School News Week of Sept. 27
Claire Miller
Matthew Beller
Seowon Chang
Zachary Gallagher
Upper St. Clair
• Upper St. Clair School Board recently approved the retirement of Dr. Claire Miller, Streams Elementary School principal, effective at the end of September.
Families, colleagues and others have an opportunity to safely bid Dr. Miller farewell via a car parade from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Sept. 29 at Streams. Student drawings, cards, signs, balloons, flowers are all welcome.
Miller has had a successful 34-year career in public education. She began as a social studies teacher before entering school administration as a middle school assistant principal, and has been Streams principal for the past 16 years.
Also occurring Sept. 29, from 4 to 5 p.m., is the curbside meal pickup at Upper St. Clair High School. The parade time is intentionally set to start before the meal pickup to provide families with ample time to attend both events.
• Eleven Upper St. Clair High School seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Competition.
The following students scored in the top 1 percent of all juniors completing the PSAT in October: Richard Carlson, Christian Chiu, Harrison Chui, Donovan Kohler, Richa Mahajan, Shay McDowell, Samantha Seewald, Ishaan Shah, Sophia Shi, Constantine Tripodes and Jason Zhang.
The Upper St. Clair semifinalists have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,600 National Merit Scholarships that will be offered in the spring. To be considered, semifinalists must submit a detailed scholarship application that highlights academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.
Peters Township
• Three students from Peters Township High School have been named semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. in the annual National Merit Scholarship Program
Seniors Matthew Beller, Seowon Chang and Zachary Gallagher will now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $33 million, that will be offered in the spring spring. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.