Diversity

The Board of School Directors honors students and employees who have achieved state and national level recognition by presenting them with Distinguished Achievement Awards (DAA's).

In the 2005-2006 school year, 468 awards were presented.  DAA's are presented at special ceremonies held immediately prior to regularly scheduled Board meetings.  Parents of the awardees along with school principals and the nominating teachers, coaches and/or sponsors are also invited to attend. 

DAA ceremonies are also videotaped for airing on NATV-Cable, (Armstrong channel 50 / Comcast channel 98).  See the NATV schedule for programming dates and times.

Criteria for Award Nominations:      

•  Must be school-related competition
•  1st, 2nd or 3rd Place in State competition
•  1st - 10th in Multi-State or National competition
•  Must be an NA student, staff member or volunteer

DAA Ceremony - October 18, 2006 

STUDENT AWARDS:

Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. Honor Camp
Submitted by:    Maj. Frederick Schott and MSgt Richard Denault

The objective of the Air Force JROTC Aerospace and Technology Honors Camp is to introduce high-achieving high school cadets to scientific, technical and related career opportunities in the Air Force. The selection process to attend the Aerospace & Technology Honors Camps is very competitive. Cadets must be a rising sophomore, junior or senior with a minimum GPA of 3.0, be enrolled in college-prep math and science courses, demonstrate leadership potential, be a physically fit U.S. citizen and be available to attend on the camp dates.  Those who are selected to attend the Honors Camp are in the top 1% of all cadets worldwide.  Of the approximately 107,000 cadets who participated in the JROTC Program internationally, only 500 are selected to attend an Honors Camp.

During the camp, cadets are introduced to aerospace technology educational opportunities and aerospace related careers through a “hands-on” curriculum including visits to college campuses, air and space operational units, research labs, historical sites, aerospace industries, research/technology centers and museums. Additionally, cadets hear lectures from general officers, astronauts, pilots and participate in simulator and airplane rides.  This year our own Brian Heckmann attended the Aerospace and Technology Honors Camp.

 Invitation to the Aerospace and Technology Honors Camp
Brian Heckmann

Future Business Leaders of America
Submitted by:  Mr. Christopher Sestili

The Future Business Leaders of America held their National Leadership Conference and Competition in Nashville on June 30 – July 2, 2006.  At that conference, Karl Freithaler achieved an Eighth Place finish in the area of Accounting. 

The Future Business Leaders of America is an educational association of student members that prepares young people for careers in business by providing innovative  leadership development programs intended to bring business and education together in a positive working relationship. Members learn how to engage in business enterprise, how to direct the affairs of a group, and how to compete honorably in competitive events.  There are over 270,000 active members in over 12,000 chartered chapters worldwide.  Pennsylvania had 295 active chapters with 13,500 members during the 2005-2006 school year.

 Eighth Place - Accounting 1
Karl Freithaler
 

Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Honor Orchestra
Submitted by:  Mr. Bob Tozier

The Pennsylvania Music Educators Association is a service organization to music education.  It provides leadership in professional growth and offers special opportunities for musical development to school students.  The mission of this organization is to advance music education by encouraging excellence in the study, teaching, and making of music.  Steven Kang was selected thru a highly competitive audition process to participate in the 2005-2006 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association All-State Honors Orchestra. 

2005-2006 All-State Honors Orchestra
Steven Kang

The Junior Olympics - Rhythmic Gymnastics

Sixth grader Stephanie Martich is a member of a local Rhythmic gymnastics team that took top honors at the regional finals over the summer.  Only the six highest scoring rhythmic gymnasts and two alternates, in level 6-8 from a seven-state region, moved on the to the Junior Olympics in Seattle Washington.  Please congratulate Stephanie Martich for her participation in the Jr. Olympics.

Placement in the Junior Olympics
Stephanie Martich

USA Wrestling Junior National Championships
Submitted by:  Mr. Bob Bozzuto

Over the summer months, tenth grader Joseph Waltko kept busy with wrestling competitions.  He competed in the Pennsylvania Amateur Wrestling Federation Championship in June which was held at Clarion University.  His second place finish at that competition qualified him to compete in the USA Wrestling National Championships.  The national championships were held in July at the Superdome in Fargo, North Dakota.  Joe competed in the Cadet Greco-Roman style in the 112 pound weight class against more than one hundred competitors and took sixth place in that national arena.  Join me in recognizing Joseph Waltko.

Sixth Place in National Cadet Greco-Roman 112 Competition
Joseph Waltko
 

The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
National Spanish Exam
Submitted by:  Mr. Domenico DiBacco

The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese sponsor the National Spanish Examinations that are given each spring to junior and senior high school students. The exams are designed to be very challenging and are conducted entirely in Spanish. Students taking the exams are grouped into six levels, depending on their in-class and out-of-class experience with Spanish. Highest scorers in each level are recognized at state and national levels.  The National Spanish Examination is the most widely used test of Spanish in the United States. 

In the spring of 2006, a total of 87,236 students across the country participated in the new online version of the exam.  North Allegheny School District has been participating in this exam for five years.    The following NA students took this exam and scored among the top 10% in the nation!   

Level 3

     Score in the 97th Percentile:    Kelly Stiger
     Score in the 94th Percentile:    Matthew Snyder
     Score in the 93rd Percentile:    Amy Watenpool
     Score in the 91st Percentile:     Rachel Bellan
                                                    Shawn Palmeri
     Score in the 90th Percentile:     Shannon Wilcox

Level 4

     Score in the 96th Percentile:      Karl Freithaler
 

Level 4 - Bilingual

    Score in the 94th Percentile:      Alejandro Alonso

Level 4 - Outside Experience

     Score in the 92nd Percentile:     Isaac Marx

Continental Math League Grade 5 Pythagorean Division
Submitted by:  Ms. Shari Schlosser
 

The Continental Math League is a national math competition that is structured as a series of five monthly contests that consist of six problems each. During each contest, the students have thirty minutes to complete the problems.  The team score is determined by adding together the top six scores each month.  The scores are reported monthly and the data is compiled by the Continental Math League.  The students compete against teams in divisions based on grade levels.  Participation in the Grade 5 Pythagorean League requires students to have an above-average reading comprehension and analytical reasoning capabilities, in addition to computational skills appropriate to their grade level. 

The NA team score was a perfect score of 180 points, which earned them the distinction of being a national-level first place winning team!  They were one of six teams (out of the 288 schools that competed) to achieve this honor.  In addition, Nicholas Sullivan tied for first place individual with a perfect score in this national competition.  He was one of only forty-five students across the country to achieve a perfect individual score!

Perfect Score and National Level First Place Team
Michael Becich
Connor Goodman
Skanda Koppula
Erik Liu
Jeremy Miller
Michael Murphy
Connor Phillips
Steven Siclari
Nicholas Sullivan
Lily Zhang

Perfect Score and National Level First Place Individual
Nicholas Sullivan
 

Math Olympiad Contest
Submitted by:  Ms. Sharon Kroll and Ms. Ellyn Snyder

The Math Olympiads is a worldwide mathematical problem-solving contest.  Students are given five different contests in a school year.  Scores are based on all five contests.  The elementary division had 4,500 active teams last year, comprised of 100,000 students from across the nation. In addition, about 1,800 teams, comprised of 45,000 students from other countries were enrolled in the contest as well.

We are proud to announce that ten fifth graders from Marshall Elementary, Bradford Woods Elementary and Franklin Elementary have been recognized for their achievement in last year’s Math Olympiad Contest.  The team was named to the National Math Olympiad Honor Roll for its score of 188 points, which placed them in the top 10% of all teams worldwide.

Score in the 90th Percentile
&placement on the National Honor Roll

Michael Becich
Connor Goodman
Skanda Koppula
Erik Liu
Jeremy Miller
Michael Murphy
Corey Noel
Anjali Premkumar
Nicholas Sullivan
Dennis Zhang
Lily Zhang
Kevin Zhu

Junior National Time Trials
Submitted by:  Mr. Bob Bozzuto

Erin Dauson and Briana Pittman are two of three NA rowers who earned a place on the U.S. Junior National Team and the right to compete and represent not only North Allegheny but also the United States at the Junior World Championships in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, this past August.  To qualify, they had to win three races at the Junior National Trials in Princeton, New Jersey. In addition to winning the three races, they also bettered the mandated Junior Worlds qualifying time by five seconds!

Their accomplishment marked the very first time that North Allegheny was represented at the World Championships.  Even more impressive is the fact that they competed in the sculling event as one of only six sculling boats representing all of the United States. 

Placement on the U.S. Junior National Team
for the Junior World Championships
Erin Dauson
Briana Pittman

USRowing National Championships
Submitted by:  Mr. Bob Bozzuto

USRowing is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States.  The USRowing National Championship is one of rowing’s most prestigious events.  The 2006 event was the 135^th running of this National Championship Regatta.  More than 1,000 competitors participated in 5 days of racing with races starting every 7 minutes. 

First Place Women’s Junior A Quad and Third Place Women’s Senior Quad and Fourth Place Women’s Intermediate Quad

Erin Dauson
Briana Pittman

First Place Men's Junior B Double and Second Place Men’s Junior B Quad
Brian Marcus
Ryan Mohan

Second Place Men's Junior B Quad
Daniel Jefferies
Kameron Palagi
James Rectenwald

Sixth Place Men's Junior A Quad
John Logan Ellis
Zac O Neill
Jeremy Tischuk

Third Place Men's Junior A Quad
William Francis
Steven Marcus
Alan Meininghaus
Mark Nolfi

Third Place Men's Junior B Quad
Mark Dissen
Joel Mackay
Andrew Spirk

Pennsylvania Junior Classical League State Championship
Submitted by:  Ms. Terry Klein

The NA chapter of the Junior Classical League has won the State Championship for an unprecedented ninth straight year.  Students competed in academic, artistic and athletic events at the three-day convention held at Penn State University.  The NA team captured the championship by amassing the most sweepstakes points in the three categories of competition.  Nearly 500 students from fourteen schools across the state attended the competition.

NA students captured the individual titles of Academic Champion, Artistic Champion and Overall Grand Champion.  In addition to these titles, two NA students were elected to sit on the Pennsylvania Junior Classical League State Executive Board for the 2006-2007 school year.

Academic Champion
Nathan Carlin

Overall Grand Champion
Nathan Carlin

Artistic Champion
Emily Louise Vukson

President of the State Executive Board
Norman Gottron, III

Secretary of the State Executive Board
Elena Stark

Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence
Submitted by:  Ms. Carol Pysch, Mr. Bill Jorden, Ms. Linda Vete, Ms. Fran Bogos and Ms. Janet Serdy

The Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence are sponsored by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Education.  They are five-week long summer programs that focus on developing the talents of artistically and/or academically talented students so that they may build upon their creativity and intelligence in specific fields of study. The programs are held on college campuses and they all place an emphasis on leadership training.  Students are encouraged to undertake service projects in local communities and are provided with career and college guidance and information about scholarship opportunities.

The programs offer selected students from across the state the opportunity to indulge and inform their creativity and intelligence in their specific fields of interest.  While the selection processes are highly competitive, this past summer eight NA high school students were accepted to participate in these programs. 

Placement in the Agricultural Science program
Grace Concelman

Placement in the Arts (Music) program
Jeffrey Borrebach
Michael Gaertner
Kyle Oestreich

Placement in the Global Entrepreneurship program
Lily Chen

Placement in the Health Care program
Sarah Hochendoner

Placement in the Information, Society & Technology program
Sameer Shroff

Placement in the Science program
Katelyn Masiuk

Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science
Submitted by: Ms. Anne Marklewicz

The Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science is a statewide organization designed to stimulate and promote interest in science among its members through the development of research projects and investigations.  Student participants are encouraged to follow the scientific method to select a project, research the background, formulate a hypothesis, develop an experiment to prove or disprove the hypothesis, and to collect and analyze data from their experiment. The students then prepare a written report and give an oral presentation with audio visuals.

Students are selected at the school level to register and present their project at the regional meeting where they can receive a first, second or third award on their project.  Only students who receive a first award at the regional level are eligible to attend and present at the state meeting.  Five NA students brought home first place awards and five brought home second place honors.

First Place - Chemistry Research
Clifford Kim

First Place - Ecology Research
Stacey Chen

First Place - Medical Research
Edward Wu

First Place - Physics Research
Peter Gayler
Richard Gayler

Second Place - Ecology Research
Hamza Hyder
Jeffrey Lin

Second Place - Medical Research
Katherine Luo

 Second Place - Microbiology Research
Jennifer Rumble

Pennsylvania Mathematics League 2005-2006 State Contest

Submitted by:  Ms. Vicki Russo

The Pennsylvania Mathematics League is a state division of the National Mathematics League.  The Math League is dedicated to bringing challenging mathematics materials to students. The Math League specializes in math contests, books, and computer software designed to stimulate interest and confidence in mathematics for students from the 4th grade through high school. Over one million students participate in Math League contests each year. Contest problems are designed to cover a range of mathematical knowledge for each grade level.  Two of our students took state honors in this program last year. 

Third Place - 6th Grade
Dominic LaBella

Third Place - 8th Grade
Andrew Adam

STAFF AWARDS:
 

Air Force JROTC
Distinguished Unit Award

The North Allegheny High Schools were selected to receive the 2005-2006 Air Force Junior ROTC Distinguished Unit Award.  The award recognizes units that have performed above and beyond normal expectations and that have distinguished themselves through outstanding service to their school and community, while meeting the Air Force Junior ROTC mission of producing better citizens for America.  Air Force Junior ROTC is located in 794 high schools across the United States and at selected schools in Europe, the Pacific and Puerto Rico.  Only the best of the 794 units across the nation are recognized.

 2005-2006 Distinguished Unit Award
North Allegheny JROTC Program
 

Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program

The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and operates in over 150 countries worldwide.  Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.  The program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas.  The Program’s purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world.

Ms. Reelika Sinijarv is one of approximately 170 U.S. citizens who have “swapped” homes and classrooms for the 2006-2007 academic year.  Her permanent home is in Rapla, Estonia.  Ms. Sinijarv is fluent in English, Estonian, Swedish and Russian.  While she is here, she is teaching seventh grade English at Marshall Middle School.

 2006-2007 Fulbright Exchange Teacher
Reelika Sinijarv

Gilder Lehrman
Institute of American History
Teacher of the Year

Ms. Tracy Devlin, social studies teacher at Marshall Middle School, has been named Pennsylvania History Teacher of the Year in the third annual Preserve America White House initiative that encourages and supports community efforts to preserve America’s cultural and natural heritage.   

The History Teacher of the Year Award, under the rubric of Preserve America, recognizes outstanding American history teachers from elementary school through high school, and the crucial importance of American history education.  State level winners are selected from each of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense schools, and U.S. Territories.  Ms. Devlin is now eligible to be selected as the National Preserve America History Teacher of the Year.  She was recently honored at Marshall Middle School by her students and colleagues and we are pleased to recognize her here tonight.

 Pennsylvania History Teacher of the Year
Tracy Devlin
 

National Council of Teachers of English National Convention

Ms. Janice Spohn, reading teacher at Peebles Elementary School, has been invited to co-present a workshop at the 96^th Annual National Council of Teachers of English Convention, which will be held this November in Nashville, TN.  Since 1911, this National Council has worked to advance teaching, research, and student achievement in English language arts at all scholastic levels.

Ms. Spohn will be co-presenting a session titled “Building and Maintaining an Affiliate in the Electronic Age” with Mr. Bob Dandoy who is the President of The Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts.

Co-presenter at National Convention
Janice Spohn

National Society of High School Scholars Claes Nobel Award

Ms. Terry Klein, a teacher at the North Allegheny Intermediate High School, has been recognized by the National Society of High School Scholars as a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction.  Ms. Klein was nominated for this honor by a former student who described her as a role model, a positive influence, and someone who has made a difference.

This award was designed by the National Society of High School Scholars to recognize the role of excellent teachers in encouraging young people and helping them to achieve their goals.  It is named after and sponsored by Claes Nobel, a member of the family that is affiliated with the Nobel Prizes. 

Title of Claes Nobel
Educator of Distinction
Terry Klein

Pennsylvania Inspired Leadership Initiative

The Pennsylvania Inspired Leadership Initiative is a statewide, standards-based leadership development and support system for school leaders at all levels.  The initiative is intended to build capacity among school leaders by focusing on what they need to know and do in order to guide and direct instructional improvement and improvements in student achievement.   The Inspired Leadership Initiative is based upon a set of standards for school leadership that was developed by a group of superintendents, principals, intermediate unit representatives higher education faculty, professional organizations and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. 

The Support Program consists of a curriculum that is delivered over seven days for Pennsylvania Department of Education trained facilitators in cohorts of approximately 25 participants and includes a series of job-embedded activities.

Our own Dr. Arleen Wheat, Supervisor of Special Education, has been named a 2006-2007 Support Program participant.

2006-2007 Support Program Participant
Dr. Arleen Wheat

 

Technology Integrators Program

Two NA teachers – Mr. Jim Furlong of Marshall Middle School and Ms. Christy Hailey of Ingomar Elementary School – were selected to attend the Pennsylvania Keystones Summit as part of the Technology Integrators Program.

The Technology Integrators program celebrates model practice teachers throughout Pennsylvania for bringing motivational and management expertise to capture students’ imaginations in classroom content.  Teachers chosen to participate in the Keystones Summit are said to be “Technology Integrators” and “Keystones” for demonstrating practices which fully utilize the many benefits that technology offers and for improving instructional practices across his/her content area. 

Keystone Summit Participants
Jim Furlong
Christy Hailey