2013-2014 Calendar     

High School Summer Reading

     Scranton School District summer school registration is Tuesday, June 18, (9th thru 12th grades); Wednesday, June 19, (late registration all grades).

     Tunkhannock School District summer school registration is June 20, (phys. ed.) and July 3 (regular classes English, geometry and algebra).

     Information available in the Guidance Office.

     Our High School Choir received the Best Overall High School Choir Award among twelve high school choirs participating in the Music in the Parks in Hershey competition and garnered three of the top four places at the Choir Competition.  In addition to all three of our choirs receiving a superior rating, our Women's Ensemble ranked fourth, our Concert Choir ranked second and our Men's Ensemble ranked first.

     Kaylee Kline placed third in the individual portion of the Newton Mathematics Competition, which encompassed the entire Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The team of Pat Haggerty, Andy Medina, and Sarah Parkinson ranked 4th in the team competition. 

     Our High School’s production of The Sound of Music earned two of the seven awards for which the performance was nominated in the Excellence in School Theatre Awards program.  The entire cast won for Best Singing Ensemble, and Abby Mappes won for Best Actress in a Leading Role. 

     Honors chemistry students Eric Onfry and Kathleen Shedlock have been recognized for their efforts on the American Chemical Society Regional A Level Chemistry Exam. Eric Onfry was the winner and Kathleen Shedlock was the runner up in the exam.

     Two Odyssey of the Mind teams (the first and second place winners below) advanced to World Finals at Michigan State University. The State Finals competition results for the Abington Heights teams are as follows:

     First Place: ARTchitecture: The Musical - Div III - High School Team A: Madeline Belknap, Natalie Belknap, Ellen Brown, Kelsey Brown, Emily Davis, Brynn Kizer, Meredith Westington. Coach: Debbie Belknap

     Second Place: ARTchitecture: The Musical - Div II - Middle School Team A: Kate Coleman, Jordan Jarocha, Natalie Kozar, Victoria Munley, Brenna Phillips, Danielle Sanok, Katie Walsh. Coach: Rose Phillips

     Third Place: It’s How You Look At It - Div III - High School Team A: Elizabeth Bamford, Nicholas Beckish, Rachel Gilmore, Alex Gockley, Jessa Sablan, Joe Sileo, Sarah Uhranowsky. Coach: Teresa Beckish

     Twenty-two members of the 2012 Abington Heights football team were recently named to the Pennsylvania Football News All-Academic Team.  The PFN All-Academic Team recognizes players who excelled in the classroom as well as the playing field.  In order to be selected to the team, each student-athlete had to be at least a sophomore in school and had to meet certain criteria for cumulative GPA and participation.  Members of the 2012 PFN All-Academic Team are:

Gold Team: Joe Marciano (Sr.), TJ Murray (Sr.), Matt Huggler (Jr.), Ben Rarrick (Jr.), JC Show (Jr.)
Silver Team: Ryan Fiorillo (Sr.), Jamie Henzes (Sr.), Dante Pasqualichio (Sr.), Joe Carroll (Jr.), Quinn Karam (Jr.), Drew Kuzma (Jr.), Dan Stevens (Jr.), Jake Henzes (So.), Nate Langan (So.)
Bronze Team: Peter Hubbard (Sr.), Jerry Langan (Sr.), Ryan Patrick (Sr.), Nathan Hollander (Jr.), Nick Ksiazek (Jr.), Kevin Malone (Jr.), Sean Rock (Jr.), Kyle Tierney (Jr.)

     Abington Heights School District has received a $10,000 grant from Project Lead The Way (PLTW), the nation’s leading provider of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum. Funds from the grant will support the PLTW engineering program, including continued teacher professional development and the purchase of materials and equipment for the hands-on, project-based classes that are a distinguishing characteristic of PLTW’s curriculum.

     In 2013, over 230,000 works were submitted to The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, and senior Zack Peercy was awarded three Silver Keys and an Honorable mention for writing. The Silver Keys were received for works submitted in “Flash Fiction,” “Science Fiction/Fantasy,” and “Short Story”; the Honorable mention for a submission in the category of “Dramatic Script.”

     Kevin Hu won the Level 1 Marywood Math Contest.  Michael Wynn was awarded 3^rd place – Level 1, and Aiden Hodge was awarded 3^rd place – Level 2. 

     Our High School Forensic Team has achieved great success and has been named:
Scranton NCFL League Champions & PHSSL District 8 League Champions.  For more information, click here.

     Evan Eckersley came in first place at the PMEA’s Region IV Band Festival.  He has qualified through competitive audition to attend this year’s All-State Festival at the Erie Convention Center in late April. 

     The Abington Heights Middle School Science Olympiad team competed in the NEPA regional tournament at PSU Wilkes Barre.  This amazing team of students competed in 23 events and earned 7 first place finishes, 5 second place finishes, two third place finishes, and 2 fourth place finishes, receiving medals in 16 out of the 23 events.  As a team, they placed first in the tournament, beating out 23 other teams for the top spot.  Following are the individual event medal winners:

1^st place Anatomy – Philip Misterman and Julia Kasperkowicz

1^st place Disease Detectives – Philip Misterman and Julia Kasperkowicz

1^st place Forestry – Ethan Ross and Timmy Habeeb

1^st place Road Scholar – Liam Pitchford, Claire Traweek

1^st place Rocks and Minerals – Ethan Ross

1^st place Rotor Egg Drop – Timmy Habeeb, Tom Hildebrand

1^st place Write it Do it – Katya Williams, Vihisha Bache

2^nd place – Dynamic Planet – MJ Jonsson, Arjun Iyengar

2^nd place – Helicopters – Philip Misterman, Audrey Cottell

2^nd place – Keep the Heat – Audrey Cottell, Claire Traweek

2^nd place – Metric Mastery – Liam Pitchford, MJ Jonsson

2^nd place – Shock Value – Sam Myers

3^rd place – Experimental Design – Tom Hildebrand, Claire Traweek

3^rd place – Sounds of Music – Katya Williams, Vihisha Bache

4^th place – Heredity – Ethan Ross, Timmy Habeeb

4^th place – Water Quality – Katya Williams, Audrey Cottell

The team now moves on to the state tournament at Juniata College on April 26.

     Our Robotics Team made it to the finals round at the Mid-Atlantic District Competition at Hatboro Horsham High School.  The team will travel to The College of New Jersey for another shot at a district win and then to Lehigh University in April for a shot at the Regional Championship. 

In attendance were:
Matt Galaydick

Chris Ferrario

Rishi Mulloth

Amogh Prahalad
Sean Salmon

Spenser Lionetti

Stephen Sokalsky

Tyler Vangorder

Daniel Neary

Celeste Neary

Nick Skierkowski

Dan Vannan (Physics Teacher)

Matt Lockwood (Engineering Teacher)
Andy Brown (Lockheed Martin Mentor)

Tim O’Donnell (Lockheed Martin Mentor)

     The following students participated in the regional Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science competition held at Kings College and earned the following awards:

Maitri Pancholy – 1^st award perfect score and advancing to state competition

Cierra Beck – 2^nd award

Caleb Green – 2^nd award

Ajna Prahalad – 2^nd award

R. J. Pipeling – 3^rd award

     Our Mock Trial Team claimed the District Championship and will compete at the state level.

     Senior students Paul Cheng, Maitri Pancholy and Sarah Parkinson have advanced to Finalist standing from the 16,000 Semifinalists in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program.

      Abington Heights High School art students’ clay hexagon tile projects was featured in an article about the Hexagon Project in School Arts Magazine in March, 2013. This particular magazine issue is the giveaway issue at the NAEA (National Art Education Association) National Convention in Fort Worth, Texas, so it will be seen by many art educators around the globe.

       Evan Eckersley, Kaylee Kline, Madeline McNichols, Amelia Oon, Taylor Ross and Will Swisher have been named commended students by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise. Commended Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score.

       Senior student Rachel L. Ezrin was selected as the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR) Russian Scholar Laureate for 2012. Rachel is a member of a highly selected group of 41 Russian students from many secondary schools throughout the United States—all of whom were selected by their teachers and principals as the most outstanding Russian students of 2012 at their schools.

       Serena DeSeta, 11th grade, has been named the 2012 Abington Heights Poetry Out Loud champion. Serena will compete at the regional level competition in February.

The calendar has been revised as follows:

•     Monday, April 1 - Full Day of School      

•     Monday, April 15 - Act 80 Day - No School for Students

•     Friday, May 24 - Full Day of School

•     Thursday, June 13 - Last Student Day

•     Friday, June 14 - Graduation Day & In-service Day #5 - Last Teacher Day