Michael Weiss

Scholarship winners giving back

The Michael Weiss Foundation scholarship winners from Colorado Springs wanted to give back to the Foundation since most of them would be unable to attend the show in the fall due to training and international assignments. This was their way to give back. Brittany Chase, Zach Donohue, Alexe Gilles, Piper Gilles, Brandon Mroz and Marrisa Secundy came up with the idea of a bake sale. The world arena has a free barbecue lunch every summer for the summer school skater and families, so they asked if they could coattail on the bbq and have a bake sale. The bake sale was a great success and even had guitar music supplied by Zach Donohue, Todd Gilles, Vaughn Chipeur, here visiting from Canada. A great time was had by all. All proceeds from the bake sale benefiting the Michael Weiss Foundation.

A NOTE FROM MIKE: Congratulations on being so thoughtful to give back! Yeah for us....doing stuff for others is contagious in skating :-)

2009 MWF Scholarship winners!
Congratulations to all!

Grisha Fournier update:

8/27/09
Grisha named an Alternate for JGP Belarus.

Grisha was chosen by the USFS International Selections Committee to become a JGP alternate after summer monitoring, and has beenlisted as an alternate for the Junior Grand Prix that will be held in Minsk, Belarus. Very exciting for him!

Alexe Gilles update:

8/11/09
Alexe has been assigned a second Grand Prix - Skate America.

6/08/09
Alexe will be skating in the Senior Grand Prix this year and received her first assignment, which is Paris. She is really excited She will also do a few summer competitions to warm up for the upcoming season. She has Champs Camp later this week. Her short program is choreographed by David Wilson and the long by Catarina Lindgren

Piper Gilles and Zachary Donohue update:

8/11/09
Piper and Zach will be competing in the Budapest, Hungary
Grand Prix.

6/8/09
Piper and Zach will be doing the Junior Grand Prix this season. They have been given two assignments but we can't say where they will be yet. Christoper Dean is choreographing their OD and Tom Dickson will be choreographing their long program Their next event will be the Lake Placid ice Dance competition in August.

5/26/09
At this time, Zach and Piper are getting ready for the coming season. Zach is also preparing to take his Sr. Moves in the Field and finishing his Pre-Gold compulsory dances and starting to test Gold dances. They won the bronze at Nationals in Junior Dance in January making them first alternates for Jr. Worlds. They qualified for the Jr Grand Prix Final, but due to an injury of Piper's were forced to withdraw. They are looking forward to representing the U.S. again on the Jr Grand Prix circuit this year.

Brittany Chase update:
6/5/09

Brittany Chase is now skating with a new partner, Grant Marron. Grant moved to Colorado Springs from Detroit the 1st of May. So far the new pair team have accomplished two throw triples and are learning new programs. They have been working very hard and fast on new techniques. They plan to move up to senior level. According to Brittany herself, "It will be a challenge to pull everything together, but I have faith in my partner and my coaches that we can all make it happen."

Armin Mahbanoozadeh update:

8/14/09
Armin has been offered two Grand Prix assignments: Cup of China and Skate Canada

5/26/09
From Armin himself: What's new with me? I was recently admitted to Dartmouth College. However, I'm going to defer for a year and continue skating.

I am currently waiting for my first Grand Prix assignment. Traci and I are both hoping for Cup of China!

I've had a few troubles over last few months. After nationals I went through three pairs of skates in under two months. About a month ago I finally got a pair that felt okay. Finally, this week, I started landing triple axels in the program. I'm just glad that everything is working again.

Olivia Oltmanns and her partner Tyler Broderick pictured at the 2008 Indy Challenge. An update: Olivia and Tyler have passed their Novice pair test and will be competing at their first Developmental International at Thornhill in Toronto in August.

Click here to see MWF recipient Marissa Secundy landing a 3Lutz, 3Loop

Congratulations to MWF scholarship recipient Adam Rippon
on his 2nd World Junior Championship win!!

Mike poses with Piper and Alexe Gilles (MWF recipients).

The amazing accomplishments
of the MWF scholarship winners' 08-09 season:

Emmanuel Savary -- US Development Team
2009 - U S Junior Championships Intermediate - 1st
2009 - South Atlantic Regional, Intermediate - 1st

Keegan Messing -- USA Team C
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 2nd
2009 - Pacific Coast Sectional, Junior - 1st
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Great Britain) - 2nd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Czech Republic) - 4th

Ellie Kawamura -- USA Team C
2009 - AEGON Challenge Cup, Junior - 2nd
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 2nd
2009 - Pacific Coast Sectional, Junior - 1st
2009 - Southwest Pacific Regional, Junior - 1st

Brandon Mroz -- USA Team A
2009 - World Championships - 9th
2009 - Four Continents Championships - 8th
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships - 2nd
2008 - Trophee Eric Bompard - 5th
2008 - HomeSense Skate Canada - 7th

Armin Mahbanoozadeh -- USA Team B
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 6th
2008 - Junior Grand Prix Final, Goyang City - 2nd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Spain) - 1st
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (France) - 2nd
Armin has been selected for two Senior Grand Prix -- Canada and China.

Kristine Musademba -- USA Team C
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships - 11th
2008 - Junior Grand Prix Final, Goyang City - 6th
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Spain) - 1st
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (France) - 1st

Angela Maxwell -- USA Team C
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships - 8th
2008 - Junior Grand Prix Final, Goyang City - 5th
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Great Britain) - 3rd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Czech Republic) - 2nd

Austin Kanallakan -- USA Team C
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 5th
2009 - Pacific Coast Sectional, Junior - 2nd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Belarus) - 8th

Grisha Fournier
2009 - Pacific Coast Sectional, Junior - 6th
2009 - SouthWest Pacific Regional, Junior - 4th

Richard Dornbush -- USA Team B
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - WD
2008 - Junior Grand Prix Final, Goyang City - 3rd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (South Africa) - 1st
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Mexico) - 1st

Alexe Gilles -- USA Team B
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships - 9th
2008 - Junior Grand Prix Final, Goyang City - 3rd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (South Africa) - 1st
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Mexico) - 2nd

Piper Gilles -- USA Team C (Dance)
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 3rd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (South Africa) - 2nd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Czech Republic) - 1st

Nina Jiang -- USA Development Team
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Novice - 4th
2009 - Midwestern Sectional, Novice - 2nd
2009 - Southwestern Regional, Novice - 1st

Marissa Secundy
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 12th
2009 - Midwestern Sectional, Junior - 2nd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Czech Republic) - 6th
2008 - AEGON Challenge Cup, Novice - 1st

Aaron Gunderson-Smith
2009 - South Atlantic Regional, Intermediate - 8th

Olivia Oltmanns -- USA Development Team
2009 - U.S. Junior Championships - Intermediate Pairs - 1st

Kendall Wyckoff -- USA Team C
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 5th
2009 - Eastern Sectional, Junior - 2nd
2009 - New England Regional, Junior - 1st
2008 - Triglav Trophy, Novice - 2nd

Kasey Tamayo
2009 -U.S. Junior Championships - Juvenile QFR A - 21st
2009 - Central Pacific Regional, Juvenile - 4th

Brittany Chase (Pairs)
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 6th
2009 - Midwestern Sectional, Junior - 2nd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Belarus) - 9th
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Mexico) - 7th

Dee Dee Leng -- USA Team B
2009 - AEGON Challenge Cup, Junior - 4th
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 1st
2009 - Midwestern Sectional, Junior - 4th
2009 - Upper Great Lakes Regional, Junior - 1st

Zachary Donohue -- USA Team C (Dance)
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 3rd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (South Africa) - 2nd
2008 - Junior Grand Prix (Czech Republic) - 1st

Nathan Chen -- USA Development Team
2009 - U S Junior Championships Intermediate - 2nd
2009 - Central Pacific Regional, Intermediate - 2nd

Grant Hochstein -- USA Team C
2009 - AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Junior - 4th
2009 - Midwestern Sectional, Junior - 1st
2008 - Gardena Spring Trophy, Junior - 1st

December 30 , 2008

I am proud to announce this year’s Michael Weiss Foundation Scholarship Winners! The following young athletes are very thankful for the support that many of you have generously donated to the Foundation.

And the winners are ...

1. Emmanuel Savary

2. Keegan Messing

3. Ellie Kawamura

4. Brandon Mroz

5. Armin Mahbanoozadeh

6. Kristine Musademba

7. Angela Maxwell

8. Austin Kanallakan

9. Grisha Fournier

10. Richard Dornbush

11. Alexe Gilles

12. Piper Gilles

13. Nina Jiang

14. Marissa Secundy

15. Aaron Gunderson-Smith

16. Olivia Oltmanns

17. Kendall Wyckoff

18. Kasey Tamayo

19. Brittany Chase

20. Dee Dee Leng

21. Zachary Donohue

22. Nathan Chen

23. Grant Hochstein

Sponsor:
NICOLAS CASTANEDA
800-347-5032

EIN#20-0718991