the band's next major practice is Thursday (August 17) 5 PM - 8:30 PM. This is our normal Thursday night rehearsal time-frame moving forward.

Band Camp 2017 - Section Color Night

There was tremendous energy, spirit, and work ethic at tonight's Band Camp practice. It's great to have the 200+ members of the Trojan Marching Band back on campus today! #WeAreDGN