School News
JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley’s School Board hired Nii Sowa-Doku as Seneca Valley’s activities/athletics assistant director.
Sowa-Doku comes to Seneca Valley from University of Pittsburgh athletics, where he has been serving as the assistant director of equipment for nearly a year. A resident of Pittsburgh, Sowa-Doku also has four years of experience as equipment manager for Georgetown athletics in Washington D.C. He also has professional experience with Washington Spirit in Leesburg, Va.; Kansas women’s basketball in Lawrence, Kan.; and FC Kansas City in Overland Park, Kan.
Sowa-Doku earned his bachelor of science in education, sport management, with minors in business and communications from the University of Kansas. He earned his master’s degree in professional studies, sport industry management, from Georgetown University.
He fills the role at Seneca Valley left open by Dave Fuhrman, who took a position in private industry earlier this school year.
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Rachel Spears, a graduating senior at Seneca Valley High School, has been named one of more than 5,000 candidates in the 2022 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. The candidates were selected from nearly 3.6 million students expected to graduate from U.S. high schools in 2022. Inclusion in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program is one of the highest honors bestowed upon graduating high school seniors.
Scholars are selected on the basis of superior academic and artistic achievements, leadership qualities, strong character and involvement in community and school activities.
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JACKSON TWP — With a score of 47,026, and a 6,000-point lead, the Seneca Valley Academic Decathlon team placed first and took home 45 medals at the competition held at Collegiate Academy on Jan. 8.
Seneca Valley medalists included:
Nancy Chen: Essay (Gold), Art (Gold), Literature (Gold), Math (Bronze), Music (Gold), Science (Silver), Social Science (Gold), Individual Overall* (Gold)
Quang Nguyen: Economics (Silver), Math (Silver), Music (Gold), Science (Bronze), Individual Overall* (Gold)
Shivani Umesh: Art (Gold), Music (Gold), Science (Silver), Social Science (Gold), Individual Overall* (Silver)
Rayan Ghaffar: Economics (Bronze), Math (Silver), Music (Bronze), Science (Gold), Individual Overall* (Bronze)
Ashley Kemp: Essay (Gold), Art (Gold), Music (Silver), Science (Gold), Individual Overall* (Silver)
Nicholas Nedzesky: Essay (Bronze), Math (Bronze), Science (Bronze)
Shanker Pillai: Economics (Bronze), Literature (Bronze), Math (Silver)
Ava Stewart: Literature (Gold), Music (Silver), Science (Gold)
Nicholas Foulkrod: Science (Gold), Social Science (Bronze)
Phebe Locante: Art (Silver), Music (Bronze)
Katherine Hilling: Literature (Silver)
Kason Kunkelmann: Math (Gold)
Madison Long: Art (Bronze)
Declan Ward: Social Science (Bronze)
The students competed in eight events: art, music, literature, mathematics, economics, social science, science and essay.
The next competition will be the United States Academic Decathlon Regional Competition in the Clarion Limestone School District on Feb. 11 and 12.
The North Catholic High School girls basketball team recently completed a shoe drive fundraiser. The shoes collected go directly to small business owners or micro-enterprises in 25 different developing countries where they are sold in the local community. The shoes provide opportunities for micro-entrepreneurs to support their families and create a path out of poverty.
More than 2,700 pairs of shoes were collected by the players through their families and friends, local churches and neighborhoods. The program is run through Funds2Orgs.
