School news: Week of Sept. 28
Fall open house
St. Elizabeth Elementary School, Baldwin Borough, will hold a fall open house at 7 p.m. Sept. 29. Meet teachers, staff and parents during a tour of the campus. For more information, call the school office at 412-881-2958.
College fair
Bethel Park High School will host the 2016 South Hills College Fair at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 4. The event is a joint event in partnership with the Peters Township, Upper St. Clair and Mt. Lebanon high school guidance departments. Representatives of almost 100 post-secondary institutions from 14 states will be on hand to talk to high school students and their parents. A list of confirmed institutions is available on line at:www.bpsd.org/protected/ArticleView.aspx?iid=6GIA2IY&dasi=2I0. The evening is free and open to all Bethel Park, Peters Township, Upper St. Clair and Mt. Lebanon high school students and their parents.
USC teacher selected
Upper St. Clair High School science teacher Colin A. Syme is one of 200 teachers selected to attend the Society Research Teachers Conference from Sept. 30-Oct. 2 in Washington, D.C.
Sponsored by the Society for Science and the Public, the annual conference brings together science research teachers at all levels of experience to share best practices, troubleshoot the challenges involved in supporting students in independent science research, and learn more about the Regeneron Science Talent Search and the Society.
This year, Syme is teaching a pilot STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) course at the high school titled Laboratory Research And Techniques in Science.
The conference will include large group and breakout sessions, and will address topics such as completing research in a high school lab, finding and placing students in summer programs, obtaining pre-approval for projects relating to humans and animals, combating plagiarism, and reaching underserved students.
The Society for Science and the Public covers all expenses for the 200 conference attendees.
Syme joined the Upper St. Clair High School science faculty in 2009. In addition to the LabRATS course, he teaches honors anatomy and physiology, and has also taught biology.
A native of Scotland, Syme earned his doctorate in physiology from Aberdeen University and a bachelor’s degree in immunology and pharmacology from Strathclyde University. Both universities are located in Scotland. In addition, he completed his teacher certification at Duquesne University.
Subsequently, Syme served as an adjunct faculty member at La Roche College, teaching anatomy and physiology, and at the University of Pittsburgh, teaching freshman biology labs. He has published more than 10 peer-reviewed publications.
While teaching at Upper St. Clair, Syme was awarded a $2,000 ING Unsung Heroes Award in 2012 for his proposal “Zebra Fish: A Tool for Project-based Learning.”
Perfect score
Upper St. Clair High School’s class of 2016 earned the school’s highest average ACT scores during the last five-year period. The 2016 scores were officially released on Aug. 24.
The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and science. Each test is scored on a scale of 1 to 36, and a student’s composite score is the average of the four test scores.
Upper St. Clair High School senior Murphy Miller earned the highest possible ACT Composite score of 36, an achievement reached by fewer than one-tenth of one percent of ACT test takers.
Among the high school graduating class of 2015, only 1,598 out of more than 1.92 million students earned an ACT Composite score of 36.
Murphy is the son of Edward and Emily Miller. In addition to his academic achievements, he is a member of the Upper St. Clair High School varsity hockey team.
Photo contest
To focus attention on problems with littering, the Pennsylvania Resources is conducting its annual Lens On Litter Photo Contest, with a deadline of Oct. 31. In the student category, three prizes will be awarded, with the first-place winner receiving $1,000; second place, $500; and third place $250. Examples of previous winners can be viewed at www.prc.org.
The contest identifies sites, which PRC then targets for clean up through local action, be it the governing body or civic-minded organizations.
In the past five years, litter has been removed from more than 300 sites.
Send entries to the Pennsylvania Resources Council, 3606 Providence Road, Newtown Square, Pa. 19073, or submit electronically to lensonlitter@prc.org. All entries must contain the following information on the back of the photo: entrant’s name, address, telephone number, title given to photo, location of litter site, age, school grade and school name.
Photos will not be returned and will become the property of PRC.
USC NatIONAl Merit Semifinalists
Twelve Upper St. Clair High School seniors were recently named semifinalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program. These students scored in the top 1 percent of all juniors completing the PSAT in October 2015: Paul Abrams, Amna Amin, Tyler W. Besselman, Aditi Chattopadhyay, Devon D. Garcia, Macey A. Kaplan, Arushi Kewalramani, Tanmayee Mahajan, Malcolm T. Miller, Murphy S. Miller, Vicki Z. Wang and Claire K. Zalla.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships. Students enter the program by taking the PSAT, the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, during the fall of their junior year. Of the nearly 1.5 million entrants, the top one-third (approximately 16,000 students) qualify as semifinalists.
The Upper St. Clair semifinalists have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,400 Merit Scholarships that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.
National Merit Finalists will be named in February, followed by the National Merit Scholars in the spring.
For more information, visit www.nationalmerit.org.
(PIX) Student performs with drum corps
Upper St. Clair High School junior Robbie Halpner spent the summer performing throughout the nation with the Academy Drum and Bugle Corps, one of the 22 world-class corps that make up Drum Corps International.
Featuring approximately 150 performers – including 80 brass and 35 percussion musicians, as well as 36 members of the color guard – the Tempe, Ariz.-based Academy Drum and Bugle Corps is a competitive marching program for individuals ages 15 to 21. Members are selected by competitive audition.
Robbie performed as the synthesizer player, responsible for the keyboard part and electronic sound in the 2016 show.
The academy spends five weeks rehearsing and perfecting its 12-minute show – focusing on musicality, technique, precision and visual impact – before touring for seven weeks. The academy participated in 28 competitions across 16 states, performing in venues including the Rose Bowl, Alamodome, Georgia Dome and Lucas Oil Stadium, along with smaller high school and college stadiums nationwide. The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps performed at Baldwin High School Stadium Aug. 3.
The culminating event is the Drum Corps International Finals, held in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis before a sold-out crowd. This year marks the first time in the Academy Drum and Bugle Corps’ history that it advanced to the final round of competition, finishing 11th among a field of 38.
Robbie is a member of the Upper St. Clair High School wind ensemble, jazz ensemble and marching band. He co-founded the high school percussion ensemble club, and for his International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme project, he created a Fort Couch Middle School drumline, which performed at Fort Couch basketball games last winter.
Commended Student
(PIC) Principal Lauren Martin of Seton-La Salle Catholic High School announced that Elizabeth Farnan of Peters Township has been named a Commended Student in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program. A Letter of Commendation from Seton LaSalle and National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which conducts the program, will be presented by Martin to the senior.
About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2017 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top 5 percent of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2017 competition by taking the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
SF NatIONAl Merit Scholars
South Fayette Township School District announced that three of its high school students are semifinalists this year in The National Merit Scholarship Program. They are seniors Yuchen Liu, Grace Eckroate and Sai Bhatte.
The academic competition recognizes students for scholastic success in the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.5 million entrants each year.
The test evaluates reading, writing, language and math skills of approximately 50,000 high school students nationwide. Each September, about 16,000 of the highest scorers are notified that they have qualified as semifinalists. They are representative of the top scorers from each state. Semifinalists must also show proof of consistently high academic achievement in ninth through 12th grades to be eligible.
Finalists will be announced in February, 2017. All winners of Merit Scholarship awards are chosen from the Finalist group based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments. They will be announced in mid-June.
PT NatIONAl Merit Semifinalists
Five students from Peters Township High School have been named semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. in the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Pictured from left are seniors Anthony Biscardo, Stephanie Wang, Caroline Langley, Shreya Sharma and Mitchell Dubaniewicz.
The students are among a group of 16,000 students from across the nation to earn the honor. They now will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $33 million, which will be offered next spring. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.