School Movers & Shakers - October

Pictured (L to R): Seneca Valley Seniors Elizabeth Browne, Maddox Grupp, Julian Varlotta Seneca Valley Senior High School Principal, Mr. Bob Ceh, Adrian Wrubel, Autumn Zacherl and Giulia Pologruto

Fox Chapel Area High School ninth-grader Rishabh Krishnamurthy has been named one of the Top 300 Junior Innovators in the 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (Thermo Fisher JIC). Thermo Fisher JIC is the nation’s premier science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competition for middle school students and the Top 300 represent the best and brightest middle school STEM talent in the United States.

Ten Fox Chapel Area High School seniors have been designated as National Merit Semifinalists and 17 have been named Commended Students in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. The semifinalists are Michael Costello, Riley Hemingray, Alan Jiang, Eloise Johnson, Ulyana Kubini, Joanna Li, Gavin Lynch, Rodrigo Silva, Yash Tahiliani, and Helen Xu.  The Commended Students are Marin Airik, Arman Alborzi, Tobias Conklin, Greta Erdner, Laila Golla, Charles Hahl, Nora Kelley, Steven Li, James Manges, Max Melocchi, August Mierwald, Dayna Mullan, Zehra Ozkaya, Zachary Rubin, Joshua Shah, Joseph Shin, and Ian Wellman.

The Fox Chapel Area School District has been awarded Purple Star School designation by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Fox Chapel Area’s designation will begin January 1, 2026, and will continue through December 31, 2029. The Purple Star Schools program supports military-connected children as they transition to new schools when a parent’s duty station changes.

On Sept. 9, members of Pine-Richland/Mars Area U.S. Air Force JROTC installed their annual “9/11: Never Forget Project” flag memorial at Richland Elementary School. The memorial, which includes 2,977 American flags (one for each person who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks), remained on display through Sept. 11.

Mars Area High School’s 2025 Mars Area Sports Hall of Fame inductees were recognized at the Fightin’ Planets football game against the West Mifflin Titans on Friday, Sept. 26, at Mars Athletic Complex. This year’s inductees include Ira Baumgartel, Joe Cioc, David Kuremsky, Chris Georgiadis, Sara Getsy, Ali Goetz, Alex Perri, Ori Rinaman, Josh Schultheis, Bill Starr, Adam Schultz, and Matt White.

The Mars Area High School Boys Varsity Golf Team placed third overall at the 2025 MAC Invitational, held Sept. 9 at Fox Run Golf Course. Team members include Jackson Geiger, Lukas Singh, and Jack Weaver.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) recently held its 29^th Athletics Hall of Fame Ceremony. The inductees include Frank Condino, Bob Johnston, Zack Kempa, Kerri McIntyre Joyce, Allyson Mitidieri-Washick, Denise Raymon Erb, Eric Shafer, Dennis A. & Regina Stover, James A. Welker, Rob Zinsmeister, and the 1974 Women’s Tennis Team.

Officials of National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) recently announced Seneca Valley Seniors Elizabeth Browne, Adrian Wrubel and Autumn Zacherl as Semifinalists in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. In addition, Seneca Valley Seniors, Giulia Pologruto, Maddox Grupp and Julian Varlotta have also been named a Commended Student in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. Giulia, Maddox and Julian were recognized by the NMSC for their outstanding performance on the qualifying test used for program entry.