Woodland Hills Students Compete in Local Competitions

The gifted students have completed a number of projects and competitions this year. Here are a few highlights from the beginning of the year until now.

• They attended the Creative Convention, an event where schools in the eastern suburbs compete at Springdale High School. The students won first and third place in best costumes. The students compete in different areas of creativity, including fluency and flexibility. This year’s theme was "Traveling the Nations of the World." In one instance, they had to name as many countries as they could in two minutes, had to build a small boat that floated, or come up with an invention and perform a skit. In the costume competition, one student who won dressed as a banana. Ten other schools competed with a total of 20 teams.
• On Nov. 1, the students participated in the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s History Bowl at the Heinz History Center. About 40 teams competed over the course of three days. They were given different tasks throughout the museum at different exhibits. One won second place. They took a total of four teams to the event.
• The students also are working with Phipps Conservatory in a class called, “Growing Greener.” There is a high school and a middle school challenge. The last one was called Schoolyard Explorer, which involves the students going around the school grounds and identifying plant life. They took pictures, discovered the kinds of trees and plants, and made signs with botanical names and interesting facts. The next challenge the students will complete is creating an Olympic wreath made from native western Pennsylvania plants.