HEADLINING

Hempfield Area School District
Essay Contest Winners
Congratulations to Tayiah Keefer and Rachel Tinney, sixth-grade students in
Ms. O’Leary’s and Mrs. Forrester’s English classes, respectively, at
Wendover Middle School. These
girls were among twenty
students chosen as winners in
the 2016 Westmoreland County
Firemen’s Association Fire
Prevention Essay Contest from
all over Westmoreland County!
Tayiah and Rachel were recognized
at an awards ceremony
held at the Youngwood Fire
Hall, and were presented with
special plaques, bicycles, gift
cards, and smoke detectors
for their excellent work.
Outstanding job, girls!
Pictured above with their new bikes are
Taiyah Keefer (l) and Rachel Tinney (r)
Acclaimed Author Visits Wendover
Students had exposure to the writings of J.B. Cheaney through collaborative
lessons with their librarian, English, and reading teachers at Wendover Middle
School. Students in the eighth grade creative writing club submitted their writing
in advance and their librarian sent this to J.B. Cheaney. As a result, students
received feedback and professional advice from our guest author and participated
in a writing activity during the visit. Sixth and seventh grade students attended a
session that focused on character development and action driven writing, while
eighth grade students attended an assembly that focused on the art of storytelling
and movies found in her novel I Don’t Know How the Story Ends.
Math Golf Night at Harrold
Middle School
WHMS Student Rylan Kauffman Finishes First at
MCWP Math Contest
On Saturday, April 9, 2016, The Mathematics Council
of Western Pennsylvania (MCWP) conducted its
annual Algebra I/Integrated Math II contest at Derry
Area Middle School. For the third time in the last
four years, a Hempfield student took top honors in
the preliminary round by scoring the highest among
the students representing both Westmoreland and
Fayette Counties. This year’s top finisher was West
Hempfield Middle School student Rylan Kauffman.
Rylan was an 8th grade student in Mr. James
Biondi’s Honors Algebra I class at West Hempfield Middle School this past year.
More than thirty-five seventh and eighth grade Harrold students stayed after
school to participate in Math Golf where each “hole” consisted of a math problem
and students were awarded points for their answers. Pizza was served after
the ninth hole, and prizes were awarded to the teams with the lowest score after
eighteen holes. The event was organized by Harrold teachers, Mrs. Michele
Duboy, Mrs. Teresa Graziotto, and Ms. Becky Spurlock.
A group of eighth grade students receive their writing submissions with feedback
from J.B. Cheaney
Architectural Design Challenge
West Hempfield’s HEP Architecture team recently participated in the Pittsburgh
History and Landmark Foundation’s annual Design Challenge. This year,
students were asked to envision an element of their home school to redesign.
West Hempfield Middle School’s team chose to create a new wing of the
school that addressed student needs with a focus on the biophilia hypothesis
which suggests that there is an intrinsic bond between human beings and
other living systems. With their eye on environmental issues and attention to
design details, the team of four – Jilian Brockhoff, Alyssa Drahusz,
Emma Hoffner, and Bret Macrania – placed second
overall and also won first place
as awarded by a
student jury.
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