Summer 2016

WHAT'S HAPPENING AROUND OLSH
SENIOR SEMINAR
The second year of OLSH’s Senior
Seminar: Felician Values Fulfilled
was completed. Senior students
presented to small groups
of faculty on the five Felician
Core Values and how they have
experienced those values over the
last four years at OLSH. •
NHS NEW INDUCTEES
The following students were inducted into OLSH’s chapter of
the National Honor Society in April: (Juniors) Shawn Blake,
Andrew Gabriel, Katherine Goliwas, Ethan Harrell, Andrew
King, Nathan Nicklas, Dylan Osheka, Luke Rattay, Tara
Richardson; (Sophomores) Elyse Belak, Brendan Burke,
Kathryn Dickey, Isabel Dobbs, Jennifer Falgione, Emily
Halbedl, Irene Harrell, Andrew Heller, Celeste Kristek, Grace
Lipscomb, Kevin Meurer, Alexis Moskala, Macy Skepanski,
Christina Trocchio. The new NHS officers were also installed:
President - Chris DeSalle; Vice President - Rosie Stock;
Secretary - Holly Taylor; Treasurer - Rachel Kuchnicki. •
ROOTS
The annual Roots reception took place on May 11. The Roots
reception is a culmination of a freshman English class project
where students interviewed their oldest living relative and
created a biography of that individual. At the celebration,
freshman students and their guests toured the school,
attended Mass in the Chapel, and enjoyed refreshments and a
performance by the Show Choir. •
20 • www.olsh.org
CARING PLACE DONATION
On April 1, 2016, a group of
six students accompanied
Mrs. Maureen Steuernagel to
the Highmark Caring Place, a
center for grieving children and
adolescents, in Wexford for a day
of service. The students included
four seniors, Abigail Cercone,
Emily Efthimiades, Megan
Krance and Mayra Pollo, along
with freshmen Alyssa Brinza
and Corinne McDevitt, who are
members of the Young Hands activity. They presented the
Caring Place with a check for $200 raised through the selling
of Halloween and Valentine’s Day Candy Grams. That check
was matched by Highmark. After a tour of the facility, the girls
assisted the Caring Place staff with assembling packets for an
upcoming orientation program, moving boxes and preparing art
supplies for a group of families. •
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT/
FUTURE EDUCATORS
A group of OLSH students volunteered to serve as Junior
Achievement of Western Pennsylvania instructors for students
at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Hopewell. The
students were tasked with teaching topics such as how family
members contribute to the well-being of the family, what it
means to be a business owner, how to explore your career
options, being fiscally responsible, and the importance of
international business. OLSH students Kristian Biega ’16,
Gina Crisci ’17, Courtney Cyrilla ’16, Elizabeth Fernandez
’16, Samantha Keeley ’16, Mary Louise Kohser ’16, Mara
Mercadante ’17, Sara Oros ’16, Emily Palombo ’16, and
Amanda Weber ’16 spent the day at Fatima in service to the
school students. Junior Achievement programs foster workreadiness,
entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills, and
use experiential learning to inspire students to dream big and
reach their potential. Students who participate in the program
each year are eligible for scholarship monies for high school
and college. •
OLSH NEWS AND NOTES
Students
Sophia Blake ‘19 was one of ten solo
artists/bands to appear on 91.3 WYEP
Reimagination III CD, an initiative that
matches young area musicians with
professionals who mentor and guide
them through the recording process.
Sophia was also selected to perform at
the Three Rivers Arts Festival’s acoustic
stage on Sunday, June 5 as part of this
initiative.
Brendan Burke ‘18 was honored by the
Benedictine Sisters of Pittsburgh for
his role in collecting shoe donations for
their Heart and Sole project. Brendan
collected 135 pairs of shoes and $650
from OLSH and St. Teresa school and
parish.
Jacob Dickey’s
‘16 interpretation
of an excerpt
from Angela’s
Ashes by Frank
McCourt earned
him his second
2nd place finish
in prose at the
Pennsylvania High School Speech
League state tournament. Sam
Huddleston ‘16 competed in
extemporaneous speaking and made it
to the semifinal round, finishing 9th
overall. Sam and Jacob travelled to Salt
Lake City to compete in Congressional
Debate at the National Speech & Debate
Association National Tournament in
June.
Rachel Kuchnicki ‘17 was recognized
at Seton Hill University’s Women in
Science Day for her achievements in
mathematics. Kuchnicki was nominated
by teacher Mr. Michael Schuster for
this honor. The event consisted of
lectures, workshops and a luncheon
where young women interested in the
fields of math and science were given
certificates. Kuchnicki was offered a
4-year scholarship to Seton Hill valued at
$72,000!
Alexis Moskala ’18 placed first at the
PJAS Regional Competition held at
Duquesne University with her project
“Sucrose, Glucose and Fructose:
Dan Joyce ‘17, Rachel Kuchnicki ‘17, and Daniel
Shaw ‘17 earned scores on the 2015 Preliminary
SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/
NMSQT) that have entered them into the 2017 National
Merit Scholarship Program. From approximately 1.5
million program entrants across the country, each of
these OLSH students is among the 50,000 highestscoring
participants who will be further recognized
next fall. From the 50,000 high scorers nationwide, about 16,000 will be named
National Merit Program Semifinalists, representing the top scorers in each state,
and approximately 34,000 others will be commended for their performance
on the PSAT/NMSQT. Semifinalists will have the opportunity to continue in the
competition for 7,400 National Merit Scholarships to be offered in 2017.
Uncovering Hidden Sugars in Food and
Drinks.” Under the leadership of OLSH
science teacher Mrs. Susan Rusnak,
Alexis also competed at the State
Tournament at Penn State University,
where she took 2nd place.
Nathan Nicklas
’17 received an
Award of
Excellence from
the Digital Media
Arts Consortium
(formerly TVT) at
the Spring
Student Festival
held at Robert Morris University for his
stop motion video.
Congratulations
to Lindsey
Polojac ‘17 who
placed 2nd in the
state and
received a silver
medal at the
Health
Occupations
Students of America (HOSA) Competition!
Lindsey and a teammate created a
Health Career Display on Audiology and
Speech Language Pathology. Along with
their display, they had to prepare a
five-minute presentation involving the
education, training, and work
environment for each career. The display
and presentation were judged by a panel
of education and health professionals.
Lindsey’s second place finish qualifies
her for the national competition this
summer at the HOSA National
Leadership Conference in Nashville.
Lindsey was also recently inducted as
the President of BCCTC’s HOSA chapter.
Rachael Sarnowski ’16 was awarded
an EQT scholarship and was named
one of the Tribune Review’s Top 100
Outstanding Young Citizens.
Lindsey Seibel ’19 recently earned the
Girl Scout Silver Award with a project she
completed with two fellow Holy Trinity
School alumni that supported the Holy
Trinity School library. Their project added
new and requested books to the library
shelves, as well as other resources,
including two dolls and artwork.
On Sunday, April 17, 2016, Nathan
Walter ‘18 was honored by the
Pittsburgh 1916 Easter Rising
Committee at a reception and award
ceremony at The Grand Hall at the Priory
on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Nathan
received third prize for the poem he
submitted to the committee’s Irish
history art and writing competition. The
contest, themed Easter 1916: Pittsburgh
Remembers, was created to encourage
the region’s next generation to research,
explore and express the roots of Irish
history.
After completing her participation in
the 2015-2016 Westinghouse Science
Honors Institute (WSHI), Gouri Vinod
’17 placed 12th on the WSHI voluntary
exam. She received a $150 award for
her achievement.
Faculty & Staff
Social Studies teacher Mrs. Andrea
Bagnell will be attending an AP Summer
Seminar for World History.
Be Known | Be Transformed | Be Inspired • 21