CELTIC SCHOLARSHIPS: The Celtic Cultural Alliance (CCA) has announced that several thousand dollars will be awarded in scholarships this year to students studying a Celtic art such as music, dance, visual arts, literature or history. Each of these awards will be presented at Celtic Classic, Sept. 29.

Executive Director Jayne Ann Recker says these scholarships support the mission of the Celtic Cultural Alliance to promote and preserve the Celtic culture by encouraging students who have a committed interest in continuing to study a Celtic discipline. The scholarship is not based on an audition or financial need.

Application deadline is July 15.

For more information about the scholarship program or to apply, go to celticfest.org/scholarships/.

CELTIC VOLUNTEERS: The Celtic Cultural Alliance (CCA) is gearing up for the 37th presentation of the Celtic Classic Highland Games & Festival, Sept. 27-29. CCA is looking for 600 volunteers to fill jobs such as: festival set-up and tear down, retail merchandise tent coordinators, VIP Tent staff, office assistance, volunteer check-in and more. And of course, beer tappers! Many jobs are available for students to earn community service hours.

The Celtic Classic volunteer system is live. CCA offers a unique scheduling opportunity to its volunteers. Once volunteers set up their account online, they are able to create their own schedule. Volunteers choose the job, date and time they want to work.

In a continued effort to support the local community, CCA is offering opportunities such as parking lot attendants, bartenders and cashier positions for fundraising groups to gain visibility and donations at the Celtic Classic. Opportunities require as few as three volunteers or as many as 15. Contact the CCA office for details. These opportunities fill quickly.

For more information on the Celtic Classic and other CCA events, visit: www.celticfest.org or contact info@celticfest.org.

LVA EVALUATION: From April 8 through 10, Lehigh Valley Academy hosted a team of seven people representing the International Baccalaureate (IB) World Schools accreditation committee. These visits occur every five years for all authorized IB World Schools to ensure continued program fidelity and adherence to IB standards. Notably, this year marked the first time all four of LVA’s IB programmes were simultaneously reviewed.

While a final comprehensive report is forthcoming, the visiting team provided a positive preliminary assessment during its exit interview and community presentation. They were particularly simpressed by several key aspects of LVA, the only K-12 IB school in Pennsylvania:

• Strong Commitment to IB: “LVA makes the IB happen,” remarked one of the visiting team members, highlighting how the school’s philosophy and environment fully embrace the IB program.

• Supportive Learning Environment: The team commended the strong relationships between teachers and students and everyone’s commitment to fostering a safe and supportive learning environment.

• State-of-the-Art Facilities: LVA’s new building, designed specifically to support IB learning, impressed the team. They noted the abundance of resources, technology and flexible learning spaces available to students.

• Equity and Access: The team acknowledged LVA’s dedication to “IB for All,” ensuring all students can access the program and receive both academic and social-emotional support.

PA SCHOOLS: New research has revealed the states with the best school systems, with Massachusetts taking the top spot AND Pennsylvania ranking ninth. Educational resource site Teach Simple gathered data from sources including the National Center for Education Statistics to analyze factors like bullying rate, academic performance, and pupil-to-teacher ratio. The Top 10 states are:

1. Massachusetts

2. New Jersey

3. Connecticut

4. New York

5. Maryland

6. Iowa

7. Maine

8. Virginia

9. Pennsylvania

10. Wisconsin

Two of Pennsylvania’s highest-scoring categories were for the high number of books in public libraries and the low percentage of students who said they have possessed a firearm at school, which was only 1.25 percent.

Out of the 10 states in the ranking, seven of those are on the East Coast. It will be interesting to monitor whether factors like bullying rate and dropout rate will decrease in the future in other regions of the U.S., or whether the East Coast will continue to dominate.

This information was provided by Teach Simple, which provides unlimited teaching resources created by teachers for teachers

ALCOHOLISM STUDY: A new study has named the states that are most vulnerable to alcoholism, with Pennsylvania placing eighth.

The study by addiction resource site FindRecovery.com assessed each state against socio-economic factors, including unemployment rates, poverty levels, educational attainment and lack of basic amenities, among others, assigning a point score for each metric.

The study shows that Texas is the state with the highest risk of alcoholism, scoring 72.38 out of a possible 100 points. The Lone Star State faces notable challenges, including the highest rates of uninsured citizens and the third-highest number of the population without any formal schooling, at 13,878 and 1,849 per 100,000 citizens, respectively.

California ranks second, scoring 67.28 out of 100 possible points. Surprisingly, the Golden state, known for world-famous universities such as UC Berkeley and Stanford University, came in first for citizens without formal schooling at 2,544 per 100,000. Additionally, the state ranked third for the number of citizens unemployed, at 2,683 per 100,000.

Florida takes the third position, with an index score of 62.55 out of 100. This score is partly due to the Sunshine State having the third highest rate of citizens without health insurance, at 9,803 per 100,000. Florida also has the eighth-highest number of residents lacking schooling at 1,397 per 100,000.

Nevada places fourth with an index score of 59.79 out of 100. Despite being home to some of the largest resort chains in the world, such as Caesars Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts, Nevada has the highest rate of unemployment in the nation, with 2,850 out of every 100,000 residents currently unemployed. The Silver State also has the fifth-highest number of residents was presently consume alcohol, at 41.70 gallons per 100,000 residents.

Rounding out the top five is New York, which has a score of 59.58 out of 100 points. Although it has the highest spending per K-12 pupil nationally, the Empire State ranks second-highest for the number of citizens without any formal schooling at 1,914.17 per 100,000. New York also has the fifth-highest unemployed residents at 2,560 per capita and the fourth-highest number of residents lacking complete kitchen or plumbing facilities.