JAGUARS IN THE NEWS est Jefferson Hills
WEST JEFFERSON HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
WJHSD / TJ Rankings The ascent by West Jefferson Hills and Thomas Jefferson among the premier school districts and high schools in metropolitan Pittsburgh and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania continued with two more significant annual rankings this spring .
In the Pittsburgh Business Times rankings of more than 100 school districts , WJHSD rose from No . 22 to 18 . Across the Commonwealth , the district moved to No . 50 , up 13 spots from last year .
In the U . S . News & World Report Best High School rankings , Thomas Jefferson rose to No . 13 in the region and No . 40 in Pennsylvania . TJ moved up from No . 69 in the state last year and from No . 96 going back to 2020 .
Team Cassidy 5K
Team Cassidy was out in full force in mid-May as a turnout of more than 300 supported recent Thomas Jefferson graduate Cassidy Hummer , who is battling brain cancer , with a 5K run and Kids Trot .
There were 305 runners , joggers and walkers in the 5K and one-mile Kids Trot at South Park . The event was organized by TJ ’ s Chick-fil-A Leader Academy and advisor Jennifer McHugh and their goal was to raise $ 5,000 . The overall 5K winner was TJ ’ s Garrett Bell , a member of the TJ cross country team , and the top female finisher was Jaguars junior Aislin Majoris , a member of the girls soccer squad .
At the Thomas Jefferson Senior Awards ceremony , McHugh and Leader Academy students Kate Patterson and Jacob Palmer presented Cassidy Hummer with a check for $ 10,879.32 raised at the 5K !
PHMS Problem Solving
Two Pleasant Hills Middle School Future Problem Solving teams , one in sixth grade and one in seventh grade , won their divisions at the Pennsylvania State Bowl and advanced to the International Future Problem Solving competition at Indiana University in Bloomington , Ind . in early June . Great job by our state champion Jaguars !
6th Grade Team : Mila Downs , Nora Graff , Bailey Merrell , Alexa Thomas 7th Grade Team : Eli Doerfler , Austin Hinkle , Ollie Whitsel , Steven Wills
Envirothon
Thomas Jefferson High School students won first place at the Allegheny County Envirothon for the second consecutive year ! The Allegheny County Conservation District ( ACCD ) hosted 135 high school students representing 11 school districts at the annual competition at North Park . Thomas Jefferson had four squads at the event .
The winning TJ team included students Reagan Sanderson , Lukeman El-Hajj , Hunter Houk , Kamryn Mull and Connor McCann . Thomas Jefferson teachers Dan Giger and Brian McClain are the advisors .
Every winning student received a scholarship for academic pursuits following high school funded with support from event sponsors . The students competed in the PA Envirothon in late May .
Spring Sports Success
The Thomas Jefferson softball and baseball teams advanced to their respective PIAA Championships to highlight the spring sports season .
The softball squad was the No . 10 seed in the WPIAL 5A Tournament but won three games over the No . 7 , 2 and 10 seeds to advance to the championship contest , where it was defeated by top-seeded Armstrong . Coached by Heidi Karcher , the Jaguars returned to the PIAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 , when they advanced to the semifinals . TJ had advanced to the PIAA 5A Semifinals as of press time .
The baseball squad was the WPIAL 4A , Section 3 co-champions , delivering its first Section crown since 2019 . Directed by Tim Vickers , the Jaguars were 19-2 in the regular season and advanced to the WPIAL semifinals . The Jaguars made their second PIAA Tournament appearance in the past three years , traveling to District 3 ’ s East Pennsboro in the first round .
The boys volleyball team also advanced to the WPIAL semifinals . Junior Sylvia Kashak broke the 24-year old TJ record in the 800 meters and qualified for the PIAA Track & Field Championships , placing 13th , the highest finisher from the WPIAL .
50 WEST JEFFERSON HILLS