F
Team Beyonce, one of Mt. Lebanon
High School’s award-winning
Odyssey of the Mind teams, took
first place in the performing arts
division of the regional competition,
performed a dog show skit as part of
their long-term problem. From left:
Lucy Blehar, Anne McGinty, Emily
McGinty, Brenna Smit, Maggie
Blehar and (kneeling) Danielle Smit.

Renee Rosensteel
ive Mt. Lebanon School District teams advanced to the Pennsylvania Odyssey
of the Mind state finals. The Odyssey of the Mind program, a series of exercises
in creative problem-solving, gives teams of students several months to solve a
long-term problem and practice spontaneous creative problem solving.

Two Mt. Lebanon High School teams placed first in two separate cat-
egories, a creative performing arts problem and an engineering design prob-
lem involving building a balsa wood structure. Washington and Markham
school teams will advance to the state competition in the elementary category.

The first- and second-place teams in each division of the state finals will qualify for World
Finals, to be held at Michigan State University May 23-26.

High school winners are sophomores Maggie Blehar, Emily McGinty, Anne McGinty,
Danielle Smit and eight-grade Mellon students Lucy Blehar and Brenna Smit, who won
in the performing arts division. Engineering division winners are sophomores Matt Barron,
Jake Batisky, Andrew Cappucci, Wesley Davis, Zach Fabi, John McGinty, Ryan Pollack.

Washington winners are Lydia Herman, Ellie DePastino, Anna Montero Colbert, Sam
Hedin, Joe Ferari, Jacqueline Tsai, and Emily Englert. Markham winners are Kathleen
Brown, Susan Hepburn, Sarah Mickey, Alexa Rhodes, Sarah Rothschild, Sophia Salib
and Abigail Xie.

Jo Ann Robb
Setting the Standard
h Legend Award winner
Chairman Circle
1996-2006 For
A Trusted
Reputation h
Outstanding Service
h And Winning
Results . . .

Mt. Lebanon High School students, coordinated by social studies teacher Adam Lumish, sent eight
boxes of dry goods and entertainment supplies to the Green Zone in Iraq, the site of the new Iraqi
government and the U. S. and British embassies. Lumish’s brother-in-law, Army Capt. Brian Babcock-
Lumish, now stationed in Iraq, will distribute the supplies. Participating are (back row, left) Matt
Muller, D. J. Jellison, Ava Gyutina, Alex Basheda, Rachelle Palmieri, Robbie Simick and Adam
Lumish. Front row: Angele Hagy, Eleshia Salemo, Steve D’Angelo and Sean Rankin.

Call Jo Ann
412.833.7700 Ext. 201
www.mtlebanon.org 63



p e o ple
Mt. Lebanon High School 1985 graduate
Stefanie Hirsch Manning is associate publish-
er/marketing at “O, the Oprah Magazine.”
When she needs to talk shop, she can turn
to her husband, Tom Manning, who is
Newsweek’s director of administration.

The Oprah
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tefanie Hirsch Manning has had a
dream career. The 1985 Mt. Lebanon
High School graduate has worked
in marketing at New York, Self,
Newsweek and Business Week magazines
and is now associate publisher of marketing
at O, The Oprah Magazine. For most women
who desire careers in the magazine busi-
ness, that type of trajectory would have been
mapped out from the moment they entered
college, if not earlier. For Manning, it just kind
of happened.

“I never went into this business wanting a
career,” says Manning from her office in New
York City. “I happened to make friends, I
happened to be good at what I did and I hap-
pened to fall in love with the business.”
Manning, who grew up on Oak Park
Place, majored in interpersonal communi-
cations at Ohio University. But she says
that upon graduating “I didn’t know what I
wanted to do.” She took the LSAT, applied to
a few law schools and moved to New Jersey
where her parents, Andi and Ken Hirsch,
had settled. Just 25 miles from the Big
Apple and interested in media, Manning con-
tacted an employment agency and landed
a job in marketing at the regional New York
Magazine. “It sounded like a job I could learn some-
thing doing,” Manning says. “In a short
period of time I fell in love with the magazine
business.” From there Manning moved to the market-
ing departments at Self and then Newsweek.

At Newsweek, she met her husband, Tom
Manning, the magazine’s director of adminis-
tration. They married eight years ago.

After a few years at Newsweek, Manning
took a job in advertising. “I thought I might be
done with magazines, so I took a year off.”
But it didn’t take her long to realize her heart
was in publishing. Her next job was with
Business Week.

While at Business Week, Manning heard
whispers that Oprah was planning to start a
magazine. She admits to feeling “a little envy”
toward those working on the project.

But as luck would have it, the publisher Jill
Seelig at O, The Oprah Magazine had worked
with Manning at New York and Self maga-
zines. She called her former colleague and
offered her a job at the upstart magazine.

“In the New York magazine world, every-
one knows everyone else,” says Manning.

“You learn quickly to never burn bridges and
to network well.”
Manning started at O, The Oprah Magazine
in 2000 on the magazine’s second issue—
about the time she found out she was expect-
ing her first child. It was a perfect match.

“I like magazines that I can relate too,”
says Manning, “and O talks about living your
best life. I can relate to that. It’s a pleasure to
read…which thankfully is part of my job.”
As associate publisher, Manning heads a
12-member marketing team that supports
a sales crew of 25. “My department helps