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f ox c hapel a r ea s chool d is tr ict | s tat e of t he s chools
• Sixteen high school seniors were recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program.
Three seniors were named 2018 National Merit Finalists including Albert Liu,
Elizabeth Mountz, and Jordan Taxay. Additionally, 13 seniors were named
Commended Students in the program including Emilia Bianchini, Christopher Bonavita,
Emelyn Broniek, Theodore Faucher, Nicholas Fennell, Wonho Kang, Shania Khatri,
Jacob Klein, Margaret Lazzara, Adam Mattioli, Rebekah Polcyn, Lucy Stone, and Jorgen Wu.
• High school freshman Sanjay Seshan was selected as one of 30 fi nalists in the 2017
Broadcom MASTERS ® , the nation’s premier and most prestigious STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math) competition for middle school students. Sanjay’s project, “Keeping
Our Heads Above Water: Early Detection of Stress in Buried Water Pipes,” was inspired from
a trip to a poor area in India, where he saw that the drinking water system was basically,
“one community pipe and leaking water everywhere.” Sanjay traveled to Washington, D.C.,
in October for the nationwide competition that tested participants’ abilities in STEM, critical
thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration.
• Freshman Sanjay Seshan and Dorseyville Middle School seventh grader Arvind Seshan
received the Champion’s Award at World Festival held in Detroit at a 2018 FIRST LEGO
League international tournament. The Seshan brothers competed against 108 teams
from 90 countries at the international level who were selected out of 35,226 teams from
around the world. The teams were challenged to research and design robots that improve
the human water cycle.
• The Pittsburgh Business Times ranked Fox Chapel Area High School number one in
Allegheny County based on 2017 ACT scores and number two in Allegheny County for
the 2017 SAT scores. The students were number fi ve in the state for their ACT scores, and
number 11 in the state for their SAT scores.
• Common Sense Media, the national nonprofi t organization dedicated to helping children
and families thrive in a world of digital media and technology, recognized Fox Chapel
Area as a Common Sense District for the 2017-2018 school year. The award recognizes
that the district has demonstrated a commitment to taking a whole-community approach
to preparing its students to use the power of digital media to explore, create, connect,
and learn, while limiting the perils that exist in the online realm, such as plagiarism,
loss of privacy, and cyberbullying. The recognition also acknowledged the district’s
commitment to creating a culture of digital learning and citizenship.
Photo Courtesy of Society for Science & the Public
FOX CHAPEL AREA
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FALL 2018
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