School: Week of Oct. 14
CCAC to hold enrollment open houses
The Community College of Allegheny County will host enrollment open houses at all eight of its locations, 2-7 p.m. Oct. 26 and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 14 for prospective students and their families. Individuals who bring their high school diploma, GED or college transcripts can complete their CCAC registration in one day. Attendees also can complete “on demand” placement testing, meet with an advisor and learn about CCAC’s program offerings. CCAC staff will be on hand to answer questions and conduct tours of the facilities. For more information, email admissions@ccac.edu.
AP Scholars
Peters Township High School students continue to receive national recognition for their outstanding performance on the Advanced Placement exams. Not only do these students challenge themselves in taking the exams, but 153 students have earned AP Scholar Awards for their performance in 2015. The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on students’ performance on these exams.
The AP exams provide students with the opportunity to earn college credit or advanced placement at the college level. Seventeen students have qualified for the prestigious National AP Scholar Award by earning an average score of at least 4 on all AP Exams and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams: Samuel Barnes, Rylen Faloni, Matthew Gummersbach, Julie Hilden, Sebastian Hymson, Daniel Krajovic, Nicholas Larimer, Kyle Marshall, Alessia Mihok, Maria Oldenburg, Mary Kate Pritz, Nicholas Roberts, Meredith Rohn, Varun Sharma, Isabelle Stasenko, Benjamin Steratore and Delaney Wehn.
Open house
Jubilee Christian School, an inter-denominational school for grades K-8 with campuses in Mt. Lebanon and Dormont, will hold an Open House at 10 a.m. Nov. 12. Parents and prospective students are invited to attend a brief informational session at the Mt. Lebanon campus, after which they may meet with the school’s principal and tour school facilities, including the new Dormont campus.
Jubilee will be accepting applications for the 2016-2017 school year. In addition, the school currently has openings in several grades for students who wish to transfer from public, private or home-school settings for the 2015-2016 school year. To RSVP, contact Judi Phelps at 412-561-5917 or jphelps@jubileecs.org.
Hoagie sale
Bethel Park High School Band, Orchestra and Top 21 will hold a hoagie sale, its main fundraiser, Oct. 24. Hoagies available for purchase include regular, special and turkey. Cost is $6 each. To place an order, contact a member or call 412-854-8179. Proceeds help fun band functions throughout the year, including the annual adjudicated spring trip.
Hebrew school
Jewish Children’s Center for the Creative Arts is a Hebrew School experience for busy families. Open to children 4-13 years old, the Center offers Sunday Hebrew School from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and a new Monday afterschool program from 4-5:30 p.m. Children can attend both Sunday and Monday or just one day a week. The Monday program will be offered in multi-week series. Children can join for one series or all. No Membership or affiliation required.For costs and a full schedule listing, call Chabad of the South Hills at 412-344-2424.
Alumni Achievement Award
Keystone Oaks School District graduates Ian Cummins and Darlene Lovasik are the first recipients of the District’s Alumni Achievement Award. Cummins is a member of the Keystone Oaks High School Class of 2009, and Lovasik is a member of the Keystone Oaks High School Class of 1977. They were recognized during Homecoming on Oct. 9.
After a family tragedy two years ago, Cummins set out on a journey to raise awareness of mental illness and to raise money for the proper treatment of the mentally ill. Last year, he walked from Virginia Beach to San Francisco to show those with mental illness that they are not alone. During his nearly six month journey, Cummins connected with the National Alliance on Mental Illness and, since then, has helped raise $10,000 for the organization; he currently is the youngest serving member on NAMI’s Southwestern PA Board of Directors.
Cummins has been inducted in the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, recognized as a WESA-FM 90.5 Pittsburgh “People Making a Difference” honoree and is a recipient of the Staunton Farm Foundation’s Craig Award for Innovation in Behavioral Health. He is also a volunteer for the Ten-o-Eight Club, which helps raise awareness and funds for nonprofit organizations that work to eradicate the stigma associated with mental illness. Cummins currently works as a nurse at Mercy Hospital’s Emergency Referral Center. He received a nursing degree from California University of Pennsylvania.
Lovasik has made a difference in the lives of thousands through her dedicated nursing career. She began working in Presbyterian-University Hospital as a staff nurse in the Neurosurgical Unit in 1979 and is now a transplant/surgery program nurse specialist at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. During her 36 year career, she has been responsible for overseeing nursing personnel and patient care, coordinating the education of critical care nurses and physicians to improve intensive care units and for designing, facilitating, monitoring, evaluating and setting the standards for the transplant/surgery program at UPMC Presbyterian to ensure quality patient care.
Lovasik has received numerous honors, including the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses 2015 Circle of Excellence Award. She is a member of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, American Association of Critical Care Nurses, International Transplant Nursing Society and the nursing alumni groups at both Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh, where she earned her Masters of Nursing with a Clinical Specialty in Neuroscience Nursing. She has delivered more than 130 presentations at various medical conferences and seminars across the United States and abroad.
Science honors
Nineteen Bethel Park High School juniors were selected to attend the 2015-2016 Westinghouse Science Honors Institute.
Participating in this year’s program will be Noah Bussard, Peyton Capristo, Cassidy Chorba, Abigail Collavo, Kyle Coplan, Adam Debski, Riley Gercak, Jeff Hoffmann, Delaney Lacey, Autumn Laird, Ryan Lynch, Meghan McConaghy, John D. Measures, Christian Powell, Sarah Steeb, Jessica Viehman, Heather Walker, Brandon Wallace and Joanna White.
They will attend a 12 lecture series, held October through March at Gateway Middle School on selected topics in science and engineering, delivered by local professionals. Some of the lecture topics include nuclear power production, FBI forensic investigations, stem cells, bioengineering and robot development. Students will also have the opportunity to tour the Breazeale Nuclear Reactor at Penn State.
Students who are interested in participating in this program must go through an application process that includes recommendations from science teachers, high academic standing in science and the humanities and an interest in science. Every Bethel Park High School student who applied to the program was accepted.