F
BETHEL PARK TEAMS
TAKE TOP TWO SPOTS
AT BIG DATA JAM
or the second consecutive year, Bethel Park High
School students captured First and Second Places at
the Big Data Jam, sponsored by Pittsburgh Dataworks,
a nonprofit organization formed in collaboration with
Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and
leading local and global firms to establish Pittsburgh as a
leader in the dynamic and exponentially growing field of big
data and data analytics.
This year’s competition featured 140 students from seven area
schools, working in teams to perform data analysis on a project of
their choice.
Winning the competition with their project, “Online Degrees
vs. Brick and Mortar Colleges: Return on Investment,” were
sophomores Aubree Stewart, Tammy Stugan, Sabrina Tatalias and
freshman Alyssa George. They were prepared for this competition
by Bethel Park High School Marketing Teacher Emily Smoller.
Finishing in Second Place for their project, “Concussions and the
National Football League,” were seniors Noah Friday, Travis Glaser,
Justin Nath and juniors Tarush Bahl, Cassidy DeLeo and Maggie
(Left to right) Aubree Stewart and
Tammy Stugan accepted the First Place
Award at this year’s Big Data Jam.
BE TH EL PARK S CHO OL DIS TR IC T
ethel Park
I
Left to right): Travis Glaser, Tarush Bahl and
Maggie Wolf represented Team 3, which
finished in Second Place at this year’s Big
Data Jam. Absent: Cassidy DeLeo, Noah
Friday and Justin Nath.
Wolf. They were prepared for this competition by Bethel Park High
School Gifted Program Coordinator Christine Robb.
All of the winning students received Fit Bits for being among
the top five teams in the competition.
The competition is designed to encourage students to learn
about the impact big data will have on their lives and to better
understand all of the new career options that big data creates in
nearly every industry.
According to Pittsburgh Dataworks President Saman Haqqi,
Pittsburgh is the first city in the country to offer pre-college
students the opportunity to learn about big data. Participating
students were able to attend seminars with data scientists and
take a field trip to a company that uses big data and analytics to
further their strategic initiatives, to inspire the students as they
began their research using big data.
Once students selected their topics, they participated in data
analysis exercises and utilized data visualization tools to create
a presentation board in advance of the competition, where
they delivered an oral presentation and shared their visual
presentation with a panel of local judges who work in the big data
field.
This is the third year this competition has been offered. Since
its inception, Bethel Park students have captured two First Place,
three Second Place and one Third Place Awards.
SEVENTH GRADER WINS ALGEBRA CONTEST
ndependence Middle School seventh
grader Katelyn Sams was the winner
of the Preliminary First Round of
the 2016 Algebra I/Integrated Math II
Contest, sponsored by the Mathematics
Council of Western Pennsylvania and
held at Baldwin High School.
As the top scorer in Allegheny County,
Katelyn advanced to the Finals, which
were held in May at Derry High School,
where she finished in Second Place against
students from Butler, Lawrence, Indiana,
Westmoreland and Armstrong Counties.
Six other Independence Middle School
students finished among the top 26 scorers
in the Preliminary Round and joined
Katelyn in the Finals. They were: seventh
grader Talia Rajasekar (8th Place), eighth
graders Cole Carter and Alex Chitsazzadeh
(12th Place); seventh grader Makayla Yee
(16th Place); and eighth grader Anthony
58 Bethel Park
Winning this year’s Big Data Jam competition were Bethel Park High School students
(left to right): Tammy Stugan, Aubree Stewart, Alyssa George and Sabrina Tatalias.
Hudson and seventh grader Demetrios
Patrinos (26th Place).
The Preliminary Round was a 90-minute,
multiple choice test. The Final consisted of
problems that were designed to test the
student’s ability to set-up problems and
arrive at reasonable solutions.
Also competing in the preliminary event
were Ammar Al Abboodi, Maura James,
Jacob Marzina, Nathan Marzina and Elise
Turka.
They were prepared for this competition
by Independence Middle School Math
Teacher Jason Turka.
Advancing to the finals of the Math Council of Western
Independence Middle School Math Teacher Jason Turka
Pennsylvania’s Algebra Contest were (front row, left to
congratulates Preliminary Round Champion Katelyn
right): Anthony Hudson, Alex Chitsazzadeh, Cole Carter Sams.
and Talia Rajasekar; (back row, left to right): Makayla Yee,
Demetrios Patrinos and Katelyn Sams.