Quincey Reese stories, Page 10
Greensburg Salem students auction hand-painted chairs in advance of Greensburg ArtsWalk
Greensburg residents stopping in the city’s downtown businesses this month may start to notice a pattern: vibrant hand-painted wooden chairs displayed in the storefronts. The trend is no coincidence. Seventeen Greensburg Salem High School art students spent about a month decorating chairs to be put up for auction in advance...
Community comes together to pay for new $255K playground at Trafford Elementary
Students and parents flocked to Trafford Elementary School April 5 to celebrate completion of a new $255,000 playground. The former playground was about two decades old when it was torn down in 2023 due to safety concerns. District officials said the stairs and decking of the playground presented a tripping...
Franklin Regional blows past 2024’s fundraising total in second Mini-THON
Franklin Regional High School hosted its second annual Mini-THON on Wednesday, raising more than $33,000 to support pediatric cancer patients and their families. The fundraising culminated in a four-hour celebration where students and teachers participated in games and activities. The school organized a Mini-THON Club last school year, inviting students...
Hempfield Area School Board considers shifting school start, dismissal times
Hempfield Area School District’s students might get home earlier next academic year. The school board will vote next week on whether to make an adjustment to the district’s arrival and dismissal schedule. The adjustment would place the high school and middle school students on the same schedule — shifting the...
Building projects, staffing among priorities for Hempfield Area’s school board candidates
Renovation projects. Teacher recruitment and retention. Student performance. Open communication with the community. These are the priorities for the five candidates running for four open spots on the Hempfield Area School Board this year. Two candidates are incumbents — Jerry Radebaugh and Scott Learn. The newcomers are Cory Thoma, Lindsay...
Greensburg Salem Food launches food program through Ashley Kertes memorial fund
Christina Gongaware Noga knows her late sister would be proud that money raised in her memory is helping combat food insecurity at Greensburg Salem’s Hutchinson Elementary. Gongaware Noga launched the Ashley Gongaware Kertes Fund last year on behalf of her sister, who died unexpectedly at age 36 in March 2023....
Hempfield’s High Park, West Point fire stations aim to ‘continue what was started’ through merger
Hempfield’s High Park Volunteer Fire Department is coming out of retirement and merging with the West Point station on the opposite side of the township. Westmoreland County Orphan’s Court approved the merger this week, according to court documents. The joint station will be operate under West Point’s name and location...
Local administrators give job interview practice to Pitt-Greensburg education students amid statewide teacher shortage
A smile still comes to Alex Murray’s face when he recalls the words his Beaver County high school art teacher told him two days out from summer vacation. Murray spent four weeks creating a face mask inspired by characters from book-turned-film “Pan’s Labyrinth” — a task his teacher once told...
Seton Hill students pitch business ideas, solutions in ‘Shark Tank’-style contest
Seton Hill student Nora Ozimek knew in high school she wanted to pursue a career in science. But even Ozimek, a junior studying biology and chemistry, admits that reading through research papers and journal articles is not her favorite task. The aspiring research and development scientist was one of a...
Penn Township to vote on hiring recreation director in place of volunteer board
The Penn Township commissioners will vote next week on hiring a recreation director to replace its former volunteer recreation board. The commissioners voted in December to advertise the recreation director position with a salary between $45,000 and $65,000 depending on qualifications, said township Secretary/Manager Mary Perez. She said four people...
Penn-Trafford student raises more than $18K for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Penn-Trafford sophomore Abby Rayman and her team of fundraisers generated more than $18,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, exceeding the $10,000 goal she set in February. A national nonprofit with a branch in Pittsburgh’s South Side, the society supports advocacy, families facing cancer diagnoses and research for a cure....
Penn-Trafford junior named ‘High School Sports Journalist of the Year’ during Point Park’s Myron Cope Awards
Penn-Trafford High School student Annabelle Aquino grew up playing sports with her brothers, Joey and AJ, in the sprawling backyard of her family’s Harrison City home. “My mom always wanted us to go outside,” said Aquino, 17, a junior. “All my neighbors are guys, so we just played sports all...
Former Indiana Township man who induced sexually explicit images from minor sentenced to 20 years
A former Indiana Township resident was sentenced Wednesday to two decades in prison for receiving material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, according to federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh. Cam John Zmenkowski, 28, persuaded a minor to send him nude and sexually explicit images and videos from August to September...
Are you smarter than a 6th grader? Western Pa. middle schoolers compete in Civics Bee
Which unmet constitutional standard did James Madison and Thomas Jefferson cite in their arguments against establishing a national bank? If your answer to that query was not the “Necessary and Proper Clause,” you may not have performed well against the 18 middle school students who competed in the Civics Bee...
Penn Township resident seeks volunteers to create county database of veteran graves
Penn Township resident Bill Bray plans to spend the bulk of his free time this year walking through cemeteries. An Army veteran who served from 1984 to 1993, Bray is looking for volunteers to help him survey all 291 of Westmoreland County’s cemeteries to document every military grave. The county...
Hempfield Area Competitive Cheer team reflects on national win in Orlando
Hempfield Area Competitive Cheer coach Suzannah Mayer is still processing the teams’ win at the National High School Cheerleading Championship in Orlando, Fla. It was the team’s first championship victory since 2021, said Mayer, who has coached the team since its inception in 2013. “Over the last four years, it...
Penn Township physical therapist helps to fill gap in care for fast heart rate syndrome
Doctors have pitched countless theories to Irwin resident Lauren Karcher regarding the laundry list of health problems she had experienced in the past 15 years. Emergency room doctors suspected she suffered from transient ischemic attacks — also known as mini-strokes — and a rheumatologist told her she was in the...
Greensburg-Hempfield area groups provide local families ‘a sense of relief’ with Food 2 Go 4 Kids program
Reflecting on a decade of providing weekend meals and snacks to families at three Hempfield Area elementary schools, the Rev. John Smaligo could not hide his emotion. What started in February 2015 as an effort to support about 40 Hempfield Area students has more than tripled in size. Eleven Greensburg-Hempfield...
Westmoreland agency on aging celebrates uptick in staffing, performance rates
Carrie Nelson is proud to help prevent and address abuse, neglect and exploitation of elderly Westmoreland County residents. But when the county Area Agency on Aging lost 75% of its protective services care managers in the summer of 2022, Nelson, as executive director, was put in a difficult position. “We...
Penn-Trafford Drama Guild to perform ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ musical
Penn-Trafford High School’s upcoming performance of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” has taken senior Isaiah Cordera back to his childhood. Having grown up watching the film, Cordera is excited to bring the character Charlie to the stage during the show’s debut weekend, April 4 to 6. “It’s a really fun...
Interest in online learning, cyber charters increase in wake of covid pandemic
As the covid-19 pandemic eased and Canon-McMillan School District reopened its doors in August 2021, elementary student Camille Postlewaite told her parents she did not want to return to in-person classes. “That was what she wanted to do, and we’re not big on, ‘Well, you’re going to do it this...
From technology to learning loss to mental health, covid’s impact on education still felt today
Wayne Walters can still recall the enormous logistical challenge of handing out thousands of paper packets of classwork to Pittsburgh Public Schools students in 2020. The covid-19 pandemic had taken hold in the region. Schools closed buildings, students were left to learn online, and educators scrambled over how best to...
Greensburg’s SummerSounds announces 2025 lineup, aims to manage growing crowds
SummerSounds, a free outdoor concert series at Greensburg’s St. Clair Park, will feature several tribute bands and Sudanese pop-funk rock fusion in its lineup this year. The concert series amassed a combined attendance of 28,500 people and drew more than $1 million in economic impact to Greensburg last season, co-founder...
Trafford authors to deliver talk on their literary work, small-town upbringing
Trafford authors Lori Jakiela and Dave Newman will give a talk on April 3 about the influence of their small towns on their literary works. The married couple live in Trafford, Jakiela’s hometown. Newman grew up in Irwin. They will read excerpts of their work before delivering their talks. A...
Downtown Greensburg Project revives Vintage Market for 2nd season
The Downtown Greensburg Project will bring back its Vintage Market series for a second season starting Saturday. The market series will take place about once a month until October at a handful of locations throughout the Greensburg area. Each event will feature a variety of vendors selling vintage and handmade...
