HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ENTERED INTO SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Elise Kalinovich, Greg Chen, Jaxon Vallely, Stephen Young, Kevin Li, Wesley Michaels, Victoria Hung and Samuel Present

On April 27, New Hope-Solebury High School principal, Stephen Young, announced that seven of their juniors have met the requirements to enter the 2012 National Merit Scholarship Program. With a Selection Index score of 202 or above on the 2010 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), these students are each among the 50,000 highest-scoring participants of some 1.5 million program entrants. Because these high performers have shown outstanding academic potential, they are now invited to be referred to two colleges or universities in the United States in which they are especially interested.

16,000 of the students who meet the program requirements will be named National Merit Program Semifinalists in September. These students will represent the top scorers in each state. Approximately 34,000 other high scorers will be commended for their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT.

NHS SENIOR AWARDED NATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT SCHOLARSHIP

New Hope-Solebury senior, David Dwight, has been selected as the winner of a National Achievement $2,500 Scholarship. The National Achievement Scholarship Program is conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), and this Scholarship is underwritten by NMSC with its own funds.

More than 160,000 students who took the 2009 PSAT/NMSQT entered the 2011 National Merit Scholarship Program and also requested consideration in the National Achievement Program, in which only Black Americans participate. Both competitions are conducted by NMSC. Last fall, some 1,600 participants in the National Achievement Program were named Semifinalists. They were designated in several geographic regions on a representational basis, in proportion to the total number of Black Americans in each region. Only these Semifinalists continued in the Achievement Scholarship competition, and approximately 1,300 of them fulfilled requirements necessary to become Finalists. All winners of more than 800 National Achievement Scholarships, worth more than $2.5 million, are being chosen from the group of outstanding Finalists.

David will be attending Washington University in St. Louis in the fall.

NHS SENIOR AWARDED MERIT SCHOLARSHIP

New Hope-Solebury senior, Shirley Liu, has been selected as the winner of a corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship award. The name of the Scholarship is National Merit Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Scholarship, sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, Inc.

From approximately 1.5 million students who entered the 2011 National Merit Scholarship Program, only about 16,000 were named Semifinalists. They were designated on a state representational basis, in proportion to each state’s percentage of the national total of high school graduating seniors. In order to advance in the competition and be considered for a merit Scholarship award, a Semifinalist had to become a Finalist by fulfilling several requirements that included submitting a detailed scholarship application and presenting a record of very high academic performance. All winners of about 8,400 National Merit Scholarships are being chosen from the group of approximately 15,000 distinguished Finalists.

Shirley will be attending Shreyer's Honor College at Penn State in the fall.

NH-S STUDENTS HELP CHILDREN OF JAPAN

Koren O’Leary was one of the biggest contributors of origami cranes.

Students at New Hope-Solebury High School helped to make a difference to the children of Japan by creating origami cranes. Encouraged by art teacher, Dawn Ferber, students throughout the school busied themselves by creating paper cranes of various colors and sizes. Ferber then delivered those cranes to the OshKosh clothing store which, for every paper crane received, donated one piece of children’s clothing to Japan. OshKosh ran this very special promotion during the month of April to aide the children who suffered from the recent tsunami and earthquakes.

“Together, the students created over 500 cranes,” exclaimed Ferber. “It’s wonderful that our students were able to give help towards such a great cause.”

NH-S STUDENTS GET AN UP-CLOSE LOOK AT SECRET SERVICE

On April 12th, New Hope-Solebury High School social studies teacher, Mr. Achenbach, hosted a former student from the NH-S class of 2005 to speak about his training and experiences since high school. Cory Beauregard discussed his college training, his years with the local fire station, his working for local law enforcement and his entrance into the Secret Service. He used Google Earth views of Washington, DC, to highlight the need for security for the President, Vice President and foreign diplomats. Students were able to ask questions about the difficulty of the training and the nature of his daily duties in protecting the president’s family.

MUSIC DEPARTMENT EXCELS ON TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO

From March 30th to April 3rd, close to 100 New Hope-Solebury music students traveled to San Francisco to perform in the Heritage Music Festival. The students were accompanied by Band instructor, David Bachart, Choir instructor, Tom Bateman, and Strings instructor, Nick Wehr. “Students had the opportunity to experience one of our nation’s greatest cities as well as have the opportunity to perform on the Davie’s Symphony Hall stage,” exclaimed Bachart. “All of our performance groups played at a top level leaving everything on the stage."

Sophomore, Andrews Connors, received the Maestro Award which is the top soloist award for the competition. The other awards received are: Concert Choir - Superior - Second Place Wind Ensemble - Superior - First Place Jazz Ensemble - Superior - First Place Chamber Orchestra - Excellent - Second Place

HELP JAPAN BY CREATING A CRANE

OshKosh is offering a special promotion to help the children of Japan and NH-S students are invited to take part! For every origami crane which is created and shared with OshKosh, they will donate an article of clothing for a child in Japan. Paper and instructions can be found in the high school library. "One hundred of our students have already created cranes," says art teacher, Ms. Ferber! Be a part of this very special contribution. Hurry! The deadline is April 25th!

STUDENTS RECEIVE IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT DRIVING SAFETY

On April 1st, Trooper First Class Steve Groman gave two separate presentations on safe driving to juniors and seniors at New Hope-Solebury High School. Trooper Groman recounted numerous incidents of serious automobile accidents involving teenagers and explained how those accidents may have been avoided with careful safety precautions. Also on hand for the presentations was Robert Johns, director of Bucks County Community Traffic Safety.

Groman and Johns told the students that they would be entered into the Bucks County High School Seatbelt Safety Challenge once again this year. Last year, the NH-S students won the challenge which is sponsored by TMA Bucks (Transportation Management Association) and Bucks County Highway Safety. The students showed the greatest percentage increase of seatbelt use in 2009-2010 and the school was presented with $500 and a perpetual trophy plaque. Baseline surveys on seatbelt usage by student drivers are conducted at high schools throughout the county without the knowledge of the schools in order to ensure the most accurate data sampling.

The safety presentations on April 1st were endorsed by the NH-S Cares committee whose mission is to champion the healthy and full development of all youth in the New Hope-Solebury Community.

Trooper Gorman addresses students' questions after the presentation.