Around the Schools

Drama Club to Present Little Shop of Horrors April 1, 2, 3

The Western Wayne Drama Club will present “Little Shop of Horrors” this weekend on Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April 2, 7 p.m.; Sunday, April 3, 2 p.m. at the Western Wayne High School Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 1970A Easton Turnpike, Lake Ariel. Tickets available at the door. Tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors. Western Wayne students get in free with a student ID. The public is welcome!

WW School Counselors Present at Local Conference

A local organization, School Counselors of NEPA, hosted a one-day conference at the University of Scranton. Erica Germani, RDW School Counselor, and Lisa Jacques, Middles School Counselor, presented a workshop as part of the day’s events. Their presentation was titled “The Advisory Council: Collaboration together towards a better tomorrow.” Mrs. Germani and Mrs. Jacques shared their experience of hosting these stakeholder groups at both the district and school levels. They offered tips and strategies to local school counselors who were interested in starting their own advisory councils. “It is so important that we collaborate and form relationships with other school counselors in the area,” Mrs. Germani remarks. “We were proud to share some of the great things that are happening at Western Wayne, and we in turn learned a lot by attending the conference as well.”

Drama Club to Present Little Shop of Horrors April 1, 2, 3

The Western Wayne Drama Club will present “Little Shop of Horrors” on Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April 2, 7 p.m.; Sunday, April 3, 2 p.m. at the Western Wayne High School Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 1970A Easton Turnpike, Lake Ariel. Tickets available at the door. Tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors. Western Wayne students get in free with a student ID.
The Western Wayne Drama Parents Club will also host a basket raffle with tickets available for purchase for all three performances with the drawings at intermission of the Sunday show. Per tradition, we will also have our musical bear as part of our raffle. This year’s bear is a little Seymour Krelborn with his very own tiny Audrey II. In addition, The Western Wayne Band Parents Association will also be selling refreshments at the show.
The Drama Club has rented the Broadway-style plant props for the musical. Students have been rehearsing since December and are excited to put on the show for the community.
Who’s who in the cast: Nick DeCandis as Seymour Krelborn; Joanna Regalbuto as Audrey; Robert Scramuzza as Mr. Mushnik; Colette Schmitt as the voice of Audrey II; Nathan Conway as Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.; Lilly Maros as Ronnette; Amanda David as Crystal; Julia Phillips as Chiffon; Owen Obloshny as Mr. Bernstein; Joey Regalbuto as Mrs. Luce; Gabe Treibley as Skip Snip; Alex Fullone as Patrick Martin; B. Flannery as customer; Haley Strocchia as interviewer; Becca Boots as dental patient. Ensemble cast: Stephanie Maxwell, Brenna McGlone, Luke Rusin, Bradley Miehle, Mikayla Fullone, Kenzie Kennedy, Juliana Kurent, Scott Kurent, Madison Trapanese, and Jade Wetherington.
Stage Crew Members: Emily Brophy, Ash Mangieri, Luis Appollonio, Liv Benson, Jocilyn Brungard, Chad Burns, Rae Christopher, Hayley Cordero, Violet Gontkowski, Brynn Mazurick, Hunter Reichling, Darrell Schramm, Kat Shumski, Kallie Wehrmann, Jade Edwards, Izzy O’Donnell, Koda DeNunzio, Lowen Weber, Ethan Rutkowski.
Details: Tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors. Western Wayne students get in free with a student ID.
Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman with musical staging by Edie Cowan. Music by Alan Menken. Based on the film by Roger Corman. Screenplay by Charles Griffith. Originally produced by the WPA Theatre (Kyle Renick, Producing Director). Originally produced at the Orpheum Theatre, New York City, by the WPA Theatre, David Geffen, Cameron Mackintosh and the Shubert Organization. Little Shop of Horrors is presented through special arrangement with Music Thearte International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI www.mtishows.com

High School Receives 2022 ExxonMobil Grant

. From left: Mr. Matthew Barr, high school vice principal; David Stinson, district manager; and Mr. Paul Gregorski, high school principal.

The Western Wayne High School received a 500 dollar 2022 ExxonMobil Educational Alliance Grant to support STEM education.  ExxonMobil and Onvo present these grants to various area schools each year.  The check was awarded to Western Wayne recently.  Western Wayne Administration and staff are excited to use these funds to better the educational experiences of their students. The District intends to use these funds to enhance students’ experiences in STEM related studies. The following picture was taken during the 2019 school year.

RDW Hosts Local Entrepreneur

Mrs. Thorpe, secretary at RDW, recently opened her own floral shop called “For the Birds: Floral and Gifts.” She spoke to second and fifth grade students about her experience of starting a business from scratch. She shared her exciting progress as well as the difficulties of being an entrepreneur (e.g. you don’t make much money in the beginning, you have no “sick” days, if there’s any problems you have to solve them on your own). Students also watched how a floral arrangement is created from start (flowers in boxes) to finish. They even got to take some flowers home!

Thank you Mrs. Thorpe for sharing your experience with our students!

CATS Club Ukraine Fundraiser

Attention all Wildcats:
Western Wayne High School CATS Club will be hosting a fundraiser to help the Children of Ukraine. We will be selling t-shirts and all proceeds will be donated to UNICEF targeted for the Children of Ukraine.
You can order your t-shirts online by going to the Western Wayne website and click on the site or go to https://catsclub.itemorder.com/shop/sale/ . The t-shirts will be delivered to your school, or you can have them mailed directly to your home at an additional cost. The cost of the t-shirt will be $17.50. They will be available in either youth or adult sizes. Thank you.

The front of the T-shirt:

The back of the t-shirt:

RDW St. Patrick’s Day Art

The Art students at RDW celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by learning about ancient Celtic symbols.  Kindergartners studied flags as symbols, then made their own Irish flag. 1st graders practiced the ancient craft of weaving and used ROY G BIV order to weave festive rainbows. 2nd Graders studied and created their own Irish Claddagh designs & 3rd graders painted Celtic Spiral Knots.

Student Advances to IEA National Competition

Western Wayne freshman Rebekah Palko recently placed second in the walk/ jog intermediate competition that was part of a regional competition hosted by the Interscholastic Equestrian Association that took place in Skippack, Pennsylvania, the weekend of March 12. Rebekah now will move on to the National Competition to be held in Harrisburg from April 28 through April 31. She will compete in her event on April 30.

Rebekah has been horseback riding since she was a young girl. She has always loved being around horses and riding them. She has been involved in the IEA program for the past three years. This is the furthest she has gotten in a competition of this nature.

“Competing has really helped me to grow,” Rebekah explained. “It has helped me to build confidence in myself as both a rider and person. I have more skills in riding and in life about opening up and not being afraid to take on new challenges.”

Rebekah works with local trainer Charlotte Walsh. Walsh helped to get Rebekah involved in the IEA competitions. Rebekah discussed how she really enjoys learning from Walsh, because each week they work on new skills to help her develop as a rider.

“Learning new skills helps me be prepared for what I could face when I ride in competition on any given day,” Rebekah explained. “I always feel prepared but am never totally sure what’ll happen in the moment due to the nature of riding an animal.”
Rebekah is looking forward to the upcoming IEA National Competition. She aspires to work hard at her riding for the duration of her high school career in the hopes of earning a college scholarship for her equestrian work.
Any other local middle and high school riders can join IEA. Students do not need to own a horse in order to be a part of a team. The link for more information is https://www.rideiea.org/

Celebrating AG Literacy Week

The week of March 14th is designated as AG Literacy Week in the state of Pennsylvania. The program focuses on connecting volunteers from the agricultural community to local classrooms to share the story of agriculture. Volunteer readers will have the opportunity to talk about farming and agriculture through the book they read as well as their own experiences with farming. Volunteers visited all kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classrooms at EverGreen Elementary on March 15th where they read My Family’s Soybean Farm to the students. Students pictured are from Ms. Hemmler’s first grade class.