CHARACTER

A Spotlight On Panthers Making Sa Proud

Throughout the 2022-23 academic year, students from each division have been selected for monthly “Panther Spotlights” in the All School Newsletter. Nominated by division heads and faculty, these students are showcased for their talents and unique contributions to our community. They are excellent examples of Character, the Core Value of Sewickley Academy defined as follows: “Sewickley Academy upholds the highest ideals of honor, integrity, responsibility, respect, empathy, and kindness and the actions that flow from them.”

Read more about the following students and continue to visit the Academy’s website each month for new stories found under Admissions > Experience SA .

Nolan And Naddison Hutton

Lower School Spotlight on Philanthropy Grades 5 and 3 respectively

Kash Stevenson

Middle School Spotlight on Theater Grade 7

I wanted to help them feel that joy either at the end or during their stay in the hospital.”

Nolan

After an extended stay as a toddler at Children’s Hospital, the staff gave Nolan a Mickey Mouse stuffie wearing a hospital gown which he still has in his bedroom. The gift got him thinking about other children in the hospital. “I got a rush of happiness (from receiving the toy), and realized that there might not be enough donations for every kid to get a toy. I wanted to help them feel that joy either at the end or during their stay in the hospital.” Since 2014, Nolan and his family have spearheaded a toy drive by placing collection boxes throughout their community as well as at SA. Nolan also regularly speaks about his toy drive during mass at his church. Donations are delivered annually to the Child Life Department of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Naddison helps with the toy drive by spreading the word and contributing her own toys that she has outgrown or no longer uses. For her last birthday, she asked that everyone attending her party forgo a gift for her and instead bring a warm item to be donated to the homeless. When asked why she chose to contribute to homeless shelters, Naddison replied, “I was thinking about people and health and what people need that I can give them.”

As the lead role of Prince Eric in the Middle School musical, The Little Mermaid Jr., Kash was able to showcase his acting, singing, and dancing talents – singing being his favorite. Though he’s new to SA, this wasn’t his first performance. Last year, as a sixth grader, he landed a part in his prior district’s high school musical, Freaky Friday An outgoing and animated young man, he first caught the acting bug when his godmother saw a Facebook ad for an open call for a talent agent. She and Kash persuaded his parents to allow him to give it a try. A series of call backs led him to California where he was assigned to an acting agent. He has gone through a “pilot season” on the West Coast and made it to the final two for a role in a Broadway production of The Lion King, only to receive the heartbreaking news that he was too young to tour. Kash also enjoys modeling and playing football – he was on two championship teams prior to making the move to SA.

Naomi Wigley

Senior School Spotlight on Career Aspirations: Pilot

Grade 12

Naomi uses her time outside of school to work toward her dream of becoming a pilot which began with an interest in the Air Force. Early in her freshman year, her father suggested she investigate careers in air traffic control, which led to finding the High Flight Academy at the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport and the opportunity to take a Discovery Flight. “After that flight, I was hooked,” she said. Naomi has earned scholarships and flown and logged nearly 70 hours since Grade 10, at least 10 of which have been solo. She officially earned her pilot’s license on December 31, 2022. Her training has included three flight camps that have allowed her to expand her wings beyond the Pittsburgh region and experience the skies in Maryland, Texas, and Idaho. Regarding her career plans, she was accepted to multiple colleges with flight programs and also considered joining the Air National Guard. She has made the decision to attend Baylor University to study aviation science.

Chelsea Hahn And Grace Jardini

Middle School Spotlight on Science

Grade 8

As participants in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) Club Regional (R7) Competition which included more than 400 participants from 50+ schools, both Chelsea and Grace scored high enough to qualify for the state competition in May at Penn State University. Chelsea and Grace worked on two very different projects that both happened to meet the requirements of the Biology category for the PJAS competition. Chelsea is an avid young horsewoman and chose to examine the effects of various saddle fits on horses. Grace recruited her family members to watch a Spiderman movie while she studied how their emotions affected their heart rates. These two scientists modified and improved their projects for the state competition based on direct feedback from the PJAS judges. Grace chose to participate in PJAS because she wanted to enhance her understanding of science. She also feels that she has improved her time management and research techniques by participating in PJAS. Chelsea feels that she has gained significantly by learning to develop her own project, do her own research, and modify the procedure based on circumstances that occurred as the project progressed. She also believes that she is a better presenter and public speaker as a

Sewickley Academy would not be the same without its people. Students, faculty, staff, families, alumni, and friends all impact our school in countless ways, contributing to the excellence that leads to SA’s strong and established reputation since 1838.

A school cannot exist for 185 years without requiring some physical change. Not to mention that the people who populate the campus deserve to learn and work in state-ofthe-industry spaces.

Historically, Sewickley Academy has grown from a brick house on Beaver Road to a multi-acre campus primarily located on Academy Avenue. It went from being a boarding school to a day school, from having faculty living on campus, to a school of commuters. It expanded from the Richardson building that now houses the Lower School to include a separate Early Childhood building, as well as Rea Auditorium, the School Center, the Oliver Science Building, the Events

Center, Hansen Library, and the Middle and Senior schools that exist today. Wrestling rooms became cafeterias, parking lots became green spaces – the changes go on and on year after year.

The campus underwent some notable advancements during the 2022-23 academic year. Walking into the School Center, you are immediately greeted by a transformation. The reception area has been updated to include a classically modern feel. The main desk has been relocated, additional seating is available, and display cases have been added to feature fantastic Sewickley Academy memorabilia. Just off this main area is the new Admissions Suite designed to welcome visiting students and their families. A waiting/meeting area, two offices, and a conference room create the full space that includes very special artwork. On one wall hangs a four-and-a-half-feet tall framed collection of drawings that last year’s Grade 3 class created for the Annual Auction. Another wall features an art piece titled “No. 2,” painted and graciously donated by alumnus Jackson O’Neill ’16. His 5’ x 4’ piece in the abstract expressionist-style of his namesake, Jackson Pollock, hung in the Campbell Art Gallery as part of the Alumni Art Show October 6December 16, 2022, before making its way to the Admissions Suite.

Next to the School Center is the Oliver Science Building housing classrooms used by both Middle and Senior school students. Three of the spaces in Oliver underwent significant renovations starting last summer and reopened for use just after students returned from Winter Break. A former physics classroom is now dubbed a hy-flex (hybrid-flexible) space meaning it can be configured for multiple uses and modes of participation. Fully branded in the school’s black, red, and white, it includes both traditional desk seating as well as curved boothstyle seating around multiple smart boards and a projector.

Down the hall, the former robotics lab is now a dedicated computer science classroom that features modular desks, 22 desktop workstations as well as space for laptops, and a unique wall made of preserved plants that was inspired by the movie The Matrix and that capitalizes on the green-house-like windows open to the building’s roof. Computer Science teacher Cristy McCloskey said, “I would say one of the biggest benefits of this new space is that we have the ability to provide students with specialized software for classes. In addition, this room has two projectors that can either show the same content or different content. Therefore, one projector can display a presentation and one could be displaying the code we are writing.”

In the upper level of the Oliver Building, the former photography lab is now a dedicated Senior School robotics lab where students can work on robotic design, coding, and building. It includes a 12’ x 12’ arena