Education briefs
WCCC offers non-credit courses Westmoreland County Community College is offering a variety of non-credit classes for adults this summer, starting June 9 at five Westmoreland County locations.
Classes are offered in the areas of art, career-related, computers, culinary arts, dance, decorative arts, design, emergency services, firefighter, fitness, health, history, languages, parenting, personal finance, pet care, photography, self-enrichment, sports and stress management.
In addition to the classes to be held at the Youngwood campus and the WCCC Alle-Kiski, Bushy Run, Laurel and Mon Valley centers, the schedule features more than 30 online classes.
For a complete schedule of non-credit summer classes, call WCCC at 1-800-262-2103 or view it online at wccc4me.org.
IU1 offering one-credit classes
Intermediate Unit 1 will offer one-credit classes at the IU Educational Campus at Colonial site, 6353 National Pike, Grindstone, from June 18 to July 16.
All district students, grades 9-12, may register for classes that will be taught by content area certified teachers.
Registration should be completed through the individual school districts’ guidance offices on Monday, June 16 and Tuesday, June 17 from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the school site. The cost is $175 per credit or $90 per half-credit (physical education), payable by money order or cash. Money orders should be made out to Intermediate Unit 1.
Contact a local district guidance office for details and registration or call the IU Educational Campus at Colonial at 724-785-7472.
Police academy set at Cal U
The Criminal Justice Training Center at Indiana University of Pennsylvania is planning to conduct a part-time municipal police academy at California University of Pennsylvania.
The program will begin June 17 and applications are currently being accepted.
Also known as Act 120, the 750-hour basic police officer training course provides recruits with the professional skills necessary to function as a municipal police officer in Pennsylvania.
The California part-time Academy will tentatively meet Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 to 10 p.m. and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Financial Aid and veterans’ benefits are available through IUP for those who qualify. Information on financial aid is sent with the application packet. Tuition for the police academy is $2,500 and includes textbooks, instruction and materials. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and have a high school diploma or GED.
To receive a brochure with further information and a request for application form, call 800-303-2752 and leave a message including a name, address, city and zip code. Requests for application can also be printed from the Web site at http://highway.iup.edu/justice.
Kindergarten registration set
Kids Korner Full Day Kindergarten, Cardale, registration will be held the week of June 9.
Age requirement is four years, seven months by the first day of school. A birth certificate, immunization record and social security card are required to register. For more information or for an appointment after the registration week, call 724-246-9413.
‘Community builds’ scheduled
California University of Pennsylvania’s newly forming campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity, in conjunction with its Washington affiliate, invites the campus community and public to participate in “community builds” June 14 and July 26.
The builds are from 8 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. The Habitat for Humanity affiliates will provide free lunch for participants.
Those interested in participating may e-mail Dana Kozich at begin koz0323@cup.edu koz0323@cup.edu end
or Glenn Hider at begin hider@cup.edu hider@cup.edu end
a week before the build date.
Summer food program announced
Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School is participating in the 2003 Summer Food Service Program, which provides funds to cover meals for children from low-income families. Meals will be available on Monday, June 16 through Friday Aug. 15.
Meals are available free for all children eligible for the Summer Food Service Program without charge. The meals will be available for all eligible children at the following sites: Bailey Park, Coal Lick Park, Grant Street Playground, Albright Playground, Lafayette School Playground, Ben Franklin Playground, East End Community Center, Uniontown YMCA, Wharton Township Park, YMCA Camp and Searights Housing Development, Menellen, Redstone Park, Masontown Park, Co-Ed Christian Academy, Busy Bee, Penn Dot, Young Inspiration, Boy Scouts, Pershing Court, Spectrum, Dunlap Housing Village and Uniontown Library. No food is permitted outside the designated area of each participating site. Adult meals may be purchased for $3.50.
Any public service non-profit organization interested in becoming a participating site may contact the vo-tech school, Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. Children who are members of food stamp households or Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) assistance units are automatically eligible to receive free meal benefits at eligible program sites. All eligible children are afforded equal access to the benefits of the Summer Food Service Program, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. Any person who believes that he or she has been discriminated against in any United States Department of Agriculture related activity should contact the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250.
The family size and income guidelines for free and reduced priced meals are listed here with the household size followed by annual earnings: 1, $0-16,613; 2, $0-22,422; 3, $0-28,231; 4, $0-34,040; 5, $0-39,849, 6, $0-45,658; 7, $0-51,467; 8, $0-57,276. For each additional member, add $5,809.
For additional information about the Summer Food Service Program, call Peggy Maimone, supervisor and coordinator, 724-437-2721 ext. 109.
Six students receive scholarships
California University of Pennsylvania recently announced that six students, including a Smithfield resident, have received the 2003 Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) Student Scholarship Awards.
APSCUF members honored these students and their guests at Caleigh’s Restaurant in Brownsville on May 3 with a dinner and an award’s ceremony. APSCUF awards six $500 scholarships to outstanding students every spring semester to be used in the following fall semester. The students are selected on the basis of grade point average, scholarly activity and community/university service, and require two letters of professional recommendation. These awards are funded entirely by the Cal U APSCUF faculty union.
Among this year’s recipients is Julianne Frith of Smithfield and from Albert Gallatin Senior High School, who is a secondary education and English major.
Linda Toth, Cal U assistant professor of psychology and chairwoman of the APSCUF Student Scholarship Awards Committee, praised the student recipients and the mission of the committee. The other committee members are Cerenna Mace (academic development), Nancy Carlino (communication disorders) and Kausar Yasmin (chemistry).
Rendina graduates from PSU
Savina Rendina graduated from the Pennsylvania State University May 17 with majors in comparative literature and international studies with a minor in French. She served at the ceremony as the class marshal in comparative literature.
During her time at Penn State, she has received several honors and awards, including the undergraduate Bayard award in comparative literature. She recently completed her senior thesis: “The Novelist and His Characters in Totalitarian States: Comparing the Life and Fiction of Kosinski and Kundera,” and consequently graduates from the Schreyer Honors College, as well as the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Also, she has worked with the Penn State Thespians and service organizations such as Project Haiti and Rescue Childhood.
Rendina was recently awarded the Fulbright teaching assistantship award and will be moving to Rennes, France, in the fall. The Fulbright program was established in 1946 and aims to enhance positive relations between the United States and other nations around the world. It is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, offering grants to professionals and students for research, graduate study and teaching abroad. Rendina’s Fulbright award highlights the latter, and she will be soon taking an assistant teaching position in a French high school.
She spent her own high school years at the Mercersburg Academy, from which she graduated cum laude in 1999.
She is the daughter of Lolli Sabatini Rendina of Pittsburgh and Joseph Rendina of Masontown. She is the grandaughter of Jennie Sabatini of Uniontown and Kay Rendina of Masontown.
WVU students work on project
West Virginia University engineering students are relying on electricity, diesel and soy-derived fuel to earn the “green” thumbs-up from judges looking for the most fuel-efficient sport utility vehicle in North America.
The Morgantown, W.Va., university is one of 15 schools from the United States and Canada competing in FutureTruck 2003 June 2-12 at the Ford Proving Grounds in Romeo, Mich., and the automaker’s world headquarters in Dearborn. Members of WVU’s team include local residents Casey Himel of Waynesburg and Daniel Judy of Uniontown.
WVU has finished sixth overall the past two years and shared the winning title with the University of Maryland in 2000.
Nigel Clark, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor and the team’s faculty adviser, said the use of soy as a fuel for the second year in a row reduces diesel smoke and greenhouse gas emissions. The soybean plants utilize carbon dioxide when they grow, so adding soy as a fuel source does not contribute any more of the greenhouse gas to the atmosphere, he added.
Ford and the U.S. Department of Energy are the main sponsors of FutureTruck, and Argonne National Laboratory’s Center for Transportation Research manages the program.
Ford also donates parts and $5,000 to each school.
Information sought on graduates
The California Area School District Foundation is seeking information on all of its graduates.
As part of an ongoing project to obtain the names and addresses of CASD alumni, the Foundation is requesting that any California Area graduate register on the school district’s Web site at www.calsd.org or send the information to the foundation in care of the California Area School District at 750 Orchard St., California, PA 15419.
All alumni from the current high school or any of its predecessors (East Pike Run, California Community) are encouraged to provide the information. This would include names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and the year in which the individual was graduated.
Student broadcasters recognized
West Virginia University’s student radio station, WWVU-FM, in Morgantown, W.Va., recently recognized outstanding student broadcasters during its annual awards picnic.
Rachel Olsen, a pre-journalism major from Belle Vernon, won recognition as sports reporter of the year.
WWVU-FM has been on the air since 1982 and is a non-commercial, educational radio station dedicated to serving both the WVU and Morgantown communities as a teaching and training facility, while at the same time providing alternative programming to listeners.
Vo-tech, Triangle Tech enter pact
The Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School and Triangle Tech Inc. are in the process of entering into an articulation agreement.
This agreement provides a smooth transition for high school students who are enrolled in the construction and manufacturing related programs at the FCAVTS into post-secondary associate degree programs at Triangle Tech. It provides seniors the opportunity to get credit for skill development and coursework already completed at the vo-tech school.
During their senior year, interested students can challenge a number of the courses in the program related to their course of study by passing advanced placement tests – those successful students will save time and money in their post-secondary, associate degree program. Recently, 15 seniors from Albert Gallatin, Brownsville, Laurel Highlands and Uniontown school districts participated in advanced placement testing at the vo-tech school in attempt to gain post-secondary credit through Triangle Tech.
Web site offers educational data
State Rep. Larry Roberts, D-South Union, has encouraged non-traditional students to check out FurtherYourEducation.com, a new Web site launched by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency and American Education Services at no cost to taxpayers.
The site helps guide non-traditional students through the various post-secondary school options. According to PHEAA, non-traditional students refer to transfer students, adult students, and part-time students.
Roberts noted that constituents without access to a computer can visit his Uniontown office at 31A Connellsville St., or his Connellsville office at 1402 Memorial Blvd. To make sure that a computer will be available, call the offices first at 724-439-2329 for Uniontown or 724-626-4461 for Connellsville.