Niche Ranks Sewickley Academy No. 1 - Niche.com ranked Sewickley Academy the Best Academy in the Pittsburgh Metro Area, placing SA No. 1 in a competitive field that included Shady Side Academy, Aquinas Academy, Winchester Thurston School, Vincentian Academy, and 14 other local academies. SA also received an “A+ Top Colleges Score” and was ranked the Best Private High School in the Pittsburgh Metro area, again rising to #1 out of 34 other local private high schools. Last February, Niche ranked SA No. 1 in the state for best private school teachers.
Sewickley Academy Ranked 12th Best Private Elementary School in the United States – TheBestSchools.org released the 50 Best Private Elementary Schools in the U.S., and Sewickley Academy ranked 12th. Only one other school in Pennsylvania was listed – St. Edmund’s Academy ranked 28th. The site commends the Lower School’s language arts, social studies, and math programs as well as engineering and robotics classes.
SA Helps Set a World Record – For the third consecutive year, Sewickley Academy students attempted to set a new Guinness World Record for “Most People Sport Stacking at Multiple Locations in One Day.” Dave Crawley from KDKA-TV reported on our students’ attempt at a Guinness World Record in sport stacking. 618,394 stackers participated in the event and broke the previous year’s STACKUP Record of 592,292.
Cum Laude Society Inducts Six New Members – Six members of Sewickley Academy’s senior class, who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship throughout their Senior School years, and one faculty member were inducted into the Cum Laude Society at the Cum Laude Induction Ceremony in January.
The Cum Laude Society is a national organization established in 1906 to recognize and encourage true scholarship and academic achievement among students in secondary schools. Modeled on Phi Beta Kappa for colleges, the society now has 382 chapters with over 350 of those in independent schools.
Membership is predominantly in the United States but chapters are also located in Canada, England, France, Spain, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Sewickley Academy is one of only 19 schools in Pennsylvania that are members of the society.
Class of 2016 Volunteers – The Class of 2016 completed a total of 8,665 hours of community service during their time at the Academy.
SA Sails to Neverland – In March, Grade 5 presented Peter Pan JR, the story of the boy who wouldn’t grow up and the girl who has to. After finding his shadow in the Darling family nursery, Peter teaches Wendy, Michael, and John how to fly and sweeps them off to Neverland, where they meet lost boys, mermaids, Indians, and of course, pirates. In order for the children to return home, Peter had to defeat Captain Hook with the help of Tinker Bell and her fairy friends.
Grease is the Word – A cast and crew of almost 70 Sewickley Academy Middle School students presented Grease, an adaptation of one of the most well-known musicals of all time, in November. The show took the audience back in time to Rydell High as the cast went through trials and tribulations in search of what it means to be a teenager in 1950s America.
I Dreamed a Dream – The Senior School musical Les Misérables took place in March, and students performed to a sold out crowd. One of the world’s most iconic and longest-running musicals, Les Misérables tells the story of Jean Valjean, a former convict who spends a lifetime seeking redemption.
CATCH – Middle School students participated in Children’s Actions That Create Hope (CATCH), a philanthropy education program and donated more than $1,900 to each of the three charities chosen by the students. Grade 6 supported Friendship Circle, Grade 7 supported Hello Bully, and Grade 8 supported Amy’s Ride/Walk for Pancreatic Cancer.
UFOs – As part of the Middle School’s Unidentified Friday Opportunity (UFO) program, students went on a trip to the Escape Room Pittsburgh followed by dinner at Everyday Noodles and watched He Called Me Malala on campus under the stars and enjoyed a Pakistani dessert.
PMEA – Five students were selected to play for the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA). William Sands, who plays the French horn, was selected for the PMEA Honors, Senior High District, Senior High Regional, and All-State Band. Karen Chen, clarinet, was selected for the PMEA Senior High District Band; Justin Dreyer, percussion, was selected for the PMEA Junior High District Band and District Orchestra; Amber Huang, flute, was selected to the PMEA Junior High District Orchestra; and Dimitri Gary was selected to the PMEA Junior High District Band.
MS Students Exposed to Different Cultures – The Middle School Language Department hosted its second World Language and Culture Extravaganza, where the cultures and cuisines of the Middle School languages were shared with students, faculty, and staff.
STEM at SA – Four Sewickley Academy students won prizes for their accomplishments in science at the annual American Chemical Society (ACS) and Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh (SACP) Awards Banquet. Grade 7 student Prateek Adurty won first place (junior high division) at the state Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences (PJAS) for his project “Going Green: Environmental Impact of Fuels by Combustion.” Prateek also won first place in his division for this project at the annual Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair (PRSEF). Grade 10 students Cole Luther, Pranav Mulgund, and James Grosz won first, second, and third place, respectively, in the annual ACS Chemistry Examination Competition, small school division.
Global Studies Certificates – Seventeen members of the senior class graduated with a Global Studies Certificate.
SA Travels – Last school year, there were 45 Sewickley Academy-sponsored trips and exchanges, and eight non-SA sponsored trips available – giving our students 53 options to see the world!
“Around the World with Friends” – The Lower School after-school program was very popular this past year and involved 30 students and brought together Senior School students, parents, and faculty in sharing their cultural heritage.
Model United Nations – The Senior School’s Model United Nations Club provides students with the opportunity to research, discuss, and write about current world events and possible solutions to them. The Model U.N. club participated in two simulations during the 2015-2016 school year – Duquesne University’s Model U.N. Conference in January and Westminster College’s Model U.N. Conference in April. At each conference, SA students served as representatives of different national delegations and worked with high school students from around western Pennsylvania in their diplomatic efforts. The students represented their delegation’s interests on topics including the Syrian refugee crisis, nuclear weapon disarmament, sustainable infrastructure in developing areas, providing equal access to education, and drug cartels and international security.
Virtual Reality Driving Simulator by Ultimate Defensive Driving Comes to Sewickley Academy – Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) provided an opportunity for students to get an understanding how engaging in texting, talking, or other distracted events while driving could cause one to be in an accident. The simulator enabled students to drive in a virtual space while operating the controls of an actual vehicle. The simulator put more of an emphasis on defensive driving with its 360 degree panoramic view of the road and surrounding area presented to the student via virtual reality goggles. Students were able to experience many scenarios like drunk driving, texting while driving, road surface changes, and adverse weather.
Senior Teacher Day – On January 27, 2016, the senior class participated in Senior Teacher Day. Each senior was paired with a member of the Sewickley Academy staff, faculty, or administration and assumed the responsibilities of their partner for the day. Senior students could be found in every division and in many of the offices on campus.
Hometown High-Q – The Sewickley Academy Quiz Bowl Club once again participated on Hometown High-Q. Sewickley made three appearances on the show. In the first round, senior Kahmil Shajihan, junior Tessa Juliano, and sophomore Arnas Scheel competed against South Side High School and Washington High School, and they won by a minimum point difference of 175. They moved on to the quarterfinals, where they defeated Moon High School and Penn Hills High School. Once again, they won their match and moved on to the semifinals where they competed against Winchester Thurston and Indiana Area High School. They came in second place and ended their season in the semifinals. They placed in the top nine of all the schools that competed for the season.
Data Jam – Last spring the “Global Issues: World of Data” class participated in the Pittsburgh Data Works Data Jam. The class researched river and drinking water quality in Pittsburgh as well as other national and international cities. Complied data was analyzed and data visualizations were created. The class presented their findings at the University of Pittsburgh.
Banner Year for Athletics – The 2015-2016 school year was a banner year for athletics for Sewickley Academy as the school was awarded both the Trib Total Media Cup and the MSA Sports Cup for best overall athletic program per school classification. Section Championships were captured in boys cross country, girls golf, boys golf, girls tennis, boys soccer, boys basketball, boys swimming, and boys tennis. The boys cross country, golf, swimming, and tennis teams won WPIAL Championships. Individual WPIAL Championships were achieved by Jason Li in boys golf, Luke Ross in boys tennis, and Summer Thorpe in the girls 100 meter and 300 meter hurdles. Individual PIAA Championships were captured by Griffin Mackey in boys cross country, Luke Ross in boys tennis, and Summer Thorpe in girls 100 meter hurdles. PIAA Team Championships were captured by boys soccer, golf, and tennis.
Senior School Retreats – Before the school year began, Grade 9 students traveled to Boswell, Pennsylvania, to engage in a number of stimulating activities facilitated by Outdoor Odyssey. During the two day retreat at the end of August 2015, students participated in “challenge by choice” exercises designed to develop the 21st century skills of resilience, adaptability, and collaboration.
Grade 10 students visited Blackberry Meadows Farm, a local organic farm, where they learned first-hand about how questions of sustainability and our food choices shape the farm-market-restaurant-consumer chain. On the second day of the retreat, the destination was Bar Marco, an acclaimed restaurant in the Strip District. There, the students met the restaurant team who shared their insights about entrepreneurialism, community outreach, and pursuing one’s passions.
The theme of this year’s junior retreat was “Thinking Creatively,” and our activities gave students an opportunity to develop their creative, independent, and original thinking in response to a number of questions exploring the ways we relate to and connect with our environment. On this two-day class retreat, juniors not only had the chance to tour Fallingwater, a National Historic Landmark, a site listed as a National Historic Landmark, but also had an opportunity to explore the design philosophies that motivated Frank Lloyd Wright in creating Fallingwater.
Last May, over 30 seniors traveled to Washington, D.C. for a two day retreat. Students had time to explore various areas of the city in faculty-led excursions and then participated in a full day great race activity.
Pancake Breakfast – Over 130 guests attended the 8th Annual Pancake Breakfast, which raised $760 to benefit local police and fire departments, including Edgeworth Borough, Sewickley Borough, and Cochran Hose Company.
SA’s Fifth Annual Day of Service Had 100% Participation – On April 8, 2016, 100 percent of the SA community committed themselves to service projects on and off campus. Twelve buses, two school vans, and our own SA bus transported 796 students and faculty members to 29 different organizations to serve the greater Pittsburgh community.
Clothesline Sale – The Home and School Association’s 62nd Annual Clothesline Sale raised $92,736 to directly benefit Sewickley Academy’s students and faculty.
Auction – This year, the Academy’s Annual Auction “What’s All the Buzz” raised over $386,000!
National History Day – Eleven Middle School students participated in National History Day. Jeb Stevenson, Bobby Serafin, and Colin Murphy took third in the group performance category in Pittsburgh and participated in states.
Food Drive Raises Over $800 – The 2015 Sewickley Academy “Spirit of Community” Thanksgiving Food Drive for the Good Samaritan Church and Food Bank in Ambridge was a huge success. SA raised $849, which was used to purchase turkeys for almost 40 families, and donated a van full of food that fed more than 130 people.
The SA Community Leaves Their Mark – On Monday, December 7, 2015, the entire Sewickley Academy community gathered and signed I-beams, which are being used as support beams for the main floor in the new Events Center. Although their signatures are not visible, students, faculty, and staff forever left their mark on the structure of the building.
Faculty Member’s Short Story to Hit the Big Screen – Senior School English teacher Lawrence Connolly is taking his small-town writing to the big screen. A story from his Bram Stoker-nominated collection “Voices” is being adapted into a feature film entitled Nightmare Cinema.
Culture Kaleidoscope – Sewickley Academy’s annual International Dinner: Culture Kaleidoscope was held on Saturday, January 30, 2016. Approximately 180 attendees enjoyed food from the families of the Indian Culture Club, Irish Culture Club, African-American Awareness Club, Jewish Culture Club, Asian Culture Club, Spanish Culture Club, and the Italian and French Culture Club. Everyone gathered together to try different ethnic foods and watch performances in celebration of the diverse Sewickley Academy community.
2015 Woman of the Year – Our own Susan (Ratcliffe ’55) Sour, Ph.D., longtime Sewickley resident and former Head of Middle School and current Alumni Associate in the Advancement Office, was named Sewickley Herald’s Woman of the Year for 2015.
SA has Baby Chickens – Senior School faculty member John Basinger donated 23 chicken eggs from his brood of chickens. The eggs were developed in an incubator in the Lower School, where science students in Grades 1-3 took turns flipping the eggs, and observed embryo development inside the egg using a technique called candling. Maran and Ameraucana chicks hatched in Ms. Holly Hilberg’s classroom.
Students Make Big Screen Debut at Pittsburgh’s Sixth Annual Antelope Film Festival – Making their big screen debuts at the Melwood Screening Room in Oakland, senior Nina-Liu-Guechev and junior Millen Schuchert took part in Pittsburgh’s 6th annual Antelope Film Festival on May 12, 2016. Sponsored in part by Pittsburgh Filmmakers and presented this year in conjunction with Pittsburgh’s Bicentennial, the festival featured short films about Pittsburgh’s history.
Bodiography Joins SA as Artists in Residence – The Academy had a special opportunity during the first three weeks in January to host the Bodiography Contemporary Ballet Company (BCBC) as artists in residence while SA dance instructor Mr. Joe Jackson was working on his professional development playing the role of Rusty Charlie in Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of Guys and Dolls.
Sophomore Takes First in Congressional Arts Competition – On May 4, 2016, Priya Melonio ’18 received notice from Congressman Mike Kelly’s office that she won first place in her congressional district’s 2016 Congressional Arts Competition. Her art piece took top honors out of over 70 entries.
Panther Palooza – On Friday, May 6, 2016, junior Millen Schuchert organized the first annual Panther Palooza. There were 10 acts, which performed a mix of cover and original songs. The Sewickley Academy Jazz Ensemble, the house band for the event, performed songs in between acts. Sewickley Academy represented eight of the 10 acts, and a couple of bands from Quaker Valley School District performed as well. The show was able to raise more than $1,000 for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
Gex Brothers Bring Home a “Triple Crown” – The Gex brothers carved themselves a place in Sewickley Academy’s athletic history this year, bringing home the “triple crown” by earning three separate state titles. Don, a senior, was part of the boys varsity soccer team, which won the Section Championship and the PIAA Class A Championship, and his younger brother Ryan, a junior, played on the boys varsity golf team, which won the Section, WPIAL Class AA, and PIAA Class AA Championships.
The brothers both played on the varsity boys tennis team that also claimed the Section, WPIAL Class AA, and PIAA Class AA Championships. As doubles partners, Don and Ryan took first place in the WPIAL and third place in the state.
Stephen King Brings Down the House – Mr. King had the 600-plus sold-out crowd at Sewickley Academy laughing throughout “An Evening with Stephen King,” sponsored by the Penguin Bookshop on Wednesday, June 8, 2016, telling stories of his experiences in Pittsburgh, in film, and in life.
Lower School Families Collect Toys for Those in Need – The Lower School toy drive donated approximately 1,000 toys that served children in various chapters of the East End Cooperative Ministries in Pittsburgh in East Liberty. The toys were distributed to more than 100 families in need.
Sewickley Students Learn Chinese Calligraphy – Former Academy art teacher Rob Edwards and Middle School Mandarin teacher Shan Callaghan organized instruction on how to read and write in Chinese from Fu-Tyan Lin, a member of the Organization of Chinese Americans. Lin taught students the history and meaning behind each symbol over the course of several weeks.
Senior High Students Construct an Escape Room – Under the direction of Senior School Technology Coordinator Cristy McCloskey, six students planned and built a three-room physical adventure game in which small groups of players are locked into and must solve clues within 60 minutes to unlock the door as part of their “Interactive Design and Development” class.
Rent-The-Chickens.com – Science teacher Holly Hilberg developed the idea to incorporate chickens into life science lessons last fall, when she rented two hens from Pittsburgh-based RentTheChickens.com. Lower School students took turns feeding and caring for the chickens in the Secret Garden throughout the trimester.
