Author: Brian Seaman

RDW to Host Annual Read Across America Night Thursday, Feb. 29

Members of the community who come out to enjoy the annual Read Across America Night at Western Wayne’s RDW Elementary School on Thursday, February 29, will surely leave thinking about all of their favorite creepy, kooky, and mysteriously spooky Addams Family members because the Western Wayne Drama Club will treat people in attendance to a sneak peak of their spring musical The Addams Family School Edition, a new musical comedy.
Western Wayne Middle and High School musical students will put on a performance from their upcoming spring production of The Addams Family School Edition as a part of the entertainment. THE ADDAMS FAMILY School Edition A NEW MUSICAL Book by MARSHALL BRICKMAN and RICK ELICE Music and Lyrics by ANDREW LIPPA Orchestrations by Larry Hochman
Based on Characters Created by Charles Addams Originally produced on Broadway by Stuart Oken, Roy Furman, Michael Leavitt, Five Cent Productions, Stephen Schuler, Decca Theatricals, Scott M. Delman, Stuart Ditsky, Terry Allen Kramer, Stephanie P. McClelland, James L. Nederlander, Eva Price, Jam Theatricals/Mary LuRoffe, Pittsburgh CLO/Gutterman-Swinsky, Vivek Tiwary/Gary Kaplan, The Weinstein Company/Clarence, LLC, Adam Zotovich/Tribe Theatricals; By Special Arrangement with Elephant Eye Theatrical

The event will kick-off at 4:45 p.m. and is free to the public. Kids of all ages can enjoy a variety of activities in celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
There will also be a Book Fair at the event hosted by the PTA, and attendees can meet The Cat and Hat along with Thing One and Thing Two.
From 4:45 to 5:30 p.m. guests can tour the RDW building and stop in classrooms to hear stories read by RDW staff and friends. Starting at 5:30 through 6:30 p.m., there will be a concession stand open.
Then at 6:30 p.m. The Addams Family cast members will put on a performance. Senior Drama Club President Nate Conway is excited to welcome the audience playing the role of Gomez Addams.
“This is a role I never imagined having when I started out in the Drama Club in 8th grade,” Nate, who also serves as a student director, said. “I have always wanted to play a really humorous and dark lead role and now for my senior year I have that chance.”
The entire cast of The Addams Family are excited to entertain the audience at RDW.
“I love going out into the community and sharing what we have been working to create,” Colette Schmitt, who is the secretary of the Drama Club, and plays Pugsley this year, said. “ I can’t wait to see all of the students in attendance enjoy it.”
The Western Wayne community cordially invites the public to come and enjoy Read Across America Night on Thursday, February 29, at the RDW Elementary School, a free evening of entertainment and events perfect for kids of all ages.
In addition, you can also mark your calendar with the dates for our performances of The Addams Family School Edition at Western Wayne High School’s Veterans Memorial Auditorium on Friday, April 12, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 13 at 7 p.m.; and Sunday, April 14 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and students, and Western Wayne students are free with a student ID.
Pictured are some of the cast of Western Wayne Drama Club’s production of The Addams Family School edition with Owen Obloshny who plays Uncle Fester center dancing with Madison Forgione who plays the moon.

Western Wayne Continues Participation in Community Connections to Our Watershed Program

Students from a variety of local schools have the opportunity to participate in an educational forum in which they can learn about the environment and collaborate with each other throughout the 2023-24 school year.  Students from Western Wayne, Carbondale Area, Forest City, Lackawanna Trail, Lakeland, Mountain View, Old Forge, Riverside, and Wayne Highlands have already started their journey in this exciting, educational experience.

Each school will have a team of five students and a teacher-advisor.  The forum will engage students through place-based educational field experiences and hands-on investigations.

For the month of February the students participated in a trip to the Lackawanna College Environmental Education Center. 

“I really feel like my experiences through the Watershed Program are helping me to expand my knowledge of science,” Madelyn McClure, freshman said.

From left, Western Wayne students: Audrey Agnello, Sofia Ochlan, Madelyn McClure, and Abigail Bell. 

Middle School Hosts Annual Student vs. Faculty Basketball Game

Cheers filled the Western Wayne Middle School Gym during the annual Student vs. Faculty Basketball Game on the morning of Friday, February 16.

This year as a special treat both the middle school principal Mrs. Jennifer Bradley and the middle school assistant principal Mr. Matthew Barr participated in the game.  The event was a morale booster for both students and staff. 

The entire middle school student body and staff enjoyed watching the friendly yet intense game and are excited to attend the event again in years to come.

Picture One: Mrs. Jennifer Bradley, middle school principal, plays on the court with her students and staff.

Picture Two: The Western Wayne Junior High Cheerleaders entertain the crowd at the game.

Western Wayne Hosts KHS America Academic Alliance Music Event

The Western Wayne Middle School, Western Wayne High School, and Liberty Middle School Bands joined together on Tuesday, February 6, to participate in a one-of-a-kind clinic and exhibition concert sponsored by the KHS America Academic Alliance.

    After working tirelessly on the festival music in their own schools, band students from the two districts met for the first time as a band early on the morning of the event and spent the day getting to know one another through music. Under the baton of esteemed clinician Dr. Peter L. Boonshaft, the students had  the opportunity to collaborate and learn festival rehearsal techniques to take back to their schools.

     Dr. Boonshaft, Director of Education for KHS America, is the author of the critically acclaimed best-selling books Teaching Music with Passion, Teaching Music with Purpose, and Teaching Music with Promise. He was honored by the National Association for Music Education and Music For All as the first recipient of the “George M. Parks Award for Leadership in Music Education.” Dr. Boonshaft was selected for the Center for Scholarly Research and Academic Excellence at Hofstra University in Hempsted, NY, where is Professor Emeritus of Music.

    The culminating exhibition concert was free and open to the public and very well attended.

    Western Wayne Assistant Superintendent Dr. Cynthia LaRosa gave the opening address to the audience and welcomed Dr. Boonshaft and the students and staff of Liberty Middle School to Western Wayne.  She told the crowd she hoped they would “experience what can happen when students are motivated and inspired and to enjoy the magic of music.”

    The audience certainly did enjoy the magic of music that afternoon being first treated to a variety of musical selections performed by the Pride of Western Wayne, the High School Marching Band. Then they experienced the truly unique musical collaboration of Western Wayne Middle School and Liberty Middle School students playing together after having worked with the esteemed Dr. Boonshaft.

    “What happened here today is because of dedicated teachers,” Boonshaft told the audience.  “Music allows someone to gaze into the infinite, and today I spent a few hours gazing into the eyes of the infinite with these talented students and their teachers. They are the future of music.”

For more information on KHS America and the Academic Alliance, visit www.academicalliance.org

FBLA Students Heading to States

The Western Wayne School District congratulations its 2023-24 FBLA State Qualifiers that will be competing at the State Leadership Conference in Hershey this April.

L – R Top Row:

Weston Nugent, Adrian Agnello, Graysen Valinski, Connor Bryant, David Elias, Jamie Chapman, Hunter Smith, Kayden Peifer, Logan Pauler, and Paul Borowski.

L – R Middle Row:

Avery Ullner, Clare Coccodrilli, Raeleigh Kromko, Madelyn Vinton, Natasha Amberg, Lauren Dramisino, Allie Pauler, Khloe Mistishin, Maggie Kotchessa, Grace Moser, and Makenzie Chearney.

L – R Front Row:

Paityn Duprey, Bryn Vinton, Audrey Agnello, Phoebe Schmitt, Madelyn McClure, Taylor Maiocco, Rhayni Carroll, Colette Schmitt, Angelina Correa, Lauren  Geisheimer, and Olivia Gries.

Local Community Asked to Vote for WW Students Online

Western Wayne High School has six students who are state finalists in a Prevent Suicide Contest. We are asking the local community to help make them winners!

Please vote using the following link: https://psa.preventsuicidepa.org/2024-public-voting-posters/.

There are four contests to vote on (poster, 30 second video, 60 second video and audio)

To vote for Izzy Azzato, Brooke Kellogg, and Cayden Rose’s 30 second video— vote Video #2  in the 30 second videos

To Vote for Connor Bryant, Jamie Chapman and Evan Dean’s 60 second video- vote Video #3 in the 60 second videos

Votes can be made daily until February 16.

The district appreciates your help in support of our talented students.

Wayne County Arts Alliance Student Art Exhibition!

During the month of February, Art students from all four Western Wayne schools are participating in the 1st Wayne County Arts Alliance Student Art Exhibition!  The opening for the show was well attended on Friday February 2nd, where students, their teachers and families enjoyed light refreshments and viewing the art from other participating Wayne County School Districts. Student work was selected based on a variety of criteria. Hopefully this show will become an annual event in the future! The show will be on display at the Wayne County Arts Alliance Gallery at 959 Main Street Honesdale through February 24, 2024. Congratulations to the participating artists; From Robert D. Wilson Elementary: Reaghan Sheehan, Nathan Klimczak, Felix Klimczak, Andie Trapper, Billie Joe Burnham, Orson Farley, Alice O’hora, Jameson Constantine, Luca Ferraro, Keira Marcel, Paige Weist, Zoe Borzek, and Caleb Tedesco. From the High School: Peyton Cook, Lila Rusin, Carly Schott, Kiersten McDonald, Aurora Morris, Cassidy Zeiler, Leo West and from the Middle School Teena Zotynia, Mackenzie Warnock, Abigail Wasman, Ava Borzek, Jailah McRae, Isabella Jason, Kenna Steinmetz, Jasmine Yamamoto, Makayla Franckowiak. EverGreen: Brooklyn Gill, Rayven Ford-Hetzel, Leiana Vetrano, Jereni Strocchia, Khloe Elias Lucy Olszyk, Mia Padula Emma Dougher, Nathanial Huff, Tucker Bell , Lillian Elders, Aria Takacs.

NEPA students attend STEM design challenge

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Nearly 100 fourth through eighth-grade students from schools in Lackawanna, Wayne, and Susquehanna County put their building skills to the test for the annual Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit 19’s Stem Design Challenge.

Putting stem skills to the test.

On Tuesday Johnson College hosted and sponsored the NEIU 19’s 2024 Stem Design Challenge.
the builds are made entirely of K’nex Construction toys.

“We built an agricultural robot, but it’s built out of K’nex pieces, and it has an arm and it rotates up and it’s supposed to move forward and help farmers,” said Sadie Booths a Western Wayne student.

This year’s theme is agriculture.

Working in teams, students had two hours to put their heads together to create prototypes of equipment designed to help farmers with their jobs.

“So it’s called the poop-en-a-tor. It cleans up chicken poop and turns it into fertilizer and it helps farmers because farmers spend a lot of money on fertilizers and they also spend a lot of time cleaning up chicken poop,” says Sadie Malamud a Lackawanna Trail student.

“So we built a solar-powered tractor with a solar-powered sprayer, and the sprayer is for irrigation,” added Cody Maros a Western Wayne student.

Students from King’s College and Johnson College help judge the projects.

The builds are judged based on creativity, attention to detail, and theme. Organizers say STEM and events like these teach kids valuable problem-solving skills.

“It also helps students that sometimes struggle in the traditional route to the kind of really showcase their talents which may not be necessarily just on facts and components like that, but it really gives them a different mindset and almost like a creative mindset also,” explained Stephanie Williams MIS coordinator in NEIU 19′

Teams from the Wayne Highlands school district took first prize in both divisions of elementary and middle school.

Those teams will go on to compete at the state competition in Harrisburg in May.

NEPA students attend STEM design challenge | 28/22 News (pahomepage.com)

Local Bands to Perform in Exhibition Concert at Western Wayne on Tuesday, February 6

The Western Wayne Middle School, Western Wayne High School, and Liberty Middle School Bands will join together on Tuesday, February 6, to participate in a one-of-a-kind clinic and exhibition concert sponsored by the KHS America Academic Alliance.

     After working tirelessly on the festival music in their own schools, band students from the two districts will meet for the first time as a band early in the morning and spend the day getting to know one another through music. Under the baton of esteemed clinician Dr. Peter L. Boonshaft, the students will have the opportunity to collaborate and learn festival rehearsal techniques to take back to their schools.

     Dr. Boonshaft, Director of Education for KHS America, is the author of the critically acclaimed best-selling books Teaching Music with Passion, Teaching Music with Purpose, and Teaching Music with Promise. He was honored by the National Association for Music Education and Music For All as the first recipient of the “George M. Parks Award for Leadership in Music Education.” Dr. Boonshaft was selected for the Center for Scholarly Research and Academic Excellence at Hofstra University in Hempsted, NY, where is Professor Emeritus of Music.

     The culminating exhibition concert is free and open to the public. The concert begins at 4:00 pm at Western Wayne High School Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Doors open at 3:30 pm.

For more information on KHS America and the Academic Alliance, visit www.academicalliance.org

RDW Club Models Kindness

The Kindness Club at RDW recently performed a play for students in grades K-2. The play was called A Day in the Life of an RDW Student and included five different scenarios that a typical student might encounter. In each scene, one or more of the characters chose to demonstrate kindness in a challenging situation. The club members had questions for students to discuss between acts. At the conclusion of the play, Kindness Club members encouraged students to practice acts of kindness throughout their day and to consider joining the Kindness Club when they are in fifth grade.

Members, left to right from first photo: Ryan Nixon, Paxton Shiner-Lewis, Caden Reeger, Saga Bryden, Lillian Sorrentino, and Kelly Talarico