Not unlike her Penn-Trafford High School classmates, junior Hannah Giacomin often finds herself facing a high schooler's typical dilemma: unfastened sheets of notebook paper somehow managing to work their way loose and fall from their organized and anointed slots. Sometimes at the most inopportune moments.
Assessing the often-frustrating situation, Giacomin had two avenues to solve the problem: She could have chosen to use her black-belt karate skills to kick and pummel the papers into submission, or she could have used her chemistry training to come up with a solution.
She chose the latter.
One of 11,000 students from around the country who entered a nationwide Toshiba ExploraVision Competition engineering contest, Giacomin designed a system employing magnets to keep the papers from falling from the notebooks, she explained.
"I was always annoyed when papers would fall out of my notebook," she said. "My design was actually a theoretical concept and did not have to have actual physical pieces." Giacomin's design earned her honorable mention recognition, and perhaps someday it will be available at school supply stores.
Giacomin, who trains at the North American Karate and Fitness Center in Irwin, earned her black belt in the fall of 2007, working her way up the belt color chart from white to black.
Encouraged by her parents, Christopher and Christine, to get involved with karate when she was 8 years old, she took a hiatus from the sport at age 13 to focus on softball, but decided to renew her quest for a black belt.
"I learned all the forms, kicks, blocks and self-defense techniques, and it takes a lot of practice," she said. "But it was gratifying achieving the black belt, especially since I had to get back into it and basically relearn everything."
Giacomin's black belt test lasted several hours, during which time she had to "show all we learned and break three boards," she said.
"But we actually had to break boards for every test," she added. "You get used to it. The physical test and kicks for the black belt wear you out; then there are basics, which test you mentally. It takes a lot of discipline. It's hard work learning self-defense concepts, both mentally and physically, and advanced classes are more demanding. I have always been quiet, respectful and disciplined, but karate helps with academics from a focus and concentration standpoint."
On the softball field, Penn-Trafford varsity head coach Joe Giacomin, who happens to be Hannah's uncle, sees the same persistence and dedication she demonstrates in karate.
"Hannah is quiet and leads by example," he said. "She has a positive attitude and comes to play. She never misses practice, works hard and tries to improve."
After pitching in youth leagues where she spent five seasons on travel teams, Giacomin has taken her defensive skills to the outfield, where she has an above average arm.
"Hannah is an above-average hitter, and her offense is improving," the coach said. "We're waiting for her to take her game to the next level."
In the classroom she already has reached that next level. Her grade-point average this year is 4.69, and 4.25 overall for her three years in the high school, where she ranks 15th out of nearly 400 members of the junior class. With chemistry her favorite class, Giacomin plans to become a pharmacist and apply her chemistry background to that field.
Her propensity for chemistry also enabled her to participate in the Westinghouse Honors Science Institute Program, where speakers in science-related fields introduce students to various programs and careers.
At Penn-Trafford, Giacomin is a member of the National Honor Society, CAP (Community Action Program) and Academic Quiz team. She is in the school's Spectrum Program for gifted students. Giacomin also has worked with Habitat for Humanity on youth group projects in West Virginia. In the fall, she plays forward on the Warriors' field hockey team.
With the Warriors softball team, Giacomin wears No. 13.
"I've had that number even since I started playing," she said. "It's been a lucky number for me."
But with her attributes, she may not need much luck.
