SWAL TRIUMPHS!
The Southwest Academic League has a new 2008 Champion team—BVA. The pictured all-sophomore team went to the February 29 tournament at Trinity High School as second place holders behind the very tenacious first place TJ team in the Eastern division. Early on, the BVA team took over Eastern Division First place by beating TJ in two matches. Then BVA moved on all Western Division place holders, ultimately having to beat Canon MacMillon (an all-senior team) in two out of three matches to take the top trophy. The last match was a nail-biter with the lead switching sides all the way through. Hammering the last question put BVA ahead by 1 point to bring home what had proven to be a very illusive trophy in the past.
L-R Mitch McMcloskey, Nick Sewchek, AJ Cocciolone, Jarrod Musiak, Lisa Manderino, Josh Pohlot and Joe Cervone
AJ was BVA season high scorer, Lisa is holding the JV championship trophy, and Josh is holding the Easter Division second place trophy.
Architectural Design Challenge Project - First Place Winners!
By February 26, sophomores Haylie Parkinson and Anna Herold and junior, TJ Sebastian put a combined 200 hours over three months into their First Place Architectural Design Challenge Project. (A one credit course has 126 hours.) They had to add to their modeling skill set by learning how to work with wire, balsa, special adhesives, plastics, fired clay, and period specific architectural concepts in order to bring their design to life.
A good design notwithstanding, this team had to also sell their ideas in competition with other teams working to the same objectives. The competition was keen; the presentations polished. The judges were city planners, artists, historians, and working architects. Competition consisted of a ten minute oral presentation, a question and answer period with the judges, and a static display. This annual event is sponsored by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.
These three students have represented BVAHS in superior standards!
Mt. Pleasant Quiz Bowl Team
The League has two conferences. Conference A consists of Mt Pleasant, Laurel Valley, Ligonier, Greensburg Central Catholic, Jeannette, Yough, Southmoreland, Geibel, and BVA. Conference B is comprised of Hempfield, Derry, Laurel Highlands, Latrobe, Norwin, Connellsville, Penn Trafford, Kiski, and Greensburg Salem.
Each school provides two teams: a Varsity team and a Junior Varsity team. Five members participate, with three alternates that may be substituted mid-round). The top four teams in both conferences participate in a tournament. Varsity rounds are 30 questions and JV rounds are 26 questions. The questions are from formal sources and are screened to match typical Southwestern PA school course content.
Typically there are 6-8 rounds over two days of competitions with a tournament going to the top four participating schools in each conference. Competitions are typically held in October through December with a tournament in January.
On Wednesday, February 6, the Mt. Pleasant Quiz Bowl teams traveled to Mt. Pleasant for competition. The Varsity Team was unsuccessful in its two matches, but the Junior Varsity Team won four of its six matches!
Varsity Squad (left to right) TJ Sebastian, Zack Wardle, Jeff Orr, Zack Yonash, Keifer Szurszweski, Ken Williams
Junior Varsity Squad (left to right) Mitch McCloskey, Christine Steffey, Lisa Manderino, AJ Cocciolone, Nick Sewchek, Jarrod Musiak
JV Match (left to right) Lisa Manderino, AJ Cocciolone, Christine Steffey, Jarron Musiak, Nick Sewchek
Also, Jeff Orr for Varsity and AJ Cocciolone for Jr. Varsity took awards for highest BVA team scorers. Our showing in the final tournament was average with both teams coming in fourth place in their respective brackets.