SSA Proves Its Excellence in teaching Foreign Language, Fine Arts and Performance
SSA students made our school community proud once again. But this time fame was not based on math and science as usual. SSA students proved their well roundness by demonstrating excellent performance in The Second Annual Turkish Fine Arts and Performance Contest held in Barclay Theater, in Irvine, California.
160 students from 17 states competed in five categories; singing, poetry, folklore, special talent, sketch, Turkish language grammar usage and essay.
As curtains of the Barclay Theater opened, to the amaze of the audience, SSA Anatolian Rock Band, in the lead of Dustin Briles playing guitar, started the contest. Band played live “Donence” song with Danielle Tanner and Marielle Babb being the lead singers. Sonoran Science Academy schools have won gold medals in three categories. David Bressler, fifth grader at SSA Elementary School, was awarded the first place in the poetry contest. David recited the poem “Hic”, 
meaning “Nothing” in Turkish. Given the auditory nature of the recitation, David engaged the audience through physical presence, including great body language, and nearly perfect elocution. Arianna Boren is another student from SSA Elementary School who brought the audience to tears. Arianna’s song once again proved that music is universal and to enjoy it one does not have to understand the language of the music. Arianna won the first place and awarded golden medal for singing song “Annem” (“Mother”) in Turkish. The gold medal and lots of applause went to Brandon Thandi from SSA Sunset for displaying his art of the water marbling. He painted two tulips next to American and Turkish Flags. SSA Broadway received silver medal with their play “Sabanoglu Saban” and students got the bronze medal for performing “Silifkenin Yogurdu” folk dance. The name Sonoran Science Academy dominated in Barclay Theater, at Irvine, CA. Our 
students once again demonstrated that SSA schools are not only strong in math and science but also in foreign language, fine arts, singing, drama and poetry.