The Ambridge Area School District Board of School Directors have changed the date of the December Board meeting. The Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 immediately following the Reorganization meeting and Meeting and Discuss meeting scheduled for 7:00 PM in the High School Media Center.
Meet and Discuss Regular Meeting
Coming hot off their 72-67 win over Quaker Valley, the Ambridge Varsity Boys’ Basketball team received some even more exciting news that could set the momentum for the team as it moves toward the playoffs. The Wright Field House – which has been closed for games since January 2018 due to safety issues with the bleachers – will be reopened in time for the Tuesday, Jan. 22 home game against Central Valley.
The Field House originally closed after the bleachers failed a safety check by the company which installed them originally. At the time, the District was advised by the bleacher manufacturing company that the bleachers would need to be completely replaced at an estimated cost of $400,000. Recently, an alternative repair became available to the District at a cost of $5,000, said Superintendent Dr. Jo Welter.
Athletic Director Mr. Brian Miller said the solution to fixing the existing bleachers came at a recent WPIAL athletic directors’ meeting, when it was suggested that the bleachers could be adequately stabilized for use without total replacement. L-shaped metal plates were installed to support the bleachers, and were secured by 250 bolts. The method was approved by the bleacher manufacturer, Mr. Miller said. Once the work is finished, it will be inspected by the company.
In order to make the repair work, the bleachers will not be able to be closed and will have to remain open at all times. The fix was applied only to one side of the bleachers, so the opposite side of the bleachers will remain unavailable for use. Because the bleachers will need to remain open, it also will reduce the number of available courts in the Field House from three to two. In addition to the bleacher stabilizers, the center court also was refinished.
“It was a great effort on the part of the athletic director and administration to get the Field House reopened for the kids,” said Dr. Welter. “We’re pleased to be able to get this iconic facility reopened in time for our team to finish out the season.”
Students in Kindergarten through Fifth Grade were awarded a certificate for being chosen as November Physical Education Star Students of the month. Mrs. Parisi has dedicated a bulletin board in the gym to honor her students and has established the following criteria for the award. Not absent on a Gym Day, do an excellent job calling out the warm-ups, be a good role model in class, extra effort, and encouraging fellow classmates to do their best. Along with Mrs. Parisi in the picture are: ASHDEN WAGNER, ABIGAIL DOBICH, AUBRIE HUDAK, VINCENZO PALITTI, MEADOW HERNANDEZ, MCKENZIE BROOKS, GRACE LEE, KAITLYNN RIGGS, PIERCE BOUTERSE, GIDEON HARMON, DESIREE HAWK & MADALYN SHAFFER.
Congratulations to all!
The Connections Fall 2018 electronic newsletter is now available. The report can be accessed by clicking on the image above, or via this link.
Students explore programming and engineering in STEAM class - building and programming helicopters, dragsters, earthquake simulators, space shuttles, and more. #LegoWeDo #STEAMcatalyst
On October 16th, a team of students from the high school entered into a design challenge at the Energy Innovation Center in Pittsburgh. The challenge was sponsored by Adventure Capital, United Healthcare, and Genyouth. The students competed against 19 other teams and the AAHS winning team won a $1,000 grant to implement the design idea they pitched to the panel of judges.
The winning presentation included ways to promote mental, nutritional, and physical health for the students and members of the community through informative and physical-based activities defined as Step One.
The students presented their ideas in front of a panel of judges and 68 other competing students in a “Shark Tank”-like scenario. One of the judges being former Pittsburgh Steeler, Charlie Batch. There were 10 grants given out in total at the Innovation Challenge. The student team from Ambridge included Lydia Ciani, Kyla Fitzgibbons, and Riley Sas. The group received one of the $1,000 grants as winners.
John Jones and Jake Dunlap also competed and presented their ideas for generating a phone app to help set up after school activities in order to promote physical activity.
Thank you to Mr. Jason Roos and Mrs. Pam Green for sponsoring and chaperoning the students to take part in the challenge.
Yesterday the JH and SH teams competed in the BC Envirothon at Brady's Run Park. The teams did well. The SH earned a 6th place our of 23 teams and the JH won a 1st and 4th place. The girls first place team missed 1st last year by 3 points.
This season in track & field, Isaac Elliott plans to win a WPIAL title in his sprinting event. In previous years, Elliott has unfortunately pulled his hamstring and been unable to compete. This year he has been doing very well so far with no injuries, so he hopes to be able to compete and qualify for states. Congratulations to him so far, and good luck for the rest of the season!
To read the article on the Times Online, click on the link below.