The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the world to adopt to new lifestyles. Staying at home, social distancing, and wearing masks seems to be the new normal around the world. Unfortunately, many events have been postponed/cancelled due to this virus. It has interfered with the 2020 Summer Olympics, the 2020 MLB season, concerts, festivals, and much more. Schools have been closed, causing spring sports to be cancelled. For many high school student athletes, it has caused possible complications in being scouted by dream colleges. Many juniors worry that their future may be altered due to the cancellation of spring sports. Others are just highly disappointed in not being able to participate in the sport that they love. 

One of these student athletes is junior, Celeste Orchard. Celeste is a member of the Western Wayne Varsity Track & Field Team. She throws and can be found in the shot put and discus events. Additionally, she can be occasionally found in the javelin event. 

“I was extremely disappointed considering all the work and practice that was done through the fall and winter. I was looking forward to my junior season with big goals in discus and new confidence in the sport,” she said.

“I realized everything happens for a reason and this is an opportunity to come out in my senior season with a bang and large improvement since the last time I competed,” she added.

When asked about possible complications in being scouted due to the cancellation, Celeste explained that she tracks for her own enjoyment. “Throwing in college isn’t my biggest priority,” she said.

Celeste has still been staying active during this time and continues to work out at home. “Track sends out workouts and YouTube videos to help maintain strength and fine-tune technique. In addition, I have continued lifting in my home gym.,” she explained.

Celeste looks forward to next season and what it will bring for her as well as her teammates. “The season off sets a clean slate for next year. The personal bests are wiped clean and it’s almost like new competition. Next year will show who took advantage of the year off and who didn’t. I look forward to next season to see how my team improves in comparison to others.”

Another athlete who is also a member of the Western Wayne Varsity Track & Field Team is junior, Haley Estus. Haley is a distance runner on the team. “When I first heard spring sports were cancelled, I was very disappointed. I truly love track and could not wait for the season to begin,” she said.  Haley plays a key role on the team and qualified for districts her freshman and sophomore year. She worries that this pandemic may majorly impact scouting by colleges.

 “This will impact being scouted because your junior year is the year colleges really look at you. By the time track season comes to an end, most seniors have already decided where they are going to college, therefore they could only get scouted/get scholarship offers from the school they are going to. This affects scholarships juniors could have been offered next year because each year you improve more and more.”

Haley added, “Now we are missing out on a year of improvement, so I worry about how that’s going to affect my times next year. Am I going to run as fast as I would have if we had a track season this year?”

As a distance runner, Haley has continued to put the time, miles, and workouts in to stay in shape.

“When school was first cancelled, I ran four miles almost every day along with doing core exercises. I knew that I had to keep myself in good shape if we returned to finish out the track season. Now that the season is cancelled, I have continued running, but only about four times a week along with core,” she explained. 

Haley has thought about her senior track season and where she should be this time next year.

 “Next track season I am going to have to train exceptionally hard to reach my full potential due to the lost season. Running distance is all in your head. When you’re on lap six of eight in the two mile and you’re in pain and your legs are starting to feel like Jell-O, and you just want to give up already or slow down a little, [but] you can’t.”

Haley continues to have a motivated mindset and challenges herself. 

“Now I’m going to have to push myself harder during those races or even workouts, which is going to be more challenging both mentally and physically,” she said.

From a different perspective, Tim Smith is a member of the Western Wayne Varsity Baseball Team. He is also a junior in high school. Tim was looking forward to this upcoming season.

“When I heard that the spring sports season was cancelled due to the corona virus, I was devastated. I felt like all the hard work that I put in during the off season was all for nothing and I had zero control over that which hurt even more,” he said. Tim wants to play baseball in college and strives to pursue this goal. 

“This hurts me in scouting in a lot of different ways. I missed out on a whole season which might make colleges look over me because I didn’t have as much varsity time as an underclassman,” he explained.

He added, “This is very disappointing, and I will have to work much harder in the off season in order to achieve my goals that I had set.”

 Like many athletes during this time, Tim has also been staying in shape with workouts at home.

 “I have been working out every day and doing other activities to stay in shape and peak physical form,” he explained. Tim shares words of encouragement for other student athletes during this time. “Even though the season has ended, it doesn’t mean you should stop pursuing your dreams.” 

Tim even has gained a lesson out of these changing times and shares this philosophy: “This motivates me for next year by teaching me to never take anything for granted and that it can be taken away in heartbeat, so you have to make the most of it while you have it and that’s what I’m going to start to do in everything I pursue.” 

It is very clear that these hardworking student-athlete juniors of Western Wayne are disappointed in their season being cancelled but continue to work hard to make their next season very special and to make up for being unable to compete this season. For some, being scouted by colleges and possibly receiving scholarships motivates them, while others pure love and enjoyment of their sport motivates them to continue working on their skills. They continue to be motivated and set goals for their upcoming senior season, despite these unprecedented times. They demonstrate their positivity and pride in being a Western Wayne Wildcat and have not given up on their goals and dreams.

Western Wayne High School will be a distribution site starting next Friday 4/17. Applicants must register with the county via this form and will be contacted with a date and location for pick up. Thank you!

From the Public School and Career & Technical School Communities of Susquehanna, Wyoming, Lackawanna, Wayne, and Pike Counties.

We want to thank you all for your patience, flexibility, and understanding during these uncertain times.  We realize that you are anxious to get your children back to their typical routine and for everyone in our country to return to a sense of normalcy.  We as educators and school leaders feel the same way. We especially want to encourage the Class of 2020 to remain positive and look to the future. COVID-19 should not take away from your accomplishments and future plans!

The Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit school districts; Abington Heights, Blue Ridge, Carbondale Area, Dunmore, Elk Lake, Forest City Regional, Lackawanna Trail, Lakeland, Mid Valley, Montrose Area, Mountain View, North Pocono, Old Forge, Riverside, Scranton, Susquehanna Community, Valley View, Wallenpaupack Area, Wayne Highlands, Western Wayne, NEIU and Career and Technology Centers continue to work together as we receive guidance from our state and federal leaders.  We have rapidly put food programs in place to support our communities and we are all working with local food banks to help support our students and their families.  As always, our primary goal is the health, safety and welfare of our children.  Secondary to that, is the continuation of our students’ education. 

This week all districts are continuing their work on their individual and unique “Continuity of Education” plans.  The plans will be centered on recommended Pennsylvania Department of Education “Enrichment and Review” activities.  The activities are not mandatory, will not be graded and are designed to help students maintain or extend current academic skills.  Your individual district plans will be rolled out in the coming days.  We believe these plans to be the most appropriate and reasonable way to engage with our students at this time.  Please understand that, as public school entities, we are subject to many federal and state regulations that we all must take into account when devising these plans.  These plans may change as we receive further guidance on implementation from our State and Federal leadership. 

As with any good education plan, we will need your support at home, as we look at alternative ways of continuing your child’s education in these unprecedented times.  We are committed to doing the very best we can for each one of our students and we look forward to the day when we can welcome all of our students and teachers back to our school buildings. Ensuring that we are a healthy community must remain our top priority until this threat has passed.

This afternoon (March 23, 2020), Governor Wolf will issue a stay-at-home order for seven counties in Pennsylvania (Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Monroe, Montgomery, and Philadelphia).
Under Governor Wolf’s order, personnel at our educational entities in all 67 counties who are providing life-sustaining services, including, but not limited to: administration, food preparation and distribution, housing, security, information technology, building maintenance, and operations (e.g., payroll) can continue to be deemed essential and are permitted to continue their work, provided they adhere to social distancing guidelines.

In addition, the Department of Education (PDE) announced today all schools in the commonwealth will remain closed through at least April 6 as a result of the COVID-19 response efforts. The closure order could be extended beyond April 6 if necessary to save lives and stop the spread of COVID-19.

Under the new timeline, school buildings would reopen on April 7 for two days to allow school administrators, teachers and other staff time to prepare classrooms, set up cafeterias, schedule transportation and arrange other business operations. Students would return to school on April 9, unless extending the closure is needed in response to the situation with the virus at that time.
To assist schools during the extended closure, the state’s 29 intermediate units are ready to provide technical assistance to help develop continuity of education plans for all students beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, March 24.

Additionally, we are cancelling standardized testing for students in career and technical education (CTE) programs for the 2019-20 school year. These include exams from the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) and National Institute of Metalworking Skills (NIMS).

I appreciate your patience and flexibility as we navigate this unprecedented time together and thank you for your dedication to serving and supporting your school communities.

Pedro A. Rivera II | Secretary of Education