Freeport grad wins College TV Award

UNIVERSITY PARK — Freeport High School graduate Christian Heilman accepted the equivalent of an Emmy Award at the 36th College Television Awards conducted by the Television Academy Foundation in Hollywood.

Heilman was co-executive producer for an hourlong television special created by Penn State students after a weeklong educational experience in Havana, Cuba. The show included segments about Cuban culture, its people and politics. Five faculty members and 17 students made the trip in 2014.

Heilman is a 2010 Freeport High School graduate and graduated from Penn State in 2014 with a double major in broadcast journalism and management information systems. He is a reporter for WTAJ-TV in Altoona.

He is the son of Glenn and Miriam Heilman of South Buffalo Township, Armstrong County.

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INDIANA, Pa. — Indiana (Pa.) University recognized Andrea Bragiel of Freeport and Torie McMahon of Cranberry Township for graduating with a 4.0 GPA.

Bragiel is the daughter of Ernie and Diane Bragiel and a 2011 graduate of Freeport High School. She received a degree in music education.

She is a member of the Robert E. Cook Honors College. She also received the Valedictorian Scholarship and the Kenneth Sell Memorial Scholarship.

She was treasurer for Delta Omicron professional music fraternity, a collegiate soloist for Delta Omicron Triennial Conference, principal bassoonist of the IUP Symphony Orchestra and IUP Wind Ensemble, a member of the IUP Chorale, a two-time finalist for the Butler County Symphony Young Artist Competition and a substitute bassoonist for the Altoona Symphony Orchestra.

McMahon is the daughter of Todd and Maria McMahon and a 2011 graduate of Seneca Valley High School.

She received a degree in speech-language pathology. She was a member of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association, Autism Speaks and Kappa Delta Pi education honor society.

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MARIETTA, Ohio — Rebecca Greenstein of Zelienople received the Walker Prize in Biochemistry Award at Marietta College.

Greenstein is a biochemistry major and a graduate of Seneca Valley High School.

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ANNVILLE — Lauren Decker of Grove City was recently inducted into Sigma Alpha Pi at Lebanon Valley College.

Decker, a graduate of Grove City High School, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in health science.

She was selected based on her GPA and level of community involvement.

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GRANVILLE, Ohio — Dylan Parson of Slippery Rock was inducted into the Denison University chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

As a junior, he is an exception to Phi Beta Kappa’s usual practice of inducting only seniors. Election is based primarily on a record of academic achievement.

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WASHINGTON — Emily Bitting of Cabot and Tyler Dean of Valencia were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, an academic honor society, at Washington & Jefferson College.

Bitting is a graduate of Knoch High School and a senior at W&J.

She is an English major with a communication arts minor.

She is an active member of the college’s theater community.

Dean is a graduate of Mars High School.

He is a senior at W&J and has a biochemistry major and a Spanish minor.

He is a recipient of the Scholar in Biochemistry departmental book prize and The Daniel Latchney Prize in Chemistry and Biochemistry.

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AMES, Iowa — Katie Rutledge of Renfrew was on the Iowa State University team that won the overall award among four-year institutions at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Judging Conference.

Rutledge is a senior in agricultural business, agronomy, international agriculture and seed science and participated in crops judging.

The competition included 26 teams from four-year schools.

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NEW WILMINGTON — Scott Raley, a graduate of Butler High School and a senior business administration major at Westminster College, was a co-manager for “Divine Soles” in a strategic management capstone course.

The project placed 18th among 3,025 teams from 204 colleges and universities in the Business Strategy Game, a worldwide online business simulation.

Raley is the son of William and Gail Raley.