School News

Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 June 2015 16:20

By Ken Askew

Each year for more than a decade, the Pleasant Hills Rotary Club has formally recognized the outstanding achievements of local 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. This year's dinner and presentation was held at the Georgetown Centre on East Bruceton Road in Pleasant Hills, on April 28, 2015.

St. Elizabeth School (l to r): Mrs. Donna O'Toole, Gemma Gurcak, Brianna DeJames, Nicholas Bichler, Mrs. Bechtol, Darius Legleitner, Victoria Legleitner, and Justin Johnson.

This year's event had 120 banquet-room-filling attendees--more than any recent year. Included were the student honorees, their families, their school administrators and teachers, and members of the local Rotary chapter.

Each grade and school had a male and female winner from South Park Middle School, Pleasant Hills Middle School, and St. Elizabeth School.
Selections were based on overall academic, behavioral and social qualities which recognize them as role models for their peers and are indicative of current and future leadership abilities. Recommendations were initiated by the students' teachers, endorsed by their school administrators, and approved by the Rotary.
Many of the students "résumés" included numerous community, religious, and social activities, in addition to volunteer opportunities. Moreover, athletic accomplishments have not been overlooked; several students have earned black belts in various martial arts styles, and one girl has already been offered a softball scholarship at Penn State.
So—why type of careers is all this effort training them for? A wide variety of aspirations have been expressed by the scholars themselves, such as: doctor, neurosurgeon, park ranger, herpetologist, computer game designer, and computer programmer.

Pleasant Hills Middle School (l to r): Erika Vogel, Richard Allan, Maverick Bowyer, Ava Lutz, Mr. Zunic, Nathan Williams, and Caitlyn Dziadyk.

South Park Middle School (l to r): Joe Irwin, Dr. Liekar, Lindsey Kamienik, Shane Peremba, Larissa Moelber, Kaitlyn Morrison, Mr. Kevin Monaghan, and Nathan Lysaght.