VIDEO WINNERS — From left, Mars Area High School seniors Paul Rude, Talia Bartley, Melissa Heintzinger and Ryan Kaniuff took second place and junior Amanda Scurci took first place in the inaugural West View Water Authority High School Video Contest. Scurci earned $500 for her untitled video, which discussed the overuse of plastic water bottles and the importance of recycling. The team of seniors got a $250 prize for its video, “The Art of Water.” The video highlighted the Mars Area Water Protection Program.

Mars sixth-grader Natasha Narasimhan won an award in the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education (PAGE) Gifted Perspective Series competition.

Natasha was among the top six students selected for her eNewsletter article in the “Awareness” category of the competition, which asked gifted students (K-12) from across the state to showcase their ideas and perspectives about “giftedness” and gifted education.

Entrants could select from three categories: “Awareness,” “Advocacy” or “Education” and submit an eNewsletter article, online blog entry, picture meme or video.

All winners were invited to attend an award luncheon during the November PAGE Conference, held last month at the Pittsburgh Marriot North in Cranberry Township.

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INDIANA, Pa — Kristin Marie Bonzo, a chemistry major from Boyers, was honored at Indiana University of Pennsylvania's undergraduate winter commencement ceremony Dec. 15.Bonzo was honored for completing her studies with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.She is the daughter of Lauren Martin and a 2014 graduate of Moniteau Junior-Senior High School.———The Seneca Valley instrumental music program had 48 students selected this year, more than any other school in a four county area, for the Pennsylvania Music Education Association District 5 Honors Band. More than 200 students auditioned for a band of 125 musicians.The students went on to participate in the three-day festival at Westminster College Nov. 29 to Dec. 1.

TOP GRAPHICS --- Knoch High School students, from left, Aaron Plyler, Calvin Reynolds, Brooke Lassinge and Elyse Chess took first place in a Carnegie Mellon University Computer Science Academy contest where they were tasked with producing graphics coded in Python.