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Oswayo Valley School District

We would like to thank the IU9 for acquiring a PA Smart Advancing Grant! This year, the IU will be working with all 14 districts to connect design thinking through STEM challenges and increase students’ knowledge of skills that our local manufacturers and industry needs.

Oswayo Valley’s 5th graders are currently participating in a STEM Challenge to build prototypes for an automated machine that fixes an industry problem. These Hummingbird kits will help our students bring those prototypes to life. Students will expand their projects through the use of circuits, bread boards, servos, motors, LED lights, and display screens to transform cardboard cutouts with lights, sounds, and movement. The skills developed through these design challenges give our students a head start for what they will see in high school and even into future STEM careers.

Here you can see 4th and 5th graders in the STEM Lab being introduced to the new Hummingbird kits.

Public Invited to Select Their Favorite Plows

Clearfield, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) District 2 invites the public to vote on 11 plows decorated by high school students in Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk and Potter counties as part of the annual Paint the Plow program.

Paint the Plow is a statewide outreach aimed at promoting winter driving safety and fostering appreciation for high school art programs and student creativity.

Earlier this year, PennDOT invited students from high schools in the North Central Region to paint plow blades based on the statewide theme “Put Down the Device in Snow and Ice.” The theme was chosen to draw attention to the need for motorists to give driving their full attention and eliminate distractions, like cell phones, especially during winter weather events.

Students from the following schools participated:

• Bucktail Area High School
• Central Mountain High School
• Clearfield Area High School
• Coudersport High School
• DuBois Area High School
• DuBois Central Catholic School
• Elk County Catholic School
• Galeton Area School District
• Harmony Area High School
• Philipsburg Osceola Area High School
• Sugar Valley Rural Charter School

After a two-year hiatus, members of the public are once again invited to vote for their favorite plow. This year, voting will be done through an online survey posted on the PennDOT website www.penndot.pa.gov/District2. Voters should click on the Paint the Plow tile to find the survey through the Paint the Plow icon.

The plow photo that receives the most votes between Monday, January 9, and midnight on Sunday, January 15, will be deemed the “Fan Favorite.”

Schools and participants are encouraged to share the link to the contest to promote voting. PennDOT may post the pictures on statewide and regional Facebook accounts, however responses on social media will not count toward the voting totals.

HARRISBURG – Reps. Tina Pickett (R-Bradford/Wyoming) and Clint Owlett (R-Tioga/Bradford) today were officially sworn into office, along with 198 other members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, during a ceremony at the state Capitol.

ADVISORY – HARRISBURG – MONDAY – Lung Cancer Survivor to Join DEP and Department of Health in Encouraging Pennsylvanians to Test Their Homes for Radon Gas

Pennsylvania resident Jackie Nixon will join Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Acting Secretary Ramez Ziadeh and Department of Health Secretary Dr. Denise Johnson on Monday to encourage Pennsylvanians to test their homes for radon as part of National Radon Action Month. 

Nixon, who has never smoked, was treated for lung cancer six years ago. After treatment, she learned her residence had high levels of radon. Radon is a naturally occurring, invisible radioactive gas that enters homes from the ground. With long term exposure, it’s the second leading cause of lung cancer, after smoking. 

DEP Radon Program Manager Bob Lewis will announce the winners of the 2023 Pennsylvania Student Radon Poster Contest and demonstrate how to use a radon test.

WHAT: Lung Cancer Survivor to Join DEP and Department of Health in Encouraging Pennsylvanians to Test Their Homes for Radon

WHEN: Monday, January 9, 2023; 1:00 PM

WHERE: Capitol Media Center, State Capitol Room 01 East Wing, Harrisburg, PA 17126

The event will also be livestreamed at pacast.com/live/dep.

Bradford, PA — The United Way of the Bradford Area is currently accepting applications for the first quarter of Quarterly Impact funding for 2023. Deadline to apply is February 1, 2023.

Eligible non-profit agencies may submit a request for up to $1,500 for Quarterly Impact funds.  Awards will be given to programs or initiatives with the potential to make an immediate impact on the local community while being essential to the agencies mission.  Priority will be given to those who have not received prior funding, who have supplied all necessary documentation, and request funding for programmatic costs.

Quarterly Impact applications may be received by visiting United Way’s website at www.uwbanews.org, the United Way office, or by request at sarah.lonzi@uwbanews.org.  Along with the application, it is being requested of applicants that a detailed budget of planned expenditures be included. All applications are reviewed by a committee comprised of United Way Board members, with recommendations being presented to the full board for final approval. For more information regarding the application process, please contact the United Way.

Surrounded by gym equipment and weights, Shaun McQuay, rehabilitation aide, Physical Therapy, UPMC Williamsport Divine Providence Campus, gazed through the large wall of glass that shelters the south side of the John Wenner Building at UPMC Williamsport Divine Providence Campus. Smoke billowed into the chilling, yet sunny fall sky on Nov. 18 as passersby scattered to help free an unconscious car crash victim.

Shaun did what he always does: Help.

The northcentral Pennsylvania native raced through the parking lot where he discovered the car was still in drive, engine revving and doors locked. Pleas and pounds on the driver side window did nothing as the man inside remained unconscious, clinging to his steering wheel. Smoke began to fill the cab and Shaun knew he had to act quickly.

“I really didn’t have anything going through my mind. It was just let’s get him out of the car and away from it,” he said.

OLEAN, N.Y., January 5, 2023 — The Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation (CRCF) board of directors has announced that long-time Executive Director Karen Niemic Buchheit plans to retire September 1.

Buchheit was the Foundation’s first full-time executive director when she began in December 2010, according to CRCF board president Lucy Benson.

“On behalf of the entire CRCF board of directors, I want to sincerely thank Karen for her many years of dedication and leadership to the Foundation,” said CRCF Immediate Past President Skip Wilday. “Karen has taken CRCF from an emerging community foundation with a vision of being the community’s leader in philanthropy to a foundation today that is very much living out that vision and mission. Under her leadership, CRCF’s impact in the community has greatly increased, and she has laid a blueprint for the next leader to take the Foundation to the next level and into its next chapter.”

Harrisburg, PA– The Pennsylvania State Police today announced today public input is sought as part of its quadrennial accreditation review by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). The public can participate by answering questions in a short online survey. The survey will be available through the end of January.

PSP was first accredited by CALEA on July 31, 1993, becoming the largest internationally accredited law enforcement agency in the world at the time. The department has maintained its accredited status with CALEA for 27 years. Accreditation facilitates the creation, verification and maintenance of high-quality policies and procedures through voluntary compliance with a body of performance standards. CALEA-accredited agencies continually self-evaluate policies and procedures to maintain compliance with over 450 applicable standards. On-site accreditation inspections occur every four years.

In addition to CALEA accreditation, PSP participates in the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission (PLEAC). The program, developed by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police, began in 2002.

For more information on the Pennsylvania State Police, visit psp.pa.gov.