Three Fox Chapel Area High School students recently won awards in Model United Nations (UN) conferences.
Senior Armin Kuchhal was named Outstanding Delegate, equivalent to second place, at the Duquesne University Model UN Conference held on Jan. 17.
About 240 students from 18 public and private high schools in Western Pennsylvania participated in the conference that aims to have students role-play and simulate countries in the United Nations, solving problems from the perspectives of other countries.
At the same conference, senior Benjamin Fiedler won Best Delegate award, equivalent to first place, and junior Zachary Rubin won honorable mention.
Thirteen Fox Chapel Area School District students recently won awards for their entries in the Pittsburgh Region of the 2025 Scholastic Art Awards.
Gold Key winners were Fox Chapel Area High School juniors Raina Guzman and Mira Owens, and Dorseyville Middle School seventh-grader Samuel Ettinger. The Gold Key winners will have their work sent to New York for national judging, where they will be competing with other regional winners from across the United States for national awards. The winners of the national contest will be part of the Scholastic Art Awards National Exhibit.
The Fox Chapel Area Silver Key winners were senior Sangyon Park; juniors Raina Guzman, Akshay Lath (5 Silver Keys), Mira Owens (2 Silver Keys), and Yixin Zhang; sophomore HanYing Zhang (2 Silver Keys); freshmen Paulomi Goel (3 Silver Keys) and Ottilie Happold; and eighth-grader Celestial Hou.
The Fox Chapel Area Honorable Mention winners were juniors Karsten Buchert, Akshay Lath (4 Honorable Mentions), Mira Owens, Sarah Rached (4 Honorable Mentions), and Yixin Zhang (2 Honorable Mentions); freshmen Lily Fill and Paulomi Goel (3 Honorable Mentions); and seventh-grader Samuel Ettinger.
Students from 42 schools from across the greater Pittsburgh area participated in the regional competition. The award winners were selected by a panel of distinguished judges which included artists, art educators and art professionals.
The artwork of the students can be viewed at Carnegie Mellon University’s Hall of Fine Arts February 26-March 9 Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturdays from noon-5 p.m, and March 9 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. The Fox Chapel Area students will be honored at a special ceremony March 9 at 12 p.m. at Carnegie Mellon University’s Kresge Theater.
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Twenty-two Fox Chapel Area School District students won awards for their submissions in the 2025 Pittsburgh Region Scholastic Writing Awards.
Gold Keys were won by Fox Chapel Area High School senior Gabriella Hample, sophomore HanYing Zhang, and freshman Eliana Wellman; and Dorseyville Middle School eighth-graders Kai Galyardt, Celestial Hou, Brooke Nalevanko, and Carly Phatak. All seven of these Fox Chapel Area School District students have qualified for national judging, and the winners will be announced by Scholastics in March. Additionally, Gabriella was named an American Voices nominee for the Pittsburgh region, the highest award that can be given in the competition. Her piece, titled, “My Museum,” was submitted in the personal essay & memoir category. She will be invited to read an excerpt from her winning piece at the regional recognition ceremony.
Silver Keys were awarded to Fox Chapel Area High School sophomores Nadre Digbohou and HanYing Zhang; freshman Divya Thirumala; and eighth-graders Rebecca Dorneich (2 Silver Keys), Stella Miller, Anaia Shehzad, Giselle Silva, Jack Teschke, and Maya Vyas.
Honorable Mentions went to Fox Chapel Area High School senior Rohit Velankar; sophomore Nadre Digbohou; freshman Divya Thirumala (2 Honorable Mentions); and eighth-graders Rebecca Dorneich, Avery Graham, Adelynn Hunter, Zoey Liu, Mara Menges, Layla Niggel, and Julia Olivieri.
Hundreds of submissions spanning a variety of different genres of writing were received from students in grades 7-12 from across Allegheny County. The local competition is sponsored by the Point Park University Honors Program, which will host a regional recognition ceremony for the winners in March at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.
Eight Fox Chapel Area High School and A.W. Beattie Career Center students will be inducted into the National Technical Honor Society this year. Seniors Derrick Clements, Brianna Hnatow, Cecily Sarra, Gretchen Shelestak, and Nathan Yeske; and juniors Jackson Biehl, Casey Byrne, and Gracen Patterson will be inducted into the NTHS at a ceremony March 4 at A.W. Beattie Career Center.
To be considered for the honor, students must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale, have a grade of at least 95% in their career training program, and miss no more than five days of school. Candidates also must have a clear disciplinary record and belong to a service organization or participate in an extracurricular activity.
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Fox Chapel Area High School junior Karsten Buchert was named a national winner in the Congressional Essay Contest for high school students run by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Karsten is one of approximately 50 winners from across the nation and one of only three from Pennsylvania. The essay topic was “Explain whether existing defamation and libel laws are or are not sufficient to prohibit baseless AI generated and distributed content.”
As a national winner, Karsten will receive a full scholarship to attend the highly interactive and civics-focused Workshop Foundation’s 49th Congressional Seminar in Washington, D.C., in June. There, Karsten will join other winning students from across the United States in a model congress activity and will also meet leaders from both the federal government and private sectors. Additionally, the national winners will tour the White House, congressional offices, historical landmarks and museums.
Fox Chapel Area High School senior Gabriella Hample is a member of the 37th class of the Coca-Cola Scholars Program and one of only 150 high school students from across the nation to be selected this year. Prior to being named a scholar, Gabriella was both a regional finalist and a semifinalist for the award. The scholars were chosen from more than 105,000 applicants and are selected based on their academic excellence, leadership and service demonstrated in school and community activities. Each scholar receives a $20,000 college scholarship.
Gabriella has been invited to attend the all-expenses paid Scholars Weekend April 3-6 in Atlanta, where she will be honored at the Coca-Cola Scholars Banquet. The weekend will also include a leadership development program, a visit to the World of Coca-Cola museum, networking opportunities and a group community service project.
Four Fox Chapel Area High School students were selected to perform with the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 1 Choir. The students are seniors Alaina OKunewick and Mya Wilson, junior Robert Svenson, and sophomore Evangeline Sereno.
The PMEA District 1 Choir featured students from Allegheny, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties and the festival was held at Mount Lebanon High School Feb. 6-7. It culminated in a concert directed by Dr. Amy Voorhees, the director of choral activities at Susquehanna University.
Four Fox Chapel Area High School students had pieces accepted to the 2025 Youth Metal Arts Showcase. The students are senior Tessa Allan, and juniors Claire Conti, Emma Kuhns and Sophia Tai.
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The showcase is open to students in kindergarten through grade 12 and all work must feature metal as a material or process of creating the art. The showcase is being hosted by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh MuseumLab and begins Feb. 22.
The students are under the instruction of Fox Chapel Area High School art teacher Sarah Stewart Vasquez.
Eight Fox Chapel Area High School and Dorseyville Middle School students won awards as part of the 2025 Region 7 Meeting of the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science. All eight students qualified for the state competition. Fox Chapel Area first-place winners were seniors Omar Al-Bataineh, Anna Delale-O’Connor, Etash Jhanji, and Rohit Velankar; sophomores Heidi Stiger, Param Thawani, and Rachel Kim; and eighth-grader Rishabh Krishnamurthy. The state PJAS competition will be held May 18-20 at Penn State University, Main Campus.
Additionally, Omar received a Perfect Score Award and an Excellence in Biology Award, Anna won a Society of Women Engineers Award, Rohit received a Perfect Score Award, Heidi won a Director’s Award for Physics, and Param received a Director’s Award for Engineering.
The participating students (from several schools in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties) researched their science projects for several months. During the competition, each of the students was required to make a presentation in front of a panel of judges. The regional competition was held on Feb. 8 at Baldwin High School.
The following area students made the president’s list for the fall 2024 semester at their respective colleges/universities:
• Chase Murton, Charlotte Sauer and Ella Werner at the College of Charleston
• Haylee Stringer at Saint Francis University
The following area students made the dean’s list for the fall 2024 semester at their respective colleges/universities:
• Zoey Zoschg at the College of Charleston
• Emma Szymanski at Saint Francis University
• Hayden Strittmatter at John Carroll University
• Ray Worsen at the University of Pittsburgh Bradford campus
• Carolyn Caracciolo at SUNY Cortland
Gerry Chen, Samantha Dockey and Patrick Miller graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in December.