School news – May 14
The following awards were received in the Peters Township School District:
• Middle school teacher Matt Cheran has been named this year’s recipient of the Dr. Howard Jack Outstanding Public Educator award from the Washington County Community Foundation.
• High school senior Casey Kirwan has been named a distinguished finalist in the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Casey has raised $8,000 for Autism Speaks and the high school’s support programs for students with autism by organizing an annual walk and sale.
• Two high school student artists recently presented their work at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, with junior Juliet Majestic earning a first place award in the underclassman category for her acrylic painting submission. She received a full scholarship for AIP’s pre-college summer session. Senior Jesse Borne and teacher Marquerite Kazalas also presented watercolor landscapes at the event.
• Matt Gummersbach, Tyler Mattes and Nicholas Roberts were honored as finalists in the Penn State Essay contest sponsored by the University’s Program in Writing and Rhetoric.
• High school senior Max Lindsay has been named a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program.
• USCSD’s electronic newsletter, eBLAST, is one of four publications in the state to receive an Award of Excellence (the highest rating) in the Electronic Newsletter category of the 2013 Pennsylvania School Public Relations Association’s “Excellence in Education Communication” contest. In addition, the school district’s website, along with five other school districts, received an Award of Honor in the website category.
• USC’s Board of School Directors was selected to receive the Tri-State Area School Study Council’s 2013-2014 D. Richard Wynn Distinguished School Board Award.
The NAMM Foundation recognizes the Mt. Lebanon School District for its outstanding commitment to music education with a Best Communities for Music Education (BCME) designation. Mt. Lebanon joins 376 districts across the country to receive the prestigious distinction in 2014. This is the seventh year in a row that the Mt. Lebanon School District has received this honor.
Bethel Park High School junior Steven Davis finished in Fourth Place on the Westinghouse Science Honors Institute’s Voluntary End of Program Exam and earned $500 for his efforts.
Steven scored a 96.28 out of a possible 110 points on the exam.
Additionally, Steven and 14 other Bethel Park High School juniors received Certificates from Westinghouse for successfully completing the program. They are: Amrita Beaudine, Colton Blair, Bryce Carter, Aaron Coplan, Jake Eichenlaub, Lauren Hensler, Emily Kukan, Tayler McGurk-Mannarino, Brendan Moorhead, Jordan Myers, Keith Powell, Mackenzie Stark, Vincent Tavoletti and Harrison Zelt.
Bethel Park High School Physics Teacher Lee Cristofano coordinates the program for the school district.
Six area high school students were winners in the National Merit $2,500 Merit Scholarship Program. The winners are the finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies:
• Jarrod T. Cingel, Bethel Park High School, with a probable career field in computer science.
• Joncarlo Patton, South Fayette High School, career field in medicine.
• Elizabeth Rose Wildenhain, Seton LaSalle High School, biology.
• Henry G. Giltz, Seton LaSalle High School, law.
• Chandrasekar Muthiah, Keystone Oaks High School, medicine.
• Abigail Xie, Mt. Lebanon High School, biomedicine.
The Blackwood Theater Organ Society has awarded scholarships to two local high school seniors pursuing a college degree in instrumental music performance. The students will perform at a free recital at the Blackwood Estate in Harrisville, Pa., 2 p.m. May 18.
Eli Naragon (double bass) of Mt. Lebanon attends the Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh. A member of his high school jazz band, Eli has participated in the PMEA Orchestra and Festivals and the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. He is a bassist at the Carnegie Mellon Summer Pre-College Jazz Program and is a winner of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award.
Jonah Trout (bass trombone) of Canonsburg attends Canon-McMillan High School. He is an active member of his High School Brass Ensemble, Marching and Concert Bands and Musical Pit Orchestra. Outside of school, he plays with the River City Youth Brass Band, Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra and Pittsburgh Youth Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.
Pennsylvania American Water awarded Stream of Learning Scholarships to Jamie Cavrak and Eric Kamincki of Bethel Park High School; Zien Deng of Chartiers Houston High School; Connor McCormick of Upper St. Clair High School; Angela Urban of Mt. Lebanon High School; Allison Vogrig of Canon-McMillan High School; Elizabeth Wildenhain of Seton-LaSalle Catholic High School; and Melissa Zender of Chartiers Valley High School. This is the fifth year that Pennsylvania American Water offered the program to support outstanding students within its service areas who are charting a course of study that is critical to the water and wastewater industry, with each winning student receiving a $2,000 scholarship.