The McKeesport robotics team poses after qualifying for a championship at the Miami Valley Regional FIRST Robotics competition at Xavier University in Cincinnati. (Submitted photo courtesy Team 1708)
The robotics team based at McKeesport Area High School is headed to the world championship in Texas next month.
Amp’D Robotics — McKeesport-based FIRST Robotics Team 1708 — was chosen to compete for trophies and cash prizes from April 19 to 22 at the annual FIRST Robotics Competition in Houston.
FIRST — For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology — is an international organization that sanctions science, engineering and robotics clubs and contests for high school students.
Co-lead mentor and former team member Jason Mols has been mentoring and coaching the team since 2014. A mechanical engineer by trade who works for RE2 Robotics, Mols shares the mentoring duties with Derek Price another former member of the team.
“We are based out of McKeesport High School, but we have students from four local high schools on our team,” Mols said. Also represented are students from East Allegheny, Elizabeth Forward and Norwin plus one home-schooled student, he said.
McKeesport Area junior Cameron Goldinger and his brother, senior Dillon Goldinger, have been with the program since 9th grade. Their dad, Chris Goldinger of McKeesport, has now seen four of his kids go through the program.
A video produced by Divine Restoration Church of God in Christ is being used to introduce the “Wake Up!” campaign to Duquesne. Organizers are hoping the message takes root in McKeesport, as well. (YouTube)
Rallies in McKeesport and Duquesne this week will bring together multiple faiths and community organizations in an effort to urge young people to “Wake Up!” from their apathy and work to reduce gun violence.
Walkers will gather at 1:30 p.m. Thursday (March 30) at the Healthy Village Learning Institute, located at the former St. Pius V School, then walk along Versailles Avenue to the Family Dollar store at 3215 Versailles Ave.
“We timed this so that kids would be coming home from school about that time,” says the Rev. Jessica McClure Archer, pastor of Sampson’s Mills Presbyterian Church in White Oak. “We want to tell them, ‘wake up, you’re beautiful, you’re smart.’ We want to speak into the void of hopelessness so many of them are feeling.”
That walk is open to the public.
On Friday, Duquesne School District teachers and staff will attend a separate event being organized by the Rev. Eric Ewell, pastor of Divine Restoration Church of God in Christ and director of continuing education at Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was corrected after publication to clarify that the move was made at no cost to the McKeesport 23 committee.*
A monument that honors 23 McKeesport-area veterans who lost their lives during the Vietnam War has been relocated from the campus of McKeesport Area High School to a more accessible location.
Organizers are planning a re-dedication at 3 p.m. May 13 when the monument is unveiled outside the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center in Renziehausen Park.
An indoor reception will follow the outdoor celebration.
Joe Hoffman, a member of the McKeesport 23 committee, says the monument was originally placed in the high school courtyard because most of the veterans honored were McKeesport Area High School graduates.
But over the years, access to the monument has been restricted due to safety concerns about allowing visitors onto the campus, he says. The monument also hasn’t been accessible during weekends or school holidays.
The whole cast dances all out to one of the many musical numbers in “All Shook Up.” (Bonnijean Cooney Adams photo for Tube City Almanac.)
If you go...
“All Shook Up”
Where: McKeesport Area High School, 1960 Eden Park Blvd.
When: Thursday, March 30, Friday, March 31, and Saturday, April 1 at 7 p.m., with an additional Saturday, April 1 matinee at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens. Available by emailing mckmusical@gmail.com, or in person at the high school through Friday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m.
While almost all adults have at least heard – and many may have a favorite – Elvis Presley song, that isn’t necessarily true for all teens.
That’s unless those teens are in the cast, crew, or orchestra pit for McKeesport Area High School’s spring musical “All Shook Up,” which opens Thursday (March 30).
Characterized as an “American jukebox musical,” it was written in 2004 and premiered on Broadway the following year. And while “All Shook Up” is inspired by and features the music of Elvis, the storyline is not about Presley. The male lead character is Chad (Collin Klein), who arrives as a stranger on a motorcycle to a conservative town in the Midwest circa 1950s.
While his bike is getting repaired by mechanic Natalie Haller (Kaitlyn Majewski), Chad looks for some excitement, only to learn about the town’s Mamie Eisenhower Decency Act, which prohibits things such as “loud music, public necking, and tight pants.”
At Wednesday’s meeting, the McKeesport Area School Board welcomed high school students who are appearing in “All Shook Up.” The school musical, which is inspired by the life of Elvis Presley and features the songs he made famous, will be presented at McKeesport Area High School Auditorium, 1960 Eden Park Blvd., this March 30, 31 and April 1.
Nearly 20 students sang “All Shook Up” and “Can't Help Falling in Love.” Both numbers received a standing ovation from the board.
Below, retired McKeesport police Officer Ralph Johnson has been hired to work as a school police resource officer at Founders’ Hall Middle School.
(All photos: Adam Reinherz for Tube City Almanac)
Adam Reinherz is a freelance writer. He can be reached at adam.reinherz@gmail.com
A video circulating on social media that allegedly showed a McKeesport Area School District security guard napping on the job turned into a point of contention at the school board meeting.
“What is wrong with security at this school?” asked former school director Mark Holtzman Sr., who is running in the May 16 primary to reclaim his seat on the school board. He called it “a disaster waiting to happen.”
“When a security guard is sleeping, laying around, half-dressed, bellies hanging out, I mean come on,” Holtzman said. “Stuff gotta be done.”
The school board said it is taking steps to resolve complaints, including the approval this month of a contract with a new school security firm that will eventually provide 14 guards to the district.
The North Versailles Twp. Parks & Recreation Department has announced a full schedule of events for April:
North Versailles Twp. children can enjoy Art and Apple Juice for free at the North Versailles Community Center from 6 to 8 p.m. April 4. Groups will be sectioned into grades K-3 and 4-6. Students will be instructed by East Allegheny High School art students and teachers on how to paint an age-appropriate painting. Kids can paint pictures to take home while enjoying snacks and juice. Goodwill donations will be accepted for the EAHS Art Scholarship fund.
The North Versailles Twp. Parks & Recreation Department will hold an Easter Egg Hunt at Crestas Park, 2298 Milligan St., from 12 noon to 2 p.m. April 8. Kids will enjoy outdoor games and a magician show, while Bud Bunny will be available for a meet and greet. RSVP to nvtparksandrec@gmail.com or call (412) 823-6602 ext. 104 by April 5.
As a public service, Tube City Community Media Inc. again will make available this space as a free, public outlet for local political candidates — although there are rules attached.
If you know any political candidates, please let them know of this opportunity. Deadline is May 1; announcements will be published at Tube City Almanac in the order they arrive.
Any candidate for a municipal (city, borough or township) or school board office in the Duquesne City, East Allegheny, McKeesport Area, South Allegheny or West Mifflin Area school districts* may submit a candidate announcement or statement for publication at Tube City Almanac.
Profiles received after the deadline will be published at the editor’s option, time permitting.
Please email them to tubecitytiger@gmail.com; U.S. mail them to Tube City Almanac, P.O. Box 94, McKeesport, PA 15134; or drop them off during regular business hours at Tube City Community Media, 409 Walnut St., Suite 200, McKeesport. (Please do not send them as a text message, or as a Facebook message. Handwritten entries and phone calls are not acceptable.)
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Lane restrictions and delays are possible beginning Monday while crews inspect the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge.
Steve Cowan, district spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said workers from AECOM will conduct bridge inspection activities from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays until April 7, weather permitting.
Meanwhile, delays also are likely on Route 837 near Kennywood while workers complete repairs to the pedestrian tunnel connecting the amusement park to the parking lot.
Single-lane restrictions are possible in both directions between Hoffman Boulevard and Glencairn Street, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., beginning Monday and continuing through March 30, PennDOT said.
Crews from JET Excavating Co. are conducting the work.
Motorists should be prepared for changing traffic patterns, a PennDOT spokeswoman said.
The seven major-party candidates for Allegheny County Executive have been invited to participate in a forum on Wednesday at the Palisades Ballroom, Downtown.
The non-partisan event begins at 6:30 p.m. and is being sponsored by the Steel Rivers Council of Governments, Turtle Creek Valley Council of Governments, and the Tri-COG Land Bank, said Keegan Gibson, spokesman.
Topics will include the candidates’ vision for the Mon Valley and eastern suburban region; fighting blighted properties; land banking; code enforcement; the role of COGs and the county in inter-municipal cooperation; economic development of large, post-industrial sites; and more.
Topics were determined in consultation with local elected officials, Gibson said.
