School Movers & Shakers

Shady Side Academy

A total of 39 Shady Side Academy students in grades 8-12 won 71 awards in the 2021 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards regional competition, including 31 art awards and 40 writing awards. Twelve students won Gold Keys for 16 works to advance to the national competition. One student, junior Marnie McCormick (Fox Chapel), won awards in both art and writing.

Thirteen Shady Side Academy seniors were among the 15,000 finalists in the 66th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The SSA finalists are: Ishika Arora, Luke Brennan, Caroline Green, Tyler Hart, Gabriela Jegasothy, Will Karet, Andrew Liu, Zhuoxin Ma, Eve Mango, Jason Vasko, Zewei “Jason” Wu, Nicholas Zana and Qingqing Zhao.

OLSH

The annual OLSH

Christmas Play

took on a different look this year, but with the help of talented alumni and dedicated theatre students, an hourlong variety-show performance was performed virtually just after the holiday. The students were given the opportunity to write and direct segments of the show themselves as part of the production process.

Fox Chapel

Fox Chapel Area High School senior Abigail Rickin-Marks has been chosen to receive NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Keystone Pennsylvania’s 2021 Youth Mental Health Leadership Award.

Two Fox Chapel Area High School students were named winners in a contest sponsored by the National YoungArts Foundation. Jessica Jing McCann was named a Finalist and received a Silver Award in the Design Arts category, and Sloane Simon received an honorable mention in the Voice: Singer-Songwriter category.

Abigail Rickin-Marks

Jessica Jing McCann

Fox Chapel Area High School junior Patrick Alexander won first place in Student Congress at the Shady Side Invitational Forensic Tournament. Fox Chapel Area High School senior Jackson Romero and junior Ian Mackey-Piccolo were named as winners in the University of Houston Cougar Classic Tournament.

Fox Chapel Area High School senior Joey Wang was chosen for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) 2020 All-National Honor Ensembles (ANHE) Concert Band event. Joey, a clarinet player, joined 120 band students from across the United States and military base schools overseas who are considered to be the “best of the best” in a virtual event January 7 and 8.

Fox Chapel Area High School librarian Laura Ward, Ed.D., has been selected as a member of the 20202021 Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) Leadership Institute for School Librarians (LISL).

Dr. Laura Ward

A team of Dorseyville Middle School students placed in the regional CalcuSolve competition. Alex Kim, Arnim Kuchhal, Michael Costello and Rodrigo Silva won third place. Additionally, Rodrigo and David Black tied for first place in the individual competition, with both achieving perfect scores. Leonidas Vandapel tied for third place in his division.

Seneca Valley

The Seneca Valley Raider Battalion Marksmanship Team hit the bullseye when they brought home the Western PA Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) League trophy after placing first at the Western Pa Army JROTC League 2 Championship. The team was led by the top three shooters in the competition: Garrett DeVault, Logan Randall and Alek Matusiak. Other contributors to the team’s victory were Bryan Broad and Lexi Bardos.

Seneca Valley Senior High School students in the gifted program were named winners in a virtual mock trial competition hosted by Penn State University. Team winners were Parker Logue, Annie Castagnero, Luke D’Ambrosio, Gargi Rane, Nick Folino, Megan Abel, Megan Bablak, David DeVyver, Paul Amado, Tori Read, Nick Hartman, Kaitlyn Moore, Emma Reynolds, Dawson Morrow, Miss Pologruto and Ava Katzenell.

La Roche University

An at-home art project designed by La Roche University adjunct instructor Elliott Cramer helps families and kids get creative during quarantine. The project, “Adventures from Home,” turns cardboard boxes into everything from rocket ships and airplanes to hats, microphones and crowns. The project was recently featured on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: Kids Edition.

Scholarships Available

The Avon Club Foundation is organized and operated for the charitable and educational needs of the Avonworth Community. Goals to improve the community through projects funded by the Avon Club Foundation are: Education | Recreation | Preservation and the Environment | Social Responsibility. This year’s application must be filled out online, at: https://theavonclub.org/grant-application/. For info, contact the Avon Club Finance Chairperson, Lisa Cole, at finance@theavonclub.org.

A.W. Beattie Career Center

The second semester marks the beginning of competition season for Career and Technical Centers, and A.W. Beattie Career Center is off to a hot start. We would like to congratulate several students who have excelled in their co-curricular activities through the Career Center. Four students in the Carpentry and Building Construction program – Northgate’s Ryan Geeting, Pine-Richland’s Graydon Sherron and North Allegheny’s Shane O’Neil and Marc Sostmann – have led the way with a national championship in National Association of Home Builder’s Residential Construction Management competition. Hampton Township’s Austin McLean and Avonworth’s Jake Abbott, who attend A.W. Beattie’s Automotive Technology program, placed fourth in the 2021 Skip Wagner Automotive competition through the Pennsylvania Automotive Association. Deer Lakes’ Haley Studeny attends the Career Center’s Advertising Design program, and she earned an Honorable Mention in the regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards portfolio competition. Dozens of students across A.W. Beattie 20 programs will compete virtually in February and March at the district and state level for FCCLA and SkillsUSA and may qualify to participate virtually at nationals.