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Student Honored For Outstanding Achievement
Student Honored For Outstanding Achievement
By: Lyndsey Kitchen
Braden Thomas is a very reputable student at Cambria Heights. He is the president of many organizations including the senior class, the National Honor Society, and the Technology Student Association Region 8. In his free time, Braden is very involved in his community. One of his most notable service projects was organizing a Jared Box project.
Jared Box was created in 2001 by Our Lady of Victory School to honor a student, named Jared, who was battling cancer. Shoe-sized boxes are filled with gifts, toys, games, crayons, and fun activities for children who are patients in emergency rooms, hospitals, surgical centers and clinics. Braden decided to organize a Jared Box donation at Cambria Heights. He purchased plastic boxes and distributed them to the homerooms throughout the school. Students would provide coloring books, toys, and games to put into the boxes. It became very competitive and students would purchase additional shoeboxes to create more donations. At the end of December, Braden collected all the boxes, 133 total, and donated them to hospitals around the area.
Braden’s most recent accomplishment is being named one of Pennsylvania Junior Achievement 18 under eighteen. The program recognizes outstanding students who have demonstrated noteworthy leadership, community service, and entrepreneurship. Braden was chosen for his work in the community, Jared Box project, and accomplishments in the Technology Student Association.
As a part of his title Braden was involved in many activities surrounding the accomplishment. Braden attended a media day in January where Junior Achievement filmed content for social media and the press. As a result, Braden was featured on six billboards throughout the local area, as well as Pittsburgh. Social media posts also showcased fun facts about Braden. In addition, Braden attended a gala in Pittsburgh. At the gala, Braden met with the other 17 award winners and recognized everyone’s achievements. They showcased a video where Braden described all of his achievements and acts of service. At the end of the night Braden was presented with an award to show for his accomplishments.
Braden represents the Cambria Heights school district well, and is an inspiration for other students to achieve success. After he graduates, Braden plans to major in biology pre-med and pursue a career in the medical field. Braden has accomplished a great amount at such a young age and will undoubtedly achieve success in the future!
SYNERGY
By: Austin Malenich
One aspect that Cambria Heights excels at is displaying different ways for students in the music department to expand on their talents. Though musicals, concert band, chorus and even opportunities to compete on the PMEA level, one group definitely sticks out the most for popularity. Synergy is Cambria Heights' way of expanding students' musical abilities in more advanced ways. Synergy is a band made up of Cambria Heights students who then go play at different venues. In past years, it’s mainly been rock music but with students of different musical backgrounds, the group has expanded into playing different genres. Instruments in the group consist of vocalists, bass, drum-kit, electric guitar, keyboard and even horns of all shapes and sizes. This year, there are two separate bands that work all school year to play at different gigs. One piece of information that's very important about this group is that it’s a class that would be on a students schedule. To participate, students usually have to play two different songs on a certain instrument and students have to try out to participate. Students can even audition on multiple instruments. Songs that were played this year were Rosanna by Toto, Brandy by Looking Glass, Volevou by ABBA and many more.
Synergy Seniors inputs on the whole experience
Will Demi (Senior) (Vocalist)
Well first of all the thought of working hard for everything coming together for the end piece can be very heartwarming and inspiring. My time in this class really made an impact on me in one of the best ways possible
Grace Jacobs (Senior) (Vocalist)
I really appreciate Synergy so much because it helped me expand and grow my career in music because it gave me much practice with my vocals. This is an experience that I wish I could continue for the rest of my life.
Cole Weiland (Junior) (Drum-kit)
The whole idea of everything is just so fun. Everyone is so relaxed and supportive throughout the journey and if you're thinking about auditioning, do it, you wont regret it.
TSA Results
Cambria Heights High School Technology Student Association competed Saturday, January 29 at the TSA Region 8 conference. CHHS had 15 members compete in over 18 events. The students won 11 awards and several members will be advancing to the state conference which will be held at Seven Springs in April.
1st place Data Science & Analytics – Braden Thomas
1st place Debating Technological Issues – Team of Ian Hall & Zach Mislevy
1st place Fashion Design – Lyndsey Kitchen & Maya Legrand
1st place Technology Problem Solving – Team of Ian Hall & Ethan King
2nd place Coding – Team of Zach Mislevy & Cole Weiland
2nd place Future Technology Teacher – Lyndsey Kitchen
3rd place Future Technology Teacher – Austin Malenich
3rd place Prepared Presentation – Braden Thomas
3rd place Children’s Stories – Team of Morgan Link, Braden Thomas & Molly Hayes
3rd place Board Game Design – Team of Kenna Rogal, Rylee Bernecky & Abigail Zeglen
3rd place System Control – Team of Ian Hall, Zach Mislevy & Ethan King
4th place Technology Bowl Written High Score – Zach Mislevy
TSA
By: Lyndsey Kitchen
The Technology Student Association, TSA, has been rapidly growing at Cambria Heights. The club was formed four years ago when Mrs. Manack, the technology education teacher, began teaching here. Mrs. Manack was the Altoona School District TSA advisor for 10 years before accepting her current position at Cambria Heights. She brought her knowledge about TSA to our school and the club has been flourishing ever since.
TSA is a club where students, who have a passion for STEM, create projects based around different STEM topics. Students spend months creating time-consuming and detailed projects and present these projects to judges at the regional competition in the winter. Students win awards and may advance to the state competition in the spring.
The club is a student-run organization. Some students take the lead to run the club with the support of the advisors, Mrs. Manack and Mrs. Shirf. The 2021-2022 officer team consists of Lyndsey Kitchen (president), Braden Thomas (vice president), Kenna Rogal (treasurer), Zach Mislevy (secretary), and Morgan Link (reporter). These students have competed previous years and have done very well in their past TSA events. Braden Thomas is also the Pennsylvania TSA Region 8 president.
Cambria Heights TSA students have been working very hard for their upcoming competition on January 29th at Richland. Most of the members are competing with multiple projects. There are over 30 project categories for students to choose from. Our chapter’s teams are creating robots that can pick up ping pong balls, creating and sewing outfits, that have technology in them, making board games produced from complete scratch, composing music, creating children’s stories about engineering, along with many more projects. The students are very excited to compete in-person this year.
Last year, all TSA competitions were virtual. Cambria Heights had many students place at the regional level and advance to the state level. The chapter had many students that did so well at the state level that they competed nationally. Zach Mislevy and Ian Hall placed 10th in Debating Technology Issues and Lyndsey Kitchen placed 4th in Future Technology Teacher at the national level. Students are very excited to compete this year. The national competition will be held in Dallas, Texas this summer and Cambria Heights is hoping to go.
Mr. Kerchenske Begins a New Chapter at CH
By: Lyndsey Kitchen
In July 2021 Cambria Heights’ beloved superintendent Mr. Strasser retired after dedicating 13 years to the district. The high school principal, Mr. Kerchenske was hired as the next superintendent of the school district. Many students know Mr. Kerchenske as the fun principal, who loves his job, and is always making jokes with students in the hallway. They also refer to him as simply Mr. K. As this new change in positions occurs, the transition from principal to superintendent has not been the easiest. Mr. K stated, “I am used to seeing students all day, whereas now I might not see students until after lunch, if not later in the afternoon.” When Mr. K does have the opportunity to see the students, he is still the same fun administrator that teachers and students love. When asked what is one of his strengths as superintendent? Mr. K said, “that he has been a life-long resident of the district, so he already knows many of the parents and students, which makes getting to know everyone an easy task.”
When asked about his greatest weakness in his new position, he replied, “ it would be the elementary school.” Before becoming a high school principal, Mr. K was a middle school geography teacher. Working with the elementary school is a new challenge for him, because he has never worked in or with the elementary school. He has all intentions to work very closely with all the staff there and become just as familiar with it, as he is with the high school and middle school.
Mr. K still stays in contact with Mr. Strasser, he stated that if a situation arises that he is not very familiar with or needs some guidance, he just gives Mr. Strasser a call.
Outside of school, Mr. K enjoys traveling and skiing. He is also well known for being an avid Miami Dolphins fan. This year, Mr. K is looking forward to having a sense of normalcy back in the school district. He is excited for football games with fans, a student section, pep rallies, no hybrid-learning, and is working towards getting students' grades back on track. The district is so glad to welcome Mr. Kerchenske as our new superintendent.
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