Outstanding Educators, Norwin HS Nationally Ranked, PTA Scholarship Winners, Autonomous Vehicle and More

PTA Announces Norwin Outstanding Educators

Continuing its annual teacher recognition program, the Norwin Council of PTAs has announced the six Outstanding Educator honorees for the 2019-2020 school year.

They are:

Mrs. Kristie Lynn, Sheridan Terrace Elementary
Mr. Nicholas Fallone, Stewartsville Elementary
Mrs. Colby Kelly, Hillcrest Intermediate
Ms. Wendy Melle, Sunset Valley Elementary
Mrs. Megan Fulton, Hahntown Elementary
Mrs. Hallie Hammond, Norwin Middle School

Please click here to learn more about each outstanding educator.

Norwin Identified on List of Best American High Schools by U.S. News and World Report

Norwin High School has again ranked among the nation’s best according U.S. News & World Report’s Best High School Rankings for 2020.

The U.S. News Best High Schools rankings include data on more than 24,000 public high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Norwin ranked No. 25 out of 142 high schools in the Pittsburgh metro area, No. 126 out of 754 high schools from 640 districts in Pennsylvania and No. 3,127 in the nation.

Please click here to learn more about this accomplishment.

PTA Scholarship Winners

Please join us in congratulating the 2020 Norwin Council of PTAs scholarship winners: Ashley Pesarsick, Isaac Anticole, Kayla Stanczak and Savanna Hindman.

Each year, Norwin Council of PTAs strives to give four scholarships to current seniors who demonstrate leadership, academics, and volunteering within our community. The amount varies based on proceeds from the annual Dr. Seuss T-shirts sale, as well as donations received from the six PTA/PTSAs within the Norwin School District.

Spirit Night Benefit May 6 for Norwin Council of PTAs

Please click here to learn more about a fund-raiser planned for Wednesday, May 6, from 4 to 10 p.m. through Inferno Pizza.

The fundraiser supports PTA programs such as District Reflections, Science Fair, Founder’s Day, and the scholarship program.

Norwin Technology Education Students Make Autonomous Vehicle for Contest, Gain Recognition on CMU Website

Nine Norwin High School students have been recognized by Carnegie Mellon University for their hard work in building an autonomous vehicle -- specifically, a modified toddler Jeep.

The students, who are in Mr. Robert Shuber's Technology Club, participated in the Square One Autonomous Innovative Vehicle Design Challenge earlier this school year. The students used Arduino electronic prototyping technology, GPS, and sensors to retrofit a toddler Jeep to perform various tasks autonomously.

They were provided opportunities to 3D print custom parts and learn how to program an Arduino using the ROBOTC programming language.

They were preparing to enter the vehicle in a spring tournament in which several schools would compete to make their vehicles traverse a challenge course and avoid obstacles without driver assistance. Unfortunately, the competition has been postponed until fall due to COVID-19.

Carnegie Mellon University, as one of several partners involved in the effort, captured the students' hard work on one of their webpages earlier this week.

The students are Leia Farroux, Alec Jones, Vincent Lukart, Declan McGough, Ian Resnik, Benjamin Royce, Jade Taylor, Connor Vogel , and Luke Weyandt .

Mr. Shuber plans to gather a new group of students and pick up where the current students left off with the same equipment. They will further enhance the autonomous Jeep that students have already built.

Inspirational Posters Demonstrate Students Are #NorwinStrong

Students in Ms. Amanda Staso's Learning Support classrooms from Sheridan Terrace and Sunset Valley have made inspirational posters featuring the hashtags #togetherwecan and #norwinstrong .

"Let us never forget how powerful the words of children are," Ms. Staso said. "I can honestly say, I am so proud of my students and their resiliency."

Please click on the photo to take a closer look at these inspirational posters.

Norwin Recognized In State Communications Contest

Norwin School District recently received two “Awards of Merit” in the annual Excellence in Education Communications Contest sponsored by The Pennsylvania School Public Relations Association (PenSPRA).

Norwin’s entries won in the publications and writing categories of the PenSPRA contest for 2019. An edition of Norwin School District's weekly e-newsletter was recognized for the publications category, and the District’s Final Budget News Release received accolades in the writing category.

Please click here to read about this accomplishment.

Custodians are #NorwinStrong

Norwin School District custodians are working hard to keep our schools safe, clean, and healthy.

Please click here or on the photo to view the video of them continuing the work of cleaning the schools.

Resources

TED / Voluntary Educational Resources: The TEDEd program has started putting out a daily newsletter to support the millions of students, parents and teachers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The TED-Ed@Home daily newsletter provides people with high-quality, interactive, video-based lessons spanning all age groups and subjects, for free. Please click here for information.

As a reminder, please remember that Norwin School District has collected a variety of Voluntary Educational Resources for Student Education that are availble through its Google site for online learning.

2020 Contingency Plan for Spring and Summer Activities and Events

Article: "How Flipping the Switch Leads to Resilience"

Online Learning Resources for Families, a Google site, has been created as a comprehensive site to help Norwin families prepare for online learning.

NEW Norwin School District Daily Attendance Form

Beginning on April 20, 2020, and continuing each day through Friday, April 24, 2020, families will be asked to complete a daily attendance form for each child in the family. The link to the attendance form will be included on the STREAM on each Google Classroom and can also be found here. We appreciate your assistance in completing this form for each child one time daily so that attendance can be entered and maintained into Skyward.

Norwin Lunches for Students in the Free and Reduced Lunch Program

Every Monday and Wednesday through the shutdown, the District will serve a bagged lunch from 11am - 1pm from the Norwin High School Auditorium doors (Door No. 6). The lunch program on Mondays will supply enough food for Monday and Tuesday, and the lunch program on Wednesdays will supply enough food for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

New Site for Parents, Staff Promotes Mental & Behavioral Health during Pandemic

Click here to see the resources assembled by Norwin psychologists, social worker and behavioral consultant.

Norwin Businesses Support Students During Shutdown

Please click here to view a Google Doc with information from some of our community partners regarding no-cost meals for students.

Do-It-Yourself Cleaning Supplies

Please click here for more information from East Coast Risk Management.

Screen-Free Activities for Families

Please consider these screen-free activities for families.

Public Utility Commission Urges Financially Stressed Consumers to Explore Options

Please click here to learn more.

Kids Activity Sheet

Click here for a Kids Activity Sheet.

Internet Options

The Norwin School District realizes that not every family has access to the Internet at home, though some may wish to. Please click here for a collection of resources for families to obtain broadband Internet at their home at low or no cost.