Pupil Information: Scholastic Artwork and Writing Awards, CalcuSolve Winners, a Wimshurst Machine, and Extra

By jimadmin Last updated Feb 13, 2021

A total of 39 students from the Shady Side Academy in grades 8 to 12 won 71 prizes in the regional competition of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards 2021.

The winners include 19 eighth graders from SSA Middle School and 20 students from SSA Senior School.

Twelve students won Gold Keys to advance to the national competition, for which medalists will be announced on March 17th.

The Gold Key art winners were: Newbie Benjamin Bischoff in Drawing & Illustration for Last Breath; Junior Marnie McCormick in Ceramics & Glass for two works, Molten Bowl and A Bowl Made for Lemons; Newbie Yuntong Pan in Painting for Rest; Senior Melissa Riggins in Ceramic & Glass for Waterfall; and Senior Xinru “Vita” Yang in Drawing & Illustration for three works: two self-portraits and an umbrella.

The Gold Key Letter Winners Were: Eighth Grade Maanya Goulatia in Personal Essay & Memoir for Far Far Away # 2; Eighth Grader Mark Henne in Personal Essay & Memoir for a Pot of Forgiveness; Eighth grader Ava Jankowski in Personal Essay & Memoir for The Phantom Menace; Junior Ava Kronman in Poetry for the Slaughter of the Children of Democracy: Acrostic; Junior Marnie McCormick in Journalism for Is A Hot Dog A Sandwich ?; Eighth grader Jordan Roupe in Personal Essay & Memoir for There Goes Harvard; Junior Anker Zhao in Journalism for Intellectual Diversity: A Framework for the Future; and Senior Qingqing Zhao in Critical Essay for Should the 1787 Constitution be Ratified? An Indian perspective.

Driving school supplies

Deven Nahata, a freshman at Shady Side Academy, organized a school supply event at the senior school to support Hello Neighbor, a nonprofit founded by SSA alumna Sloane Davidson that supports resettled refugees in Pittsburgh.

In the week from January 11th to 15th, high school students and families donated calculators, binders, binders, crayons, markers, coloring books, colored paper, pens, pencils, backpacks and other handicraft materials. Nahata and his mother provided the donations, which will be distributed to refugee children in the Pittsburgh area.

As an eighth grader at SSA Middle School, Nahata organized a toilet and housewares drive to support Hello Neighbor. As a seventh grader, he ran a fundraiser, collected English books, and had his classmates make cards to welcome refugees to Pittsburgh.

CalcuSolve competitive awards

A team of students from Dorseyville Middle School in the Fox Chapel Area school district recently entered the CalcuSolve regional competition.

The team of eighth graders Alex Kim and Arnim Kuchhal and seventh graders Michael Costello and Rodrigo Silva won third place overall in the seventh and eighth grade team. Rodrigo and eighth grader David Black also took first place in the individual competition, with both achieving perfect results.

The sixth grader Leonidas Vandapel took third place in his division.

Students from across Allegheny County attended this academic event, coordinated by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit and sponsored by the II-VI Foundation.

CalcuSolve is a competition that tests students’ problem solving skills related to math.

FCA publications recognized

Two Fox Chapel Area High School publications were recognized in the 2020 American Scholastic Press Association competition / review for yearbooks, magazines and newspapers.

The literary magazine “Tapestry” for the period 2019-2020 received a national award with first place. The high school newspaper, Fox Tales Quarterly, was also named the first national winner for the Fall 2020 edition.

The student assistants of “Tapestry” (2019-2020) were the graduates of 2020, Amelia Bothe, Claire Cummings, Gwendolyn Davison (editor-in-chief), Fiona Healy, Emma Lusk, Megan Matthis, Zeynep Ozkaya, Navjot Pabla (layout design) and Anzu Sekikawa , Olivia Tang (Head of Submissions), Helene Tracey and Angelique Uku; current Seniors 2020-2021 Molly Dean, Divine Eyth, Emily Li and Nora McDougall; and current Juniors 2020-2021 Carlie Barnett, Alexa Berman, Mackenzie Borkovich, Nina Busch, Ellen Gray and Ruth Mertens. The student counselor is Fox Chapel Area High School’s English teacher Jessica Green.

The Fox Tales Quarterly student assistants for 2020-2021 are Seniors Amulya Garimella, Rachel Horne, Maggie Kelly, Ryan Kenyon and Abigail Rickin-Marks. Juniors Noah Bradley, Justine Eng, Russell Fenton, Danielle Horne, Madeleine Müller, Beata Turnquist, Calla Truschel Jacobs, Kaylee Uribe, Katherine Voigt and Ann Yonas; second year Trevor Katz; and newcomers Shriya Krishnamurthy and Abraham White. The sponsor of the students is the gifted education coordinator of Fox Chapel Area High School, Lisa Gibson.

Scholastic Art Award winner

Several students from Fox Chapel Area School District were recognized for their contributions to the Pittsburgh area at the 2021 Scholastic Art Awards.

Gold Key winners were the seniors Jessica Jing McCann (4 Gold Keys), Joey Wang (2 Gold Keys), Alwyn Williams and Wenyu Zuo (2 Gold Keys); second year Jonathan Li; and newcomer Isabella White (2 Gold Keys). In addition, Jessica Jing McCann was selected as a nominee for American Visions for her piece of jewelery entitled “Anxiety’s Flight”. Only a select few regional Gold Key winners receive this award, and their pieces are considered the best on the show.

All Gold Key winners will have their work sent to New York for national evaluation, where they will compete for national awards with other regional winners from across the United States. The national competition winners will be part of the National Scholastic Art Awards exhibition.

The winners of the Silver Key were the seniors Samantha DiGregory, Meredith Francis (2 Silver Keys), Kristian Kerschbaumer, Jessica Jing McCann (5 Silver Keys), Joey Wang and Zoey Zoschg; Junior Alexa Berman (2 silver keys); Sophomores Jonathan Li and Sophie Shao; and newcomer Isabella White.

The Honorable Mention winners were Seniors Emma Begg (3 Honorable Mentions), Madelyn Francis, Ainsley Good, Jessica Jing McCann (3 Honorable Mentions), Joey Wang (4 Honorable Mentions), Alwyn Williams, Zoey Zoschg and Wenyu Zuo (3 Honorable Mentions) Mentions); Juniors Alexa Berman (4 Honorable Mentions) and Emily Hook; Sophomores Madisyn Elwood, Jonathan Li (3 Honorable Mentions), and Sophie Shao; Freshmen Emma Kim (3 Honorable Mentions) and Isabella White (4 Honorable Mentions); and eighth graders Caleb Adams and Yuqi Zhou.

Fox Chapel Area High School’s art teachers are Joan Marangoni, Mary Jo Montgomery, Sarah Patrick, Christine Smith, Sarah Stewart, and Amy Wickman. Dorseyville Middle School’s art teachers are Cheryl Etters, Nanci Goldberg, and Mackenzie Seymour.

Student builds Wimshurst machine

Steven Liu, Junior at Shady Side Academy, designed and built a Wimshurst machine from the ground up as his independent project for Scott Peterson’s Advanced Topics in Physics and Engineering Class.

The Wimshurst machine was invented by James Wimshurst at the end of the 19th century and is an electrostatic generator that generates high voltages. It consists of two opposing panes and two Leyden glasses (capacitors) and can be driven by a hand crank or an electric motor. Wimshurst machines powered the first X-rays, the first scanning electron microscope, and the earliest lasers.

Liu built his Wimshurst machine at SSA’s Glimcher Tech & Design Hub with Peterson’s assistance and guidance.

“After a total of 78 prototypes and four months of construction … it works!” Said Liu.

SSA students collect food for charity

Shady Side Academy’s junior and senior high school students and families donated groceries to Pittsburgh Catholic charities’ day accommodations as part of the annual SSA MLK Day tradition of engaging students in service learning activities.

Items collected included individually wrapped breakfast / granola bars, oatmeal, snack bags, cups of soup / noodles, and fruit cups. Pittsburgh Catholic charities provide warmth and food to the Pittsburgh homeless population during the cold winter months.

On February 4, Lindsay Myers, senior school director of service learning, and Jennifer Laman, SSA parent, packed two cars with donations from both locations and delivered them to Catholic charities in downtown Pittsburgh.

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Fox Chapel Herald | Local