School News Week of May 24
Bethel Park
• Bethel Park High School seniors Kyle Anderson and Carissa Chak were selected as the high school’s recipients of the SHASDA Award.
The award, presented by the South Hills Area School Districts Association, annually goes to two seniors from every SHASDA-member high school, in recognition of their overcoming obstacles to succeed in school and life.
• Bethel Park High School German students earned three first-place, three second-place and two third-place awards at the 2020 American Association of Teachers of German’s Three Rivers German Day Competition, which this year was conducted virtually because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Bethel Park’s eight awards were the most of any of the eight competing schools.
Earning first place were junior Abby Cannon in the proverb posters competition with her interpretation of “Viele Bache machen einen Strom,” which translates to “Many brooks make a river”; sophomore Willow Hernishin in the poetry writing event with her original German poem, “Neue Anfange,” which translates to “New Beginnings”; and sophomore Kaitlyn Wiard in the painting category for her rendering of Neuschwanstein Castle.
Second-place awards were earned by Abby Cannon in the Poetry Recitation category with her recorded rendition of Wilhelm Muller’s “Mut!”, which translates to “Courage”; junior Benjamin Sommer in fiction writing for his original German short story “Der Kampf enier Tochter,” which translates to “The Struggle of a Daughter”; and Kaitlyn Wiard in the drawings category for her sketch of Anne Frank.
Junior Kerrianne Troesch earned third place in the poetry recitation category with her video performance of Henrich Heine’s “Es fallt ein Stern herunter,” which translates to “There Falls a Star,” as did Kaitlyn Wiard in the proverb posters category for her interpretation of the proverb, “Einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nichts ins Maul,” which translates to “You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
The students are taught by high school German teacher Christopher Tobias.
Upper St. Clair
• An Upper St. Clair High School junior recently placed third in the Three Rivers German Day competition hosted by Washington & Jefferson College. Diana Fernandez Medina was awarded an Amazon gift card for her drawing of the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany.
“The Upper St. Clair High School Passport to German class prepared a skit, which they were unable to enter when the 2020 competition switched to a virtual competition due to COVID-19,” Lynne Kopaz, German teacher, said. “But Diana was able to enter her drawing and represent her Upper St. Clair High School Passport to German class in the virtual competition.”
Three Rivers German Day is an annual competition for high school students from throughout the Pittsburgh region. Students compete in a variety of categories including German fiction and nonfiction writing, German-themed arts and crafts, poetry recitation, music and drama presentations, and a German cultural quiz bowl.
• Poems from 14 Boyce Middle School sixth-graders were selected for publication in the 2020 Creative Communication poetry contest: Sofia Alfredson-Themudo, Ayan Amin, Tony Chen, Noshi Dabas, Isabella Donnelly, Sara Gillespie, Leo Goodworth, Pritika Gupta, Joanna Jalali, Lylah Kateeb, Madeline Moran, Ellie Simons, Ben Whiteford and William Whitman.
The poetry contest, open to students in kindergarten through grade nine, is divided into three grade divisions: K-3, 4-6 and 7-9. Entries are judged on literary merit, creativity and social significance by published writers and/or educators in elementary, secondary and higher education.