IN Ross Township Summer 2014 | Page 44

N OR TH HI L LS SC HO OL DI STRI C T NE WS or th Hills School District North Hills High School Musician Selected for All‑State Orchestra N orth Hills High School junior bass player Eric Meister was chosen to participate in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) All-State Orchestra. Eric advanced to the state festival after successful auditions at the PMEA Regional Orchestra Festival at Trinity High School in late February. Students were judged on rhythm, musicianship and pitch accuracy among other factors. He will attend the PMEA All-State Conference in Hershey in late March where he joined with more than 120 other talented musicians to form the state’s best high school orchestra. 42 Ross Township North Hills Students Compete at National Robotics Championship N orth Hills High School senior Curtis Sobien and sophomore Luke Melcher teamed up with fellow robotics enthusiasts to win the FIRST Robotics Competition’s Greater Pittsburgh Regional Competition and advance to the FIRST National Championship in St. Louis. During the regional competition at California University of Pennsylvania on March 27 to 29, the team topped 45 other teams from Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, Maryland, Ohio and Ontario, Canada. As part of Team SHARP – short for Sarah Heinz Advanced Robotics Program, the pair along with their teammates will compete against 200 other regional winners from across the United States and Canada at the national championship this month. Team SHARP is affiliated with the non-profit, afterschool program provider Sarah Heinz House located on Pittsburgh’s North Side. For the competition, the team built, designed and programmed a 120-pound robot by utilizing sophisticated hardware and software, and during the events, the robots competed in challenging events that combine science and technology, strategic thinking and cooperation skills. This summer, Sobien has been selected for an internship at the Carnegie Mellon University National Robotics Engineering Center, and he will attend the University of Pittsburgh this fall majoring in mechanical engineering. Melcher attends A.W. Beattie Career Center where he is enrolled in the Agile Robotics/Intelligent Systems program.  The FIRST Robotics Competition is an annual competition for high school students that helps young people discover the rewards and excitement of education and careers in science, engineering, and technology.