Email accolades and accomplishments from the Murrysville Star’s coverage area to pvarine@triblive.com.

• The Murrysville Woman’s Club held an April 30 event, “A Lil’ Bit Country,” to raise money for local nonprofit organizations. Following a breakfast buffet at the Lamplighter in Salem, many of the guests learned country line dancing for the first time. For more on the club, call 412-720-8372.

• The Franklin Regional Senior High School “PAWS for a Cause” club recently donated $200 to the Monroeville Animal Shelter for its emergency vet care fund. Through the “PAWS for a Snack” cupboard in the high school office, staff members can purchase snacks while also donating to an animal-friendly charity. So far, the club has raised more than $600 for local animal shelters. .

• Ava Pinkham, daughter of Todd Pinkham and Julia Toner of Murrysville, won the Jones White Writing Center undergraduate award for her research poster, “Harvesting Resilience: How Gardening Has Helped Appalachia Cope During Covid-19.”

She is a 2018 graduate of Franklin Regional High School.

• Rev. Gregory Held was honored with the title of pastor emeritus at the May 1, 2022, worship service at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Murrysville.

The rare honor is conferred on a retired pastor by the congregation to recognize a lengthy and distinguished ministry. Held served at Emmanuel Lutheran for 28 years, from Nov. 1, 1988, to Aug. 31, 2016.

• Below, see what students in the Franklin Regional School District were up to as they finished out the school year.

• Abhinav Komanduri of Murrysville earned a National Merit PPG Foundation Community Scholarship.

Roughly 1,000 corporate-sponsored National Merit scholarships are financed annually by more than 130 companies, foundations and other business organizations.

• Noah Rhea of Murrysville, a criminology and political science major in the Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, was selected for the 2022 John J. Prandy Memorial Award by the IUP Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

The award is presented to a criminology student who intends to pursue a career in law enforcement with at least a 3.0 grade point average and who demonstrates involvement in community and or campus activities, especially those that involve children and their welfare.

Rhea is the son of Deborah and Steven Rhea and is a 2020 graduate of Franklin Regional Senior High School. He is a recipient of the Sutton Scholarship, the Cook Honors College Scholarship, and the Board of Governors Scholarship. He is a member of Alpha Phi Sigma criminology honor society, the IUP Paranormal Society, the Forensic Science Club, the Political Leadership Society and completed Haven Project training.

The Prandy Memorial Award was established in memory of the late Cpl. John “Jack” Prandy, a 23-year veteran with the Pennsylvania State Police and an instructor at IUP’s Criminal Justice Training Center.

• Libby Krieger of Delmont recently earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and communication arts from Grove City College.

• The following Grove City College students were named to the spring 2022 dean’s list: Justus Carnley, Luke Kimmich and Matt Kimmich of Export, and Abigail Krieger of Delmont.

• Erin Wilhelm, a 2019 graduate of Franklin Regional High School, did an oral presentation of her research, “Adult Children’s Parental Estrangement.”

She is the daughter of Mark and Maryann Wilhelm of Portsmouth, Va.

• Levi Trapanotto of Murrysville was named to the dean’s list at Palmer College of Chiropractic’s campus in Port Orange, Fla.

• Rasa Vaicenas of Export received a white lab coat at the annual White Coat ceremony at St. Francis University, Loretto. The ceremony marks the end of the first year of training and transition into clinical education for students in the physician assistant science program.

• Lauren Thompson of Murrysville was named to the spring dean’s list at Berry College, Rome, Ga.

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