Student achievement in the Fox Chapel area

The Fox Chapel Area School Board during its June 12 meeting recognized dozens of students for academic, athletic and artistic achievements.

Among those honored:

Seniors Adam Zimmerman, Aiden Dorneich, Kevin Quinn and Samuel Kuhns; juniors Eduardo Phelan-Vidal, Ava McCaffrey, Aiden Purcell and Lucy Rygelski; sophomores Jackson Hagler, Riley Puklus, Graeson Santucci and Keegan Scanlon; and freshmen Benjamin Sun, Krisztian Salvador and Alanna Sloss, who are members of the high school robotics team named the overall grand champion in the ’Burgh Bash National Championships hosted by the BotsIQ manufacturing workforce program.

Junior Alexandra Sroufe and sophomore Avanti Muvvala, who were selected to receive the 2022-23 National Community Service Awards by the United Nations Association of the USA and InnerView Technologies.

Senior Arvind Seshan, who was selected as a regional finalist for the 35th class of the Coca-Cola Scholars Program.

“Every students’ achievement has their hard work, their successes and failures in it, as well as so many educators, staff members, parents, administrators and even the support of our board behind it. It’s so rewarding to see when our students achieve,” said Superintendent Mary Catherine Reljac.

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Fox Chapel Area High School senior Micah Shelly was selected by audition to perform with the National Association for Music Education All-Eastern Honors Choir, which included students from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.

Micah and the All-East Mixed Choir performed in a concert at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester on April 16.

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Fox Chapel Area High School senior Elijah Conklin placed in two individual events as part of the National History Bowl. In the United States Geography Championships, he placed eighth in the nation and placed 21st in the National Political Science Bee.

Elijah was at the competition with teammates seniors Nathaniel Green, Arvind Seshan, and Caleb Hahl and junior Logan Dressman. Only a tiebreaker kept the team from qualifying for the playoff rounds.

Senior Prajval Sreenivas qualified for the national competition, but was unable to attend. The national competition was held April 28-29 in Arlington, Va.

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Four Fox Chapel Area students won awards in the state competition of the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science.

First-place state winners were juniors Lakshanya Rajaganapathi and Adhitya Thirumala; sophomore Etash Jhanji; and eighth-grader Param Thawani. Lakshanya was named the Pennsylvania Science Talent Search Outstanding Junior, and Param received a Perfect Score award and a Director’s Award for Junior High Excellence in Computer Science.

The state competition was held at Penn State University’s main campus on May 14-16.

Participants from Fox Chapel Area High School and Dorseyville Middle School were first-place winners at the 89th Annual Region 7 Meeting of the state Junior Academy of Science in February.