STUDENT DIRECTORY
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Andrew DiStasi of Grove City, son of Kathy DiStasi and Vince DiStasi, was named a 2014-2015 Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar at Rochester Institute of Technology.
DiStasi is a third-year student in the information technology program in RIT's B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences.
The award recognizes academic achievement, creative work, service on student committees, civic activities, employment and independent research.
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INDIANA — Melissa Pollis, a criminology major at Indiana (Pa.) University from Cranberry Township, was selected by the IUP Department of Criminology for the 2015 Gregory W. Spinelli Memorial Award.
The Spinelli award recognized her as a graduating senior in the criminology department who has demonstrated outstanding academic achievement.
She also was selected for the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service and is a dean's list student. She is president of the IUP Criminology Association, is a member of the Information Assurance Club and was selected for Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society.
Pollis is a 2011 graduate of Seneca Valley High School and the daughter of Kathy Nagoda and Dave Nagoda and Phil Pollis.
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INDIANA — Gretchen McCormick, an ecology, conservation and environmental biology major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania from Butler, received the 2015 Outstanding Student Award.
McCormick is a 2008 graduate of Moniteau High School and a graduate of the IUP Academy of Culinary Arts. She is the daughter of Robert and Christina McCormick of Butler.
McCormick is a dean's list student. She was an organizer of the IUP Students Educating Ecology, Diversity and Sustainability (SEEDS) Club and won an Emerging Student Grant Leader Award for the SEEDS Club Seed Swap in 2014. She also is the recipient of the 2015 IUP Women's Senior Leadership Award.
McCormick is the recipient of a Board of Governors Scholarship and R.T. Hartman Scholarship and the Gilly Young Scientist Award.
In 2014, she was selected to participate at the 18th annual Congress of the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation in Honduras. She also participated in the biology department's inaugural summer program for science research in 2014, the Research Experience for Summer Scholars Program.
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INDIANA — Cassandra Krul, an ecology, conservation and environmental biology major at Indiana (Pa.) University, received the 2015 Walter “Bud” Gasdek Memorial Scholarship from the department of biology.She also received a scholarship for summer research on “Managing Japanese Stiltgrass Progression Using Native Pennsylvania Plants.”Krul is from Cranberry Township and is a 2011 graduate of Mars High School. She is the daughter of Karen Krul of Cranberry Township and Russell Krul of Mt. Juliet, Tenn.———YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Kelsey Davis of Cranberry Township was among the Youngstown State University students recognized at the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Honors Convocation.Davis received the Women's Studies Video Award.———LORETTO — Erin Cashdollar of Saxonburg and Katherine Studeny of Renfrew were inducted into the Delta Epsilon Sigma National Honor Society at Saint Francis University.To achieve induction, students must have completed at least 50 percent of the credit requirements toward their degree, a minimum GPA of 3.7 and faculty support for candidacy.———PITTSBURGH — Paige White of Chicora became a member of Delta Mu Delta, the international honor society in business, at La Roche College.White was recognized for scholastic achievement, especially in business subjects. Delta Mu Delta membership is the highest recognition a business student can earn.———JACKSON TOWNSHIP — Seneca Valley High School students were awarded first place, second place and best oralist and recognized for their written brief at the annual International Criminal Court (ICC) High School Moot Court Competition hosted by the University of Pittsburgh. The two-day competition included schools from Western Pennsylvania.Eight Seneca Valley students competed at the event. Juniors Christina Dadey and Siona Sharma took first place. Seniors Amanda Spangler and Maresa Vaccarello placed second.Amanda Spangler and Sean Yanez earned best oralist awards for their legal arguments.Partners Elisa Vogel and Sean Yanez and Amanda Spangler and Maresa Vaccarello received special awards for their written legal briefs.The competition introduced students to ICC's work to address international human rights issues. This year, the students tackled forced displacement as a genocidal act and whether or not a military officer should receive a lesser sentence as a result of following the orders of a superior.———CHERRY TOWNSHIP: Moniteau School District's academic pentathlon team earned second place overall at the Academic Sports League Pentathlon Competition in Erie. The event is for middle-school students.This year's team includes Amelia Brown, James Parentiand Presli Hollefreund in the honors division; Will Tennent, Matt Dodgson and Alexis Watterson in the scholastic division; and Kyle Norling, Sonja Richmond and Danger Hodgkiss in the varsity division.During the event, students demonstrated their knowledge of the curricular theme “Ingenuity and Innovations” by competing against eight other teams in fine arts, math, science, social science, and literature.The team also earned first place in the Super Quiz Oral Relay, which is an event similar to a quiz game show. Also, every member of Moniteau's team earned at least one individual medal.The team will compete in the USAD Academic Pentathlon National Finals online.
