IN Peters Township June/July 2017 | Page 86

STUDENT Highlights Special Education Field Trip to Heisler’s Market Our friends at Heisler's Market welcomed our students from McMurray for a field trip recently. The students were given a tour of the store, and each student made and took home a sandwich, cupcake, and entire pizza at no cost. PSU Engineers Penn State Engineering Ambassadors Visit PTHS Student engineers from Penn State visited PTHS in April to do some hands on projects with our chemistry and physics students. They also facilitated a career assembly for interested students to learn more about the field of engineering. Scholastic American Vision Award PTHS sophomore Julianna Chen has been recognized with the American Voice Award in the national Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards. She recently had the chance to read her poem at a recognition reception held at the California University of Pennsylvania. PTHS Media Awards Congratulations to our PTHS Media students who excelled in The Digital Media Arts Consortium (DMAC) competition at Robert Morris University. The students came away with seven awards of excellence and two best in category awards. In addition, Joey Pardini received the 1st Annual Dean’s Award from Robert Morris University. Joey took away a $1,000 scholarship to be used while he attends RMU in the fall. Jack Yuran also received the Founder’s Award that is presented to an outstanding senior from each school. Pie in the Face Bower Hill Raises Money for LLS Some people will do anything for a good cause, including getting pies thrown in their face! Mrs. Hanak at Bower Hill led the effort to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the winning class got to throw a pie in her face. Mrs. Kimutis's class raised more than $500 and the whole school donated $7,000 to the worthwhile cause. High School Music Students Visit Disney EvolvingSTEM at PTHS Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh visited PTHS this month to work with biology students in Mr. Albright’s and Mr. Orend’s classes. The effort is part of EvolvingSTEM and is designed to spark interest and motivation in science. They performed experiments to teach quantitative skills, teach laboratory methods and build student teamwork. Epic Rap Battles at PTMS Students in Mr. Cheran’s social studies classroom put their knowledge of World War I to the test in the Epic Rap Battle Challenge. Students were challenged to write rap lyrics based on their studies and create slide show videos with the help of school librarian Mrs. Stouden. The videos were narrowed down to five finalists and the students voted for their favorite video. The winners were Ellian Ascencio, Rocco D’Arrigo, and Derek Liguori. Pleasant Valley Authors Pleasant Valley celebrated more than 50 student authors with a special segment of PV-TV. Students in grades K-3 were invited to try their hand at writing and illustrating their own story and now those stories will be available in the library for classmates to check out and enjoy. Students at each level were recognized for their outstanding work in writing fiction, non-fiction and illustration. 84 Peters Township PV Authors Members of the High School band, orchestra and chorus enjoyed their trip to Orlando to perform in Disney this spring. In addition to performing in parades and in downtown Disney, the student musicians also had the opportunity to record music for an upcoming Disney soundtrack. McMurray Career Fair On March 24, McMurray Elementary held its annual Career Fair. The students had the opportunity to listen and learn from a variety of guest presenters representing many different careers and businesses, including Engineers, Scientists, Military Professionals, a TV Helicopter Pilot, a Baker, therapists with therapy, EMTs with their ambulance and many more. Hockey Team Takes State Title Congratulations to our High School Ice Hockey team who completed their season with two titles in four days. First, the team defeated Central Catholic to take home the Penguins Cup and later that same week the 6th seeded Indians defeated Holy Ghost Prep, 2-1, in the state championship.