IN Cranberry Spring 2020 | Page 48

Seneca Valley SCHOOL DISTRICT HEAR THEM ROAR Seneca Valley’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) Raider Battalion recently received the 2019-2020 “Heart of a Lion” award from the Zelienople chapter of the Lions Club for their outstanding service to the citizens of the Zelienople area. The “Heart of a Lion” Award is presented to someone in the community who is not a Lion, but who has volunteered their time and services. Seneca Valley’s JROTC program regularly collaborates with local organizations on several service learning and community service projects as part of their commitment to Leadership Excellence. The Zelienople Lions Club promotes the ideals and objectives of Lions Club International which includes a spirit of understanding among the people of the world; good citizenship and good government; the welfare of the community; friendship, fellowship, and mutual understanding leading to an open discussion of public interest matters. 46 724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE ❘ news 3 SV SENIORS NAMED FINALISTS IN NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM Seneca Valley seniors Nishant Jayachandran, Olivia Schultheis and Sean Scott, have been named finalists in the 65th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program held by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). These seniors are three of approximately 15,000 finalists and will now advance to the next level of the program where they will have the icmags.com opportunity to earn a National Merit Scholarship and, ultimately, the Merit Scholar® title. NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 420 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence. About 1.5 million juniors in more than 21,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/ NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. THREE-PEAT For the third time in a row, the Seneca Valley Academic Decathlon Team placed first in a regional Academic Decathlon Competition, this one held at Edinboro University on Feb. 8. The Regional Competition team includes Nishant Jayachandran, Megan Neely, Abigail Roeckmann, Mia Chevallier, Logan Glatz, William Firman,