Student notes

Ann Yaccarino of Sussex participated in the Marist College "Up 'til Dawn" fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. She is a freshman at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "Up 'til Dawn" is a three-day event organized by the college's Student Government Association. The mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is to find cures for children with cancer or other catastrophic diseases. Student participants spread awareness and raise funds by staying up all night to write letters to friends and family members to ask for donations. Samantha Hatler of Oak Ridge is a first-year student this fall at Pace University's Pleasantville, N.Y., campus. High Point Regional High School grad Sean Marks, a junior at Philadelphia's University of the Arts, has been selected for the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra, which is recognized as the premiere orchestra for the East Coast's finest college jazz musicians. With three students selected, the University of the Arts has the most students chosen for this group. "We are very proud of our outstanding young musicians," said Marc Dicciani, director of the University of the Arts' School of Music. "The University of the Arts continues to be recognized as one of the very best training grounds for top-flight jazz musicians in the country." Marks, a baritone sax player and a native of Branchville, will perform with the orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Jan. 13 to 14, 2012, under the direction of composer, arranger and performer Mike Tomaro. Aimee Griffin of Sussex, a senior at Gettysburg College, received the Dr. John W. Ostrom English Awards at the College's Fall Honors Day ceremonies on Oct. 21.