View All News

---

The words swirled in Olivia Davidson’s head. She felt the urge to write, but she wasn’t sure where to start. She only knew that a particular phrase kept coming back to her, and that she had to get her thoughts down as quickly as she could.

The Woodland Hills High School sophomore opened the notes app on her phone, tapped the microphone icon, and started talking. For six or seven minutes, she dictated a stream of consciousness into her phone, with one line serving as the centerpiece: “I begged you and begged you and begged you to love me back, and I begged you and begged you that didn’t hold me back.”

Davidson eventually shaped that line and the rest of her thoughts into a monologue titled “Dear Mama” that she performed as part of Omega Psi Phi’s annual Talent Hunt program. For her performance, she won first place in the category of Dramatic Interpretation.

Davidson knew she wanted to write and perform something related to Black mothers and the African American community, but she initially struggled to collect her thoughts. It was while listening to Erykah Badu and the soundtrack from “The Color Purple” that inspiration finally struck, and she believes the emotions from those songs helped unlock everything for her.

“It’s not tethered to a specific song, but I think it was the genre of music that did something,” she said.

She had the option of performing a piece from a film or a play, but knew she would have a deeper connection to something personal.

“I know what the intention was behind it and I know what it was written for,” she said. “I knew that there were so many people out in that crowd who would have related to it.”

The Talent Hunt is an annual campaign by Omega Psi Phi to recognize talented, young performing and visual artists. Davidson found out about the competition after representatives from Omega Psi Phi visited her performing arts class at Woodland Hills. An aspiring actress, Davidson has made appearances in Woodland Hills productions of “Legally Blonde,” “Seussical,” and “Clue.” She’s also active in advocacy organizations, participating in the Peace Panel, the Woodland Hills Student Summit, Black Student Union, international studies, and the Black Girls Advocacy Leadership Alliance.

The Iota Phi chapter of Omega Psi Phi sponsored the local competition, which Davidson said featured an impressive array of talent. Held inside a church, with a stage in front, each performer had an opportunity to impress the judges with their performance.  Along with her award for Dramatic Interpretation, Davidson said she received more personal feedback from those in the audience, and even from one of the judges.

“I genuinely appreciate and value how receptive the audience was because it could have been a very different way. And it motivates me to keep going,” she said. “And because I'm so passionate about speaking for people who don't have a voice, being able to go up there and give a voice to people who look like me, and who feel like me, and who know what it's like to be me, is so much bigger.”

Davidson had the chance to perform the piece again at another event full of multiple generations of African American women. She was touched by the feedback from the women in the audience.

“A lot of older women were like, “What you said really resonated with me. I felt every word you said. My mom was like that and being able to hear you actually inspires me,” Davidson recalled.

Davidson said that though the piece was personal, she felt it resonated with the audiences because it reflected shared experiences and allowed them to see themselves in her performance.

“I'm a very big believer in compassion and empathy and living a life of sonder and recognizing that every single person is their own individual with their own ideals and their own experiences and their own feelings, and everyone is valid in their own right,” she said. “So being able to tell them that there are people out there who will accept you for who you are, and there are people who align with you, I think it brings a sense of solidarity. And I believe that solidarity is comfort. So, I think that knowing there's people out there who relate to you, and who are just like you, brings a sense of safety and security to people.”

Now “one million percent” more confident in her abilities, Davidson is looking forward to more opportunities to perform and to be an advocate. She recently signed up for a slam poetry competition, has been busy expanding her network, and is looking forward to making more connections.

“I think that this performance opened a lot of doors and opportunities. I also think that I have a very good support system. A lot of the women that mentor me and a lot of the women that I associate with are trying to help me become not just the best version of myself in my own private way, but in my own public way. I think that I have lots of opportunities to grow, and I'm going to take advantage of as many as I can.”

Dear Woodland Hills Families,

 

The end of the school year is quickly approaching, which means preparing our students to take the online Keystone Exams. The spring Keystone Exams will be administered from May 13th through May 24th. In preparation, we would like to make parents aware of which students will be required to take the exams. Students enrolled in a Keystone trigger course — Honors Algebra I or Algebra I, Keystone Algebra Workshop, Honors Biology or Biology, Keystone Science Workshop, Honors English 10 and English 10 – will automatically be scheduled for the exams.

 

All other students who were previously enrolled in trigger classes are eligible to take the exams to fulfill their Act 158 Graduation Requirement (more information on the ACT 158 pathways can be found on the next page). Starting with the Class of 2023, all students will need to fulfill one of the five pathways, in addition to earning the 25 credits required to graduate.

 

CLICK HERE for all the information!

---

The Woodland Hills School District has been honored with the Best Communities For Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. Now in its 25th year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement for providing music access and education to all students.

To qualify for the Best Communities designation, WHSD answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program, and community music-making programs. Responses were verified by school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas. WHSD is one of 975 districts in the United States to receive this honor, putting their music program in the top 7% of the country.

Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music. . After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school but also attend college as well. In addition, everyday listening skills are closely tied to the ability to: perceive speech in a noisy background, pay attention, and keep sounds in memory. Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound. Young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers. Not to mention, social benefits include conflict resolution, teamwork skills, and how to give and receive constructive criticism.

Woodland Hills School District is a 5A, Title I public school district that serves approximately 3,500 students in the communities of Braddock, Braddock Hills, Chalfant, Churchill, East Pittsburgh, Edgewood, Forest Hills, North Braddock, Rankin, Swissvale, Turtle Creek, and Wilkins Township (eastern Allegheny County).

About the NAMM Foundation

The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its 15,000 global member companies and individual professions worldwide. The foundation advances active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving, and public service programs. For more information about the NAMM Foundation, please visit www.nammfoundation.org.

---

The annual Woodland Hills School District Art Show returns April 26 and April 27 in the high school gymnasium lobby. The art show is a fantastic showcase for the talent and creativity for students in all grade levels throughout the district.

This year's WHSD Art Show will open on Friday, April 26 with an opening reception from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. It will continue on Saturday, April 27 from noon to 1 p.m. and again from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The WHSD Art Show is held in conjunction with the opening weekend of this year's musical, "Wonderland." The district invites the entire community to attend and see the incredible talent Woodland Hills students possess.