Avonworth School District News
February 2022
Avonews Students Heading to PA School Press Journalism State Finals
Avonews is headed back to the Pennsylvania School Press Journalism Competition Finals extending an 8-year streak of sending at least one student to the contest.
Adding to the excitement, this event marks the first in-person state championship competition since 2019. Juniors Catrina Raich, Matthew Purcell, and Laurel Purcell all advanced from the Western Region to attend the finals at Penn State’s Main Campus in March.
Raich, who won for editorial cartooning says, “I’m competing along with my really good friends, Laurel and Matthew Purcell, and it will be a great day to represent Avonworth at Penn State!”
To get to the finals, each competitor had one hour to read, react, plan, and craft a completed work in their category based on a fact sheet or prompt they had never seen before.
Literary magazine and poetry entry winner, Laurel Purcell, knows the finals competition is going to be a challenge, “I know it will not be easy to win, but I will be practicing over the next few months to prepare, and I am hopeful that I will be able to place highly.”
The students are grateful for the support they receive from the school community. “I'm thankful for everything that Mr. Tuffiash and Avonews has done to help us get here, and I look forward to hopefully doing well!” says Junior Matthew Purcell who won the editorial writing category for the Western Region.
Avonworth Alumna Returns to Talk About Life After High School
Ms. Liz Grambo, Avonworth Class of 2011, has returned to her old stomping grounds annually for the past 6 years to help prepare students for life after high school.
Ms. Grambo, who has a background in Human Resources, professional development, and aviation, conducts a mock interview workshop for all Avonworth juniors who are enrolled in one of the five career pathways.
In order to make the experience as realistic and meaningful as possible, she shared several interview strategies as well as tips for writing resumes and creating an "elevator speech."
In addition to helping students prepare for the future, Ms. Grambo also encourages students to pursue their passion. She has always had a passion for flying and aviation, so she pursued her pilot's license and flight instructor certificates, and is now sharing her talents with others.
Ms. Grambo helps them achieve their goals by providing professional development and aviation content-based advising as the Academic Advisor at the United Aviate Academy owned by United Airlines.
Celebrating Black History
The digital art work of Avonworth senior, Hannah Kim, is showcased with the silhouette. Coming up in March, Women’s History Month will feature the work of another Avonworth senior, Izabella Johnson.
Also in celebration, fifth graders took time to explore how children’s literature can be used to discover the impact of famous people and events in history. This exploration began with Andrea Pinkney’s book, Sit-In.
After listening to this inspirational story, students were eager to use the elementary library to find more books about Black History. The fifth graders used art and writing to share these incredible moments and people with others.
Kindergarten Teacher Honored
She is one of only seventeen educators awarded this fellowship by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit.
She will receive $1,500 to be spent in the classroom for experimentation purposes. Congratulations!
Register Now for Chase the Antelopes 5K Run / Walk
8th graders are working hard to plan the race.
The proceeds will benefit the Hannah Milbert Memorial Fund, an Avonworth High School Scholarship Fund. Hannah was a sophomore at Avonworth who lost her life in a tragic fire at her family's home in 2017.
Check out www.ChaseTheAntelopes5k.com for more information about registration and sponsorship.
Lopes Lounge Open for Business
It's giving accounting students real-time accounting experience and helping Lopes Lounge employees make more informed business decisions. Students built financial books, recorded transactions, and reported the business' financials to the Lopes Lounge employees.
At a student-led business meeting this month, students from both classes worked together to analyze, interpret, and apply the data to make informed business decisions about pricing in the Lopes Lounge.
Winter Olympics Week
The students participated in several theme days and interactive displays. They were able to vote to pick an activity each day.
Every morning, the students were also welcomed to school with a Winter Olympics Medal Count!
Art Class Creations
3rd-grade artists decorated delicious donuts practicing their shading techniques with watercolor paints.
4th-grade artists practiced a variety of watercolor techniques and then used some to create a paper tile mosaic.
5th-grade artists worked with metal embossing and radial symmetry to create snowflakes or suns channeling Wilson Bently or Aztec culture for inspiration.
6th-grade artists explored counter-change and the concept of Notan. They also explored color concepts thru the works of Josef Albers.
All art students participated in the building celebration of the Olympics by creating posters for each sport.
Dental Health Month
Every student at The Primary Center received dental health bags complete with everything they need for great dental hygiene.
Thank you to Dr. Stephanie Rhoads for the donation!
National Technical Honor Society
Samantha Blose (SMART), Mia Burnett (ADES), Sophia Quigley (Pastry), and Kayla Turcsanyi (Surgical Sciences).
The NTHS is an honor society for outstanding career and technical students of workforce vocational educational institutions in the United States.
Thank You School Counselors!
Our 7th-grade students decorated Counselor Aaron Pellicano's office door. Students also shared the love with Avonworth Primary Center counselor Mrs. Bauer.
Thank you to Barb Bauer, Primary Center School Counselor, Emily Hough, Elementary School Counselor Dave Como, High School Counselor (10-12), Nicole Levis, College & Career (7-12) and Aaron Pellicano, Middle School Counselor (7-9).
The theme for 2022 was School Counseling: Better Together.
Career Exploration
They watched a video and took part in a question and answer session led by Mr. Clifton Bossong, Assessment and STEAM Coordinator.
RMU Welcomes Avonworth Families
Tickets were only $10.00 and open to all families and JAM #bethekindkid groups across the region.
Proceeds of ticket sales went to February's non-profit Hair Peace.
Valentine's Day Fun!
Student teams worked together to figure out how to fit 22 triangles into the shape of a heart! Great problem-solving!
Souper Bowl Success
Nonperishable food items were collected to be donated to the North Hills Community Outreach center to help families in need.
Swim Team Headed to WPIALS
Our swim team will compete in the WPIALs this Thursday and Friday, as the girls' attempt to defend their section title from 2020-2021.
Thanks to Avonworth student Hannah Palmer for the photos from Senior Night.
Lady Lopes Headed to Playoffs
In the WPIAL's, the girls defeated Mohawk by 1 point in the final seconds on February 23rd. They advanced and played again losing to a tough Freedom team.
Good luck to the Lady Lopes as they move to the PIAA Playoffs!
Boys Advance in the WPIAL Playoffs
WPIAL Wrestling Success
Also a job well done by Junior High Wrestlers Auston Kosanovic (6th place) and Justin Beck (7th place) at the District 7 Tournament on February 19th.
WPIAL Diving Championships
"This past Friday, sophomore divers Ryan Hartle and Lilia MacKenzie, along with Coach Jess McKelvey traveled to North Allegheny high school for the 2022 WPIAL diving championships.
Last year Hartle was the first ever diver for the Northgate/Avonworth team and this year Lilia is the first ever diver for the girls team. Both divers exceeded expectations earning top spots in their respective diving events. Lilia placed 4th overall in the girls AA section with a total score of 320.55 while Ryan earned 2nd overall in the boys AA section with a total score of 315.10.
Both Lilia and Ryan will now move onto the PIAA state championship diving competition being held at Bucknell University March 17th-19th. Additionally, the points earned by both divers will be added to the girls and boys overall team scores during the WPIAL championship meet being held this Thursday and Friday at the University of Pittsburgh’s Trees pool. The action will start at approximately 3:00pm on both Thursday and Friday and you can watch it live on the TribLive High School Sports Network"
-Excerpt by Daniel McKelvey
Upcoming Dates to Remember!
3/2: Read Across America Day
3/7: School Board Meeting
3/8: End of Second Trimester (Grades K-2)
3/8: PTA Meeting (Grades K-6) at Avonworth Elementary School
3/9: Two Hour Delay
3/9: AMS Parent Network Meeting
3/10: Kindergarten Round Up
3/14: School Board Meeting
3/16: "Hi Avonworth Neighbors!" Event
3/17: End of the 3rd Marking Period
Hi Avonworth Neighbors!
Hi Avonworth Neighbors!
A Community Event
Wednesday, March 16
Avonworth Primary Center
6:30-7:45 pm
Join us for a fun-filled evening celebrating the cultures of our community! This event is a family friendly interactive evening to learn about our neighbors' cultures through literature and art activities.
This event will feature activities from Holi and Passover.
This is the second of several "Hi Neighbor!" cultural events planned for this school year. Click to view the flyer. Click to RSVP. We hope to see you there!
This event series is made possible through the Parents as Allies research project, which is an effort to help communities around the world build stronger, more impactful connections between schools and families.