Mover & Shaker of the Month Even Ritchie 10-year old Seven Fields resident Locks of Love donor Click here for article

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In partnership, Butler Health System and the Butler Memorial Hospital Auxiliary awarded six scholarships of $1,000 each to students pursuing advanced education in the health care field.  This year recipients were Jonathan Burns, Victoria Green, Sarah Haseltine, Ashley McKinney, Erica Miller and Renee Watson.

Jamil C. Mohsin, M.D., F.A.C.C. has joined Butler Health System’s Cardiovascular Consultants practice located at BHS WholeHealth in Cranberry Township inside the Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA on Ehrman Road.

Butler Memorial Hospital has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation for the MRI facility located at the Butler commons complex on New Castle Road as the result of a recent survey by the American College of Radiology.

The Oxford Club’s 4.0 USTA Team competed in Princeton, New Jersey in August for the section Championship.  This is the first 4.0 team from Oxford to advance.

Pittsburgh Technology Council’s annual Tech 50 Awards recognized Celtic Healthcare as one of eight life science companies in the Pittsburgh region that demonstrated the strongest growth and advancement in product sales success, financial strength, corporate citizenship, job growth and retention and innovative product of technology.

Celtic Charities recently hosted its 1st Annual Father Daughter Dance which drew over 65 individuals and raised money for The Mars Area Public Library Expansion Project.

HEARTH at Benet Woods recently broke ground.  The new community, located in northern Allegheny County addresses the “affordability gap” between what working families can afford and the cost of housing.

McCrory & McDowell LLC is pleased to announce that former Allegheny County Chief Executive James C. Roddey has joined the firm as a senior consultant. 

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Mover & Shaker of the Month Even Ritchie 10-year old Seven Fields resident Locks of Love donor

By Paula Green Ten-year-old, Even (pronounced Evan) Ritchie recently contributed to a very worthy cause.  The Haine Middle School (Seneca Valley School District) student grew his hair and donated it to Locks of Love.  Even’s inspiration for this charitable contribution was someone who was close to the family. “A family friend (Dawn Edelstein) was rediagnosed with breast cancer, and she always complimented Even on how healthy and gorgeous his hair was.  She would also say how much someone would love to have his hair.  Dawn was an inspiring and amazing woman who brought people together and had a zest for life and a kind and loving spirit.  Even decided to make the commitment to grow his hair long enough (ten inches to donate) since he was inspired by our friend.  (Edelstein passed away in January).  He dedicated the donation in her honor and memory.  It was a little emotional because she wasn’t there,” said Even’s mother, Kim. “He had to face the many challenges of completing his goal such as: name calling and the upkeep – combing knots, shampooing and conditioning long hair.  Even learned to have thick skin and focus on his goal of why he was doing this.  Our family and friends were supportive, and we are all very proud of him for what he did and his perseverance,” said Kim. Even’s determination inspired his former teacher Mrs. Mings of Rowan Elementary to also participate in the cause.  She grew her hair long and decided to have her haircut with Even. When the time came for the big day, Even and Mings ventured to Hair Color Xperts in Wexford for their special cut.  Salon owner Harmony Kaiser cut Even’s hair for free, and she made him feel special for doing this.  In addition to the Locks of Love, the salon participates in other fundraisers which raise cancer awareness. Besides this fundraiser, Even also likes to participate in extra curricular activities. He enjoys reading, bicycling, gardening, music (saxophone, guitar and piano).  He also plays football for SVJFAC (5th year) and is a member of the SVSC Swim Team (3rd year). He resides in Seven Fields with his parents, Kim and Sean, 13-year-old sister, Sarah, and 4-year-old brother, Sam.  As far as future plans, Even wants to regrow his hair and continue to participate in the Locks of Love, a cause close to his heart. Back to top

Spotlight on Schools

For the third consecutive summer, North Hills Community Outreach hired youth philanthropists with funding from the Heinz Endowments.  The interns (photo right) were Kate Pfrommer, Stephen Freehling, Justin Taylor and Alexandra Zabierek.

The A.W. Beattie Career Center Mondialogo Team was one of only 50 teams out of 2,600 teams to participate in the Mondialogo Symposium in Beijing, China in Sept.  Beattie student Jenna Lutovsky (Pine-Richland) and teacher Sandy Niggel traveled to Beijing to meet the student from their partner school El Marg Experimental Language School in Cairo, Egypt and the Egyptian teacher Mr. Ezzat.

Three Fox Chapel publications received state awards in the 39th Annual Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) Educational Publications Contest.  The awards were given for the Dorseyville Middle School promotional brochure, the 2006-2007 Annual Reports & State of the Schools and 2008-2009 Course Description Guide.

Ten Fox Chapel Area High School students were selected to attend the 2008 Pennsylvania Governor’s Schools of Excellence.  They are: Krishna Hegde, Harrison Goldberg, Arpa Mukherjee, Thomas Johnson, Liann Sun, Carol Lin, Julia Segal, Praveen Tummalapalli, Shiyu Wang, and Emily Feenstra. 

Fox Chapel Area High School freshman Ishan Chatterjee has been named a semifinalist in the Society for Science & the Public’s 2008 Middle School Program.

The Fox Chapel Area High School Marching Band recently performed its 2008 “Outside the Box.”  The band placed first in the Class A category at a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Marching Band Association competition.  The Marching Foxes also won fifth place overall.

Eleven Fox Chapel Area High School seniors have been designated as National Merit Semifinalists and 19 have been named Commended Students in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.  The semifinalists are: Tudor Achim, Mazdak Bradberry, Emily Feenstra, Madelyn Glymour, Lara Graham, William Hagberg, Carol Lin, Patrick Ross, Praveen Tummalapalli, Leslie Weaver and Andrew Zinn.  Commended students are: Stephanie Bonaroti, Eric Bukovac, Robert Chajson, Jessica Cook, Matthew Dickel, Benjamin Fite, Eytan Hirsch, Marwa Kandil, Allyson Lynch, Rachel Mallinger, Arpa Mukherjee, Akansh Murthy, Charlton Otte, Alexander Radkoff, Lauren Rodosky, Julia Segal, Liann Sun, Shiya Wang and Matthew West.

North Hills School District received two Awards of Excellence and an Honorable Mention in the 39th annual Educational Publications Contest sponsored by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.  The Elementary Bands Annual Spring Concert program and the district’s website each received an Award of Excellence.  The Arts Alive program received an Honorable mention.

North Hills Senior High School is one of five high schools in the region to be selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers to participate in an initiative designed to promote healthy living and reduce the use of steroids and other drugs among high school athletes.

North Hills Senior High School has been awarded $168,758 through the Classrooms for the Future initiative, which provides laptops and other technology equipment to high schools throughout Pennsylvania.

Fifteen North Hills High School seniors were recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program for their high academic performance.  Michael Marsh and Michael Vlah earned semifinalists distinction.  In addition, Hannah Averell, Robert Barrett, Anne Bozik, Peter Edwards, Marcy Held, Michael Johnston, Meghan McCutcheon, Eric Miller, Sarah Nauer, Elaine Robbins, Jessica Schneider, Nicholas Treser and James Tubridy earned Letters of Commendation.

The National Merit® Scholarship Corporation has named thirteen North Allegheny High School seniors as Semifinalists in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Competition.  They are: Arundhati Bharati, Stacey Chen, Mike Heckmann, Andrew Ho, Emily Li, Kevin Liu, Katherine Luo, Dakota McCoy, Elaine Oestreich, Michael Sinko, Nimish Telang, Joseph Whitmore and Kristen Yealy.

The North Allegheny School District announced that Sherri Ludwig, assistant manager of Financial Services has been selected for inclusion in the 2009 Edition of Who’s Who in America®.

North Allegheny High School mathematics teachers, Joy Manesiotis and Mike Buchert have been awarded a $4,000 Classroom Innovators grant from the Toshiba America Foundation.

Ingomar Middle School in the North Allegheny School District has been selected to receive the 2008 Lincoln Investment Bob D. Schiller Memorial Cancer Research and Support Award by the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals.

Carson Middle School student Kelly Won had her entry selected for special recognition in her age category in the student contest created for the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s English as a Second Language conference.

Pace School, an approved school that serves children in grades K-9 with emotional challenges or autism, announced the opening on Aug. 27 of a new program to serve families and school districts in the Butler County area.  For more information, call (412) 244-1900 or www.paceschool.org.

The Dominion Foundation has given a $2,500 grant to the Pace School for the Pace Learning Center in the spirit of the school’s mission to provide educational and therapeutic services for students with autism spectrum disorders, serious emotional disturbance and pervasive developmental delays.

Carnegie Science Center has received a $5,000 grant from the Dominion Foundation to continue the Science Center SciTech Days, a biannual, week long program that connects local students with science technology companies in the region.

Carnegie Science Center announced the launch of “Ion Jones and the Lost Castle of Chemistry,” the third traveling science education program developed and presented in partnership with PPG Industries.  Also announced was a $159,000 grant from PPG Industries Foundation for the development of a fourth traveling science education program on energy and the environment to be developed in 2009.

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