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2009 Le Grand Concours National French Contest
Submitted by: Ms. Barbara Haller, Ms. Gail Will, Ms. Nancy
McKnight,
Ms. Barbara Obaker and Ms. Barbara Zaun
In March of each year, interested
North
Allegheny students are given the opportunity to take the National French
Exam, Le Grand Concours, which is sponsored by the American Association of
Teachers of French. The National French Exam is a competition that is
designed to find and recognize the best French students in the country. The
exam tests listening and reading comprehension skills, as well as vocabulary
and grammar knowledge, through multiple-choice questions given in a
sixty-minute period. Except for directions, the entire exam is in French.
Nationally, almost 100,000 students participate at various levels each
year. A total of 20 North Allegheny students placed at the top of the
nation.
French Level 1A
Third
Place in the Nation
Charline Klaputek
Eunbyul Lee
Tenth
Place in the Nation
Lily Zhang
Stephanie Martich
French Level 1
Sixth
Place in the Nation
Molly Dunlop
Ford Smith
Eighth
Place in the Nation
Mehrgol Tiv
Ninth
Place in the Nation
Anis Adnani
Tenth
Place in the Nation
Elizabeth Hartigan
French Level 2
Third
Place in the Nation
Melanie Klaputek
Sixth
Place in the Nation
Jenna Sandala
Seventh
Place in the Nation
Lili Peng
Eighth
Place in the Nation
Kristen Schwemmer
Ninth
Place in the Nation
Nicole Werwie
Tenth
Place in the Nation
Marian Creach
French Level 3
Second
Place in the Nation
Annie Yan
Fourth
Place in the Nation
Jennifer Lee
Fifth
Place in the Nation
Naomi Borrebach
Sixth
Place in the Nation
Julia Barnes
Seventh
Place in the Nation
Alexandra Strycula
2009 National
Latin Exam
Submitted by: Ms. Terry Klein, Ms. Connie Sobieralski, Mr. Jay
Thomas
The National Latin Exam is
given annually to test knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, mythology, Latin
reading comprehension, and Roman history and culture. It is sponsored by
the American Classical League. Students from North Allegheny joined more
than 135,000 Latin students from across the nation and 11 foreign countries
in taking the 2009 National Latin Exam this year. NA students earned a
total of 42 Gold Medals and 41 Silver Medals in the various levels of
competition.
Latin I
Perfect Score – Gold Medal
Alan Dai
Stephanie Fulton
Samir Jindel
Joey Zou
Gold
Medal
Victoria Abbondanza
Jake Adzema
Erin Bishop
Brian Boehmke
Kaitlin Campbell
Patricia Chen
Carolyn Duffett
Alexandra Grese
Emily Johns
Michelle Lee
Martin Majewski
Taraneh Manesh
Emily Marcellus
Jeremy McCandlish
John Rectenwald
Stephen Thayer
Paige Vanerstrom
Emily Wu
Amy Zhang
Silver
Medal
Elizabeth Appleton
Alexis Bernard
Victoria Bianco
Sara Briggs
Rachael Cooper
Bethany Cousino
Mark Kennedy
Jennifer Kunselman
Taylor Lennox
Joel Norman
Mara Ott
Jacob Plichta
Edden Rabin
Brian Radermacher
Matthew Sciarappa
Emily Suwalski
Chelsea Weber
Latin II
Gold
Medal
Jason Chen
Abigail Delserone
Kearsie Dougherty
Adam Majewski
Sean Nimmo
Srikanth Palanisamy
Francis Ray
Lauren Shideler
Julie Wu
Silver Medal
Halley Bayer
Bailey Blashford
Alexander Chiang
Sumana Dasari
Allison Fox
Lauren Lang
Daniel Lesh
Julia Meyer
William Oestreich
Steven Smith
Benjamin Suhrie
Divya Tumuluru
Brett Walter
Robert Whitmore
Kevin Xie
Latin Poetry Level 3
Gold
Medal
Megan Doerzbacher
Jacob Klingensmith
Aidan MacDonagh
Natalie Rogers
Kelsey Steele
Silver Medal
Andrew Adam
Gina Carretta
Christy Cotter
Joshua Kaib
Michael Noh
Qishu Yuan
Latin Poetry Level 4
Gold
Medal
Hyeong Cho
John McElhattan
Michael Park
Kathryn Schmiech
David Tobias
Silver Medal
Thomas Dean
Alexis Geeza
Joseph Whitmore
2009 National
Spanish Exam
Submitted by: Mr. Domenico DiBacco, Ms. Roseanna Febbraro,
Ms. Patricia Finch and
Ms. Rose Mantella
North Allegheny had 73
students place among the top in the nation on the 2009 National Spanish
Exams. The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
sponsor the National Spanish Examinations that are given each spring. The
exams are designed to be very challenging and are conducted entirely in
Spanish. Each spring, more than 89,000 students across the country
participate in the online version of the exam. North Allegheny has been
participating in this exam for seven years. The following NA students took
this exam and earned Gold and Silver Medals. A Gold Medal certificate is
earned by scoring at or above the 95th percentile. A Silver
Medal certificate is earned by scoring from the 85th through the
94th percentiles.
Spanish Level 1
Gold
Medal
Andre Ficerai
Brianna Gabriel
Silver Medal
Ashleigh Phegan
Stephanie Scherder
Spanish
Level 2
Gold
Medal
Natalie Colburn
Rose Devine
Apoorv Dhir
Rebecca Fritsch
Aarohee Fulay
Emily Gibbs
Shariq Iqbal
Hannah Jones
Anusha Nagabandi
Erin Norwig
Maryellen Overbaugh
Rona Sun
Kelly Whelan
Brittany Wilson
Silver Medal
Akshaya Arjunan
Gabriela Bretz
Jeffrey Daye
Margaret Haughney
Sydney Micucci
Brandt Scheidemantel
Spanish Level
3
Gold
Medal
Alexandra Bursic
Sophia Ciocca
Daniel Coombs
Lauren Gabriel
Carrie Vereide
Bonnie Yan
Kyle Zhu
Silver Medal
Evan Buysse
Jonathan Du
Merel Duursma
Katherine Edwards
Isaac Frank
Joseph Helbling
Julie Henderson
You Li
Kara McFadden
Maria Munsch
Rie Nomura
Eliana Rabinowitz
Aarthi Ramesh
Matthew Randall
Evan Robinson
Edgar Rodriguez
Rebecca Scherder
Mark Silvester
Samantha Sweeney
Hannah Webber
Liyang Yu
Spanish Level 4
Gold
Medal
Arundhati Bharati
Stacey Chen
Douglas Healy
Michael Heckmann
Katherine Luo
Kenneth Sandala
Angela Sipes
Silver Medal
Derrick Alvarez
Michael Baldonieri
Katherine Hatfield
Lauryn Lepere
Madison Micucci
Dana Preston
Michelle Weaver
Spanish Honors 1B
Gold
Medal
Michelle Lee
Shannon Wagner
Melissa Zuk
Silver Medal
Elizabeth Furiga
Alyson Haffner
Devin Malone
Keaton Micucci
2009
Northeastern University
High School
Composers Competition
Submitted by: Ms. Beth Leckey
Lucas Ashby, a senior,
received an Honorable Mention in the 2009 Northeastern University High
School Composers Competition. His piece, titled “Mesh” was selected from a
pool of nearly 100 entries in this year’s contest. Students from
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont were invited to submit one entry only
to this competition sponsored by the Music Technology program of the Music
Department of Northeastern University, Boston. Each original composition
was required to be between three and ten minutes in length.
Honorable Mention
Lucas Ashby
2009
Presidential Scholars Competition
Stacey Chen, another senior,
is one of only 17 Pennsylvania students to be selected as a semifinalist in
the 2009 Presidential Scholars Competition. Out of nearly 2.8 million
graduating high school seniors across the country, approximately 3,000
students were identified as candidates in the program. Only 560 – or less
than 20% of those students – advanced to be named semifinalists. This is
the eighth DAA we have awarded to Stacey in her senior year.
Semifinalist
Stacey Chen
2009
Technology
Student
Association
State Conference
Submitted by: Mr. Shawn Lydon, Mr. Mathew Kohler, Ms.
Jennifer Smoller,
Mr. Nicholas Vorrasi, Mr. Scott Downs and Mr. Kevin Zebley
The Technology Student
Association is an organization that was started by industrial arts teachers
who wanted to provide opportunities for their students to be recognized for
their accomplishments. Members compare their technology competencies with
other students through local, regional, state and national competitions. NA
students competed at this year’s state conference, which had nearly 1,500
participants. Fourteen students were recognized for achieving a third place
finish or better in their specified areas of competition.
First
Place in CAD Architectural Animation
Douglas Bauer
First
Place in Cyberspace Pursuit
Gregory Fraley
Skanda Koppula
First
Place in PA - Materials Process
Brian Zieger
First
Place in PA - R.C. Vehicle
Christopher Chang
Andrew Mahler
Graham Walker
First
Place in PA - Safety Illustration Computer Graphics
Benjamin Ziolkowski
Second
Place in Debating Technological Issues
Eliana Rabinowitz
Shane Smith
Second
Place in PA - CAD 2D, Architectural
Matthew Madler
Third
Place in Construction Systems
Clayton O’Connor
Danny Zemel
Third
Place in Extemporaneous Presentation
Thomas Helgerman
The High School Writer – Sr. High Edition
Submitted by: Ms. Patricia Kramer
Writer Publications produces
three national newspapers; the Elementary School Writer, the
Junior High School Writer, and the Senior High School Writer.
Since 1984, these newspapers have been providing a real audience for student
writers. The High School Writer is published six times during the
school year. Each year they receive more than 30,000 compositions, stories
and poems from students in all parts of the nation. The editorial staff
sorts through those manuscripts and about 10% of the submissions make their
way into print. NA sophomore Haley Wisniewski had her story published in
the 5th issue of High School Writer in the 2008-2009 school year.
Published
Haley Wisniewski
Teen Ink Magazine
Submitted by: Mr. Antonia Caruso
Teen Ink is a
national magazine that is devoted entirely to teenage writing and art. The
magazine is distributed in classrooms around the country by English
teachers, creative writing teachers, journalism teachers and art teachers.
The magazine offers thoughtful and creative work generated by teens and has
the largest distribution of any publication of its kind. The publication
has no staff writers or artists; it depends completely on submissions from
teenagers nationwide for content. The magazine has received hundreds of
thousands of submissions from students and has published approximately
25,000 of them since 1989. Senior, Kathleen Euler, had her poem titled
“Just Like You” published in the March 2009 issue.
Published
Kathleen Euler
Pennsylvania Music Educator’s Association
Submitted by: Mr. Todd Stefan, Mr. Ernie Pontiere and Ms. Sarah
Lavelle
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. Ten
North
Allegheny students were selected by audition into the 2009 Pennsylvania
Music Educators Association All-State Band, Chorus, Jazz and Orchestra
Ensembles. To achieve placement in these ensembles requires the
demonstration of a high level of musicianship.
All-State Band Ensemble
Evan Swihart
Emily Teare
All-State Chorus Ensemble
Kahli Dalbow
Kimberly Watson
All-State Jazz Ensemble
Nicholas Amoscato
All-State Orchestra Ensemble
Gregory Goodman
Shinwoo Kang
Christopher Koter
Ian Preston
Dasun Wang
PIAA Class
AAA Swimming and Diving
Submitted by: Mr. Corky Semler and Ms. Patti McClure
The Tiger boys
swim team enjoyed a perfect season this year. They completed their season
with an undefeated record in dual meets, a WPIAL championship, and the
crowning achievement, a PIAA title. In addition to the team title, several
members did very well in other contests, as an example, sophomore Connor
Kuremsky won his second consecutive state diving title with a score that was
just one-tenth of a point below the PIAA record.
Team
Championship Title
Sean Battle
Daniel Becker
Konstantin Borisov
Jonathan Buerger
Matthew Buerger
Jonathan Du
Devin Glace
Kevin Kuntz
Connor Kuremsky
You Li
Matthew Magdic
Michael Magdic
Jacob Plichta
Matthew Reid
Luis Rodriguez
Jacob Scherer
David Songer
Johnny Songer
Evan Staresinic
Mark Waugh
Joseph Weiland
First
Place in 1 Meter Diving
Connor Kuremsky
Second
Place in 200 Freestyle
Jonathan Buerger
Second
Place in 400 Freestyle Relay
Jonathan Buerger
Kevin Kuntz
Luis Rodriguez
Mark Waugh
Third
Place in 100 Butterfly
Mark Waugh
2009
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
Submitted by: Ms. Marlene Paulick
Scholastic Art & Writing
Awards offer early recognition of creative teenagers and scholarship
opportunities for graduating high-school seniors. The awards are national in
scope and administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. This
program is open to students in grades 7 through 12
and since 1923, 12 million students have participated. Two-million young
artists and writers have been recognized, and $20 million in awards and
scholarships have been made available. The Scholastic Awards have
recognized some of America’s most celebrated artists and authors while they
were teenagers, including: Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Joyce
Carol Oates and Robert Redford, to mention a few. Please join me in
congratulating eighth grader Cade Seljak who has achieved a Gold Key Award
for his ceramic pottery project called “Orange Fish,” which was just one of
more than 140,000 works submitted from all over the United States.
Gold Key
Cade Seljak
Spring 2009
Knowledge Master Open
Submitted by: Ms. Janet Serdy and Ms. Christina Ruffalo
The
Knowledge Master Open is a challenging, academic competition in which teams
of students compete – nationally and internationally – without leaving their
own schools. The competition began in 1983 with 72 schools; it now annually
attracts over 3,000 schools and 45,000 participants from the U.S. and
several foreign lands. The contest is comprised of 200 challenging
questions that require higher-level thinking skills and cover fourteen
curricular areas. Knowledge Master Open competitions are held twice a year
and are sponsored in our District by the GOAL department. Recently two
North Allegheny teams claimed honors when they participated in the 2009
Spring Knowledge Master Open. A team from NAI achieved First Place in
Pennsylvania and Fourth Place in the nation in the Junior High Division and
a team from CMS achieved First Place in Pennsylvania and Fifth Place in the
nation in the Middle School Division.
Junior High Division
First
Place in Pennsylvania and Fourth Place in the Nation
Brian Boehmke
Griffin Caruso
Alan Dai
Elizabeth Furiga
Dominic LaBella
Christopher Lippiello
Taraneh Manesh
Jeremy McCandlish
Morgan Shaber-Twedt
Ford Smith
Steven Vukmer
Daniel Whitehurst
Joey Zou
Middle School Division
First
Place in Pennsylvania and Fifth Place in the Nation
Katerina Borisov
Chase Daftary
Bradley Davis
Edward Ecker
Benjamin Gibbs
William Gingrich
Emma Gross
Kelsey Hake
Jennifer Hofmann
Hae Min Jung
Alexis Lamperski
Dillon Naylor
Edward Pacey
Connor Phillips
Aodhan Ridenour
Ryan Sanguigni
Kristina Taynor
Sarah Wetzel
Hayley Wyeth
Sixiang Xiao
National
Public Policy Foundation Debate
Submitted by Ms. Sharon Volpe
The National Public Policy
Forum is the only international contest that gives high school students the
opportunity to participate in written and oral debates on issues of public
policy. Founded in 2001 by the Bickel & Brewer law firm, the contest is
designed to supplement the research and oral advocacy skills developed in
policy debate with another – that of written advocacy. Jointly
administered by the Bickel & Brewer Foundation and New York University, the
Forum has grown exponentially since its inception. Hundreds of high school
students participate each year, competing for more than $30,000 in awards
and scholarships, an all-expense-paid trip to New York City and the “Bickel
& Brewer Cup.” Forensics Coach, Ms. Sharon Volpe, has been invited to
accept this award on behalf of the team, as we honor them tonight.
Advancing to the Top Eight
North Allegheny Forensics Team
Windy City
Classic National Music Festival
Submitted by: Mr. Todd Stefan and Mr. Steve Baldanzi
Performing Arts Consultants,
established in 1984, is a non-profit educational foundation dedicated to
students of the performing arts. Since that time, Performing Arts
Consultants has been nationally recognized by thousands of directors as the
festival company that is 'in tune with music programs.'
One of the festivals that is
coordinated by the Performing Arts Consultants is the Windy City Classic
– a national music festival held each spring in Chicago. In 2009, the North
Allegheny Band participated for the first time in this festival, but they
certainly made their presence known. NA ensembles accumulated nine Gold and
three Silver ratings. In addition, Jazz Ensemble I won First Place in their
Division and took the festival’s Grand Champion Award. Sophomore,
Christopher Rudzinskas was individually recognized as the Most Outstanding
Jazz Soloist. We have invited Band Directors Mr. Todd Stefan and Mr.
Steve Baldanzi to accept the ensemble awards on behalf of the band.
Most
Outstanding Jazz Soloist
Christopher Rudzinskas
First
Place in Division, Gold Rating, and Grand Champion Award
Jazz Ensemble I
Gold
Rating
NASH Honors Wind Ensemble
NAI Wind Ensemble
Jazz Ensemble 2
Marching Band (Parade)
Majorette Squad
Flag Team
Dance Team
Indoor Percussion
Silver
Rating
NASH Symphonic Band
NASH Concert Band
Jazz Ensemble 3
Department of
the Air
Force
Air
University
The North
Allegheny High School has earned a National Distinguished Unit Award for the
academic year 2008-2009. This is the fifth consecutive award for our
NA Unit. The Distinguished Unit Award recognizes Air Force Junior ROTC
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.
This award is limited to the best of the best of our nation’s 879 Air Force
Junior ROTC units.
2008-2009 Distinguished Unit Award
North Allegheny Air Force Junior ROTC Unit PA-022
Idaho National Laboratory
Mr. John Schaefers, a
teacher at Ingomar Middle School, was selected to participate in the 2009
National Physics Teachers Workshop titled “Nuclear Technology Addressing
Worldwide Energy Demands.” Only 30 teachers total, with a limit of one
per state, have been selected to participate in this all-expense paid
workshop sponsored by the Idaho National Laboratory. The workshop,
which will be held in July, is designed to provide teachers with the
opportunity to increase their knowledge level on nuclear energy, meet and
learn from the nuclear researchers, tour facilities and interact with peers
from across the country.
2009
National Physics Teachers Workshop Participant
Mr. John Schaefers
American
Association of School Administrators
Submitted by: Dr. Patricia Green, Superintendent of Schools
The American Association of School
Administrators, founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more
than 13,000 educational leaders in the United States and throughout the
world. Members range from chief executive officers, superintendents and
senior level school administrators to cabinet members, professors and
aspiring school system leaders. As school system leaders, AASA members set
the pace for academic achievement. They help shape policy, oversee its
implementation and represent school districts to the public at large.
Each year the Association holds a National Conference on Education to
provide a venue for members to learn new approaches and to challenge their
thinking. Dr. Patricia Green, Superintendent of Schools, was invited to
present at the 2009 Conference which was held in February. Three North
Allegheny School District staff members joined the Superintendent and
co-presented a presentation titled: The Magic in the Middle School
Model: Excellence as a Professional Learning Community.
National
Conference Presenter
Dr. Brian Miller
Mr. Dave Woten
Dr. Timothy Steinhauer
Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development
Submitted by: Dr. Patricia Green, Superintendent of Schools
Founded in 1943, the
American Association of School Administrators is an educational leadership
organization dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the
success of each learner. Their membership of more than 175,000 members in
119 countries represents professional educators from all levels and subject
areas – superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of
education, and school board members. They are a nonprofit, nonpartisan
membership association providing expert and innovative solutions in
professional development, capacity building, and educational leadership
essential to the way educators learn, teach and lead. Our Superintendent
was invited to present at this national conference as well. Dr. Green was
joined by two District staff members in presenting a session titled:
Art Education: A Direct Link to High Student Achievement.
National
Conference Presenter
Mr. Bob Tozier
Mr. Jim Reinhard
National
Forensics League
Ms. Sharon Volpe, forensics coach at
North
Allegheny Senior High School, will be honored in June by the National
Forensics League with her 3rd Diamond Key in recognition of her
dedication in training effective leadership skills. Diamond Keys are
granted to Forensics Coaches on a points-based system. Coaches receive
one-tenth of their students’ points. Under Ms. Volpe’s instructions, her
students earned over 88,850 credit points. Since the founding of the
National Forensics League, there have been only 504 coaches honored with a 3rd
Diamond Key. The National Forensics League is a non-partisan, not for
profit educational honor society founded in 1925. Its purpose is to
encourage and motivate high school students to participate in and become
proficient in the forensic arts: debate, public speaking, and
interpretation. Currently over 93,000 high school students and over 6,500
high school teachers are active members.
Receiving a Third Diamond Key
Ms. Sharon Volpe
Pennsylvania
Swimming Hall of Fame
Submitted by: Mr. Bob Bozzuto
Mr. Corky Semler, the
District’s head swimming coach, has been selected to be a 2009 Inductee into
the Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of Fame. The Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of
Fame was established in 1968 by the Pennsylvania State University and
recognizes those Pennsylvanians who have exhibited extraordinary service and
achievement through aquatics. Mr. Semler has achieved fifty-three section
titles, nineteen WPIAL and eight PIAA first place titles since 1979. In
addition, he has achieved fifteen WPIAL and six PIAA second place finishes.
His overall record is an impressive 561 wins, 83 losses and 6 ties. Mr.
Semler’s coaching has helped 120 athletes over the years to attain All
American Status.
2009
Inductee
Mr. Corky Semler
National
Council of Teachers of English
The National Council of
Teachers of English, with 50,000 individual and institutional members
worldwide, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English
and the language arts at all levels of education. Janice Spohn, a
teacher at Peebles Elementary School, has been appointed to serve as a judge
in the National Council of Teachers of English annual Achievement Awards
Program. The Achievement Awards Program was established in 1957 to
encourage high school students in their writing and to publicly recognize
some of the best student writers in the nation. The program is
specifically designed to honor eleventh-grade students in the United States,
Canada, and American schools abroad for excellence in writing. Each
judge evaluates papers submitted in their state and only students cited as
‘excellent writers’ by their state judge will receive an Achievement Award.
Achievement Awards Program, Pennsylvania Judge
Ms. Janice Spohn
Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals
Ms. Tammy Andreyko,
Principal at Ingomar Middle School, has been selected as the recipient of
the 2009 Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School
Principals Middle Level Principal of the Year. As a result, she will
now represent the state of Pennsylvania in the 2009 National Middle Level
Principal of the Year competition. The Principal of the Year program
began in 1993 as a means to recognize outstanding middle level and high
school principals. Ms. Andreyko was nominated for this award by
District colleague, Ms. Kristen Silbaugh. The three categories of
criteria for selection are Collaborative Leadership, Curriculum, Instruction
and Assessment and Personalization.
2009
Middle Level Principal of the Year
Ms. Tammy Andreyko
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