Whiz Kids: Marching Band Section Leaders Become All-Americans

Patch regularly spotlights young people in the West Bloomfield community who are successful, talented and just plain awesome. Today we introduce the latest Whiz Kids:

Justin Bronstein and Zachary Helm

• Ages: Both are 17
• School:
• Achievement: These accomplished teen musicians are among 125 seniors nationwide picked to perform in the 2012 All-American Marching Band at a nationally televised football game Jan. 7 in San Antonio, TX. That Alamodome event is the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, a yearly East-West showcase of top high school players. Justin plays mellophone — a specialized brass horn — and Zachary is a trombonist. They submitted audition videos after being nominated by Jeremy Figlewicz, co-director of bands at West Bloomfield High. The U.S. Army finances their five-day trip to Texas, which neither has visited.   
• Key to awesomeness: "Zack and Justin are two young men that define leadership," said Figlewicz. "These two gentlemen consistently give 100 percent effort to ensure that not only they are successful, but that their peers are as well. They have always had these qualities, and that made them clear choices for the All-American Marching Band."
  
  Each student is a marching band section leader. Justin also plays French horn in the symphony and trumpet in the jazz band. "I have a big band locker, but it's full," he said. He began playing music in fifth grade and added the mellophone during his freshman year. He "absolutely" will try out for a band at college, where he'll study aerospace engineering. On his short list are the University of Michigan, MIT, Case Western and Embry Riddle. When not practicing on one of his three instruments, the National Honor Society member with a 4.16 weighted GPA listens to rock.   
  
  Zachary is part of a musical family that includes an opera-singing older sister and a mother who works as a band director in Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, where she teaches music at two middle schools. He traded piano for trombone in fifth grade and enjoys jazz and rock when not playing in formation. Four Michigan universities are his top choices: Western, Oakland, Grand Valley State and Kettering. Zachary has a 3.45 GPA. Nonmusical interests include skiing (he's incoming captain of the Lakers' downhill race team) and Scouting. He's in the Order of the Arrow, a national honor society for Boy Scouts, and became an Eagle Scout this past summer.
  
  "I could not ... think of two better seniors to represent West Bloomfield on a national scale," Figlewicz said.
  
  Only two other Michigan students — horn player Jason Jakary of Salem High in Canton and snare drummer Michael Abel of Walled Lake Central High in Commerce Township — are among what the Army calls "an elite group of musicians who will perform during halftime." Royce Jenkins-Stone, a linebacker from Detroit's Cass Tech High, is among the 90 football players selected.

Do you know a local young person who deserves applause for academic, artistic or athletic achievements, or perhaps volunteer activities? We want to tell these stories.

Email nominations to local editor Tim Rath at tim.rath@patch.com, provide the information shown above and include a photo with names and ages.