gyhuwlvhuv - Allegheny West Magazine

PUBLISHER & EDITOR’S Last month’s issue marked a milestone for us. Allegheny WestMagazine turned 15 years old! They say time flies when you’re havingfun. Well, we have certainly seen time fly over all the years we have satat our desks, or attended hundreds of events, meetings, interviews,photo shoots, and more.Just when you think you know abouteverything going on around our town, you learnsomething new, meet someone new, or hearsomething new.For example, Pittsburgh Technical Instituteproudly rolled out its American Academy ofCulinary Arts to meet continued growingdemand for cooks and chefs in the region.The Hollow Oak Land Trust is doing biggerand better things to preserve nature in this partof Allegheny County, as guest writer, CarolynMorrison, reports in her story on page 22.With the new school year underway, we learned about the newmechatronics program at CCAC, a new partnership between Rosedaleand Precision Manufacturing Institute, and new classes and programs forstudents in the Montour School District.And, we had the pleasure of learning about some more of the outstandingresidents in your hometown. Learn about Priscilla Salvatore, nowretired from the Western Area YMCA, who was honored with a PaulHarris Award from the Parkway West Rotary, and Maggie Forbes, whohas returned to direct the Carnegie Library and Performing Arts Center.And read about Rosedale’s director, Dennis Wilke, who has been electedto guide his national industry organization.Needless to say, we continue to enjoy the ride and especially to playan important part in helping to keep our residents and businessesconnected and informed.Thank you! As we celebrate our 15th birthday, being the community’sstoryteller has been one of the best gifts we could ever receive. And itkeeps on giving!Pat Jennette, Publisher & EditorI don’t know about you, but when the Discovery Channel show Man vs. Wild started airing on television a fewyears ago, I became a fan.My introduction was the episode where host Bear Grylls, a British special forces member-turned motivationalspeaker, got dropped into a remote location in Hawaii. After traipsing across cooled lava fields and plucking freshavocados right out of the treetops, Bear made a home-made smoker to quell a giant bee’s nest, and pulled out a firstsizedchunk of gooey honeycomb that he devoured right there on the spot.For those of you not familiar with the since canceled show, Bear was often dropped into remote locations like theSierra Nevada or Rocky mountains to demonstrate survival skills. Serving as the show’s backdrop were some of thewildest and most beautiful places on earth. To me, sitting in the cramped apartment in Boston I used to rent, withthe sounds of neighbors on all sides, and the daily battle of the subway still fresh in my mind, it was pure escape.The idea of the unending wilderness is one that’s actually pretty ubiquitous, and become the backbone behindsome pretty big business. While it’s been good for clothing lines and retail box stores, it’s also been good for ourparks. Ecotourism helps them survive.In this issue, we feature a story about the Hollow Oak Land Trust, and the organization’s efforts to preserve greenspaces throughout the airport area by encouraging eco-tourism into some surprisingly beautiful spaces right under our noses. I encourage you toread the piece, and also check out some of the trails that HOLT is developing. Maybe you’ll even volunteer with them.Doug Hughey, Assistant Editor