NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Stephen Young, principal of New Hope-Solebury High School, announced that seniors Tom Hische and Shirley Liu have advanced to Finalist standing in the National Merit Scholarship Program. They will each now be considered for the National Merit Scholarships offered in the spring of 2011.
More than 1.5 million juniors entered the 2011 National Merit Program by taking the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. These students now have an opportunity to continue in the competition for approximately 8,400 Merit Scholarship awards.

MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER TO VISIT NH-S COMMUNITY

On February 22nd, the New Hope-Solebury High School will host Milton Creagh, a nationally recognized motivational speaker. During the school day, Creagh will speak to both middle school and high school students about the effect of drug and alcohol use and its impact on making responsible decisions. In the evening, the community is invited to his presentation on how parents can help their children grow to be responsible and successful adults. The community presentation will be held at 7:00pm in the Stephen J. Buck auditorium at no charge. All are welcome.

The presentations are sponsored by the NHS Cares committee whose mission is to champion the healthy and full development of all youth in the New Hope-Solebury Community. Creagh, who has previously visited New Hope-Solebury through NHS Cares sponsorship, is well known for his tough, inspirational talks to teenage students. He has served on the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Expert in Residence program, has been invited to the White House, and has authored a book, Nobody Wants Your Child, about how to prepare young adults for the global workforce.

NH-S VIOLIN STUDENTS PROGRESS TO REGIONAL COMPETITION

Brett Wachtendorf, Kevin Li, Greg Chen, Nick Wehr and Jessica Bauer

Four New Hope-Solebury High School violin students will be competing in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association’s Regional VI orchestra competition at West Chester East High School in March. They are advancing from the districts competition which was held at Quakertown High School on January 27th, 28th and 29th.
The students placed as follows: Greg Chen (sophomore) – Second place, Brett Wachtendorf (senior) – Sixth place, Jessica Bauer (sophomore) - Tenth place and Kevin Li (junior) - Twelfth place.
“We have never had this many students achieve this success in the same year at NH-S,” commented orchestra instructor, Nick Wehr. “We are extremely proud of them!”

NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP FINALIST ANNOUNCED

Stephen Young, principal of New Hope-Solebury High School, announced that NH-S senior, David Dwight, has advanced to Finalist standing in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Dwight will now be considered for the National Merit Scholarships offered in the spring of 2011.
More than 1.5 million juniors in about 22,000 U.S. high schools entered the 2011 National Merit Program by taking the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinialists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state.

NHS STUDENTS PROGRESS TO DISTRICT ORCHESTRA AND BAND COMPETITION

Greg Chen, Rebecca Longworth, Brett Wachendorff, Jessica Bauer, Kevin Li and Andrea Detlefsen

Six New Hope-Solebury High School students are advancing to the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association district competition for orchestra and band. They had competed in the auditions on December 11th at the Central Bucks East High School, along with five other New Hope-Solebury High School students. Senior, Rebecca Longworth, will be competing in the band district competition on flute from February 10th – 12th. Competing in the orchestra district competition on January 27th – 29th are senior, Brett Wachtendorff, juniors Kevin Li and Greg Chen, sophomore, Jessica Bauer, and freshman, Andrea Detlefsen, all on violin.

“A DAY OF HOPE”: GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAMS BRING AWARENESS TO EPILEPSY

Tess Frelick on the court

The New Hope-Solebury Girls Varsity Basketball team is joining the Princeton Day School’s (PDS) Girls Basketball team to raise awareness about epilepsy during a game between the two teams on Saturday, February 5th at 7:00 PM in the New Hope-Solebury High School gym.

Motivated by her own diagnosis with epilepsy, Tess Frelick, a junior on the NH-S basketball team, and her friend from PDS, Molly Rubin, came up with the idea of the game. They believe that the event will let other children and adolescents with epilepsy know they are not alone and will also educate the public about the condition. Molly, a teammate of Tess’ on an AAU basketball team, also has friends and family affected by epilepsy.

Tess is not only a stand-out guard on the basketball team, but also is on the varsity tennis and soccer teams. She was diagnosed with epilepsy during her freshman year.
“She is doing very well since being placed on medication. Epilepsy has not slowed her down, athletically or academically,” commented Tess’ mother, Terri Maxwell. Although Tess and Molly might battle on the basketball court on February 5th, the two girls and their teams are working together to dispel the myths, stigma and misunderstandings associated with epilepsy. The girls ask that the whole community come out and support “A Day of Hope” on Saturday, February 5th at 7 PM. There is no charge for the event. However, donations collected will go to the Epilepsy Foundation of Eastern Pennsylvania. There is also a JV game at 5:30 PM.

Click here for a flyer about the event.
Click here for information about epilepsy.

NH-S HIGH SCHOOL HELPS STUDENTS PLAN FOR COLLEGE

Back row (from left): Hebat El-Turky (NH-S Guidance Counselor), Michelle Cosner (College Board) and Veronica Wierzbowski (NH-S Guidance Counselor).

Front Row (from left): Matt Middleton (The College of New Jersey), Susan Burns (Lafayette College), Steven Mostert (Pennsylvania State University), Kate Balboni (Drew University), Stephanie Wujcik (Bryn Mawr College), Holly Bull (Center for Interim Programs) and Gabriella Crimi (graduate of New Hope-Solebury High School).

On January 6^th, the New Hope-Solebury High School guidance department hosted a College Planning presentation for 10th and 11th grade students and their parents. Michelle Cosner, a representative from College Board, gave a presentation about the importance of the PSAT test and how to evaluate the results. In addition, a college admissions panel gave a presentation on the college application and admission process, followed by a question and answer session. Guidance counselors Veronica Wierzbowski and Hebat El-Turky arranged for and hosted the presentation which drew approximately 200 students and parents.