THE DISTINGUISHED HIGHLANDER HALL OF FAME GALA HIGHLIGHTS EXTRAORDINARY HIGHLANDERS aldwin-Whitehall BALDWIN-WHITEHALL SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
Positively contributing to the community is a central value of the District. As part of the celebration of our 75th anniversary, the District first began recognizing Distinguished Highlanders in 2015. The tradition continued this year as the Distinguished Highlander Hall of Fame welcomed the Class of 2017 during its second induction ceremony on March 11th, 2017. The Hall of Fame Gala, hosted by the Baldwin-Whitehall Educational Foundation( BWEF), honored the accomplishments of alumni, faculty, staff, residents, and volunteers of the Baldwin-Whitehall School District with a Mardi Gras-themed awards ceremony.
Four alumni were inducted into the Distinguished Highlander Hall of Fame: Adriane Aul, a Pittsburgh community ambassador and civic activist( 1996); Joseph Kuklis, CEO of Wellington Strategies, LLC( 1989); Edward Lutz, owner of K & L Printing and founder of Cold Comp., Inc.( 1959); and pediatric nursing pioneer Dr. Margaret Shandor Miles, professor emerita at the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill( 1955). The newest inductees will join the 11 honorees from the class of 2015 at the permanent display in Baldwin High School.
Nearly 200 attendees gathered at South Hills Country Club to honor the awardees in an evening that brought together Highlander supporters from as far away as Florida and California. Through auctions, raffles, and a very generous anonymous donor, BWEF raised more than $ 10,000 during the event. These funds will be used to support ongoing technology initiatives in the schools and as scholarship opportunities for graduating seniors from Baldwin High School. Community support exceeded the previous gala as well— over 100 different businesses, sponsors, and donors helped make the event a success, including the Henderson Brothers’ cocktail-hour sponsorship.
Organizers shared,“ The Foundation’ s goal is to provide opportunities to students by supporting district initiatives, funding teacher grants, and providing scholarships. Only through the generous support from donors and time from devoted volunteers are we able to make Baldwin-Whitehall a place to be proud of. Thank you.”
“ DO THE RIGHT THING” PROGRAM REWARDS STUDENTS FOR POSITIVE BEHAVIOR
In 2014, Baldwin-Whitehall D. A. R. E. officer Dave Artman was attending a police awards ceremony in Miami when he first learned about the Do the Right Thing student reward program. Started in 1990 after a high school student found a loaded gun and surrendered it to the police, the initiative serves as a community effort to honor students’ most impressive positive actions. The Miami program is now emulated in school districts across the country, including Baldwin-Whitehall, who adopted the program in 2014 after Officer Artman asked Superintendent Randal Lutz how the District could get involved.
Now in its third year, the program honors up to ten K – 12 students each month for their positive impact on our community. Students can be nominated by faculty, staff, parents, or community members for their outstanding efforts to make BWSD a safer, happier, and more welcoming place. As BWSD’ s
94 Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall
Director of Curriculum Andrea Huffman explains,“ this isn’ t just about picking up a dropped pen or recycling something; this is about going above and beyond what’ s expected of students in their daily actions.”
Examples include the BHS girls’ basketball team volunteering at a local food bank, BHS sophomore Mikayla Davic creating her own stage productions to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and one 5th-grade student who recently volunteered to donate her birthday money to the building of a playground at her elementary school. Her parents offered to match her donation, which inspired her to raise even more money from her family and friends. Ms. Huffman notes,“ as a 5th-grader, she won’ t even still be attending that school when the playground is built. But it was important for her that the students who come after her will have that playground to enjoy. This is the community spirit that Do the Right Thing celebrates.”
Ms. Huffman is proud to see that the Do the Right Thing program spreads awareness of positive actions among both the students and the faculty.“ This year we also created a new program, Highlander Heroes, which recognizes the positive efforts of one teacher and one administrative professional each month,” says Huffman. Clearly, positive reinforcement is contagious.
If you’ d like to nominate a student for Do the Right Thing, visit http:// bit. ly / BWDTRT to learn more. Students honored by the program are recognized by Dr. Lutz at each month’ s school board meeting, where they receive a certificate and a t-shirt courtesy of Light Brothers.