Baldwin Boys Soccer Coaches Out, 2012-13 Calendar Approved and More

B-W School Officials Won't Enforce New Eligibility Policy (Yet)

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Brian Welles Out as Baldwin H.S.'s Boys Soccer Coach

The Baldwin-Whitehall School Board opened all boys soccer coaching positions at , effective Thursday morning, by an 8-0 vote on Wednesday night. (Board member Nancy Sciulli DiNardo was absent.)

Brian Welles resigned as head coach of the program, and as is customary, the board opened up all of his assistant coaching positions so that a new head coach can hire his or her own staff.

Welles' assistants can reapply to be on the new coaching staff, including applying for the head coaching position.

Assistant Coach , already the head coach of Baldwin's girls lacrosse program, said that he plans on applying for the boys soccer head coaching vacancy.

2012-13 Calendar Released (See PDF in media gallery.)

The B-W School Board approved the 's 2012-13 school year calendar—featuring 180 student days and 193 teacher days—on Wednesday night, 8-0.

The first day of classes will be Tuesday, Aug. 28, and graduation is Thursday, June 6. The final day of classes for non-seniors will be Friday, June 7.

Extended breaks include no classes from Thursday, Nov. 22, through Monday, Nov. 26; Monday, Dec. 24, through Tuesday, Jan. 1; and Thursday, March 28, through Tuesday, April 2.

Donations Accepted

The B-W School Board accepted various donations on Wednesday night by an 8-0 vote:

• Richard Ridgway donated $2,000 to Baldwin High's Speech and Debate Club.
• Richard Yount donated $223 to the high school's .
• Hundred Acres Manor haunted house donated $300 to the high school's Red Cross Club.
• Farley Greening donated a framed drawing valued at $100 of his depiction of the former likeness of Baldwin High (before its ). Farley's drawing will be displayed at the high school.

Board member Nancy Lee Crowder said that the $300 from Hundred Acres was earned by volunteer work done at the haunted house by members of the Red Cross Club.

Student Awards

The B-W School Board recognized a number of district students on Wednesday night for their recent accomplishments.

- Honored for success at a Pittsburgh Technical Institute (PTI) Vision & Voices Art, Design, & Film Festival were:

• Maddalena Rago - Best in Category (Metalworking) - $6,000 scholarship
• Nate Greene - Second Place in Metalworking - $4,000 scholarship
• Leah Koslow - Third Place in Category (Ceramics) - $3,000 scholarship
• Maria Rago - Honorable Mention in Ceramics - $2,000 scholarship
• Vivianne Mazzocco - Honorable Mention in Category (Fine Art 2D) - $2,000 scholarship

You can view the award-winning work of those five students here.

The 2012 PTI show featured 709 pieces of work submitted by 340 students representing 99 high schools in six states.

- Honored for participating in the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory Southwestern PA Science Bowl were two teams from Baldwin High. Katherine Schmotzer, Sarah Lauterbach, Stephanie Pavlik, Shannon Rodgers and Brooke Scheider made up Baldwin's Team 2.

Baldwin's Team 1, which finished in third place out of 44 high schools, consisted of Nick Rubenstein, Tyler Green, Brett Mullen, Luke Dowker, Nate Benton and Tom Schaefer.

Lilas Soukup, a public affairs specialist with the Department of Energy, was on hand to congratulate the students and present them with mementos from the competition.

- Honored for competing in a mock trial competition were Baldwin High students Nate Ward, Jared Andes, Laura Hall, Bri Spina, Bianca DiNardo, Dan Gruber, Jacob Gruber, Mariah Hale, Jaclyn Sirc, Daniel McTiernan, Maura Kay, Zane Podsobinski and Dorian Terry.

Steel Center Open House

Steel Center Area Vocational Technical School, which services the B-W School District and is located in nearby Jefferson Hills Borough, will hold an open house from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 22, B-W School Board member Kevin J. Fischer said.

In addition to information being made available regarding Steel Center programs, the center will have a number of food items for sale.

"Trust me; they're excellent," Fischer said. "If you have any interest in Steel Center, in seeing it, that's one thing. But if you don't, go down and pick up some goodies (anyway), because I guarantee you you won't go wrong with that."

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