Brothers Band Together

When twin brothers Christian and Nathan Sosinski decided to form a band during their freshman year of high school, they weren’t sure what would come of it. Now seniors, they have progressed to the point where they are one of the 10 featured groups on the WYEP's first ReImagine CD.

WYEP (91.3 FM) is an independent, member-supported radio station based on Pittsburgh's South Side. WYEP's ReImagine Media project is focused on creativity and empowering teens as they explore creative expression through music. As one of the groups selected to perform on the CD, Christian and Nathan had the opportunity to work with professional producers and record in The Church Recording Studio.

The twins' band, Driven Lifeless, has played at Pittsburgh venues such as Altar Bar, Smiling Moose, and the Mr. Roboto Project in Lawrenceville. The band has also played the Three Rivers Arts Festival and Pittsburgh International Children's Festival. Performing as the opening act for local punk band Misfits at Altar Bar is one of the band's biggest highlights, but the experience didn't come without some anxiety. The band lost its drummer just prior to the gig and had to search music shops to find a replacement.

In addition to sharing their love of music through their songs, the experience of performing live has proved to be an outlet for them to share a positive message with their audience.

"I've learned not to be afraid to help people," Christian said. "Just be yourself, try to help and people will be grateful and love you for it."

Driven Lifeless considers bands such as Screeching Weasel and Green Day as influences of its own punk style. Both Christian (guitar, lead singer) and Nathan (bass, back-up vocals) are self-taught musicians. Brandon Palonis, a student at Canon-McMillan, is the band's drummer. The band plays throughout the year wherever the group can find a booking, performing both covers and original songs. The cut they performed for the ReImagine CD is an original, I Believe.

“I share my love of music with people through song,” said Christian. “I also use music to spread a positive message to all people.”

The band's positive outlook is displayed in this posting from its website www.drivenlifeless.com. The post also reveals how the band chose its name.

"In a world full of missed opportunity, it’s easy to find yourself depressed, and going through life Driven for all the wrong reasons. We have all been there. We believe everyone has the chance to help others and make their life better. To help that lonely person in the corner stand up to bullies and know they count. To help that person who is Driven Lifeless through time without feelings, and let them know they too can have a Driven Life-less the stress, less the bullying, and less the tough times. Reach out, and help someone in need. Just one act of kindness can make a difference in someone's life, and can change the way they view life. I know you believe in us and we believe in you. We can all make a difference in Life, Especially You."

Sports craving leads to career screening

Freshman Michael Guido is turning his passion into on the job training.

As a writer of The Sports Crave since April of 2014, Michael writes sports-related articles and opinions for the upstart sports website that has more than 10,000 Twitter followers. Michael was recently given the title of Manager of Content and Promotion for the site.

Michael’s writing adventure began in April 2014 with an email that actually had nothing to do with, well, writing.

“A couple of months ago, I heard there was a basketball team coming to Pittsburgh, so I emailed the team’s owner to try to find out more,” said Michael.

It turns out the owner of the Steel City Yellow Jackets not only replied to Michael, he stayed in contact, giving Michael inside information and updates regarding the team. Not long after that Noah Miller from Hempfield reached out to Michael via Facebook.

“He thought I was the team’s owner because of my profile picture,” explained Michael. “After he discovered I was just a fan, we kept in touch. A month or two later he asked me to be a part of his website, the Sports Crave.”

Since joining the site, Michael has received crash courses in marketing and promotion. He has also – by his own admission – improved his writing through practical practice. Michael is a credentialed writer for the Steel City Yellow Jackets, a professional American Basketball Association team based in Pittsburgh, and also takes on stories in the four major sports.

“I’ve learned that it’s hard work to be successful and hard work can mean long hours,” said Michael. “I’ve also learned the value of networking.”

As a writer, Michael has been writing articles on a variety of topics, but his main focus is on sports. This experience has helped him realized that sports writing is his passion, but he also has an interest in writing about politics and business, among other things.

Michael is most proud of his article “What’s better: The Arena Football League or the National Football League,” which is his most viewed article to date.

This experience has opened many doors for Michael and provided him with exceptional opportunities.

“I think the highlight of this experience was covering the Yellow Jackets first game,” said Michael. “I sat in the press box, had a broadcast throughout the game and got to interview the players on the court after the game.”

Michael would encourage his peers to look into The Sports Crave (or similar sports websites) if they are interested in journalism and/or sports.

“If you love sports and love discussing sports, then this is an opportunity you should go for,” said Michael.

In addition to his work at The Sports Crave, Michael is also the Assistant Director of Teams of America, a non-profit organization that specializes in increasing awareness and preventing bullying, suicide and drug usage.

Michael’s impressive resume as an entrepreneur, writer and public speaker also includes:

• Manager/writer at The Sports Crave
• Assistant Director at Teens of America
• Co-Founder & President of The Global Crave
• Co-Host at TSC Network 
• Director of Public Relations at the Steel City Football League

After High School, Michael is planning to attend college and possibly major in broadcasting, sports management or sports journalism.

You can read many of Michael’s recent posts at http://thesportscrave.com/author/mike-guido.

Flourishing Among the Feathers

When you think of "tweets" these days, you may think of 140 characters or less. Not Austin Williams-Ayers. He thinks 150 species and more...

Sophomore Austin Williams-Ayers spent his past two summers working a part-time job at the National Aviary through the National Aviary Teen Volunteer program. The National Aviary, located on Pittsburgh's North Side, is America’s only independent indoor nonprofit zoo dedicated exclusively to birds. The National Aviary’s diverse collection comprises more than 500 birds representing more than 150 species from around the world – many of them threatened or endangered in the wild.

Austin has had numerous job responsibilities from guiding visitors through the facility to cleaning feeding dishes.

"I have assisted with the interactive shows and feedings, but my primary experience was assisting with the National Aviary Summer Camps," Austin said. 

Throughout the week-long summer camps, Austin assisted the camp director with the Aviary education and conservation programs. Monitoring campers' encounters with birds such as penguins, flamingos, raptors and toucans, Austin showed and explained what is required of those who wish to be a falconer or veterinarian.

"I learned a lot about the care and conservation of the birds and their habitat," he said. "I have also learned to have a lot of patience with young kids at camp.”

Austin’s best memories of his time at the Aviary include working behind the scenes and learning what it takes to care for the birds. Another highlight for him was painting with the penguins.

"This is a great opportunity to get work experience in a non-traditional environment – meaning not having to sit at a desk all day,” he explained. “I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in birds or wants to do something different during the summer."

Under the Sea

Senior Gabrielle Palluch researched marine biology at Australia's Great Barrier Reef this summer. Program participants joined marine biologists for a 10-hour excursion to study the life forms that make up the reef's ecosystem.

A specially outfitted vessel ferried the group to the reef. While traveling to the reef, participants were able to question the experts and discuss the latest migration patterns of certain sea creatures, as well as the increase or decrease of specific sea life.

"One of my favorite parts of the whole trip was definitely sitting down and personally talking to the marine biologists. They were really insightful and had all this information about different types of fish and other creatures that I didn't even know existed,” explained Gabrielle. “It was really interesting to know that they did this as a job and got to encounter so many beautiful animals each day.”

Once at the reef participants used scuba or snorkeling equipment to dive into the Saxton Reef where they attempted to memorize different coral, plant, fish, and other sea life they observed, while estimating the quantity of said life forms. The group also studied the coral and observed its behavior to determine the overall health of the reef.

"Another part of the trip that I thought was amazing was being able to scuba dive," Gabrielle said. "I had never done it before so it was really cool that my first time was in the Great Barrier Reef.”

It was a whole other world down there, all the fish would swim right next to us as if we weren't even there,” Gabrielle continued. We got close enough we could glide our fingers across them as they swam by. One group went down and saw a white tip reef shark, which I thought was amazing."

Through review of their individual observations, the group determined that there were several issues such as a slight increase of coral bleaching, and low numbers for certain fish. Neither discovery proved to be cause for alarm, but the information informed biologists that future observation would be required.

Another issue the group discovered was more alarming.

"One of the things that I was shocked to learn was that people who ride out to the reef tend to litter," Gabrielle said. "We were told that the litter has caused many deaths to certain creatures out on the reef.”

 Sea turtles, who often eat jellyfish, discover plastic bags that were left behind and eat them. Their bodies are unable to digest plastic, which leads to the deaths of many turtles.

“We were told that there are special expeditions designed to go out into the reef and clean up trash,” explained Gabrielle. “Removing the trash has increased marine life by 15% in the past 6 years.”

Gabrielle encourages anyone who loves the ocean and aquatic life to experience a trip such as hers.

"It's so much fun and you forget that by doing this you’re helping not just the community of people, but the sea community. It really is a great, once in a life time experience and I highly recommending it!"

The Great Race

The Chartiers Valley High School boys basketball team hit the streets of Pittsburgh for the Great Race on September 28, 2014. This was the team’s 22nd straight year running the race.  

This year, the team had 23 runners, including players, coaches and the team’s book keeper.  Everybody participated in the 10K race.

“The purpose of running the Great Race is conditioning and team building,” said Coach McConnell. “It is also to show the players that they can accomplish something they weren’t sure they could do.”

Sophomore Nick Jessloski came in first place in his division (ages 14-16) and placed 52nd overall out of more than 10,000 runners in the 10K.

Senior Matty McConnell even participated, despite his injury. Matty was still recovering from a broken ankle at the time of the race and was not permitted to run. However, he walked the entire course and still finished as part of the team!

Congratulations to the team for keeping this tradition alive!

The basketball team at the Great Race.

CV sophomore, Nick Jessloski, placed 1st in his division.

For the Love of the Lab

Junior Stephen Lau attended Project SEED – an eight week summer program at Duquesne University.

Project SEED was established in 1968 to help high school students expand their education and career outlook. The program provides opportunities for students to spend a summer conducting hands-on research with a scientist in academic, industry, and government research laboratories. Students receive a fellowship award for their efforts and a chance to receive a SEED college scholarship.

The Pittsburgh Section of the American Chemical Society sponsors several students each summer at Duquesne University, under the direction of Dr. Jennifer Aitken.  Stephen was one of those students! As a result, he had the opportunity to conduct research alongside undergraduate students in the Madura Lab at Duquesne University.

The focus of Stephen’s research was the abstract idea that the binding free energy between a protein and a small molecule is an important quantity in the drug discovery process.

Stephen learned many scientific terms and processes throughout the program. Since he was working with computational science, he also learned how to use different computer programs. At the conclusion of the program, Stephen created a poster for the Undergraduate Research Program Symposium that highlighted his research topic.

“One of my favorable moments I had at Duquesne was during the symposium,” said Stephen. “It was a wonderful time for everyone I met, including myself, to enjoy the progress they made this summer. It was a time where we showed people what we did, learned, and achieved with our research.”

Although the symposium was a great day for Stephen and the other researchers to share their hard work with others, it also signaled the end of the program.

“It was sad to know that it was the last day for the undergraduates,” said Stephen. “I personally don't like saying goodbyes because you know that there's a slim chance of seeing them again. I am going to miss everyone, especially the undergraduates in my lab group.”

“I became good friends with everyone in the Madura Lab and didn't feel like an outsider at all,” Stephen continued. “They always helped me out in any way possible, even if it was simple problem like using an iMac.”

Stephen also had the opportunity to present his research findings to the other participants and Bayer employees at the Celebrating Project SEED event at Bayer.

Stephen would recommend this program to others because it gives students the opportunity to work with real scientists at a college level. The Project SEED students worked on the exact same work as the undergraduate students. According to Stephen, the experience is worth it – especially if students have an interest in a career in a science field.

Summer workshop takes junior to Ivy League

Junior Nicholas May attended the two week Design It! Build It! Summer Engineering Workshop at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire this summer. In addition to attending a variety of presentations by Dartmouth graduate students, alumni, and professors that shared his interest in engineering, Nick experienced living on the Dartmouth Campus with other students in the program.

"They gave an overview of engineering programs at Dartmouth, and allowed us to work on individual projects with their help and guidance," Nick said. "I learned about the standards that most Ivy League Colleges expect from their students, and what kind of advanced curriculum they offer to students who are able to earn admission into their programs."

Nick also had the opportunity to see some of the cutting-edge projects currently underway at their top-ranked engineering school. His favorite moment from this experience was having the opportunity to meet with engineer Tim Eliassen, who is an expert in using glass as a structural material.

"Hearing about [Tim Eliassen's] experiences working on famous projects such as the The Louvre in Paris and the Apple store in New York City was really interesting," said Nick.

According to Nick, any student who is interested in engineering -- regardless of discipline -- should take the opportunity to attend this program.