Student news: Food drive, debate tournament, mock trial and more

The Shady Side Academy Senior School service learning club sponsored a virtual food drive and twice surpassed its fundraising goal, first of $500 and then of $1,000, to raise a total of $2,686 for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Proceeds will provide up to 13,432 meals for those in western Pennsylvania experiencing food insecurity.

The faculty advisor for the service learning club is Lindsey Myers.

Speech, debate laurels

Shady Side Academy Senior School speech and debate team hosted a virtual tournament Jan. 16 with more than 180 competitors from 23 high schools, including schools in California and North Carolina.

SSA fielded 16 student competitors.

Senior Jack Thornton and junior Anish Kusumanchi earned first place and freshmen Hari Viswanathan and Deven Nahata earned fifth place in Parliamentary Debate. Junior Crystal Ma earned third place in Prose Interpretation and junior Riley Doyle earned sixth place in Poetry.

The SSA speech and debate team has competed in eight Pennsylvania tournaments since Oct. 31. The local season ends in late March with qualifiers for state, national and world competitions. Sophomore Maya Leyzarovich qualified for the PHSSL State Tournament in Congress Super Session earlier this month. Sophomore Nichole Poltinnikov continues to compete in virtual tournaments across the U.S. and currently ranks ninth in Pennsylvania in Lincoln Douglas Debate.

SSA teams give back

The Shady Side Academy Senior School boys and girls basketball programs joined other area high schools in the first-ever WPIAL/City Basketball virtual food drive to benefit the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

The drive was organized in December by several area coaches and initially sought to raise $4,000 for the food bank by Jan. 15 through online donations from WPIAL coaches, players, parents, booster clubs and fans. That goal was reached in just one day, so it was adjusted upwards several times with a final goal of $65,000.

The event raised more than $66,000 in donations from 46 different schools.

SSA ranked fourth on the school leaderboard with a total of $3,261.50 in donations.

The drive will ultimately fund more than 330,000 meals.

Fox Chapel Area students lauded

Two Fox Chapel Area High School seniors, Ryan Kenyon and Vivian Shao, have been named candidates in the 2021 United States Presidential Scholars Program.

They are among more than 4,500 students from across the U.S. that are candidates in this year’s program, and 172 are from Pennsylvania.

Inclusion in the Presidential Scholars Program, begun in 1964, is one of the nation’s highest honors bestowed upon graduating high school seniors.

Students are selected based on academic achievements and are also evaluated on their character, leadership and service activities.

Mock trial goes virtual

The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Statewide High School Mock Trial Competition will be held virtually, with 233 teams from 199 high schools across the state set to compete.

They include Fox Chapel Area, Shaler Area and Shady Side Academy.

Sponsored by the PBA Young Lawyers Division, Pennsylvania’s mock trial program is now in its 38th year and is one of the largest in the nation.

During the competition, eight-member student teams are given the opportunity to argue both sides of the case before a judge. The students, who play the roles of lawyers, witnesses, plaintiffs and defendants, are assisted by teacher coaches and lawyer advisors in preparing for competition.

Lawyers and community leaders serve as jurors and sometimes judges for the mock trials. The juries determine the winners in each trial based on the teams’ abilities to prepare their cases, present arguments and follow court rules.

The district and regional levels of the competition will continue throughout February and March.

On March 26 and 27, mock trial teams from 16 high schools will advance to the PBA Statewide Mock Trial Championships.

Walkathon a success

Sixth-grade students at Shady Side Academy held a walkathon to raise money for the nonprofit organization Water for South Sudan and brought in $2,803.

The students in Pam Onest’s English classes sponsored the fundraiser after reading the book “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park, about a young boy’s struggle to provide his family with clean water in South Sudan.

FCA shines in forensic tourneys

Three Fox Chapel Area High School students recently placed in virtual forensic tournaments.

• Shady Side Invitational Forensic Tournament – junior Patrick Alexander won first place in Student Congress and received his second bid for the Pennsylvania state championship tournament. The competition was held virtually Jan. 16 with a total of 212 students representing 23 high schools from three states.

• University of Houston Cougar Classic Tournament – A team of Fox Chapel Area High School students was named a winner in Policy Debate. The team of senior Jackson Romero and junior Ian Mackey-Piccolo advanced to become Double Octofinalists. The virtual competition was held Jan. 15-17 and was hosted by the University of Houston with 552 students from 91 high schools from 17 states participating.