Several Fox Chapel Area High School and Dorseyville Middle School students placed at the 2025 Future Business Leaders of America State Leadership Conference. Senior Gabriella Hample; junior Mikayla Feder; sophomores Aiden Drucker, Noelle Fouron and Ainsley Goode; and eighth-graders Dyutit Patro and Anaia Shehzad won first places. Junior Michael Costello and eighth graders Zoey Liu and Maya Vyas won second places. Junior Joanna Li and eighth-graders Rishabh Krishnamurthy and Chloe Pick won third places. Juniors Zelia Herald, Zinta Jacob and Joshua Shah and sophomore Braxton Bielawski all won fourth places. All 17 students qualified to participate in the FBLA National Leadership Conference that will be held in Anaheim, Calif., June 29-July 2.
Fox Chapel Area High School and Dorseyville Middle School state place winners in open events (not eligible for the national competition) were seniors Kai Edwards (sixth place) and Milan Golla (eighth place); junior Michael Costello (second, sixth, and seventh places); sophomore Sienna Mort (10th place); freshman Purv Patel (fourth and sixth places); eighth-graders Brooke Nalevanko (second place), Micah Ramirez (first place), and Zhiqing Hou (second place); seventh-grader Matthew Bartolacci (second place); and sixth-grader Sang Nguyen (fourth place).
Other state place winners included seniors Zoean Chittur (sixth place), Kai Edwards (sixth place), Milan Golla (seventh place), and Rachel Pegher (sixth place); sophomores Jolie Cessna (sixth place), Max Choset (fifth place), Paige Dugan (sixth place), Ella Golomb (sixth place), Joseph McGivney (fifth place), and Dashel Wilson (ninth place); freshmen Filamena LeDonne (10th place), Ava Stackhouse (10th place), Easton Ritz (10th place), Henry Sun (10th place), and Ayden Wang (10th place); seventh-graders Annon Edwards (fifth place), Charles McLaughlin (fifth place), Tucker Patsey (fifth place), and Shiva Subramanian (fifth place); and sixth-graders Oskar Guttridge (fifth place) and Sang Nguyen (fourth place).
Additionally, as part of the state leadership conference, several other awards were also given. Junior Nicholas Krist was inducted into the National Business Honor Society. Big 33 Community Service Awards went to juniors Samantha Dinh, Nicholas Krist and Kalsey Thom; sophomores Aiden Drucker, Sera Filar and Ella Golomb; freshmen Andrew Dinh, Sydney Gibel and Purv Patel; eighth-grader Rishabh Krishnamurthy; and seventh-grader Russell Gardner. Business Achievement Awards were given to seniors Caleb Shirk and Gabriella Hample; junior Ross Calig; and sophomores Aiden Drucker, Sera Filar, Ella Golomb,and Ainsley Goode.
The Fox Chapel Area High School chapter of the FBLA also received ninth place in the Local Chapter Membership award with a total of 148 students. There are 260 active high school chapters in Pennsylvania. The Dorseyville Middle School chapter of the FBLA won third place in the Local Chapter Membership award with 37 members. There are approximately 35 middle school chapters in the state.
The FBLA State Leadership Conference was held in Hershey, Pa., April 8-9. More than 6,200 students from high schools and middle schools across the state participated in the competition.
The Fox Chapel Area High School FBLA sponsor is business education teacher Christina Congalton.
Two teams of Fox Chapel Area School District students placed first and second as part of the 2025 Children’s Choice Awards competition, sponsored by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit and the Allegheny County Library Association. The Hartwood Elementary School team of fifth-graders McKenna Anderson and Elizabeth Moudry and fourth-graders Eli Holmes and Henry Smith won first place in the competition. The team of Fairview Elementary School fifth-graders Samuel Barritt, Asya Isbiliroglu and Nolan Riordan placed second.
The event was held April 9 at Commonwealth Charter Academy in Homestead. Students were asked to read novels and then participate in a trivia event where they answered questions about the books. In addition to the competition, the students also heard a keynote from author Matthew Holm who created (with his sister, Jennifer Holm) a number of graphic novels. They also attended a session with a local graphic artist/storyteller Joe Mruk. The day concluded with a live concert by local duo Josh and Gab, who provided a kindness and bullying awareness musical comedy program.
Approximately 65 students in grades three-six from Allegheny and Washington counties participated in the Children’s Choice Awards event.
An A.W. Beattie Career Center and Fox Chapel Area High School senior placed at the SkillsUSA Pennsylvania competition. Gretchen Shelestak won a third-place bronze medal. Gretchen competed in the cosmetology category and is enrolled in Beattie’s cosmetology program.
Gretchen qualified for the state contest after placing first at the SkillsUSA Pennsylvania District 8 competition that was held Feb. 17 at the Parkway West Career & Technology Center.
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The state contest was held April 2-4 in Hershey, Pa.
A Fox Chapel Area High School junior placed at the annual Westminster College High School Model United Nations Conference. Ori Goldin won the Outstanding Delegate Award (equivalent to first place) in the Contemporary Security Council.
A total of 250 students from 20 public and private high schools from Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and Northern West Virginia participated in the Westminster College High School Model UN Conference. The competition was held April 9 at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa.
The purpose of the Model UN conference is to enable students to role-play and simulate the countries in the United Nations. As a part of the conference, students debate and try to solve global problems from the perspectives of other countries.
Ori was also named the first-place winner of both the state and Allegheny County American Legion Essay Contest. The essay topic was “Why is the 1st Amendment Important in America?” Essays were judged on proper English structure, accuracy, the extent of the information and originality.
As the state first-place winner, Ori has won $3,500, along with a trip to the PA American Legion Convention in July, where he will read his winning essay to the assembled delegates. Ori was also invited to the American Legion Allegheny County & the American Legion Auxiliary Allegheny County Council 2025 Youth Achievement Awards dinner held at SNPJ Lodge 106 in Imperial on April 13, where he received a medal and a certificate.
Eight Fox Chapel Area High School students were selected by audition to perform with the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association All-State Ensembles. The students chosen for the PMEA All-State Chorus are seniors Alaina OKunewick and Mya Wilson. The students selected for the PMEA All-State Orchestra are senior Marina Dunham (bassoon) and juniors Elliott Broyles (trombone), Michael Costello (bass), Charles Hahl (cello), Jack Murray-Krezan (percussion), and Joshua Shah (flute). The PMEA All-State Ensembles bring together the top student-musicians from across Pennsylvania.
The PMEA All-State Festival was held at the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in the Poconos, in conjunction with the PMEA Annual In-Service Conference April 9-12.