While students and teachers in South Fayette Middle School spent much of the year surrounded by construction, their academic accomplishments didn’t miss a beat. Our slogan for the year was “The Road to Success is Always Under Construction” and our students certainly did not let the building’s growing pains slow them down.

In November, the Allegheny Conference for Community Developments researched 2003 5th grade PSSA scores in reading and math for all schools in Southwestern Pennsylvania and charted the progress made by these schools from 2001-2003. Each of 356 schools in Southwestern Pennsylvania were given a grade for their performance on these tests and South Fayette Middle School was rated A+ in both reading and math, among only 11 schools who earned this distinction.

Among the individual achievements of our students was the return of our MathCounts team. In the February preliminary competition, our own Michael Cao ranked number 1 among the 100 students competing. Michael was a 6th grade student who was participating along with the 8th grade team. Also capturing honors by tying for 10th place in the competition were Derek Anderson and Allison Supko.

Cao was also honored for achieving the State Award for his outstanding score in the Johns Hopkins University Talent Search. Michael received the State Award for being among the highest scoring participants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. To achieve this distinction, Michael took the same SAT test that is taken each year by high school students seeking college admission. In addition to this prestigious award, Michael also received the Certificate of Academic Excellence for scoring in the top 5% of academically talented youth on the Explore test conducted by Carnegie Mellon University through the C-Mites program.

Fifth grader Emily Bishop also received a Certificate for Academic Excellence from the Carnegie Mellon C-Mites program. The Explore test is designed for 8th graders, and Emily performed in the top 2-3 percent of her grade level. Students like Emily and Michael who take this test at a younger age than 8th graders are held to the same scoring standards as the 8th grade students.

In October, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit and The Heinz History Center sponsored the History Bowl for students in grades 4-8. Two South Fayette teams placed in the top three for their grade level. The team of Jonathan Goodwill, Steven Yuna, Emily Bishop, and Dillon Haviland placed second in the competition for grades 4-6. The team of Kent Nixon, Allison Supko, Ashley Schmider, and Lauren Davis received 3rd place honors for grades 7-8. The students visited and completed activities in six exhibits: The Eye of the Storm, Lewis and Clark, Glass, Who am I?, What is it?, and the Sport Museum. Teams of four students completed tasks that challenged their knowledge of Pittsburgh history by encouraging them to use their creative writing skills and a vivid imagination to complete the tasks.

Learning is never dull at South Fayette, and the “Let Them Eat Pi” competition proves that theory. Middle School students were challenged to put their memories to the test and see how many digits of pi they could recite in front of their classmates. 3.14159265358979323846264... Fifth grader Ashton Sweard showed his prowess by naming 216 digits!

Top winners from other grades were: 6th grade - Lauren Sekelik (117 digits), 7th grade - Stephanie Schultz (97 digits), and 8th grade - Prashant Gabani (151 digits). The winners of each grade received a gift certificate to South Hills Village. Students involved in organizing the event were: Stephanie Kedzuf, Bethany Drake, Victoria Messino, Matt Roleau, Allison Supko, Lauren Davis and Mike Venetti.

In May students also participated in the Kennywood Education Days Program. Students from all over the Western Pennsylvania area gathered at Kennywood Park to take part in various activities designed to enrich and challenge them. Rides were used as the inspiration for physics and math problems; the architecture was admired for its history and culture; personalities from radio, television, and The Pittsburgh Post Gazette were featured in a media workshop. Sponsors such as Point Park College, The History and Landmarks Foundation, The Carnegie Science Center, the High School Physics Teachers Association, and West Virginia University collaborated to make the day productive and fun for our students.