School news from the Fox Chapel area

Twenty-eight Fox Chapel Area High School rising seniors are among the 50,000 highest-scoring participants on the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) and have met the requirements to enter the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The students are: Jacob Anthikad, Annalese Bartolacci, Dylan Berman, Joshua Correnti, Amelia Costello, Nicholas Cusano, Eliza Davis, Logan Dressman, David Feder, Adam Ferris, Emmett Gillespie, Lucas Gravina, Darren Jayaratnam, Clara Kelley, Chloe Kim, Henry Koloc, Shriya Krishnamurthy, Rachel Milcheck, Eduardo Phelan-Vidal, Lakshanya Rajaganapathi, Liviya Rubin, Adhitya Thirumala, Emily Torbert, Gloria Wen, Abraham White, Isabella White, Dylan Work, and Bridget Yun.

More than 1.3 million students took the 2022 PSAT/NMSQT.

Approximately 16,000 students will be named National Merit Scholarship Program Semifinalists in September 2023, representing the top scorers in each state. The Semifinalists will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for about 7,250 Merit Scholarship awards to be offered in 2024.

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Eleven Fox Chapel Area High School and Dorseyville Middle School students placed at the 2023 Future Business Leaders of America State Leadership Conference.

Juniors Micah Cagley and Dylan Work, sophomores Kai Edwards and Gabriella Hample, and freshman Joshua Shah all won first places; and juniors Harry Littwin and Gloria Wen won second places. These students qualified for the FBLA National Leadership Conference June 27-30 in Atlanta.

Other FCAHS state winners were juniors Laney Porterfield (second place) and Jacob Anthikad (seventh place) and sophomores Kai Edwards (two fifth places) and Jackson Hagler (sixth place). Dorseyville Middle School sixth-grader Matthew Bartolacci also placed second at the state conference. This was the first year that Dorseyville Middle School had a chapter of the FBLA.

These FCAHS students were inducted into the National Business Honor Society: senior Stella Ruane and juniors Annalese Bartolacci, Maria Costantino, Whitney Jones, Angela Ngo, and Kieu Uyen Tong.

Big 33 Community Service Awards went to 2023 early graduate Zachary Sullivan, junior Joseph Berger, and sophomore Sienna Siegel. Business Achievement Awards were given to senior Stella Ruane, junior Annalese Bartolacci and sophomore Kai Edwards.

The FBLA State Leadership Conference was held in Hershey, Pennsylvania, April 17-19. More than 5,000 students from high schools across the state participated.

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Dorseyville Middle School eighth-graders Joanna Bi (viola) and Simon Goode (string bass) were selected by committee to perform with the 2023 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 1 Junior High Orchestra.

The orchestra included more than 120 of the most talented seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade orchestra students from throughout Allegheny, Fayette, Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland counties.

The PMEA District I Junior High Orchestra festival was held April 28 and 29 at McKeesport Area High School, and culminated with a concert on April 29. The concert was directed by Dr. Warren Davidson, symphony orchestra director and retired violin/viola professor at Slippery Rock University.

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The Fox Chapel Area School District has been named one of the 2023 Best Communities for Music Education, the 11th year it has received this designation.

Fox Chapel Area is one of 123 school districts in the state of Pennsylvania and one of 830 school districts in the nation chosen for this honor.

The districts were selected through a program sponsored by the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation which recognizes outstanding efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community leaders.

The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit that celebrates and promotes the value of music education.