Matthew, Hallie, and Lindsay Zeleznik attended Falk in the early 90s and recently reconnected with the school to reminisce about everything from favorite teachers and projects to the widespread student theory that Falk started its life as a Pittsburgh mansion. 

Matthew, the oldest of the Zeleznik siblings, started at Falk as a seventh grader in 1990 and graduated in 1992. Today, he is an engineer at Aspinity, a local firm that specializes in analog processing chips. Hallie, a 1994 Falk graduate, started practicing physical therapy in 2001 and now serves as Vice Chair of Clinical Education and Practice Innovation for the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program in the Pitt School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Lindsay, the youngest Zeleznik sibling, graduated from Falk in 1998 and has been a Physician Assistant since 2008. After 15 years of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, she recently transitioned to orthopedic trauma and has taken on more leadership and patient quality roles.  

Embracing Individuality 

After Falk, the Zelezniks attended Central Catholic and Oakland Catholic for high school. Matthew says it was during this time that he truly began to appreciate Falk’s diverse and accepting atmosphere. 

“I think that [Falk] really embraced individuality when I was there... a lot of kids were kind of unique and quirky, and, you know, the staff and faculty really embrace that and encourage people to be themselves.” Beyond the Falk community, he recalls, “any individuality was, kind of, repressed at the door. It really made me [appreciate] the way Falk truly embraced individuality.” 

Matthew’s sisters echo this sentiment, remembering the kindness Falk showed them during a time of real insecurity and uncertainty. “I so desperately wanted to be accepted when I was that age,” Lindsay says. “I was a good five, six inches taller than all my friends, and I just really doubted myself through high school and even through college.” 

“It wasn't until I got into graduate school and started practicing [as a PA] and really caring for other people that I felt really good about myself. And I look back [at my time at Falk], and what I got in those years was a lot of acceptance and a lot of people caring about me.” 

A Lifelong Bond 

The care and compassion shown by Falk, especially its teachers, is something all three siblings remember fondly. “I feel like every level of your education—every phase in your life—helps to build that confidence,” Hallie reflects, “and very similar to Lindsay, I look back at my time on Falk and how kind and compassionate the instructors were.” 

“If you were having a bad day,” Hallie continues, “they could tell, and they came over and they said, ‘Hey, what's going on? Are you feeling okay today?’ I remember Dr. Cathy O’Farrell doing that for me. I remember Mr. Greg Wittig doing that for me. I remember Mrs. Joanne Ridge doing that when I first started.” 

Lindsay adds, "[The instructors] just cared so much about me, and, you know, they listened to my goals, and they would ask and care about my life. What stood out to me the most is that through the years, I've run into all of them in Pittsburgh, and every single time, they have wanted to stop and talk and hear about me and about my life and about my brother and sister.” 

Matthew says the same thing about the Falk community and especially about Mr. Greg Wittig, who has been teaching at Falk since Matthew’s eighth-grade year there. "He lives just a couple neighborhoods over,” Matthew says. “I've run into him a bunch, [and] we still keep touch, just through messaging every once in a while.” 

Fond Scientific Memories 

Hallie, also living in Pittsburgh, says she continues to run into her middle school lab partner, with whom she vividly remembers dissecting a fish in science class. "We were dead set on finding the fish's brain,” she recalls. "I remember the little metal tray. I mean, I remember all of it.” 

“Unfortunately, we did not find the brain. Apparently, that's a hard thing to do when you're dissecting a fish. But I think that [experience] probably sparked a lot of my interests for science, and then later, when I was in physical therapy school, we did human anatomy and did cadaver dissections,” she says. 

For Matthew, the most memorable part of Falk’s science curriculum was the annual trip to McKeever Environmental Learning Center, where students spent a week identifying trees and learning about biology through nature. 

It was “like a retreat with your teachers,” Lindsay says, and “another time where you really got to know them. Mrs. Carmela Maccarelli was the Spanish teacher, and she was always just so fun and flamboyant, and she was just like that at McKeever, too. She'd come out with this fuzzy robe and big slippers and be like, ‘You girls need to go to bed!’ Or Mr. Wittig would have an acoustic guitar, and they would have a fire,” she says. “It was just such a cool thing.” 

The fact that Falk was emphasizing environmental education over 25 years ago is a testament to their forward thinking, Hallie adds. In 2008, the Environmental Charter School opened in Pittsburgh, and today, sustainability and environmentalism are common topics of conversation. Back then, she says, “It feels like Falk [was] kind of ahead of their time.” 

Performing Arts 

The Zeleznik family also has strong memories of Falk’s music program, including the school orchestra and annual operettas. The operetta performances, Lindsay says, were “one of those things that you aspire to do. I remember getting to middle school and doing it and just having fun.” 

“We had some really good music teachers,” she continues. “Mrs. Ridge helped so much with the choreography. [The operettas] sort of defined the spring time of year there at Falk.” For Matthew, Pirates of Penzance and H.M.S. Pinafore come to mind. For Lindsay, it’s Peter Pan, Bye Bye Birdie, and Grease. “I sang ‘Memory’ from Cats,” Hallie recalls. “I have good and bad memories of that. When I watch the video, it's bad. When I remember it, it was great,” she says with a laugh. 

Outside of the operettas, Hallie played flute for the Falk orchestra and remembers her music teacher, Mr. Brunetti. "He also played the acoustic guitar, and he would play ‘Angel from Montgomery’ by John Prine,” a beloved artist in her husband’s family. “John Prine has a really prominent presence in our life from a musical perspective,” she shares, “and I always think about Mr. Brunetti and us singing ‘Angel from Montgomery.’” 

A Lasting Impression 

“I remember that I was never bored in class or in school,” Hallie says about Falk. “I just remember enjoying learning.” Today, Hallie is still passionate about education and feels grateful for the path she’s had in life. “I've really loved my entire career,” she says. “I do a lot of volunteer work for our national organization, the American Physical Therapy Association, and hold leadership roles in different academies and boards. I'm really passionate about physical therapy.” 

Lindsay feels similarly grateful for her career in the medical field, which started as a dream way back in middle school. “I think in my eighth-grade yearbook at Falk, it says my goal is to be a physician assistant,” she says. “It might have taken a long time for me to feel confident and good about the things that I do,” she adds, “but I think a lot of the support [from Falk] went a long way to get me where I am now.” 

The family’s ties to Falk and the University of Pittsburgh also extend to Matthew, Hallie, and Lindsay’s father, Anthony Zeleznik. Currently a part-time mentor for the Magee-Womens Research Institute, Dr. Zeleznik spent his career researching ovarian cyclicity and has been a constant force in his children’s lives, particularly since the passing of their mother in 2011.

In April 2025, the Zeleznik family returned to Falk to reconnect with their past and celebrate the community and people who so greatly impacted them.