The Woodland Hills Academy is to transfer its students to a new building next year. A year-long renovation is going to be taking place during the 2014-2015 school year. During this time, the students and staff will be moved to the Word of God building in Swissvale.
Word of God was a school that closed two years ago. The building will be rented to the Academy during the renovation. However, school activities will still take place, just as they did at the Academy. The school promises that it will be providing the same education in the new environment.
7th and 8h Grade Spring Concert
The Academy 7th and 8th grade will be having another concert this month. The concert will feature all students in Orchestra, Band, and Chorus.
The Orchestra, directed by their teacher Mr. Evan Hertrick, will be playing four new songs. They will be Slumdog Millionaire, Country Hoedown, March of the Shadows, and Mozart Symphony No. 40. The orchestra students have been working extremely hard and hope to impress everyone listening.
Mr. Hertrick will also lead the Band with four songs. The students will be playing the themes from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and the Dark Knight Rises. The band will be playing a new song called Mars as well. The Orchestra and Band will also collaborate and play a song called Nzembo: Song of the Rainforest.
The Chorus, lead by Mrs. Lisa Endler, will be singing five song at the event. The songs are Pink Panther, Round Rolling Moon, Like the Beat of a Drum, Some Nights, and the popular Cups song.
The concert will be held on May 29, 2014. It will take place in the Academy Auditorium at 7:00 pm. Mr. Hertrick and Mrs. Endler, as well as the students, hope to see everyone at this wonderful night.
8th Graders Are Taking Trip To DC
Since the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year, the 8th grade class has been raising money for their field trip to DC. They have already had two hoagie sales, and they later plan to sell chocolate covered pretzels and flowers.
History teacher Mr. Forgie will be chaperoning the trip. He has been on 13 trips with other 8th grade classes and is looking forward to this trip as well. “I have been on many trips and its get better every time,” Mr. Forgie tells Gazette.
The trip will include trips to the National Monuments and the Capital Building. The students will also be attending a play at Kennedy Theater. The students will leave the Academy at 7:00 AM on May 30 and will return on the evening of June 1. Mr. Forgie hopes that the students learn something new and take the opportunity to “take in American history and all of its splendor.”
Do The Write Thing!
The Academy 7th and 8th grade is proving that the pen is mightier than the sword. They are entering the Do the Write Thing writing challenge. The challenge is meant to bring awareness to youth violence and drug abuse. It is a state wide competition and one boy and one girl from each school will be recognized.
In this competition, students have the option to write a short story, a nonfiction essay, or a play. The top 12 students in Allegheny County will compete in the state-wide contest. Then, one boy and one girl is selected to go to the nation-wide competition, which is held in Washington DC. The winner will receive a prize of $500 and their paper will be placed in a book in the Library of Congress.
Good luck to all students who are competing! We hope you do your best and take home the grand prize!
Lines In the Lot
7th Grader Matthew Havrilla writes about a unique project that his History class completed.
If you look into the main parking lot of the Woodland Hills Academy, you may still be able to see outlines of either Whales or Horses.
In mid-October, history teacher and mayor of Turtle Creek, Adam Forgie mimicked what an ancient civilization, the Nazcas, did so long ago. The lines were made out of chalk, and were located in the main parking lot of the Academy. Mr. Forgie was very excited for this project and said he was pleased with the turnout. The project took about 2 days to complete. Mr.Forgie said that all students did a nice job, understood the project, and were neat with their work. Many of the teachers complemented the project and all of the students had fun!
Holiday Concert
The WHA 7th and 8th grade will be hosting a Holiday concert on December 16th. The concert will feature; the WHA Orchestra, Band, and Chorus.
The orchestra will be preforming the songs After Burn, A Chanukah Festival, Christmas Time is Here, and Come Together (yes, the one by the Beatles).
The Band will be playing the songs Skyfall, Seconds Out, and African Bell Carol.
These two groups of musically talented students will be performing the song Come With Me, as a group.
The chorus will be singing Home, This Is A Celebration, Colors of Winter, Carol of the Bells, and Jolly Jazzy Christmas.
This concert has been put together by Mr. Hertrick and Mrs. Endler. It will take place in the Academy auditorium at 6:30. Don’t be late!!
Help us, Help the Polar Bears
Project Polar Bear is underway! We are a team of students from the Woodland Hills Academy and Junior High working to reduce our carbon footprint on the environment. Our team name is the Arctic Avengers and we are committed to helping the polar bears.
Every year, millions of magazines and catalogs find their way into landfills. The magazine industry contributes to our carbon output which in turn, affects the polar bears. Carbon emissions leads to climate change, melting the sea ice, which is crucial for the survival of polar bears.
Please help us in our endeavor to protect the polar bears’ habitat. You can do this in number of ways. Send magazines into school for us to recycle, create art projects with old magazines and catalogs instead of throwing them away, visit catalog choice online to stop unwanted catalogs and junk mail flyers, utilize online magazine subscriptions.
Our team will be visiting the Pittsburgh Zoo on Saturday, November 16th, 2013 to provide information to the public about magazines- recycling/art projects and how they(the public) can help the Polar Bears. We will also be working on other activities over the next few months.
We also have polar bear T’s for sale. Please contact our teacher, Mrs. Nyapas at nyaphe@whsd.us if you would like to purchase one,. The cost is $12 and proceeds will go towards our adoption of a polar bear!
For more information, please visit Polar Bears International
Welcome to the Woodland Hills Academy Updates!
Hi, we are the seventh and eighth grade GATE students from the Woodland Hills Academy, and this is our blog! We plan to provide updates about what’s happening here at the Academy.
Woodland Hills Academy Updates 