With a little over two weeks until teachers return for inservice, followed shortly thereafter by students arriving for their first days, OLSH is alive with activity and final preparations for the 2019-2020 academic year. This year, OLSH will welcome students from school districts spanning western Pennsylvania in 3 counties (as well as another in Ohio) including Aliquippa, Ambridge, Avella, Avonworth, Beaver, Burgettstown, Carlynton, Central Valley, Chartiers Valley, Cornell, Hopewell, Mars, Montour, Moon, North Allegheny, North Hills, Northgate, Pine Richland, Pittsburgh Public, Quaker Valley, Rochester, Seneca Valley, South Fayette, Steubenville City, Sto-Rox, and West Allegheny! Busing requests have been made to the 17 districts that provide daily transportation to and from OLSH, and families from the 10 other districts are arranging car pools.
OLSH Athletics hosted a 2019-2020 kickoff meeting for head coaches last night, welcoming those who provide leadership for our strong athletic programs, including girls and boys cross country, football, cheerleading, golf, girls and boys volleyball, girls and boys soccer, girls and boys basketball, girls and boys bowling, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field. Our teams are getting ready for competition, after a record-making year of WPIAL championships and a repeat win of the Trib HSSN 2A Cup in 2018-2019.
Fresh off of her leadership of the Pelican Players community theatre production of The Drowsy Chaperone at OLSH last week, Dolores Manuel, OLSH’s theatre director, is touring Scotland. She is attending the director’s trip, previewing sites and options for next year’s opportunity for OLSH students to perform at the Festival Fringe. This is the department’s second invitation to take part in this international educational activity, having previously participated in 2016.
The teacher inservice schedule is shaping up as faculty and staff will be trained on our newly upgraded gradebook system, hear presentations on school and student safety from Moon Township police, and work together on continuing to integrate the OLSH mission across the curriculum. Opening days will also feature a celebration of faculty whose students achieved great success on the AP exams they took in May. OLSH students earned qualifying scores on 72.5% of the AP exams they took last spring. Additionally, five OLSH students were recognized by the National Merit Scholarship organization for their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT last fall.
Parents of our new students will learn everything they need to know to help their children transition to OLSH at New Parent Orientation on Wednesday, August 14. Then, on Sunday, August 18 freshmen will be welcomed at OLSH’s student orientation program, Freshman Foundations Day. That evening, all new students and their families will be welcomed to the OLSH family at the Matriculation Ceremony & Mass, as well as at the Welcome Picnic - two treasured OLSH traditions!
Want to become part of the OLSH family? Click here to learn more about the application process, apply now, or call (412) 424-4615.