South Hills Record category, Page 78

Pleasant Hills police Officer Ron Porupsky has seen lives destroyed by drug addiction. People become a shell of who they once were. Some don’t survive. Porupsky, school resource officer at Pleasant Hills Middle School, is always looking for ways help students make better life decisions. With the opioid epidemic facing...

Christie Milano was angry when a 95-gallon garbage can showed up at her home in Whitehall Borough in early February. At 5 feet 2 inches tall, Milano, 58, had to pull the container up the 10 steps from the curb to the front of her home each week for storage....

Having lived in the borough for 22 years and worked as director of municipal services in the community for two, Bob Firek knows the ins and outs of Baldwin. “There’s a lot of good that I think the borough has to offer,” he said. On April 1, Firek, 51, took...

This year, when Thomas Jefferson High School students take the stage to dance the jive, Charleston and two-step, they’ll be doing it for something bigger. They’ll be supporting classmate Rachel McGough, a senior who recently was diagnosed was Ewing’s Sarcoma. The school’s annual “Dancing with the Athletes” event has been...

Budha Biswa sorted through the large selection of breads until finding just the right loaf for her family. She gathered chicken, bone broth, mustard, jelly, juice, cereal, toilet paper and eggs from the long table extending the length of the hall at the Cloverleaf Area Ecumenical Assistance Program food pantry....

Senior citizens looking for ways to better manage their health through self-monitoring can head to the Whitehall Public Library for help. A health kiosk, featuring a seated scale and ways to measure blood pressure, pulse and grip strength, now sits in the rear of the library as part of a...

Baldwin Borough Public Library finally has the home staff and supporters have wanted for decades. On April 1, the library opened its doors at 5230 Wolfe Drive in a building all its own. “To be standing here now, it’s surreal,” said Tracy Bakowski, who has worked at the library for...

Let’s go shopping. Macy’s will open a Macy’s Backstage inside South Hills Village with a grand-opening celebration April 13. This concept is known as a store within a store, with merchandise offered at 20 to 80% off traditional department store prices. The shop will have 12,800 square feet of dedicated...

A soon-to-be vacant school building could become the new home to a community center in Jefferson Hills. At a West Jefferson Hills School Board meeting March 26, representatives from Core Architects suggested using a portion of the existing Thomas Jefferson High School for the proposed community center. “What intrigues us...

Maddie Sneddon collected more than 400 books from the Thomas Jefferson community to donate to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Taylor Myers raised nearly enough money to donate two wagons to the hospital to allow little children to get out of their rooms and explore the hallways while getting treatment. Alaina...

Thomas Jefferson High School students and their second-grade pen pals attended a Big Jag Little Cub Club meet-and-greet at the high school Friday, March 29, 2019. The high school students and district second-graders have been exchanging letters all school year, and the event offered them the opportunity to finally meet....

Cast members from Brentwood Middle/High School’s upcoming musical “Mary Poppins” sang and danced across the stage, as large patches of wallpaper peeled off the walls inside the auditorium. There are a lot of great things happening in public schools in Brentwood, leaders told a crowd of 100 elected officials, business...

West Jefferson Hills School District leaders are considering revamping rules for field trips to ensure students aren’t missing too much class time. Administrators have recommended revisions to the district’s field trip policy to keep them from taking students out of class for more than two days at a time. However,...

Audiences will soar into the magical world of “Mary Poppins,” as Brentwood Middle/High School students bring the famed show to life April 11-13. The cast and crew of about 60 students will leap across chimneys, fly kites high in the sky and share the importance of family through song and...

As the opening of the new Thomas Jefferson High School nears, district leaders are outfitting the building with security features, including hundreds of cameras and video archiving equipment. School board members on March 26 approved a $365,841 proposal from Security101 to purchase a video surveillance and access control security system....

Baldwin High School students will whisk audiences away with a celebration of acceptance and inclusion, as they perform a classic musical theater production, “Mame,” from April 10 to 13. “It’s an oldie, but we’re adding modern touches to it. It’s fun,” said senior Sarah Doran, 17, who plays Agnes Gooch....

A symphonic band made up of instrumentalists from the East Suburbs will perform at the 16th annual Three Rivers Community Band festival in March. The East Winds Symphonic Band will join three others at the festival that will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. March 30 at Upper St....

Deborah Englert was known for her kindness and her love of family. As the borough manager of Pleasant Hills for 23 years, she attempted to help residents every day in any way she could. “She would do anything for anybody,” said daughter Aimee Chalus. Englert, 62, of Jefferson Hills, died...

Kelly Deegan looks out her kitchen window every morning at the big hole that once was her backyard. She checks to see if the plastic sewage pipes lining the steep slope are connected. If not, her husband needs to head into what the couple calls “the pit” to re-connect the...

The Mon Valley School held its annual talent show on Friday, March 15, 2019. The school is a special education center in Jefferson Hills for students ages 5 to 21....

Denelle Suranski is sharing her story in hopes of saving lives. Suranski, 35, an advocate for colon cancer prevention and awareness, faced her own diagnosis as a teenager. Now the White Oak resident is offering the details of her cancer battle through a feature in “On the Rise,” the national...

Two principals, a teacher and a parent walk into a bar, and the crowd goes wild. It’s a typical Saturday night for members of The 412 District, a band comprised of four guys with ties to South Park School District. “We want to keep it light, fun and motivational,” said...

Students at Paynter Elementary in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District have a unique new space to learn and play. The Library Media Center is home to a Lego table built by district employees and offering space for up to 25 students at a time. Construction materials for the table were donated...

The Borough of Pleasant Hills will host a Senior Services program “What is a Scam?” from 9:30 to 11 a.m. March 20. The event, to be held in the Community Room at the Pleasant Hills Borough Building, 410 East Bruceton Road, will teach attendees how to avoid becoming victims of...