Ligonier Valley High School (LVHS) recently announced its Learners of the Month for December.

Ligonier Valley High School’s FBLA chapter recently qualified 25 members to compete at the State Conference in Hershey in April. Set to go to the conference are: Advisor Emily Tatsch, Abbie Mack, Lauren Markle, Madison Beatty, Jenna Moore, Mackenzee Lear, Bella Wentzell, Ryan Harbert, (second row) MJ Knupp, Abigail Painter, Jenna Moore, Megan Betz, Miranda Palmer, Damiana Bradley, Audrianne Speidel, Eva Shearer, Broderick Schreyer, (third row) Hunter Telford, Lex Ortego, Haley Stormer, Maverick Vaniel, Mason Seftas, Gunnar Elliot, Alex Torrance and Lucas Walker. Not in the photo is Ayden Kelley.

Greater Latrobe Senior High School freshman Parker Williams was recently recognized by Southwest Region Deputy State Game Warden Dr. Ken Williams and Southwest Region State Game Warden William Brehun of the Pennsylvania Game Commission for her involvement in getting aid for a white-tailed deer caught in a fence. She was presented with a certificate in recognition of her assistance and commitment with helping the state’s wildlife resources.

Greater Latrobe Senior High School students in Jennifer LeVan’s Human Body Systems class, including McKenna Reddish, Anna Doelling, Jenna Tomko, Sanova Henschel, Sidney Gentile and Dallin White, had the unique opportunity to meet with optometrist Dr. Mark Graytok (back row) of Graytok Family Vision Care at his Greensburg practice. They learned about eye exams, eye conditions and the equipment he uses to examine a patient’s eyes. Students recently covered an eye unit in class and this was a great way to connect the content they learned in the classroom to a real life experience.

Jim Moore of the Latrobe Lions Club presents a certificate to Greater Latrobe student Tyler Simonovitch, the club’s Student of the Month for December. Simonovitch is a member of the National Honor Society, the Council for Global Scholars, president of the German National Honor Society, and captain of the Marching Band and District Band. His interests include music, mathematics, and the sciences, especially physics. His future plans include attending Kent State University for a double major in aeronautics and physics with a possible minor in trombone. He is the son of Paul and Cyndi Simonovitch.

Latrobe Elementary School Student Council held a Holiday Spirit Week fundraiser to support the Latrobe Salvation Army. Taking part were Mikaela Kempka, Jacob Stephenson, Brogan Murphy, Simon Bartels, Erin Ulewicz, Kaden Shannon, Anaya Drown, (second row) Jacob Leonard, Avery Fazekas, Kate Resultay, (third row) Brooke Marts, Sarah LeVan, Maria Fetter, Gabe Watson and Rylei Monro. The students and staff raised $166.73.

Nineteen students from grades 2, 3, 5 and 8 and four helpers from Derry Area High School participated in an Atlantic No. 40 One Room School Event on Jan. 8. Taking part were Brook Stayduhar, Alexander Grohal, Jonathan Clark, Dane Marts, Antonio Foster, (second row) Cameron Miller, Lucas Grohal, Luke McDonald, Jazlyn Arnold, Logan Nolan, (third row) Xavier Bowman, Nina Smiley, Julee Blasko, (fourth row) Phoenix Barnhart, Aspen Blystone, Rylie Siko, Kylie Bonadies, Cameron McCune, Allee Keenan, (fifth row) Aidan Yates, Tamra Schissler, Amber Platt, Cydney Wierzbowski, and teachers Jennifer Zinkham and Karen Kerin. Students explored pictures to discover how students and teachers dressed in the one-room school days, they read an article about life in a one-room school comparing today to the 1900s, and they held an artifact gallery walk. Their art project included measuring and drawing a one-room school with glued buttons as decorations and they participated in a quilt-design activity.

Derry Area School District hosted STEM Storytime and a Pajama Party for preschoolers on Dec. 11, at Grandview Elementary School, in partnership with the Grandview Pre-K Counts Classrooms and Grandview Head Start.

With unseasonably warm temperatures lately, students in (right) Angie Beukema and (third from left) Katie Eicher’s Pre-K Counts class at Latrobe Kinder-Schull, including Sophia Echard, Brian Friend, Mackenzie Fillmore, Onikah Jackson, Adalyn Hendrick, Alex Szekely, Tripp Nolan, Oliver Szekely, Jace Powers and Drake Perich, recently had the opportunity to take a rainy walk. Students got a buddy and an oversized umbrella as they headed out to explore and observe the world around them.

Ligonier Valley High School (LVHS) recently announced its Learners of the Month for November.

The Latrobe Elementary School Student Council, including Anaya Drown, Brogan Murphy, Rylei Monro, Simon Bartels, Brooke Marts, (back row) Gabbi Behie, Maria Fetter, Erin Ulewicz, Sara LeVan and Gabe Watson, recently sponsored a Scholastic Pajama Drive. Students and faculty joined forces to collect 128 pairs of pajamas that will be donated to a local charity. For every pair of pajamas collected, Scholastic Book Clubs will donate a book to a child in need.

On Dec. 10, Cindy Planinsek and Amy Showalter’s classes from Latrobe Elementary School, including students Emily Dingman, Sian Braucher, Lincoln Orzehowski, Lucas Miller, Gabriel Povlik, Keyland Henderson, Ashlyn Powell, Hannah Holzer, Chloe Miller, Landon Robinson, Conner Nett, (second row) Jason Shull, Sebastian Storms, Andrew Dingman, Marty Cramer, Randy Wilson, Erika Plows, Justin Overly, Vincent Lookhart and Lyric Eller, took their annual December field trip to Westmoreland Mall and the nearby AMC movie theater. Students rode the mall train, browsed the shops and visited with Santa before seeing “Frozen 2.” This year, through the generosity of Charles O’Brien (back row in photo), owner of the Sbarro Westmoreland Mall location, students and staff were treated to a lunch of pizza and a drink, and students received a holiday treat.

The Greater Latrobe Chain Reaction Team of Luke Moore, mentor Tom Irwin, Sarah Dill, Matthew Cox, Zachary Buerger, Christopher Cox and Nicole Kondrich recently placed second out of 27 teams at the Chain Reaction Contraption Contest held Dec. 10 the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. This competitive academic event challenged students to build a simple machine that performs an assigned task using at least 20 steps. Rather than relying on electricity, the machines are powered by gravity and various sources of potential energy. The event is sponsored by Westinghouse and is designed to generate interest in engineering by exposing high school students to the application of scientific principles. With the assistance of Irwin, a local engineer, GL students built their machine and were judged on a verbal presentation given the day of the competition. During the presentation, students were expected to answer various questions related to the scientific principles behind the device they built.

Greater Latrobe Junior High School student (left photo) Rachel Snyder took home first place, Nolan Bartels won second place and Carmen Daigle placed fifth when GOAL students were invited to an art competition at Trafford Middle School on Dec. 17. Students constructed dragon masks solely made from paper products.

These nine students were named December Breakfast of Champions at Greater Latrobe Senior High School: (front row) Abigail Shearer was honored by language arts teacher Karen Wydareny, Rebecca Reed by science teacher Rachel Suter, Heath Freeman by social studies teacher Shawn Walker, and Sarah Dill by math teacher Wendy Lint, (second row) Jamison Brant was honored by music teacher Tim Sheridan, Cameron Dominick by Spanish teacher Leslie Harvey, Zachary Carroll by social studies teacher Robert Saveikis, Christian Rockwell by social studies teacher Matt Basciano, and Dakoda Snyder by science teacher Megan Porembka.