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Tiger News

Upcoming eventsApril 2 – 6 Spring Break, School Resumes

on April 7

April 15 – DAA Ceremony and School Board Work Session @ CAO Bd. Rm. 7pm

April 22 – School Board Regular Mtg. @ CAO Bd. Rm. 7pm

A Night to Shine for Diversity Contest WinnersA reception was held prior to the March 25 Board meeting to honor the winners of this year’s Diversity Contest.

At this reception, parents, teachers, administrators, Board members, and friends were in attendance. Winners of the contest read or showed their submissions and shared with the audience their thoughts on the theme of the contest.

There were 440 entries in the contest this year. Judges had the daunting task of choosing 10 winning entries and 24 honorable mention awards. Students in grades K–12 participated.

Diversity Contest Winners 2014-2015Fine ArtsK–3 Katherine Hu – FES

Painting – “We are the World” 4–5 Anna Warmbrodt – HES

Painting – “Diversity Portrait at the Parade”

6–8 Rachael Dowd – CMS Drawing – “Diversity Should be a Part of Nature”

9–10 Sebastian Immonen – NAI Painting – “Smile”

11–12 Bethany Schaelchlin – NASH Drawing – “BioDiversity”

WritingK–3 Sawyer Wright – MES

Poem – Special Sunset4–5 Virginia Lucas – HES

Poem – A Portrait of Friendship6–8 Alexandria Adams – IMS

Poem – Society9–10 Lea Hendricks – NAI

Poem – Unique11–12 Jessie Serody – NASH

Poem – Reflections

Rachael Dowd Technology Recommendations Presented to School BoardA team of 28 individuals was formed six months ago at the direction of the Board of School Directors. The team, known as the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC), was tasked with identifying what technology resources should be made available to students and staff as the next step of the District-wide technology implementation plan. On March 25, 2015 represen-

tatives of TAC presented a report that provided an overview of their findings, a summary of recommenda-tions, and a snapshot of the financial implications of those recommendations. The committee brought three recommendations forward:

• Create an equitable distribution of technology for students and staff.

• Implement a 1:1 computing environment in grades 1-12 in the next two years, supplemented with specialty computer labs and shared mobile devices as necessary.

• Expand staffing appropriately to support success.

Click here to review TAC’s full presentation on the School Board webpage.

Anna WarmbrodtSebastian ImmonenSawyer Wright

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NA Science Teams Advance to National ChampionshipsTwo teams of NA students earned first place in their respective regional tournaments and have quali-fied to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl competition. Both teams have held after-school practices and lunch practices since early fall for this highly competitive academic competition featuring questions from the categories of Math, Earth Science, Physical Science, Life Science and General Science. For this competition, the U.S. is divided into 32 regions where preliminary contests are held. Teams first compete to win their brackets and then they compete in the regional tourna-ment finals. Only first place winners qualify for the National Championships.

A team from MMS coached by Mr. Dan Williams earned first place in the middle school competition. Team members are Jiangfeng Chu, Jerry Chen, Jiwoo Cheon, Roy Sun, and Venkata Daita.

“The National Science Bowl competition allows students to delve much deeper into areas of interest than they are able to do in a regular classroom setting,”

stated Mr. Dan Williams. “By making it to the national tournament the students also have the opportunity to interact with peers who are the best and brightest in the country.”

A team from NASH coached by Ms. Christina Ruffolo also earned first place in the high school competi-tion. Team members are Songela Chen, Eric Mi, Rahul Rao, Gabe Ren, and Sean Tao.

“The teams have both worked incred-ibly hard to get to this stage. We have a couple of students here on the NASH team who have been on various Sci-ence Bowl teams since they were in 7th grade!” stated Ms. Christina Ruffalo.

Both teams have won an all-expens-es-paid trip to Washington D.C. to compete in the national finals from April 30 through May 4.

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NA Student Participates in 2015 White House Science FairNAI student Nikhil Behari had the honor of attending the 2015 White House Science Fair on March 23rd in Washington D.C. Nikhil was inspired to create a security system that is easy to use, versatile, and effective in protecting on-line data as a result of the major data breaches at retail chains.

Nikhil determined that the manner in which people type could be used as a means of sec-ondary authentication for safer passwords. He connected sensors to a microprocessor he had programmed to detect keystroke pressure, and used a separate program to measure action and pause time as users type. By analyzing data from these devices, Nikhil discovered that keystroke-based authentication is a potentially powerful technique for distinguishing and authenticating individuals.

In addition to attending the White House Science Fair, Nikhil won a second place award in Technology at the 2014 Broadcom MASTERS national finals.

You can hear Nikhil describe his project person-ally to President Barack Obama during The White House Science fair by Clicking Here

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Middle School Girls Explore Careers in Technology Related FieldsGirls from Carson, Ingomar, and Marshall Middle Schools recently attended Cisco Girls IT day at Cisco Head-quarters in Pittsburgh. This event gave the girls an opportunity to explore careers in technology-related fields. This day-long event featured a number of sessions and activities, as well as a lunch with professional women from the area. The students also had the opportunity to interact with students attending the same event in Chicago, IL, via conferencing technology.

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Catherine Zhang Recognized as Coca-Cola ScholarNASH senior Catherine Zhang has been selected from a pool of nearly 103,000 initial applicants and recognized as one of the coun-try’s most outstanding high school leaders by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation when they named her a 2015 Coca-Cola Scholar and awarded her a $20,000 college scholarship.

Catherine has been invited to travel to Atlanta in April for Coca-Cola’s Scholars Weekend, where she and others will participate in a Leadership Development Institute to further develop leadership skills, tour local land-marks, engage with former Coca-Cola Schol-ars, and participate in a group community service project. The Scholars will also be the guests of honor at the 27th annual Scholars Banquet, where they will be celebrated by representatives from the Coca-Cola system, educators, local dignitaries, and friends of the Foundation.

Ingomar Elementary Students “Wow” at Chess!

A team consisting of Ingomar Elementary students Will Graham, Thomas Thirkell, Dominic Bellisa-rio and Roman Bellisario earned first place and a number of individual trophies in the 2015 Southern Regional Chess Championship at Fort Cherry. Eric Wang, Justin Schmitt, Alex Maslo, Evan Greenberg, Dylan Fitzgerald and Will Fitzgerald also earned third place and several individual trophies at the Pennsylvania State Championships.

Additionally, IES was represented by students Eric Wang, Alex Maslo, Justin Schmitt, Will Graham, Dylan Fitzgerald and Will Fitzgerald in the High School Chess League, where the team played against students from the high school level and were undefeated for the entire season!

NA Team Takes Second Place in Regional Ocean Sciences BowlA team of NA high school students recently partici-pated in the regional competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, where they won second place by besting teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky.

The team, coached by Ms. Christina Ruffolo, con-sisted of Sean Geiger, Gunasheil Mandava, Rahul Rao, Russell Ruffolo, and Joe Zhao.

The National Ocean Sciences Bowl is a high school science competition that uses a quiz-bowl format, with lockout buzzers and extended team challenge questions to test students on their knowledge of oceanography. This includes the subjects of biology, chemistry, geology, geography, social science, tech-nology, and physics.

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Read Across America Day CelebrationsStudents and staff members across NA schools recently celebrated National Read Across America Day. Also known as Dr. Seuss Day, it is observed annually on Dr. Seuss’ birthday, which is March 2nd. Wednesday, April 8, 2015

7–9pm at NAI

For information call 724-934-7260

Reserve Your Space Today!Admission is free to this event, but seating

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Engineers Visit MMS A group of volunteer engineering ambassadors visited with 7th grade science classrooms at MMS this month for National Engineer’s Week. The stu-dents were introduced to a variety of engineering disciplines that produce products and services that are often taken for granted every day. Following the presentation, students split up into groups of teams to compete for prizes. Each team was tasked with designing the tallest structure possible in a 15–minute window, using only spaghetti noodles and gumdrops.

The engineering presentation and team-building competition, coordinated by science teachers Sheila Dattilo and Jeff Scheller, were engaging learning activities to promote engineering as a future career choice.

Here’s what two MMS students had to say about the event:

“You know something feels right when it leaves you feeling confident, creative, and curious. That’s what they left me with from this presen-tation. They made me want, honestly want, to be an engineer.”

– Caroline Mura

“Not only did we learn about the field of engineering, but we also had the opportunity to become engineers and make a building out of uncooked spaghetti and gumdrops. These were great guest speakers.”

– Richie Carr

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High School Students Accepted to PMEA All-State EnsemblesCongratulations to the following NAI and NASH students for being accepted to participate in PMEA All-State Ensembles:

All-State OrchestraGreg Brkovich, string bass

Rebecca Chen, violin 1

Anthony Cicco, violin 1

Olivia Eastly, viola

Kate Falck, flute

Emily He, violin 1

Nick Hladio, string bass

Richard Palermo, violin 1

Brianna Patricca, viola

All-State BandAlec Ge, clarinet

Clare Tunney, alto sax

Esther Kim, flute

Caitlin Conway, trumpet

Suhye Park, clarinet

All-State ChorusStephen Baime, bass 2

Sierra Bugni, soprano 1

Lindsey Davis, alto 2

The 2015 PMEA All-State Festival will be held March 25 – March 28 in Hershey, PA.

Thomas Kim Honored as Young MusicianNAI 10th grade student Thomas Kim was selected by the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra in the 2015 Young Artist Music Competition. This competition was co-sponsored by the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra and the Greater Pitts-burgh Chapter of the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association.

As one of only three young musicians selected in this competition, Thomas has the opportunity to perform his cello music with the Orchestra in April.

From 412, 724, 814 and all points in-between!Enjoy a unique, family-friendly concert by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

performing a blend of familiar classics and exciting new works – including a side-by-side performance bringing student musicians to the stage!

We are offering tickets to our school, family and community as a thank you for supporting us and our past programs.

Our goal is to fill Heinz Hall for this great evening and we’d love to have a large representation from the North Allegheny community!

Contact Kathy Will at 724-934-7902 or email kwill@northallegheny.org for tickets and information. Will Call is also available.

NA Named a Best Community for Music EducationThe NAMM Foundation has recognized the North Allegheny School District with a ‘Best Communi-ties for Music Education’ designation for the eighth consecutive year. NASD joins 388 districts across the country to receive the prestigious distinction of being included on the 2015 list. This achievement exemplifies the commitment of school administra-tion, community leaders, teachers, and parents who believe in music education and are working to ensure that it is part of a complete education for children.

Thousands of teachers, school and district admin-istrators, school board members, parents and com-munity leaders, representing communities nation-wide, participated in a web-based survey to apply for consideration for this honor. Participants in the survey answer detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music

program and other fac-tors in the community that affect access to music education for all students.

“Ensuring that every child has access to music in schools requires commitment by students, teachers, and those who determine school budgets,” said Mary Luehrsen, executive director of the NAMM Foundation. “We commend the districts and schools that have earned the Best Community designation this year.”

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MMS Team Advances to Top 8 Round in National TournamentThe MMS National Academic League team, coached by Dan Williams and Dana Boyd, made it to the ‘Final 8’ Round of the 2014 Terrel H. Bell National Tourna-ment of Academic Excellence. Team members were selected in early November, and began practicing once a week in late February. For the tournament, student teams play a four-quarter academic game consisting of questions spanning 22 subjects grouped under the basic curriculum areas of math, English/language arts, science and social studies.

Players use strategies to keep possession of a ques-tion sequence, learn teamwork as they huddle to answer a complex question, learn to problem-solve by preparing and presenting a solution to real-world problems, and engage in a fast-paced, quick-answer contest. The national matches are played via videoconferencing and the teams are competing for the honor of receiving the Terrel H. Bell Award® For Academic Excellence. MMS team members are:

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NASH Students Excel at State CompetitionNASH students John Stobba, Charlie Brickner, Hannah Gauntner, Anthony DiRienzo, and Maria Graziano all earned first place in media-related contests at Point Park University this past fall. They were invited to compete against other first place winners from around PA at Penn State University this month. They earned two more First Place and two Second Place Awards. Congratulations to these students for their out-standing efforts in journalism, creative writing, and art:

Charlie Bricker – 1st Place, Literary Magazine Poetry

Hannah Gauntner – 1st Place, Literary Magazine Cover Design

Maria Graziano – 2nd Place, Literary Magazine Cover Design

John Stobba – 2nd Place, Editorial Cartoon

High School Students Earn Medals on National German ExamsA total of 42 North Allegheny high school students recently medaled in the American Association of Teachers of German National German Exam. Seven students earned Gold Medals by scoring at the 90th percentile and above. Gold Medal winners are Allison Frank, Alexander Giorgetti, Mark Hartigan, Benjamin Radock, Alaina Rodi, Nicholas Swensen and Megan Wadas.

Additionally, 20 students earned Silver Medals by scoring between the 80th and 89th percentiles. They are Nathaniel Chen, Nikhil Cherukupalli, Elspeth Cunningham, Robert Grumski, Yara El-Khatib,

Gabrielle Herbert, Nur Iren, Morgan Lauer, Erica McNatt, Ascanio Montemaggi, Joshua Morgan, Jack O’Sullivan, Ahna Pearson, Mary Pitz, Ashvath Sekhar, Luke Slotterback, Sawyer Smith, Lucie Waller, Yasmine White and Michael Whitehurst.

Students Brianna Clark, Ning Chen, Abhilash Dhan-vada, Amanda Gould, Kathryn Graham, Ashish Kamath, Sarthak Mattagajasingh, Russell Ruffolo and Everett Ziegenfuss were each awarded Bronze Medals for scoring between the 70th and 79th percentiles.

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Jiwoo Cheon

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Caroline Mura

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Access the NA website anytime, anywhere with your mobile device.

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Poster Contest to Promote Safe and Healthy Alternatives to Underage DrinkingNinth grade student Sebastian Immonen was recently named a Special Recognition Winner in the 2014–2015 Alcohol Awareness Poster Contest, sponsored by the Pennsylva-

nia Liquor Control Board. Along with being named a winner, Sebastian is invited to attend a ceremony honoring the student artists in

Harrisburg, PA at the State Capitol Rotunda in April. Sebastian’s poster will be included in a winners’ exhibit in the Capitol Rotunda from April 6th–10th.

NA Students Earn Awards at DECA State Conference

We are proud to announce that 43 members of North Allegheny’s DECA chapter traveled to Hershey, PA to participate in the 64th Annual State Career Development Conference. This year’s confer-ence was the largest ever with more than 2,000 students competing in a number of different events including Marketing Research, Financial Services, Restaurant & Food Service Marketing, and Sports & Entertainment Marketing.

Two NASD students won top awards and qualified to compete at the upcoming DECA International Career Development Conference being held in Orlando, FL, where attendance is anticipated to be in excess of 16,000. James McGaa placed 1st in

Principles of Finance and Shreyas Vasudevan placed 2nd in Quick Serve Restaurant Management.

Seven students received overall finalist awards: Teddy Egnaczyk, Martin Lazzaro, Alaina Rodi, Baela Savioz and the team of Mollie Benvenuto, Carlye Mitnick, and Lexi Winkles.

Additionally, eleven NA students were presented medallions for top scores on their role play perfor-mance, or their written test: Anthony DiRienzo, Stephanie Ebbert, Teddy Egnaczyk, Kaitlyn Fukus, Zach Kautzman, Martin Lazzaro, James McGaa (double winner), Alaina Rodi, Baela Savioz, Ash Sekhar and Shreyas Vasudevan.

Congratulations National Geographic State Bee SemifinalistsIES 5th grader Owen Prem and MMS 8th grader John Ehling have recently been notified that they are semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2015 PA National Geographic State Bee on March 27.

This is the second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, which is in its 27th year. School Bees were held in schools with 4–8th grade students. School cham-pions then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic

Society. One hundred of the top-scoring students in each of the 50 states have been invited to compete in their state Bees.

Each state champion will receive cash and prizes, includ-ing a trip to Washington, D.C. to represent their state in the National Geographic Bee Championship. The national champion will receive a $50,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the Society.

NASH Juniors Submit Essays in Annual CompetitionTwelve juniors were nominated by their AP English 3 and Honors English 3 teachers to participate in the Pennsyl-vania State University’s 32nd an essay competition. The contest is designed to encourage high school students in their writing and to recognize publicly, some of the best student writers in Pennsylva-nia. Four students, Kevin Stiles, Megan Wadas, Derek Howell, and Joseph Caulkin had their essays selected for entry into the statewide competition.

Nearly one hundred student essays were sent from around the state of Pennsylvania. Of those entries, two winners, five honorable mentions, and seventeen finalists were chosen from the submissions. Kevin Stiles was named a finalist in the contest. In recognition of this achievement, Kevin and the NA English department will receive certificates of commendation from Penn State University. Kevin is also invited to attend a luncheon at Penn State on April 24, 2015.

Please RSVP by April 24, 2015

Call 412-369-5445 or email mmarous@northallegheny.org

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NA Students Awarded in Regional Art & Writing CompetitionA number of NA middle school and high school students have recently been recognized for their accom-plishments in the Scholastic Art & Writing Contest. The following students have earned the prestigious “Gold Key” award - the highest honor possible in the regional competition - and have qualified to have their work submitted for the national competition.

Six Gold Key Awards

John Curcio

Three Gold Key AwardsNathaniel ChenKelly KimSam MarzulaSara NillMia Shikora

Two Gold Key AwardsNick KoehlerAlexis KruthBethany SchaelchlinAnastasia Shabalov

Gabriela TomaykoElizabeth Wang

Gold Key Award and American Visions NomineeMelissa DaltnerLauren Rogus

Gold Key AwardAleni AntalisAnthony AntalisVanessa AnthonyAnna BaumBree BlairNicholas Blatt

Melanie BrkovichSravanthi ChintakuntaCurtis ColtharpAlexandra CummingsAngella DiPasqualeLauren DoakKristin ExleyCaroline FedorAdelle FernandoNaomi HeistandEthan HenselCaroline HuangMadelyn JackAlexandra KotrickKristen KovalchikLeonardo Lupidi

Tess MajewskiElise MalettaJulia MarucaSydney Mcdonough

Alaina MichaelsMacKenzie MichalojkoShannon PiranianKayla RomanelliAnushka ShahTomer ShamirAlyssa SnavelyFelicia SundayTabitha WhiteBernice YuMolly Zunski

Paid advertisements in District communica-tions and/or on District property do not repre-sent the District’s endorsement or approval of the matters or organizations represented in the advertisements. (School Board Policy #2580 – Approved Commercial Advertising.)

FOR DISTRICT INFORMATION

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National Winners in the Scholastic Art AwardsSix NA students recently have been recognized as national winners in the Scholastic Art Awards. Congratula-tions to the following students for this achievement:

Student Sponsoring Teacher Award

Lauren Rogus David Hawbaker Gold Medal, American Visions Medal

Nathaniel Chen Janellen Lombardi Silver Medal

Melissa Daltner Jonathan Clemmer Silver Medal

Elise Maletta Kathleen Slowik Silver Medal

Sam Marzula Jonathan Clemmer Silver Medal

Bethany Schaelchlin Frances Hawbaker Silver Medal

Lauren Rogus

Bethany Schaelchlin

Elise Maletta

Nathaniel Chen

Sam Marzula

Melissa Daltner

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2015 Middle School GOLDApproximately 240 eighth grade girls attended this year’s Girls Only Leadership Development (GOLD) program. GOLD is designed to help girls gain the leadership skills needed to succeed in high school and beyond, as young women in today’s society face more challenges and pressure. The program helps girls gain a positive self-image, make healthy and positive life choices, build self-confidence, and make new friends. This program also eases the tran-sition into high school, as participants form relation-ships with girls from the other NA middle schools.

42nd Street at NASH Was a Huge Success!

photos by Cossiephoto.com