School News Week of March 8
Bethel Park
• Bethel Park High School students earned 25 awards at the DECA State Career Development Conference, held Feb. 19-21 in Hershey, including five first-place awards.
Students who finished in first through fourth places qualified to compete at the DECA International Conference, which will be held in May in Nashville, Tenn.
First place: seniors Gabrielle Dunn (Independent Business Plan), Sarah Gilliam (Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research), Caleb Shook (Human Resources Management), and Alyssa Sholder and Riley Evans (Sales Project). Also earning a first-place award in an event that does not compete at Internationals was senior Riley Evans (Female Model).
Second place: seniors Marissa Christenson and Hunter Dorfner (Community Awareness Project), and Olivia Greene (Business Services Operations Research); juniors Lucia Coccagno (Sports and Entertainment Operations Research), Summer Lewis and Leigha Piazzi (Career Development Project), Nick Massari, Ryan Puskar and Lianna Robbins (Business Solutions), Christian McClaine (Restaurant and Food Service Management); and freshmen Emma Bucheli and Marena Chernicky (Financial Literacy Project).
Third place: senior Jenna Chernicky and junior Michael Conroy (Community Giving); and juniors Jake Schweitzer and Raffaele Zallo (Integrated Marketing Campaign Event).
Fourth place: seniors Josh Capristo and Will Patrizio (Buying and Merchandising Operations Research); and senior Brian Torles and junior Morgan Beardsley (Financial Operations Research).
Fifth place: senior Jacob Marzina and juniors Tyler Chorba and Jake Cook (Sports and Entertainment Operations Research); and sophomores Aletris Eckert, Chloe McDaniel and Caitlyn Schultz (Hospitality and Tourism Operations), and Abby Quickel, Sandra Soltes and Kate Sullivan (Integrated Marketing Campaign Product).
Sixth place: seniors Markus McKittrick and Jake Pauley (Buying and Merchandising Operations Research); and juniors Julia Casaldi, Amber Simeone and Mikayla Yee (Business Services Operations Research), and Lexi Seese (Franchise Business Plan).
Medallion Awards were presented to three students who earned one of the top three scores in their event for either the Test, Role Play A and/or Role Play B. Medallion Awardees were seniors Caleb Shook (Human Resources Management Test and Role Play) and Christian McClaine (Restaurant and Food Service Management Test and Role Play), and sophomore Isabel Burke (Integrated Marketing Campaign Test).
Also, senior Mark Vighetti presided over the conference as the 2019-20 PA DECA District III Representative, and junior Lucia Coccagno was installed as a 20-2021 DECA PA State Officer, serving as PA DECA District III Representative.
The students were prepared for the competition by Bethel Park High School marketing teachers Emily Smoller and Maria Christenson.
• Independence Middle School eighth-grader Vanya Fuller was selected to receive the Luminari ESL Award, which covers all expenses for her to attend the I Want to Be an Ambassador Camp, which will be held June 16-24, starting in Pittsburgh and concluding in Washington, D.C., where students will visit foreign embassies and meet with foreign diplomats.
Luminari is a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that offers the camp to allow students to focus on the perspectives of diplomacy and empowers them to practice everyday diplomacy to create a more harmonious world. In addition to diplomacy, the camp focuses on conflict resolution, community and global affairs, and leadership.
In her application, Vanya said she is interested in diplomacy to learn “how to overcome challenges in my life and learn effective ways of getting along with and communicating with other people.”
• Bethel Park School Board presented a Service to Education Award to Bill Keith, director of facilities and services, who retired from the district March 1.
He worked for the district for 22 years, starting as a custodian and then serving as the high school’s head custodian for 14 years before being named director of facilities and services four years ago.
The award was presented at the board’s Feb. 25 meeting.
Mt. Lebanon
• Mt. Lebanon High School sophomores Melanie Rayl and Michael Mylen earned spots in the Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Competition final round.
The Pittsburgh Public Theater competition has grown to more than 1,000 participants, some traveling over two hours to compete. Only five upper-level scene performances advanced to the finals, held recently at the O’Reilly Theater in downtown Pittsburgh.
In front of a large, public audience, Melanie and Michael adeptly performed an impressive and humorous interpretation of Helena and Demetrius from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” They received guidance from high school theater arts teacher Jennifer Majetic and Pittsburgh Public Theater coach Ron Siebert.
• Students at Mt. Lebanon’s Jefferson and Mellon middle schools took top honors at the 87th annual Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science competition.
The students earned seven first-places and four second-place honors, along with numerous special recognitions. About 600 students from around the Pittsburgh area competed by conducting and presenting experiments in various fields of science including physics, biology, behavioral science, mathematics and ecology. First-place winners advance to the state competition at Penn State University.
First-place winners were Jefferson students Alexander Stefanov (perfect score), Laila Polat, Sally Tan and Jessica Yang, and Mellon students Lucian Mikush, Atlantic Rajakumar and Ashley Wei. Second place honors went to Mellon students Josh Ghil, Max Kazmierczak, Henry Ellwein and Jessica Li.
The students were coached by middle school gifted coordinator Kathryn Duchin and Jefferson seventh-grade science teacher Ed Petsko.
• Mt. Lebanon High School’s Model UN Team scored a victory at American University’s Model UN Tournament, held Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 in Washington, D.C.
The students competed against nearly 1,000 students from 70 high schools internationally. Mt. Lebanon, coached by Adam Lumish and George Savarese, won the overall 1st place team trophy, and 14 students captured individual honors.
First-place winners were Sein Lee, Jack Horrigan, Melanie Hendrick, Olivia Blair, Rafaay Khan, Andrew Gamba and Jacob Vito. Second-place winners were Jack Silverman, Alaina Smith, Ellie Hester, Daniel McNulty and Antonio Carapella, and taking third place were CJ Fraasch and Sam Bailey.
Peters Township
• The Peters Township High School Dance Team was recognized by the school board for taking home first place in the Small Varsity Hip Hop competition at the 2020 National High School Cheerleading Championship and National Dance Team Championship in Orlando, Fla.
Combined with the National High School Cheerleading Championship, the two events showcased 25,000 athletes across 1,270 teams from 36 different states. Internationally, 62 teams from 12 countries also competed.
The dance competition is judged on choreography, technique, execution and overall effect. All teams competing in the championships had to qualify at a regional event or camp in order to participate.
Upper St. Clair
• Six Upper St. Clair High School seniors have been named finalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Julia Brubach, Nisarg Kalra, Vivian Li, Daniel O’Brien, Ian Rankin and Braden Yates were selected on the basis of their SAT scores, grades, essays and letters of recommendation.
In September, they were named semifinalists in the competition for scoring in the top one percent of all juniors completing the PSAT in October 2018.
As finalists, the Upper St. Clair seniors are now competing for National Merit Scholarships that will be offered and announced this spring. The program awards three types of scholarships: National Merit $2,500 Scholarships, Corporate-Sponsored Merit Scholarships and College-Sponsored Merit Scholarships.
• The Upper St. Clair Parent Teacher Council will host its semiannual Open Mic at 10 a.m. April 22 at a location to be determined. The focus will be on strategic planning, specifically the district’s refined mission, vision and shared values.
Those planning to attend are encouraged to register online at www.uscsd.k12.pa.us.