What’s new this week? Education successes and learning opportunities for Pittsburgh-area families

Photo above of Canon-McMillan’s victorious esports team courtesy of Pittsburgh Technical College Marketing Department.

During these busy final weeks of school, Kidsburgh is hearing about so many learning opportunities and education-related successes in our region. To keep you updated, we’ve collected a quick roundup of education and learning news for our readers.

Among the cool things bubbling this week, you’ll find:

Live-action “Daniel Tiger” episode segments feature STEM learning and history at Pittsburgh’s CATT

New “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” episodes from Fred Rogers Productions include a STEM-focused live-action segment called “Airplanes.” This short film features 10-year-old Lyric, a Pittsburgh-area student who tours the Center for Aviation Technology and Training (CATT), located at Hosanna House in Wilkinsburg. Lyric learns about the Tuskegee Airman, the locally produced short introduces Lyric and Leon Haynes, founding CEO and president of Hosanna House. He teaches Lyric and the TV audience about some of CATT’s key features, such as the cockpit flight trainer. And he shares more about the achievements of the famed Tuskegee Airman. The CATT exhibit is on loan to Hosanna House from the Smithsonian for the next three years.

Local student, teacher and school leader win RFK Education Awards

Each year for almost a decade, Schools That Can and the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Center come together to celebrate and uplift school leaders, teachers, and students with the RFK Education Awards. Co-sponsored by Schools That Can, the award nominations are drawn from a highly-competitive national field.

This year, three of the six award winners from among many nominations are from the Pittsburgh area! They are: Vas Scoumis, CEO of Manchester Academic Charter School (leadership category), Kristen Sirbaugh from Clairton City Schools (teacher category) and Isaiah Teets from Woodland Hills High School (student category).

The RFK Education Awards are grounded in Robert F. Kennedy’s vision of a more just, peaceful world, and his commitment to human rights. Schools That Can staff and colleagues nominate individuals who embody an RFK quote celebrating this spirit: This year’s quote was: “Education is not only important to understanding the world and each other—it is the key to the future.”

Watch the awards ceremony right here:

Local student wins scholarship created by a native Pittsburgh educator

Kidsburgh received a lovely message from Pittsburgh native Cedric Scott, Jr., who launched a memorial scholarship fund to honor his mother and support African American students going into STEM pathways. He was happy to tell us that this year’s winner of the Julia Elizabeth Legacy Scholarship is from Pittsburgh: Ramon Miland from Central Catholic High School.

“As an educator, edtech professional, and former chemist, it is a wonderful feeling to be able to support opportunities for youth, especially in the areas of education and STEM,” says Scott, who created Melanated Mathematics as a resource to put math and financial literacy content in the context of Black history and culture.

Click here to learn more about the scholarship fund and read Ramon’s winning essay.

High school team from our region wins statewide esports championship

Teams from four Pennsylvania high schools — along with the top eight individual players in the state — earned spots in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Esports Association (PIEA) Spring Finals. These players competed during the season in a pool of more than 120 schools statewide. At the finals, they played Super Smash Brothers on Nintendo Switch. The Canon-McMillan team emerged as the champions.

And they weren’t the only local competitors to succeed this year. In its inaugural year, the Upper St. Clair High School Esports Club had a successful season in PIEA competition. The school’s varsity-level Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team finished in the top eight in the commonwealth, reaching the quarterfinals. The club’s Overwatch 2 team finished first in the junior varsity division.

“Esports gives students a way to develop skills that can lead to the development of friendships and connections, soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, as well as scholarship opportunities and career pathways,” says science teacher Monica Erwin, faculty sponsor for Upper St. Clair’s esports club.