Pittsburgh Public Schools News

Panera Bread and Covelli Enterprises recently announced the winners of the 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Contest. All three award recipients are Pittsburgh Public Schools students.  Contest organizer and Corporate Diversity Associates CEO K. Chase Patterson told us, “Panera Bread wants to thank each outstanding student for their hard work and dedication to honoring the legacy of an American Treasure, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We have accomplished much since Dr. King’s death, and so many of those great strides are a result of the passion and energy that students like the winners generate in their parents, teachers, and communities.” To show appreciation, Panera Bread will host an event this Saturday to honor students for their successful submissions. 

WINNERS

1st Place: Jordan Lawson – Irony in Faith 

11th Grade, Pittsburgh Taylor Allderdice

2nd Place: Ekin Erkan – The Path of Comfort or the Path of Struggle: Only One Can Change the World

12th Grade, Pittsburgh CAPA

3rd Place: Kelsey Miller – Revival

12th Grade, Pittsburgh CAPA

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Andrew Cummings – 9th Grade, Pittsburgh Taylor Allderdice

Bryce Johnson – 9th Grade, City Charter High

Clare McKenzie – 9th Grade, Pittsburgh Taylor Allderdice

Maura Moseley – 10th Grade, Seton LaSalle High School

Marcus Robinson – 10th Grade, City Charter High

Sonu Bae – 11th Grade, Winchester Thurston

Tarah Wright – 11th Grade, Shadyside Academy

Marconna Taylor – 11th Grade, Pittsburgh Westinghouse

Maya McCray – 12th Grade, Pittsburgh Obama

Parys Burham – 12th Grade, Pittsburgh Obama

Congratulations to the three winners of the Panera Bread and Covelli Enterprises 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Contest!

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and to celebrate Black History Month in February 2013, Citizens Bank has partnered with the New Pittsburgh Courier, KISS-FM, WPXI-TV and the Pittsburgh Public Schools to sponsor the Twelfth Annual Expressions of Freedom writing contest for all students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.  This year students were asked to describe one of Dr. King’s character traits that inspires them and explain how they can apply that trait to their daily life.  (more…)

Warhol

12/3/12

PITTSBURGH, September 27, 2012 – The Pittsburgh Promise today issued its fourth annual report to the community. The report highlights the program’s impact on the first four-year college graduating class of Promise Scholars, its progress in influencing both high school and college retention rates, as well as its role in promoting urban education reform. The annual report also previewed new promotional campaigns featuring Promise Scholars in the workplace, ads to attract Latinos to Pittsburgh, and a real estate outreach effort featuring the $40,000 Promise scholarship benefit for city homeowners who send their children to Pittsburgh Public Schools. (more…)

Pennsylvania School Press Association

9/7/12

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

June 28, 2012

Love Your Block is a program created by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and The Home Depot Foundation to revitalize our City – block by block! Nonprofit organizations from across Pittsburgh are invited to propose projects to transform their blocks with a $1,000 Home Depot gift card and the support of key City Departments. Competitive projects will be selected, after which City agencies will engage with awarded group members and listen to their block improvement requests. They will then proceed to carry out the requested services, as feasible. With grant money, CAPA was able to purchase equipment and supplies, engage their neighbors, and roll up their sleeves to carry out their own brand of block beautification and repair. Christina Burke, the Neighborhood Service Associate, at the Mayor’s Office of Service and Civic Engagement was extremely grateful to the school for  participating in Mayor Ravenstahl’s Love Your Block project! She stated, “We really enjoyed stopping by and seeing the great work that the kids are doing. ” See link to view more photos.

Commencement exercises for the Pittsburgh Public Schools Class of 2012 are scheduled for Friday June 8, and Saturday, June 9, 2012. This is the 100^th class of students to graduate from the Pittsburgh Public Schools. To celebrate this milestone the District was able to bring back former graduates, who are also members of the first four-year graduating class of Promise Scholars, to speak at each of the commencement ceremonies. 

The Pittsburgh Public Schools Class of 2012 is the first to be eligible to receive a $40,000 scholarship for post-secondary education from the Pittsburgh Promise. To date, 3,200 students have attended college and the community has invested $25 million in support by removing the financial barriers to continue their education beyond high school. 

The Pittsburgh Promise will host the largest ever graduation celebration in Pittsburgh with four big events over a two-week period, May 31 through June 15.  Graduates, celebrity entertainers, students, parents, community leaders and public officials, and the public will gather to ‘Celebrate Pittsburgh’s Promise’.  Graduation ceremonies for the 10 high schools are scheduled for the Peterson Event Center and Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, on Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9th.  A list of the locations, time and dates is below.

Weekend Marks Final Commencement Ceremonies for two High Schools

This weekend will also mark the final graduation ceremonies for Pittsburgh Langley High School and Pittsburgh Oliver High School. In November the Board approved the closure of the two schools as part of the District’s Realignment Plan.  The District Realignment Plan addresses the District’s under-enrolled classrooms that result in unnecessary costs to taxpayers, through School Closings, Feeder Pattern Changes, and Adjustments to the Educational Delivery Model.  Due to school closings, for the start of the 2012-13 school, Pittsburgh Langley students will be transitioning to Pittsburgh Brashear High School, and Pittsburgh Oliver students will transition to Pittsburgh Perry. Ongoing efforts are taking place to collect input, share expertise and facilitate the upcoming transition in support of students and staff.

Pittsburgh Langley’s graduating class theme is “We do not fear the future, for we are the future!” This ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, June 9, 3 p.m. at Soldiers and Sailors. Diploma presenters include Superintendent Linda S. Lane, as well as board member Floyd McCrea.

Pittsburgh Oliver High School’s commencement exercises are scheduled for Saturday, June 9, 12:30 p.m., at Soldiers and Sailors.  Diploma presenters include Superintendent Linda S. Lane, as well as board members Floyd McCrea, Christiana Otuwa, and Mark Brentley. Oliver’s theme is “We must be pulled by our dreams, rather than pushed by our memories.”  Jesse Jackson (more…)

Essential Public Radio

5/31/12