This summer, fourth-grader John Hamilton of Hoodridge Drive spelled his way into fourth place during the Grand Finale Third Grade Spelling Bee sponsored by the Greater Pittsburgh Rotary Club. Hamilton, who attended third grade at Foster School, previously placed first in the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon-Castle Shannon Rotary Club’s Third Grade Spelling Bee. His prize for winning the local spelling bee included a $100 gift certificate from Learning Express and his spot at the Grand Finale Spelling Bee, which was held at Seven Springs Mountain Resort as part of the annual Rotary District Conference.

Inglewood Drive resident Allysn Hurley is the new chief marketing officer of the law firm of Tucker Arensberg. She has more than 30 years of marketing experience, including careers in financial services marketing, consumer marketing and law firm marketing. Most recently, Hurley was director of marketing at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellot, LLC. The Mt. Lebanon High School graduate earned her MBA with a concentration in marketing from the University of Pittsburgh’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and her bachelor’s degree in business from Vanderbilt University.

Jinx Walton, chief information officer at the University of Pittsburgh, is the new chair of the Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education and Research (KINBER). Walton served for the past two years as KINBER’s vice chair. KINBER is a nonprofit membership organization that promotes the innovative use of digital technologies among education, healthcare, economic development, libraries, public media and other anchor institutions that improve the quality of life for communities in Pennsylvania through research, education and public service.

Family Hospice and Palliative Care’s president and CEO Barbara Ivanko, Woodhaven Drive, has earned the title of Certified Hospice and Palliative Care Administrator from the National Board for Certification of Hospice and Palliative Nurses.

Earning this certification “demonstrates to the community that [Family Hospice] meets national standards and has a very high bar,” says Ivanko.

While academic in nature, the certification exam “wasn’t really a test that you could study for,” says Ivanko. “The right answers always seemed to come from the thinking [about the] patient first.”

A former social worker focusing on mental health and addiction, Ivanko felt her previous work fixated on “what’s wrong” with patients. In hopes of changing this perspective, she started working in the field of hospice in 2000. “What I love about hospice is the focus—aside from comfort—is what’s right with the patient, what’s right with the family and how we can make the most of the time remaining.”

Sam Oshlag, Elatan Drive, has been hired as an integrated video and graphic assistant at the advertising agency Brunner, Inc. Oshlag, a freelance photographer with mtl magazine and a social media photographer with the Pittsburgh Power arena football team, is a graduate of Temple University with a degree in film and media studies and photography.