~~ ACADEMIA ~~

Nick Vogelson, of Chestnut Hill, accepted membership in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Nick, a sophomore at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science in New York, is taking a year off to work for Black Book magazine in art design.

Catherine B. Pappas, of East Falls, a junior at Colby College, is spending the spring '04 semester in England, enrolled in a course of studies at the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Center in London. Pappas, a graduate of William Penn Charter School, is majoring in English at Colby.

Christine Torrisi, a 14-year-old 8th grade student at Waldron Mercy Academy in Merion Station, was the winner of first place in Dramatic Interpretation in the Grade School Forensics Tournament sponsored by St. Joseph's Prep School. A resident of Chestnut Hill, she is one of two Waldron Mercy students who won top honors in the tournament.

Mortimer (Tim) Sellers, GFS '76, was the Aloysius B. McCabe '45 speaker at Germantown Friends School's Classics Day on March 4. In his talk, "The Consolation of Philosophy," Tim reminisced about his time at GFS and how it helped him in life and how knowledge of the classics has influenced his career. He is a Regents professor of the University System of Maryland and Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

The following La Salle University students made the dean's list for the fall 2003 semester. From Chestnut Hill: Gracia Patricia Jardinero Abadesco, Dana A. Breashears, James J. McCafferty, Ivanna Pelekh, Theresa Ryan, John David Sprandio and Kathleen Margaret Currie. From Mt. Airy: Della P. Allen-Sumpter, Nicole Shackelford and Antonio W. Webster. From Roxborough:  Nicholas Joseph Adornetto, Kanini Nigali Butler, David Gregory DiGiovanni, Sabina L. Keller, Lauren Mary Long, Walter Thomas McAllister, Joseph Patrick McEntee, Alice L. Myers, John F. Parkinson, Thomas Anthony Plick, Matthew James Quinn, Jennifer Ann Rauscher, Lauren A. Reilly, Patricia Westerfer and Christopher L. Young.

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards honor young people in middle level and high school grades for outstanding volunteer service to their communities. Local honorees for 2004 include: SafiyahAbdul Kabir, a senior at Roxborough High School, who volunteered with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; Rachel Orner, of Oreland, a senior at Springfield Township High School, helped organize a charity banquet to benefit the Sunshine Foundation; Kelly Hanahan, of Glenside, a senior at Bishop McDevitt High School, initiated the "Villa" project wherein volunteers would visit retired sisters and priests at St. Joseph's Villa.

To celebrate Women's History Month in March, the National Liberty Museum brought together a diverse group of kids to create works of "community poetry." The 100 students who participated were from William Penn Charter School, Al Aqsa Islamic Society and Villanova Academy for Honor Studies. The event helped bridge barriers and show these young people how to respect and work with one another using creativity and the spoken word.

University of Massachusetts softball center fielder Aisha Franke, a 2000 graduate of Germantown Friends School, has been named to the initial top-40 watch list for the 2004 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. Last year, Franke led the Atlantic 10 Conference and was 40th in the country with a .403 batting average.

Germantown Friends School has received acclaim for two student publications: the Upper School's literary magazine, Polyphony, and the Middle School literary magazine, Graffiti, were honored by the 2003 National Council of Teachers of English Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines. Last year, Polyphony editors Arielle Cohen, Ariel Hayes and Sam Kolbert-Hyle added an audio CD, featuring original songs and spoken word pieces by GFS students.

SCIENCE FAIR NEWS:

Bishop McDevitt High School participated in the 2004 Montgomery County science research competition on March 4. Nine students won awards and two received honorable mention. The students placed as follows: 1st place — Christopher Mohl, Rebecca Lineman; 2nd place — Jamie Hendel, Kathleen Ketterlinus, Emily Mock (Chestnut Hill), Lindsay Budnick (Chestnut Hill); 3rd place — Anna Emore, Cathryn Reynolds (Mt. Airy), Stephanie Thomas; Honorable Mention — Carol Mastrosante, Kathryn O'Connell.

Students at Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Flourtown also competed in the science fair. Athena Diaconis earned a first honorable mention in the environmental category for her research on how pollutants affect planaria; Ann Gennaro earned a first honorable mention in the physics category for her research on aerodynamics; Victoria Arena won second place in the physics category for her research on how the core of golf balls affects their COR; and Bess Flashner won first place in the mathematics category and a special award from the U.S. Navy for her research on "Phi, the Divine Proportion."