Student Recognition - There's lots to cheer about!
 

Speech and Debate

The speech and debate team competed at Bethel Park on November 22. The following received top honors:

  • In Lincoln Douglas Debate – Sophomores Richard Gayler won 1st with a perfect 3-0 record, and Liyan Fan earned 3rd place.
  • In Public Forum Debate – The team of freshmen Anis Adnani and Kevin Zhang won 1st with a perfect record.  These freshmen are undefeated in the two trophy tournaments that they have attended in their debate careers. The team of sophomores Adam Majewski and Griffin Caruso won 5th place.
  • In Extemporaneous Commentary – Junior Connie Yuan brought home the 2nd place trophy, and sophomores Brennan McGovern and Lili Peng earned 3rd and 5th respectively.
  • In impromptu - Sophomore Rona Sun took 5th place.
  • And in radio announcing – Junior Katie Owsiany took 5th place.

Also this past weekend, senior Stacey Chen competed at the Glenbrooks tournament in Chicago.  This tournament is the largest national-level tournament during the regular season, and Stacey came out of her final round with first place rankings from all of her judges to win the prestigious first place in extemporaneous speaking.

 

Video Created by Students for World Diabetes Day 

A video was created by some students here at NAI as a part of a group for students with Diabetes.  The video is titled “Do You Accept this Mission”.  The intent of the video was to send a message to the next President about what he needs to do to end Diabetes and were to be submitted by teens.  This was all part of World Diabetes Day, November 14th.  For each video submitted, a donation was made by Novo Nordisk Inc to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. 

Here's the link to the video: http://wdd.quickcompliance.net/

Speech and Debate

At the November Quigley tournament, the North Allegheny Speech and Debate Team took the top FOUR places in Public Forum debate.  NAI students who performed well were freshman newcomers Anis Adnani and Kevin Zhang.  They were the surprise of the day came when they came in second only by a few points to a senior NA team.  Both top teams had 4-0 records.  Sophomores Richard Bochicchio and Lili Peng came in 3rd in Public Forum with a 3-1 record.

In extemporaneous speaking, freshman and first time extemper Abby Stevenson got an award for being one of the top novice extempers at the tournament.

Finally, in congress - new members Akshaya Arjunan, a sophomore, and freshmen Christine Troy took top honors. 

Beatty Technical School Student of the Month Award

Brett Mitchell received the Student of the Month Award in the category of Advanced Computer Programming.

PMEA District 1 Honors Band

District One includes over 550 school and private music teachers from Allegheny, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties. Over 650 students auditioned for approx. 125 spots in the PMEA District 1 Honors Band-

Once again NA had more students make these groups than any of the other participating school districts!

The NASH students that made the group are as follows:

Rachel Minto- Flute              
Alyssa Shaw- Clarinet            
Eliana Rabinowitz- Clarinet            
Nick Amoscato- Tenor Saxophone           
Ian Preston- Trumpet            
Kelsey Steele- Trombone

The NAI students that made the group are as follows:

Julie Wu- Clarinet       
Steve Bergman- Clarinet      
Helen McHugh- Clarinet      
Janny Liu- Bass Clarinet      
Aaron Borrebach- Alto Sax      
Zach Shaw- French Horn      
Evan Swihart- Euphonium      
Caleb Goncz- Percussion

Students that made the PMEA Honors Jazz Ensemble from NASH are as follows:

Nick Amoscato- Tenor Sax
Ian Preston- Trumpet
Sean Vins- Trumpet
Maria Munsch- Trumpet
Derek Bluemling- Trombone
Kelsey Steele- Trombone
Brianna Amoscato- Piano
Lucas Ashby- Drums

Students that made the PMEA Honors Jazz Ensemble from NAI are as follows:

Lauren Eisenreich- Trombone
Chris Rudzinskas- Tenor Sax
Sam Vins- Trumpet
Evan Swihart- Trombone
Dante Denillo- Drums

Beatty Technical School Student of the Month Awards - September 2008

Two North Allegheny students won awards for the month of September:

  • Gregory Puskaric - Advanced Computer Programming
  • Nick Eberhart - Agile Ropotics/Intelligent Systems

Alex Papson honored as Student-Athlete of the WeeK!

North Allegheny sophomore running back Alex Papson was honored as our Clearview Federal Credit Union Student-Athlete of the Week on Thursday. Link to news site

State Competition of the Junior Academy of Science

The North Allegheny Science Research Team , winners of over $25,000 in cash and scholarships this year, made their final research project presentations during the 74th Annual State Meeting of the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science at Penn State University on May 19, 2008  where North Allegheny received 6 First place Awards and 1 Second place award including:
 
Shivani Mehta, a senior at NASH, received a 1st Place award from the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences during the State Competition of the Junior Academy of Science for her Computer Science research entitled: “Differences in age-related SWD’s during motor arrest in rats.”  Shivani Mehta has already received a 1st place award at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Regional Competition , a 2nd Place in Senior Division Computer Science and 2 sponsor awards from the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center and the University of Pittsburgh Department of  Neuroscience at the Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair.
 
Jon Lin, a junior at NASH, received a 1st Place award from the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences during the State Competition of the Junior Academy of Science for his Microbiology research entitled: “Sunscreen Effectiveness Against UV Radiation in E. coli.”  Jon has already received a 1st place award during the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Regional Competition.
 
Katherine Luo, a junior at NASH, received a 2nd Place award from the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences during the State Competition of the Junior Academy of Science for his Microbiology research entitled: “Tea Signaling.”  Katherine has already received a 1st place award during the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Regional Competition.
 
Jay Seghal, a sophomore at NAI, received a 1st place at the State Competition of the Junior Academy of Science for his medical Research project entitled: “Scaffold Degradation” Jay has already received a 1st place at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Regional competition in February.
 
Richard Gayler, a freshman at NAI, received a 1st Place award, perfect score, and the Zappa Junior Award from the Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences during the State Competition of the Junior Academy of Science for his Physics research entitled “Maximizing Solar Panel Output.”  Richard has already received a 1st place at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Regional Competition, a 2nd Place in Senior Division Physics, 2 Sponsor awards from the Eaton Corporation and The Technology Collaborative, and 1 Affiliate Sponsor 1st Place Award from the U.S. Army during the Pittsburgh Science and Engineering Fair held previously this school year.
 
Julie Wu, a freshman at NAI  earned a 1st place and perfect score at the State Competition of the Junior Academy of Science for her Cancer Research project entitled:  “Potential Anti-Obesity Drug Effects on Bile Duct Cell Growth” Julie has already won a 1st place award at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Regional competition in February and  a 1st Place from the U.S. Air Force during the Pittsburgh Science and Engineering Fair in April.
 
Skanda Koppula, a seventh grader at IMS, received a 1st place at the State Competition of the Junior Academy of Science for his Computer Research project entitled: “A Study of Inter-Robot Communication.” Skanda has already received a 1st place at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Regional competition in February.

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On Tuesday, April 29, 2008, North Allegheny Intermediate High School inducted new members into the National Junior Honor Society. Click on the links below to view the names of these students:
New 9th Grade NJHS members
New 10th Grader NJHS members

Thirteen students from NAI have been selected for enrollment in the National Junior Classical League Latin Honor Society for 2007-2008. They are Andrew Adam, Bryan Caswell, Megan Doerzbacher, Kearsie Dougherty, Laura Marti, Jenna Mulligan, Michael Noh, Sean Radermacher, Natalie Rogers, Kelsey Steele, Dasun Wang, Rachel Weaver, and Julie Wu.

Five freshmen from NAI scored perfect papers on the 2008 National Latin Exam. These Latin students were Bailey Blashford, Kearsie Dougherty, Julia Meyer, Sean Nimmo, and Lauren Shideler.  Latin I students at NAI garnered 16 gold medals and 9 silver medals on the test.  Seventeen gold medals and 13 silver medals were earned by Latin II students at the Intermediate High School. 

North Allegheny students did incredibly well at the PMEA Western Region Orchestra Festival this past week!
All of the musicians who went to Region Orchestra placed in the top half of the orchestra and are now progressing on to the All-State Orchestra and Band Festivals.
Here are the NAI string players who participated:
Sean Radermacher, violin, NAI, 9th chair
Erin Smith, violin, NAI, 11th chair

 

Six North Allegheny BAND students have auditioned into the PMEA All-State Honors Ensembles. We have 3 Band students in the All-State Band and 3 Band students in the All-State Orchestra. 5 of the six are not only in the All-State ensembles, but earned a first chair spot. These are truly 6 of the finest musicians in all of the state.
Two of the six students are from NAI. Their names are:
Clair Kang- Flute- All-State Orchestra (first chair)
Nick Amoscato- Tenor Saxophone- All State Band (first Chair)

17 members of the North Allegheny Science Research Team competed at Upper St. Clair High School on Saturday February 2 in the Regional Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science. 

Students receiving First place Awards included: Shivani Mehta (NASH), Jonathan Lin (NASH), Katherine Luo (NASH), Richard Gayler (NAI), Jay Segal (NAI), Ava Miller (NAI), Julie Wu (NAI), and Skanda Koppula (IMS). These students are now invited to the State Competition of the PJAS in May at Penn State.

Students receiving Second Place Awards included: Dorothy Curran (NASH), Akshaya Arjunan (NAI), Hally Bayer (NAI), Andrew Beck (NAI), Abigail Gunn (NAI ), Kelly Hung (NAI), Valerie Kopyta (NAI), Fardeen Mehdi (NAI), and Shivam Verma (NAI).

The following are the students from NA Intermediate High School who were among the winners of the 2007-08 Diversity Contest:
Alexandra Leniham - Fine Arts Design
Laurel Gabriel - Writing Design

At Beattie Technical School, Matthew King has been nominated as the "Student of the Month" for the Automotive Technology program.