• John Michel, a fourth-grader from St. Ursula School in Hampton, took home the gold medal in the 4th-5th grade division last semester in the Pittsburgh Diocese Math 24 competition held in April at Bishop Leonard-St. Mary of the Mount Academy in Pittsburgh.

John's speed and accuracy won the day. He has always enjoyed math, and called the competition day "one of the best days of his life."

John also competes on the online version of the game "1st in Math" and worked his way up to 15th place in all grades in the nation by the end of the season on April 30. John plans to make the Top 10 next school year.

• Seneca Valley students worked hard to have their voices heard at the Annual Fiesta-Val Competition in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last semester.

They returned from the competition with 11 awards in hand, including three championship trophies.

Seventeen schools from seven states, including Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, South Carolina, New Jersey and Pennsylvania participated in the competition in May, which was the largest Fiesta-Val event to date.

Seneca Valley took all first- and second-place finishes and three championship trophies. In addition, all Seneca Valley choirs earned superior ratings, the highest rating possible.

Here is a breakdown of the awards:

Overall Championship Awards: Seneca Valley Senior High School Concert Choir, Seneca Valley Men's Chorus and Seneca Valley Middle School Chorus.

First-Place Awards: Division IV, Senior High School Concert Choir; Division III, Intermediate High School Choral Union and Men's Choir; Division II, Show Choir Division I, 8th Grade Chorus.

Second Place Awards: Division IV, Madrigal Singers; Division III, Intermediate High School Chamber Choir and Seneca Valley Women's Chorus.

• Three Seneca Valley Intermediate High School students were named winners in Allegheny College's Annual Creek Connections Symposium at Camp Kon-O-Kwee last semester.

Graham Bitzer, Sarah Francino and Mike Traverso worked for many months on the project, "Breakfast in our Backyard: Turning Maple Sap to Maple Syrup," and were selected as one of the top three out of hundreds of Western Pennsylvania students attending the symposium.

• Christine Fleig, a Seneca Valley junior last semester, was named a finalist, and earning an encore performance in the Annual Shakespeare Competition held at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre in late March.

Christine's outstanding performance as Hermia from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" caught the eyes of the judges from among hundreds of other students performers.

• Seneca Valley sophomore Adam Zahren was awarded a fourth-place finish at the Loyal Order of the Moose International Student Youth Congress held in Virginia last semester.

Adam and Roger Stedina, another Seneca Valley sophomore, were two of four chosen to represent the state in the congressional competition based on presentations the they created and presented to younger students in the elementary schools.

The competition was held in May.

• Five Fox Chapel Area School District students were recently named winners in the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup Playoffs Art & Essay Contests last semester.

Students in grades six through twelve submitted essays and students in first through fifth grades submitted original artwork.

The winning Fox Chapel Area High School essay was written by freshman Jordan Marie Skowran and the theme of the essay was "Why Teamwork is Important to Me."

The winning students from Dorseyville Middle School were seventh-grader Sarah Friedland and sixth-grader Cam Zmenkowski.

The theme of the middle school essays was "The Importance of Teamwork to a Winning Future."

Two Fox Chapel Area elementary school pupils were named winners in the art portion of the contest. They are Hartwood Elementary School third-grader Julia Szymanski and O'Hara Elementary School third-grader Seth Bowman.

The theme of the elementary artwork emphasized team members working together to achieve success.

The contest was sponsored by the Pittsburgh Penguins and was open to students throughout Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh in grades one through 12. The purpose of the contest was to challenge students' creativity and to show their support of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The winners received gift certificates to Dick's Sporting Goods.