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Colonial School District honors teacher Jim Muscarella and recognizes PW student and DECA achievements
Summary
At the May 15 board meeting the Colonial School District recognized engineering teacher Jim Muscarella for a Citadel Heart of Learning award and celebrated Plymouth Whitemarsh High School students' achievements in tennis and DECA, including national qualification and fundraising results.
The Colonial School District on May 15 recognized Plymouth Whitemarsh High School engineering teacher Jim Muscarella for receiving the Citadel Heart of Learning award and highlighted several Plymouth Whitemarsh student team and DECA accomplishments.
Superintendent Dr. Gregaitis introduced Muscarella and noted the Citadel Heart of Learning award is given annually by Citadel Credit Union to outstanding teachers nominated across Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Lancaster and Philadelphia counties. The district said nominating parents praised Muscarella for engaging and challenging students through authentic learning experiences and for supporting women in engineering.
Muscarella began his career with the district in 1995 as a long-term substitute at the middle school and moved to the high school in February 2001. The board noted his work developing STEM and entrepreneurship programs, advising robotics and Science Olympiad clubs, and organizing an annual cardboard boat race.
Plymouth Whitemarsh teacher and coach Beth Rickard presented recognition for the school's boys tennis team and PW DECA chapter. Rickard said first-doubles partners Colm Doherty and Sam Chapman were named to the SOL league second doubles team; Doherty will attend the University of South Carolina and Chapman will attend Grove City College. James Fassbender and Janae Sheth were singled out for district tournament success; Rickard said Fassbender qualified for singles four years and that Sheth won the SOL singles league this year.
Rickard also announced that PW DECA won the Pennsylvania DECA Cup for the chapter's community service and promotional campaigns, qualifying chapter members for national and international competition. Individual recognitions included Zach Halbert (state finalist in business finance) and Jonah Reid (top-seven finisher in food marketing, qualifying for international competition in Orlando). Rickard described a student team (Ethan Gold, Logan Nye, Jason Walters) that built an e-commerce site for the PW school store and another team (Eliza Meersman and Addison Stein) that raised more than $5,000 through a bingo fundraiser for a local dog rescue and secured over $2,000 in donated prizes.
Ending: Board members and administrators congratulated the honorees and student representatives for their service and achievements during the meeting.
