Student News: Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, CalcuSolve winners, a Wimshurst machine and more

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

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

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

Gold Key art winners were: freshman 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; freshman Yuntong Pan in Painting for Rest; senior Melissa Riggins in Ceramics & Glass for Waterfall; and senior Xinru “Vita” Yang in Drawing & Illustration for three works: two self-portraits and Umbrella.

Gold Key writing winners were: eighth grader 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 Democracy’s Children: Acrostic Poems; 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 Constitution of 1787 be Ratified? A Native American Perspective.

^

School supply drive

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

During the week of Jan. 11-15, Senior School students and families donated calculators, binders, folders, crayons, markers, coloring books, colored paper, pens, pencils, backpacks and other craft materials. Nahata and his mother delivered the donations, which will be distributed to refugee children in the Pittsburgh area.

As an eighth grader at the SSA Middle School, Nahata organized a toiletry and household goods drive to support Hello Neighbor and as a seventh grader, he held a fundraiser, collected English books and had his classmates create cards to welcome refugees to Pittsburgh.

^

CalcuSolve competition accolades

A team of Dorseyville Middle School students in the Fox Chapel Area School District recently placed in the regional CalcuSolve 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 division. Additionally, Rodrigo and eighth grader David Black tied for first place in the individual competition, with both achieving perfect scores.

Sixth grader Leonidas Vandapel tied for third place in his division.

Students from across Allegheny County participated in this academic event which is 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 won awards in the 2020 American Scholastic Press Association Contest/Review for Yearbooks, Magazines, and Newspapers.

The 2019-2020 literary arts magazine “Tapestry” received a first-place national award. The high school’s newspaper, “Fox Tales Quarterly,” was also named a first-place national winner for the fall 2020 issue.

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

The 2020-2021 student staff members of “Fox Tales Quarterly” are seniors Amulya Garimella, Rachel Horne, Maggie Kelly, Ryan Kenyon and Abigail Rickin-Marks; juniors Noah Bradley, Justine Eng, Russell Fenton, Danielle Horne, Madeleine Muller, Beata Turnquist, Calla Truschel Jacobs, Kaylee Uribe, Katherine Voigt,and Ann Yonas; sophomore Trevor Katz; and freshmen Shriya Krishnamurthy and Abraham White. The students’ sponsor is Fox Chapel Area High School gifted-education coordinator Lisa Gibson.

^

Scholastic Art Award winners

Several Fox Chapel Area School District students won awards for their entries in the Pittsburgh Region of the Scholastic Art Awards 2021.

Gold Key winners were seniors Jessica Jing McCann (4 Gold Keys), Joey Wang (2 Gold Keys), Alwyn Williams and Wenyu Zuo (2 Gold Keys); sophomore Jonathan Li; and freshman Isabella White (2 Gold Keys). In addition, Jessica Jing McCann was selected as an American Visions nominee for her jewelry piece entitled “Anxiety’s Flight.” This honor is given to only a select few regional Gold Key winners, and their pieces are considered to be among the very best of the show.

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

Silver Key winners were 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 freshman Isabella White.

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); 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 art teachers are Joan Marangoni, Mary Jo Montgomery, Sarah Patrick, Christine Smith, Sarah Stewart and Amy Wickman. The Dorseyville Middle School art teachers are Cheryl Etters, Nanci Goldberg and Mackenzie Seymour.

^

Student builds Wimshurst machine

Shady Side Academy junior Steven Liu designed and built a Wimshurst machine from scratch as his independent project for Scott Peterson’s Advanced Topics in Physics and Engineering class.

Invented by James Wimshurst in the late 1800s, the Wimshurst machine is an electrostatic generator that generates high voltages. It consists of two counter-rotating disks and two Leyden jars (capacitors) and can be powered by a hand crank or an electric motor. Wimshurst machines powered the first X-ray, the first scanning electron microscope and the earliest lasers.

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

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

^

SSA students collect food for charity

Shady Side Academy Middle and Senior School students and families donated food items for Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh’s daytime shelters as part of the annual SSA MLK Day tradition of engaging students in service learning activities.

Items collected included individually packaged breakfast/granola bars, oatmeal, snack bags, cups of soup/noodles and fruit cups. Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh provides warmth and food to Pittsburgh’s homeless population during the cold winter months.

On Feb. 4, Senior School Director of Service Learning Lindsay Myers and SSA parent Jennifer Laman packed up two cars full of the donations from both campuses and delivered them to Catholic Charities in downtown Pittsburgh.