Additionally, 18 high school seniors were named Commended
Students. They are: Jared Cohen, Alec Eckman, John Feczko,
Katherine Kauma, Sophia Lee, Victor Marculescu, Sean McCoy,
Jonathan Monroe, Emma Paulini, Avalon Perdriel-Arons, John
Photo Courtesy Hill’s Studio
The Fox Chapel Area High School 2017 National Merit Semifinalists.
Ramassini, Bryce Ryan, Caroline Smith, Philip Swigon, Martin
Taxay, Nathan Wecht, Bohan Yao, and Houruiyang Zong.
This year’s National Merit Semifinalists and Commended
Students were selected based on their 2015 Preliminary SAT/
National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT)
scores. All the students who take this test are automatically
enrolled in the National Merit Scholarship Program.
Approximately 16,000 advance to become Semifinalists and
about 34,000 are Commended.
BATTLE OF THE BOOKS
GOES DOWN TO THE
WIRE
I
t was a bit tense. After five rounds of five questions
for each team had been asked, the competition was
still tight and ended with the teams being locked in
a five-way tie… More questions needed to be asked.
Even then, it took three questions to break the tie. “It was
unprecedented,” said Kerr Elementary School librarian
Lynne Orsega. “All of the librarians were saying ‘We’ve
never had five teams in a tie-breaker.’” But, in the end, it
was the Sport Squad from Kerr Elementary School who was
victorious in the annual Battle of the Books Tournament.
The winning team members were fifth graders Mackenzie
Ben, Molly Ben, Isaac Jacobs, Sydney Schutzman, and Nora
Siri. The team manager was parent Cory Siri.
Sydney described winning “as a very exciting moment.” When
they started asking the tie-breaker questions Sydney said, “We
were thinking, ‘O.K. guys. We can’t lose.’” As they watched the
other teams get the tie-breaker question wrong, she said she
and her teammates knew they had to have won because their
answer was correct. Sydney said to her teammates, ‘Guys, I’m
pretty sure we won!’”
Sydney said their parents were “in shock.” She added, “They
were all excited and cheering, and every time we got a question
right, the team manager would give our parents the thumbs up
and they would say ‘Yes!’ under their breath.”
“It made me feel so happy that we ended up winning. It was
just really cool,” said Isaac. He explained that they kept last
year’s team together because they enjoyed working together.
“I didn’t really think we were going to win, because last year we
weren’t even close to winning,” Isaac stated. He said he and his
teammates worked and studied hard.
The Battle of the Books Tournament, held November 2,
features fourth and fifth grade students from Fairview,
Hartwood, Kerr, and O’Hara elementary schools and is the
culmination of eight weeks of reading and studying books
from a selected book list. During the competition, the students
answer questions about the books they have read. They also
illustrate various books on poster board shields which are
displayed around the auditorium during the tournament. The
Battle of the Books is sponsored by the elementary librarians
of the Fox Chapel Area School District.
Fox Chapel Area | Winter 2016 | icmags.com 19
FOX C HAP E L ARE A SC HOOL N E WS
F
ourteen Fox Chapel Area High School seniors have
been designated as National Merit Semifinalists
in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program.
The Semifinalists from Fox Chapel Area High
School are: Rohan Chalasani, Mihir Garimella, David Han,
Elizabeth Heidenreich, Yelim Lee, Darwin Leuba, William
Marsh, Tanvi Meringenti, Suvir Mirchandani, Grace Mueller,
Hannah Mueller, Mary Clare O’Connor, Ellen Pil, and Kai
Shaikh. The Semifinalists represent less than one percent of
the nation’s high school seniors and have the opportunity to
advance to the Finalist level and compete for National Merit
Scholarships worth about $33 million to be offered in the
spring of 2017.
Fox Chapel Area
32 SENIORS
RECOGNIZED IN
NATIONAL MERIT
PROGRAM