JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley Academic Decathlon Team has had an undefeated season and recently earned the title of state champs.

The team placed first against the top high schools from Western, Central and Eastern Pennsylvania at a state competition in Carlisle on March 15 and 16.

Every high school competed with a team of nine students (three students in each division). Over two days, students competed in all 10 events: art, music, literature, social science, economics, math, science, essay, speech and interview.

The nine students on SV's state team include:

Honors Division: Rishin Sharma, Nishant Jayachandran and Abigail Roeckmann

Scholastic Division: Katie Bablak, Mark Hemmerlin and Logan Glatz

Varsity Division: Katie Parker, Julia Allman and Gabe Sutherland.

By securing first place, the team will compete at nationals in Minneapolis, Minn., from April 24 to 27.

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JACKSON TWP — Ben Hess, a senior at Seneca Valley Senior High School, has been recognized as one of the country's most outstanding high school leaders by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation and has been awarded a $20,000 college scholarship.

Hess is one of 150 selected from 95,715 initial applicants from across the country to receive this scholarship.

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JACKSON TWP — Three Seneca Valley School District students have been named 2019 Carson Scholars.

Junior Coryn Ferguson is one of 505 students across the nation who received a $1,000 college scholarship award and the honor of being named a Carson Scholar.

In addition, 878 students have renewed their Carson Scholar status, including freshman Kate Lipscomb and senior Hiruni Herat. Lipscomb and Herat and the other previous winners have maintained high academic standards and a strong commitment to their communities and are being named 2019 Recognized Carson Scholars for their efforts.

The Pittsburgh scholars will be honored at the annual awards banquet April 7 at Heinz Field.

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University of Pittsburgh sophomore Lauren Ban was chosen to present the findings of her research project at the ACCelerate: ACC Smithsonian Creativity and Innovation Festival April 5 to 7.

Ban, who is a Butler High School graduate, describes her project as one that puts forth the Pittsburgh area as a case study for patterns of immigration to the East Coast of the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century.

The festival, which will be at the National Museum of American History is Washington, D.C., is a celebration of creative exploration and research happening at the nexus of science, engineering, arts and design.

The 2019 ACCelerate Festival is programmed by Virginia Tech's Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.

Ban used the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral as a jumping-off point. She argues that the rooms were founded in such a way that displays which ethnicities were well enough established in the United States, particularly the East Coast, by the late '50s to influence the creation of cultural societies, neighborhoods and, in this case, entire rooms representative of their native counties.

Ban is the daughter of George and Victoria Ban of Butler and granddaughter of Vincent J. and Claudette J. Sanzotti and Delores Ban of Butler.

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Jessica Campbell of West Sunbury is a Student of the Month for March at Thiel College, Greenville.

The Student of the Month is awarded to seniors on the basis of their academic and cocurricular achievements, with only about six students each semester earning the honor.

Campbell is a biochemistry major with a concentration in prepharmacy. She is a member of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, Order of Omega Greek leadership society, Les Lauriers scholarship, leadership and service honorary society, the American Chemical Society and the Dietrich Honors Institute.

A 2016 graduate of Moniteau High School, Campbell is the daughter of Michael and Lynn Campbell of West Sunbury.

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