B
ethel Park High School Senior Blake Hagerty is an
amateur radio enthusiast, and his hobby greatly
assisted the School District with the purchase of new
portable radios for the School Police Officers.
Earlier this school year, the Bethel Park Board of School
Directors approved the purchase of four radios at a cost of
$3,800. Blake was kind enough to suggest another model that
had comparable functions to the original radios that were
slated for purchase, but at a significantly lower cost.
The radios that Blake suggested were purchased at a little
over $100 each and the School Police Officers tested the radios
for over a month and were impressed with the range, clarity
and simplistic features that the radios offered.
Because of the savings, the District was able to purchase
20 more of these radios, which are in the process of being
distributed throughout the School District.
With Blake’s help, the District was able to improve its
emergency communications ability, while staying under
budget. His knowledge was also put into good use as he
volunteered his services to help program each radio to the
District’s specifications.
Thank you, Blake!
(Left to right): Blake Hagerty and School Police Officer Tim Kirsch.
BIOLOGY STUDENTS STUDY WAYS TO HELP BEES
B
ethel Park High School Honors
Biology students in Mr.
Winschel’s classes are looking at
ways they can help honey bees.
Recently Mr. Winschel participated
in a Research Experience for Teachers
program at the University of Pittsburgh,
which was funded by the National
Science Foundation. The purpose of the
program was to immerse teachers in a
design-oriented class and help them
to transfer the skills they learned in the
program to their classroom to help their
students with STEM projects.
Mr. Winschel decided to challenge
his students to focus on honey bees,
specifically developing ways the bees
can conserve energy so they have more
time to pollinate flowers and produce
Calvin Walsh (left) looks on as Mr. Winschel
(right) shows him how to operate the 3D printer.
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BETHEL PARK
more honey. The
students worked
in teams to design
a honeycomb on
CAD and use the
3D printer in their
classroom to print
out their designs.
Mr. Winschel
then took the
student-produced
honeycombs and
inserted them into
the bee hive he
has at his home,
(Left to right): Evan Yoder, Camden Wade, Ashton Maslanka and Calvin
containing 40,000
Walsh show off their 3D honeycomb and poster they created in Mr.
honey bees. The
Winschel’s class.
students also
did research and
created posters about the honeybees.
food supply and that their populations
Mr. Winschel is making video
are decreasing, due to issues such
presentations for two of his groups and
as industrial agriculture, parasites,
entering their projects into a national
pathogens, destruction of habitat and
STEM design competition sponsored
pesticides. Mr. Winschel’s students were
by the University of Pittsburgh and
excited to participate in this project that
the National Science Foundation, with
may have a positive impact on the honey
the winning group receiving laptop
bee population.
computers.
Good luck in the competition!
The students were surprised to learn
how important honey bees are to the