WHAT’S NEWS IN SHALER
CLC COMMUNITY
CARNIVAL IN MILLVALE IS
SATURDAY, AUGUST 3!
Christ Lutheran Church (CLC) will host
its first community carnival in Millvale on
Saturday, August 3. Game booths, food,
festivities, and lots of fun for all ages. In
addition, the CLC Sunday morning band
will give a concert in the evening. All
are welcome. Please visit CLC Website:
https://www.clcmillvale.com/; Youtube:
clcmillvale; Instagram: CLCMillvale;
Twitter: ChristMillvale; Facebook and
Instagram: #CLCMillvale. You can also email
[email protected]. CLC is
located at 917 Evergreen Avenue in Millvale.
SHALER GREAT GARDENS
TOUR
Don’t miss the Shaler Great Gardens Tour
on Sunday, June 30, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The
community is invited to tour five beautiful area
gardens with great variety, color and creativity.
Sponsored by the Shaler Garden Club to benefit
the Shaler North Hills Library. Rain or shine.
Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 the day of
the tour, and are on sale now at Shaler North
Hills Library, located at 1822 Mt. Royal Blvd.,
Glenshaw, PA, 15116. For more information,
visit shalergardenclub.com or shalerlibrary.org.
SHALER GREAT LOCAL
GARDENS CONTEST
If you have a lovely garden, why not enter
this fun, casual contest so we can celebrate your
talents. Submit five photos plus a description
of what makes your garden special to: Shaler
North Hills Library, 1822 Mt. Royal Blvd.,
Glenshaw, PA, 15116 Deadline is July 8.
Awards ceremony will take place Tuesday, July
23, at 6:30 p.m. as part of the Shaler Garden
Club’s evening program. The public is invited
to attend for “Hydrangeas Demystified.” For
more information, visit shalergardenclub.com
or shalerlibrary.org.
6
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ALPHA MIDDLE SCHOOL
STUDENT WINS SCIENCE
FAIRS
Middle school students all across the state
are familiar with the Pittsburgh Junior Academy
of Science competition. Students in our region
are also familiar with the Pittsburgh Regional
and Science and
Engineering Fair. Alpha
student Gina Palladino
is not only familiar
with both but she is a
winner at both.
This year, she
selected a polymer-
based project. “I
wanted to work with plastics and polymers,
addressing the idea of compostable plastics
because plastics in the ocean are a big problem.
I looked at the Crown Poly bags used by Trader
Joe’s, which I buried in my garden to compost.”
The Crown Poly bag is a product that claims
to be a compostable, eco-friendly plastic bag.
The product is made with a material called
Mater Bi®, is certified under ASTM D-6400
to meet the US composting standards, and is
FDA approved. Gina researched the patent
information for the Crown Poly bag. She
discovered that the patent referenced the
problem of durability in the product. She
went on to create a tapioca-based polymer to
investigate the issue and presented her findings
at both PJAS and PRSEF.
This year in the 2019 PJAS competitions,
Gina achieved a perfect score at the regional
level. She was also awarded the PJAS
Chemistry Award with a $100 prize, the
Duquesne University Excellence in Science
Award, the CMU Center for Nucleic Acids
Science and Technology DNA Zone Award
and the Pittsburgh Section of the American
Chemical Society 2019 Award for Excellence in
Chemistry.
This year in the 2019 PRSEF competitions,
Gina earned sponsor awards from Covestro,
Kennametal and Braskem.
She recently learned she was selected as the
PJAS Region 7 Award Winner for two years in
a row by the Society for Analytical Chemists
of Pittsburgh (SACP). The award will consist
of a certificate and a check for $300. Gina and
her family attended the annual SACP Awards
Banquet on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 in the
Duquesne University Ballroom.
Providence Heights Alpha School is an
independent, Catholic, coeducational school
for grades pre-K-8, founded and sponsored
by the Sisters of Divine Providence and
located on their historic 40-acre campus in
Allison Park. Since 1926, Alpha School has
educated children to be independent thinkers,
imaginative problem solvers and caring,
compassionate individuals.
SHALER AREA TO BENEFIT
FROM ALLEGHENY
COUNTY CONSERVATION
DISTRICT GRANT
Shaler Area High School soon will have a
rain garden installed on its property thanks
to a $6,793 grant awarded to Girty’s Run
Watershed Association from the Allegheny
County Conservation District’s Conservation,
Leadership and Innovation Program.
Shaler Area High School partnered
with Girty’s Run Watershed Association
to develop a conceptual stormwater
management plan for an area of the high
school campus surrounding its greenhouse.
Under the guidance of Girty’s Run Watershed
Association, a high school team of students—
including Alyssa Juzwick, Jamie Eichmiller,
Caitlin Fedorek, Dakota Carr, Olivia Jarzynka,
Anna Sheets, and Rebecca Schiavone—
developed a design to incorporate green
stormwater infrastructure that would reduce
the amount of surface runoff.
Girty’s Run Watershed Association
applied for a grant through the Allegheny
County Conservation District’s
Conservation, Leadership and Innovation
Program to bring part of that plan to fruition.
The grant will fund the creation of a rain
garden, landscaped with native vegetation,
which will divert rainwater from the sewer
system to the garden to be absorbed back
into the soil. The rain garden is designed
to capture an estimated 1,355 gallons of
stormwater in a one-inch rainfall.
The rain garden also will provide an
educational opportunity for high school students
because the grant provides for the installation
of monitoring sensors for rainfall and water
absorption with software provided by DECO
Resources. These features will be powered by
a solar panel, and an integrated phone app will
monitor those sensor levels in real time.
For more information, visit
conservationsolutioncenter.org/in-the-
news/news/76-grants/297-clip-girtys-run. n