BETHEL PARK JUNIOR
SELECTED FOR
GOVERNOR’S SCHOOL
B
ethel Park High School
rising senior Jerry
Varghese was one
of 60 Pennsylvania high
school students who were
accepted to attend the
prestigious Pennsylvania
Governor’s School for the
Sciences, which was held
July 1-August 4 at Carnegie
Mellon University.
This program was an
ungraded summer enrichment experience in the
sciences and mathematics for talented Pennsylvania
High School students, to encourage them to pursue
careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering
or mathematics.
The program provided instruction in biological
sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics and computer
science, with an emphasis on collaborative learning and
team research.
STUDENTS REMEMBER
SOLDIERS STATIONED
OVERSEAS
T
he
Independence
Middle School
students on Team
7C enjoy writing
letters of support to
American service men
and women who are
stationed overseas,
and Matthew Ruffing
wanted to do
something special
for American soldiers
Matthew Ruffing and the beautiful
stationed in South
Military Box he created for American
Korea.
soldiers stationed in South Korea.
Sgt. Aaron Land told
the IMS students that many of his soldiers are on their
first deployment and would really enjoy receiving letters
and post cards from home so they would know that
America still cares about its military personnel.
Matthew took the Sargent up on his challenge and
created a beautiful “military box” and filled it with
postcards containing messages of support such as,
“Greetings from America! Thank you for your service! We
miss you! You are a HERO!” Matthew couldn’t find any
postcards, so he made his own and laminated them.
Great job, Matthew!
62
BETHEL PARK
IMS students enjoyed working collaboratively on this year’s auditorium mural.
ART CLUB CONTINUES
THE TRADITION OF
MURAL PAINTING
T
he students who are members of the Independence Middle
School Art Club continued the tradition of painting a mural
for their school’s auditorium.
Every other Wednesday, a group of 12 to 15 students stayed after
school in Mrs. Whitaker’s classroom to work together to paint a nine
foot tall and 32 inches wide mural for display in the IMS auditorium.
Since the 2013-2014 school year, the Art Club students have created
a special mural that depicts what’s happening in their school that
particular year.
For example, one year the mural depicted drama, language arts and
science. Another mural had historical characters, pop culture icons and
art history as its theme. Last year’s mural depicted Haitian metal art,
the four seasons and the importance of self esteem.
This year’s mural
items revolved around
space, nature, video
games, math, respect
and STEAM. All of
the murals contain
a hidden symbol to
represent the musical
that was staged at IMS
that particular year. A
rose appears on this
year’s mural in tribute
to “Beauty and the
Beast.”
The students
worked well together
and were excited
to participate in a
collaborative project
that has lasting value
in their school.
Evan Manion (left) and Claudia Shrager (right) were two
of the Art Club students to work on the 2016-2017 mural
(pictured) as well.