Apr 18, 2018 4 min read

Parent orientation

Independence Middle School, 2807 Bethel Church Road, in the Bethel Park School District, will host a Parent Orientation Night from 7 to 8 p.m. April 19, in the IMS auditorium for parents of current sixth-grade students who will be attending IMS in the fall as seventh-graders. Administrators, teachers and counselors will be on-hand to discuss the education program at IMS, as well as scheduling and student expectations. The evening will conclude with a question and answer session for parents. This program is for parents only.

Girl Scout earns Award

Upper St. Clair sophomore Gabriella Spina has earned the highest achievement in Girl Scouting, the Gold Award.

This award, presented to Gabi by Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania, recognizes girls in grades 9 through 12 who demonstrate extraordinary leadership through sustainable and measurable Take Action projects that address important community needs.

Gabi’s project, Taking Care of Your SELFie, offered a free one-day workshop for girls in grades 6, 7 and 8 to address and combat negative self-esteem. The workshop encouraged girls to focus on the positive aspects found within them and to utilize these in daily life.

As the girls rotated through various stations, skills such as combatting stress by appealing to the senses while creating bath soaps were discussed. Learning and practicing yoga taught the girls to be in tune with their bodies, as well as the mental and physical importance of posture. Other skills included identifying positive role models to emulate the traits they exhibit. Each participant developed an individual pledge outlining positive traits that she would strive to emulate. The workshop concluded with a discussion on how to create positive and safe spaces on social media.

Gabi’s Gold Award project began in October 2017 and was completed in January 2018. The following individuals and organizations supported her Gold Award effort: Karlie Daschbach, Evelyn Glassbrenner, Grace Eberle, Jackie Kobeski, Olivia John, Harper Keith, Holly Spina, Lauren Madia, Cultures of Dignity, Trader Joe’s, Market District Express and Ardolino’s Pizza.

Gabi serves as secretary/treasurer of Upper St. Clair’s sophomore Student Council. As a Girl Scout member for 14 years, she is a Girl Scout senior of Troop 52124. Her future plans include attending a four-year university, possibly majoring in political science.

German awards

Bethel Park High School German students earned six Gold Awards, six Silver Awards, one Bronze Award and 10 Honorable Mentions on the National German Exams, sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of German.

On the Level 3 Exam, Gold Awards were earned by sophomore Brandon Janus, who scored in the 96th percentile nationally and posted the fourth highest score out of the 180 Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia students who took the Exam, and sophomore Lily Wilson, who finished eighth in the region with a score in the 92nd percentile.

On the Level 4 Exam, four students earned Gold Awards by finishing among the top 10 out of the 130 students who took the exam in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Senior Noah Voskamp scored in the 96th percentile and finished in fifth place; senior Emily Clarvit scored in the 96th percentile and finished in sixth place; senior Evan Aronhalt scored in the 95th percentile and finished in seventh place; and senior Connor Robinette scored in the 94th percentile and finished in eighth place.

All of the Gold Award winners are now eligible to apply for a scholarship to travel and study in Germany this summer.

Six students scored in the 80th percentile or higher and received Silver Awards. Seniors Jacob Cunningham and Brooke Worrall and juniors Sonja Hebestreit, Will Coplan and Jerry Varghese earned Silver Awards on the Level 4 Exam. Sophomore Logan Zivic earned a Silver Award on the Level 3 Exam.

Senior Brody Flowers earned a Bronze Award on the Level 4 Exam for scoring in the 70th percentile or higher.

Senior Tanner Trypus and juniors Alyssa Iampietro, Holly Troesch and Jaysen Snyder earned Honorable Mentions on the Level 4 Exam, while senior Tyler Crider and sophomores Patrick May, Isaac Madden, Nicholas Willman, Samuel Donaldson and Austin Linz earned Honorable Mentions on the Level 3 Exam.

The students are taught by Bethel Park High School German Teacher Christopher Tobias.