Quakertown Community High School senior Angela Calvanese is being recognized for her exceptional academic promise by the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Angela qualified as a Commended Student for her outstanding performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test in 2021 when she scored 1420. On a more recent SAT, she achieved 1510.

Students entered the National Merit Scholarship Program, a nationwide competition for recognition and awards conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corporation, by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test offered in October 2021 and January 2022. Of the more than 1.6 million students who took the exam, the 50,000 highest scorers are being recognized. Approximately 16,000 of those high performers were recently designated National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists. The next 34,000 achieve Commended Student status.

Click here to read more about Angela and her National Merit award.

Four Quakertown Community School District teachers from varied backgrounds explained to QCHS students how their career paths pulled them in different directions before they landed in the field of education.

Kurt Amen, Jeanne Caputo, Tyler Kitchenman, and Tracey Sieger gave “The New Teacher Perspective” as part of the school’s Career Pathways Speaker Series. The monthly series will include various career options for students with Academic Pathways, including Arts and Humanities, Business, Marketing and Finance, STEM and Computer Science. Earlier this month students learned from Dr. Michael Zackon, QCSD’s Supervisor of Secondary Programs.

Next month, STEM talks include the Lehigh Valley Health Network’s discussion of career professionalism and promotion of skills essential for health and public safety, including hands-only CPR and “Stop The Bleed” training. They will also participate in a Healthcare Career Day at BCCC’s Upper County Campus.

Click here for more information about what the teachers had to say.

QCHS Field Study students Maria, Jordana and Lacey recently observed criminal court as part of their field study placements.

Engaging, on-the-job experiences are one of the many highlights of the Pathways Field Study Program.

Congratulations to Brady Gallagher, left, in photo, and Ty Wilkin for advancing to the District One Golf Championship Tournament on October 10 and 11.

The Panthers golfers finished in the top 38 on September 28 at the Suburban One League championships.

Go get 'em Panthers!

A tournament is being held on behalf of Quakertown Community High School sophomore Ava Zebert, who has been diagnosed with T-cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia. All proceeds from the tournament go to Ava's cancer fight. RASA is hosting the tournament with support from the Panthers softball team and Ava's travel team, Phantoms Fastpitch.

There are 34 teams participating in the event and approximately 130 games will be played over the two-day tournament on October 15-16. Many community members and businesses are helping to support the event through donations, volunteering their time, as well as coordinating raffle baskets and the snack stand.

Questions? Please contact Eric Medlin. a2pwebdesign@gmail.com

QCHS pitcher Sydney Andrews was named to the 6A First Team when the Pennsylvania High School Softball Coaches Association revealed its all-state squads in early July.

Sydney was a dual threat for the Panthers. She hit .451 with a team-best 11 doubles and 23 RBIs. She was the reason Quakertown went so far into the postseason as she struck out 261 batters in 150.1 innings while posting a 0.79 ERA.

Overall, Quakertown went 21-5, falling in the state quarterfinals to eventual state runner-up Seneca Valley in the PIAA second round.

The Quakertown Community School Board recognized last spring’s outstanding athletes in baseball, softball, tennis, and volleyball on September 22.

The baseball team received the American Baseball Coaches Association’s 2021-22 ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award, which recognizes college and high school programs from across the country that posted a GPA of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale for the entire 2020-21 academic year. More than 250 high school programs and 420 collegiate programs were recognized with this year’s award. Only six high school teams in Pennsylvania qualified, including two in Bucks County, Quakertown and Central Bucks West.

The softball team qualified for PIAA State Tournament (top 8 in the state) with a 17-3 regular season record. The team was voted the Sportsmanship Award by opposing coaches.

The volleyball team won the Sportsmanship Award for the Suburban One American Conference.

Tennis player Max Arkans was undefeated at 13-0 as the Panthers’ No. 1 singles player and last summer was the 2022 National Public Parks (under 16) Tennis Champion.

A major shoutout to Autumn Moore, studying Agricultural Technology & Life Sciences at the Upper Bucks County Technical School, who is the school's September Student of the Month.

A senior at Quakertown Community High School, Autumn is a First Honors student and has received the Most Outstanding Level I & II award in her program. Autumn is OSHA certified and has completed her Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education Animal Science certification. She is a Future Farmers of America member and is applying for her Chapter FFA Degree.

Autumn is a Cooperative Education student employed at Morning Star Farms. She also volunteers at the Last Chance Ranch.

After graduation, Autumn plans to pursue her career in Animal Science.

The Quakertown Community School District will be offering free breakfast to all enrolled students beginning Monday, October 3. Gov. Tom Wolf recently announced that all Pennsylvania schools participating in the School Breakfast Program will provide free breakfasts for all enrolled students for the 2022-23 school year.

Additional information about food services at QCSD, including menus, applications for free and reduced meals, and more can be found here. If you have any questions, reach out directly by phone at 215-529-2017 or email at chontz@qcsd.org.

The federal program to waive the cost of meals for all students has expired. Families can make online payments for student meals at SchoolCafe. Lunch accounts for students at the Upper Bucks County Technical School are separate and may be paid at My Payments Plus.

In addition, we’re asking that QCSD families fill out 2022-2023 Free & Reduced Meal Applications. Households must submit a new application each school year unless they receive a Direct Certification letter, which was mailed by the district in mid-August.

A situation has arisen for families with students on Free and Reduced Meals where your child may be charged for not taking enough items to qualify as a reimbursable meal. This is a federal regulation. Here’s information on what a meal consists of. Please speak with your student. And here’s a video from Chartwells Food Service.

Click here to access all information about Free & Reduced meals in QCSD.

BJ's Wholesale Club is offering a fundraiser through October 31 that gives up to $10 to the Quakertown Community Education Foundation for each new member or renewing member.

In addition, those signing up receive these rewards:

• New member perks $75 cost & redeem $20 rewards at register.
• New Inner Circle $25 cost & redeem $10 rewards at register.
• Renewal perks $110 cost & redeem $20 rewards at register.
• Renewal Inner Circle $55 cost & redeem $10 rewards at register.

Click here for an application.

The Quakertown Community School District has launched a school bus safety program in partnership with Quakertown Borough, Richland Township, and Pennsylvania State Police in line with PA Motor Vehicle Code § 3345.1.

All Levy school buses are now equipped with BusPatrol’s safety technology, including stop-arm enforcement cameras designed to detect vehicles that illegally pass stopped school buses. This safety initiative seeks to curb dangerous motorist behavior around school buses and make the journey to and from school safer for all student riders.

Click here to learn more about the Bus Safety program.

Quakertown area families, QCSD has several openings for paraprofessionals at Quakertown Community High School. Each of these open positions comes with health insurance, additional benefits, and an additional $1 per hour stipend. It's a great opportunity to work with young people in a wonderful educational setting!

To see what's available, please click here.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars has two contests for students, one for those in high school and another for students in grades 6-8.

The theme of the Patriotic Essay Contest for high school students is “Why Is The Veteran Important?” The student entry deadline is October 31, 2022 and the patriotic audio essay competition comes with a $30,000 grand prize.

The theme of the Patriot's Pen Contest for students in grades 6-8 is “My Pledge to Our Veterans.” The patriotic written essay competition comes with a $5,000 grand prize.

Since 1984, Pennsylvania Resources Council has held an annual Lens on Litter Photo Contest, not to glorify litter but to bring attention to the litter problem in communities across Pennsylvania. Contestants are eligible for monetary prizes up to $500. Contest deadline is October 31, 2022.

Amateur students (through 12th grade) and adults are asked to submit photos of unusual or unsightly litter in their Pennsylvania communities. Photos should demonstrate how litter threatens public health and safety, scenic beauty, property values, the environment, pets or wildlife. Entries will be judged on six criteria: anti-litter message, originality, photographic technique, quality of photo, originality of title and severity of the litter. Contestants are also encouraged to safely initiate a clean-up of the subject area and provide a photo of the results of their efforts for additional judging points.

Entries (limit five per person, no smaller than 4x6 and no larger than 8x10) should be sent to PRC Gene Capaldi Lens on Litter Contest, 1671 North Providence Road, Media, PA 19063. High resolution digital submissions may be sent to lensonlitter@prc.org. All entries (including digital) must include the entrant’s name, address, telephone number, email address, title given to photo, location of litter site and how you learned about the contest. Students should also include age, grade and name of school. All photos may be used by PRC at their discretion.

Questions may be directed to lensonlitter@prc.org and additional information, previous winners, sponsors and an online entry form can be found at https://prc.org/programs/projects/lens-litter/

Please click here for videos of past School Board meetings and Board newsletters.

Click here to find them.

Gary Weckselblatt, QCSD Director of Communications, writes about the people and the programs that impact the Quakertown Community School District.

Email: gweckselblatt@qcsd.org
Website: www.qcsd.org
Location: 100 Commerce Drive, Quakertown, PA, USA
Phone: 215-529-2028
Facebook: facebook.com/QCSDNews
Twitter: @QCSDnews