Around the Schools

Western Wayne School District Receives “Stop the Bleed” Kits

This summer The AllOne Charities, Northeast PA Area Health Education Center, and The Wright Center for Community Health have provided “Stop the Bleed Kits” to the Western Wayne School District for use in all four district buildings.  This past school year all Western Wayne employees received training from medical professionals employed by Wayne Memorial Hospital in how to properly handle medical emergencies involving wounds that a bleeding control kit would warrant. 

  The groups involved in providing the kits have partnered together as part of a national awareness campaign to provide bleeding control kits and training “to encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives.”  

Presenter Valarie Williams, B.A., TTS., bestowed high school principal Paul Gregorski and high school nurse Denise Johnson with one wall-mounted kit for each of the four schools in the district.  Each wall-mounted kit includes eight individual kits. Western Wayne is grateful to have been granted these kits to assist in their continued efforts to make the district well-equipped to handle any medical emergency that may arise.  “We are very thankful to have received the generous donation of these kits,” Gregorski said.  From left, Denise Johnson, high school nurse; Valarie Williams, B.A., TTS., and Paul Gregorski, high school principal.

Western Wayne Girls Lead Club Raises Funds for Victims Intervention

The Western Wayne Girls Lead Club recently completed their annual collection for Victims Intervention. The student body and faculty at large contributed. The group raised $1000 throughout the year and purchased supplies for Victims Intervention with the funds.  Pictured are members who worked on the spring collection of funds among other activities throughout the year. From left, Evan Thomas, Noelle Orehek, Sydney Peet, and Trina Barcarola

Western Wayne FBLA Members Participate in Manners Matter

Eleven FBLA members/business students from Western Wayne High School recently participated in “Manners Matter,” an event sponsored by the Wayne County School-to-Work Committee. The event was held at Lackawanna College Lake Region and featured a gourmet luncheon catered and donated by the Lords Valley Country Club,
Students from Forest City, Wayne Highlands, Wallenpaupack, and Western Wayne participated. Prior to the serving of the meal, presentations on proper meal etiquette and job interviewing skills were given by Justin Genzlinger of the Settlers Hospitality Group, and Ryan French, Senior Vice President and Director of Human Resources at the Wayne Bank, respectively.
Those attending included Rachel Hineline, Allison Mattern, Krystal Tregaskis, Abby Burke, Abby Gogolski, Gracie Guarino, and Caroline Trygar, David Tucker, Austin Boguski, Jake DuBeau, and Jake Kunz. Theresa Lubash, FBLA adviser and business teacher, accompanied the students.

Western Wayne Middle School Holds Annual 8th Grade Moving-Up Ceremony


From left, Elizabeth Wasylyk, who received the Daughters of the American Revolution Award; and Charles Dietrich, who received the American Legion Award

In the popular movie musical The Greatest Showman both a younger and older version of the character P.T. Barnum sings the song “A Million Dreams” about everything he wishes to accomplish in his life. Therefore, it seemed only fitting that the 8th grade Western Wayne Middle School chorus would sing this song in front of their family and friends at the Middle School’s annual Moving-Up Ceremony held on the morning of Monday, June 10, in the Middle School Gym.

 “Cause every night I lie in bed/ The brightest colors fill my head/ A million dreams are keeping me awake/ I think of what the world could be/ A vision of the one I see/ A million dreams is all it’s gonna take/ A million dreams for the world we’re gonna make,” the students sang as everyone in attendance sat and reflected on the students’ time in the middle school and wished them the best for their new journey in high school.

          Eighth grade students, their teachers, administrators, and family members all attended the ceremony along with their fellow 6th and 7th grade classmates and teachers.

          All 8th grade students received awards in various categories for excellence or improvement in all academic and unified arts classes.  In addition, students received awards for good citizenship, excellent work habits, and for a variety of high academic achievements such as making the honor roll for 11 quarters in middle school from 6th through 8th grade.

          It is also a Western Wayne Middle School tradition for many years that two outstanding students, one male and one female, are recognized for their patriotism and leadership among other qualities.  The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the local American Legion present these awards. 

          Charlene Edgerton and Eloise Fasshauer presented the Daughters of the American Revolution Award to 8th grader Elizabeth Wasylyk. 

          Elizabeth received the good citizenship medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution for being an outstanding student in the 8th grade class who exhibits the qualities of honor and honesty, service, courage, leadership, and patriotism.

          George Shaffer presented the American Legion Award to 8th grader Charles Dietrich.

          Charles received this annual award for being an outstanding student in the 8th grade class who exhibits the qualities of honor, scholarship, Americanism, leadership, and courage.

          Both Elizabeth and Charles felt extremely honored to receive their respective awards.  They also both, at first, felt shocked to learn the Daughters of the American Revolution and the American Legion had chosen them for these high honors.

          “I felt surprised and honored,” Elizabeth said.

 Elizabeth is a high honor roll student who enjoys spending much of her free time reading a variety of books.  She has been a member of the school’s Reading Team throughout her middle school career.  Now she looks forward to new academic challenges in the high school.

“I’m looking forward to taking all of my honors classes next year,” Elizabeth explained.  She will take honors courses in the areas of English, history, and science.

Her fellow honoree Charles also looks forward to his honors courses next year in history and geometry. In addition, he feels excited for a new routine.

“I’m excited to be going to a new school with my friends and to have more freedom,” Charles, who plays baseball and basketball for Western Wayne, explained.

          Middle School Principal Kristen Donohue gave closing remarks at the ceremony.   She cited lyrics from the song “Just One Person” and encouraged the students to reflect on the people who helped to shape their lives in middle school and to remember the importance of, above all else, being someone who believes in him or herself.

As the song goes, “If just one person believes in you/  Deep enough, and strong enough, believes in you/ Hard enough, and long enough before you knew it, /Someone else would think, if he can do it, I can do it.”

It is the hope of the middle school staff that this eighth grade class will take all that they have learned in their middle school careers and use it to guide them into their journey as high school students in the fall.

Western Wayne Band Becomes Platinum Member of Jupiter KHS Academic Alliance

The Western Wayne Band has been accepted as a platinum member of the Jupiter KHS Academic Alliance. As a platinum member, the band will have access to test instruments, can be a local ambassador for Jupiter artists, and will receive a complimentary appearance by one of the rostered professional artists. In addition, the band will be represented on the KHS website with a small blurb and the school logo.
Western Wayne Band Director Elaine Ort greatly looks forward to being a part of this amazing program in the coming school year. She explained that the band will have the potential to be featured in future KHS literature both in photos and written articles.
“We are the 31st school in the country to receive this status, and the 1st school in Pennsylvania,” Ort said. “I am extremely proud of our students and can’t wait for them to benefit from this program in the coming years.”
From left, this year’s Western Wayne Wildcat Marching Band Drum Majors Kat Moore and Lindsey Karwacki. They are pictured at the marching band’s final performance of the year, the annual Flag Day Parade in Waymart held this past Saturday, June 8.

Western Wayne Middle School Hosts First Entrepreneurship Day

  • Pictured is Mindy Maros owner of LLC Lake Wallenpaupack Marine Storage and Repair.
  • Pictured is business owner Lenny Wargo of Heads Up Flooring with his son Landon Wargo, a sixth grader at Western Wayne Middle School.
  • Pictured is Joyce Keen DeBastiani owner of the Wallflower for 34 years.
  • Pictured are business partners Jordan Hayden and Melissa Morgan of Salon Jam.
  • Pictured is Jeff Gogolski of Beck, Gogolski, Poska & Co.
  • Pictured is Katharine Brown owner of Fox Hill Farm.

Good leadership skills, a positive attitude, willingness to put in long hours, and a passion for your work are all qualities that many of the local business owners at Western Wayne Middle School’s first Entrepreneurship Day discussed with students.

          The eighth grade class was treated to presentations by a dozen local business owners on the afternoon of Thursday, June 6.  The students signed up to hear about businesses in fields of their interests prior to the experience.  They then had the opportunity to listen to some of the working professionals in three half-hour sessions.

          Business owners who participated included:  Katharine Brown, owner of Fox Hill Farm; Joyce Keen DeBastiani, owner of the Wallflower and the Lodge at Keen Lake; Jordan Hayden, owner of Salon Jam; Rick Hoch, owner of Hoch Oil and Heat; Mindy Maros, owner of LLC Lake Wallenpaupack Marine Storage and Repair; Lenny Wargo, owner of Head Up Flooring; Attorney Michael Farley; Ron Augelli, owner of Augelli Printing; Jeff Gogolski, of Beck, Gogolski, Poska & Co.; Carl  Lutkowski, owner of C&S Athletic Club, Dr. Cathy Salak, dentist; and Mike Walsh, of Guide Light Counseling.

          Eighth grader Alyson Buchinski said she enjoyed Walsh’s presentation and learned about the qualities that good counselors must have in order to succeed.

          “I learned you have to be able to speak well for that career,” Alyson said.

          Another presenter who spoke about good communication skills was Joyce Keen DeBastiani of the Wallflower and the Lodge at Keen Lake.

DeBastiani said she learned how to stand her ground in business operations at a young age.  She explained to the students how when she was eight years old she would place candy orders for her father’s business.

“The candy man was afraid of me because I knew how to say no,” DeBastiani explained to the students.  “He would try to sell me anything and everything, but I made sure we got what was best for our customers.”

DeBastiani’s family has owned and run the Lodge at Keen Lake for many years.  In addition, she has owned and operated the Wallflower for 34 years.  She explained how the Wallflower, located in downtown Honesdale, sells a variety of unique clothing and jewelry among many other items.

She told students that to be successful in business you have to wear many hats.

“I’m a buyer, seller, manager, merchandiser, and even sometimes a janitor,” DeBastiani explained.

Above all else, she told students her favorite part about owning her business is loving what she does every day.

“I don’t mind working hard because I love what I do,” DeBastiani said.

Another business owner at the event, who equally loves what she does, is Katharine Brown, owner of the wedding venue Fox Hill Farm.

Brown felt especially thrilled to speak to Western Wayne Middle School students since she taught at Western Wayne Middle School for four years in the early 2000s. 

“Any chance to speak in front of young people is a favorite day for me,” Brown said.  “It is good to expose kids to different possibilities through events like this.  I want them to know that you never know where life will take you and that the college track isn’t for everyone.”

Brown explained that her business started as an operation where she made floral arrangements for a variety of events until one day a bride asked if she could have her actual wedding at the venue Brown was creating the flowers.

“It was a very organic start to our event venue business,” Brown explained. 

In addition, Brown said that in recent times she opened a second venue called 6th & River that is a restored brick warehouse.  She explained that this venue is very helpful because of the unpredictable weather we have been experiencing.

Another business owner  who is just as ambitious as Brown is Jordan Hayden, 2015 Western Wayne graduate, and her business partner Melissa Morgan, 2015 North Pocono graduate, who own Salon Jam in Covington Township.  Salon Jam has been in business since 2012. 

Hayden and Morgan were glad to be asked to share their experiences with Western Wayne students.

“I loved to see how excited they were,” Morgan said.  “Hearing our story helped them to understand how businesses work in real life.”

Hayden was glad to have the chance to represent the beauty industry at the event.

“Our industry isn’t always taken seriously,” Hayden explained.  “It’s good to let the students know that they have creative options for careers.”

She went on to explain how much she enjoys working in a close- knit community.

“It’s such a close circle, and it’s really great to get to have so many customers who are connected to each other in different ways,” Hayden explained.  “It’s like working with customers who are all part of a big extended family.”

Another business owner at the event who knows about working with family was Lenny Wargo owner of Head Up Flooring. Wargo explained how he has worked in his family’s business for 28 years and took over running operations twelve years ago.

Much like the other business owners, Wargo told the students about the commitment it takes to run a business and the commitment he is looking for from his employees and future employees.

“In order to be successful, you schedule your life around your work not the other way around,” Wargo said. 

A 1997 Western Wayne graduate, Wargo was glad to give back to his school community by speaking to the students.

“It was neat to interact with them,” Wargo said.  “They had a lot of questions about the money aspect of business.”

This isn’t the first time Wargo has worked in some respect at the school he graduated from. Wargo explained how in recent years his company did the flooring in parts of the middle school and high school along with redoing the flooring in the high school and middle school gyms among other Western Wayne campus remodeling projects.

“I remember I helped my dad put the original flooring in the high school gym as well about twenty years ago,” Wargo said.  “Now that is really full circle.”

Wargo’s son Landon, who is a sixth grader at Western Wayne Middle School, is keeping the tradition of working in the family business alive.  He said he is learning a lot from working with his dad on different projects and was proud his father got to speak to his older classmates at the event.

Overall the eighth grade class felt very inspired by their experiences at the first Western Wayne Middle School Entrepreneurship Day.

“I got out of the presentations that the owners really love their jobs,” eighth grader Isabella O’Donnell said.  “I learned how important it is to find something that you really love, because then you’ll be really happy to go to work each day.”

STATE CHAMP!!!

Junior Trina Barcarola is the 2019 State Champ in the Pole Vault (clearing 12’6), and the 100 Hurdles. She finished 8th place in the 400 Hurdles and was part of the girls 4 x 400 Relay Team,

LIAA Scholar Athletes Honored

Pictured L to R: Dr. Matthew Barrett, Superintendent, Paul Gregorski, High School Principal, Vaeda Pontosky, Robert Carey, and Bob Black, Athletic Director

Senior’s Vaeda Potosky and Robert Carey were honored on May 29, 2019 at the annual LIAA Scholar Athlete Breakfast, held at Genetti’s in Dickson City,

Vaeda Pontosky, is the daughter of Richard and Marnie Pontosky and resides in Lake Ariel. She has played soccer and softball for 4 years and has been a basketball cheerleader for 1 year. In soccer, she was a captain. She received the Hustle Award and was named an LIAA First Team All-Star in Soccer. Vaeda is a member of the National Honor Society, Girls Lead, the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences, Technology Student Association, and Student Council. She serves om the Wayne County Children and Youth Advisory Committee. She volunteers for the Steamtown Marathon, Santa’s Workshop, and assists elementary students in conducting science experiments. Vaeda has earned a Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Research Fellowship and has participated in the Pennsylvania State Police Camp Cadet. She will attend DeSales University in the fall where she will begin Medical Studies.

Robert Carey, son of Eugene and Christine Carey and resides in Moscow. He has earned 10 varsity letters; 4 in baseball, 3 in golf, and 3 in basketball. He has served as one of his baseball team’s captains. Robert is a member of the National Honor Society, TSA, and Student Council. He will attend West Virginia University in the fall where he will major in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Natural Gas.

Western Wayne Alumni Graduate from Prestigious Schools Prepared to Serve in Military

The Western Wayne School District is very proud of two of its 2015 alumni who soon will serve our country in the military.

Timothy Shaffer has been attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida and participating in Air Force ROTC Detachment 157 for the last four years.  He recently graduated as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautics.  He earned a pilot slot in his junior year and will be stationed at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, next year to begin pilot training.  Upon graduation of pilot training, he intends to fly an F-35.

His former classmate Kyle Coons attended the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for 4 years, graduating as a Second Lieutenant in the Army with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. While at VMI, he marched in President Trump’s Inauguration Parade in Washington, DC along with the Governor of Virginia’s inaugural parade in Richmond, VA. He presented the colors at Martinsville Speedway for a NASCAR race and was part of a committee within the corps of cadets named the RDC, this group helps freshmen get accustomed to the VMI system.  He will be first stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma for training. His first duty station will be Fort Drum, New York.


Pictured is 2015 Western Wayne alumni Timothy Shaffer, who recently graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautics.

Both recent graduates credit their time at Western Wayne as one of the reasons they found success in their four years at their respective institutions. 

“All of my teachers were great at Western Wayne,” Tim said.  “The math and science departments in the high school especially prepared me for school. I have done really well in math and science in college.”

Kyle agrees that his time at Western Wayne helped to prepare him for his time at VMI.

“I learned leadership skills from serving as the captain of both the football team and volleyball team,” Kyle explained.  “Also, my AP classes taught me good study habits.”

Tim and Kyle had different collegiate experiences but each have the same end result of being prepared and ready to enter the military in their respective branches.

Tim’s experience at Embry-Riddle allowed him to have a normal university experience of attending his classes and being involved in other on-campus school activities along with his military training three days a week. He explained how it was a very equal blend.

Kyle’s experience was different in the respect that his college experience was immersed in military training every day in various ways.  He explained how the students dressed in military attire at all times while on campus along with training each day and going to their college classes. 

Pictured is 2015 Western Wayne alumni Kyle Coons, who recently graduated from the Virginia Military Institute as a Second Lieutenant in the Army with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History.

These two, very accomplished, Western Wayne alumni have a great mutual respect for one another and are proud of each other’s college achievements.  They explained how they chose to pursue becoming service men through different avenues but that they both learned so much already and feel prepared to continue their military training.

Tim feels excited to start his journey at Columbus Air Force Base this spring.

“I am really proud to be able to do what I’m doing,” Tim said.  “I know a lot of other people would want to be doing it.”

He is eager to learn more about aviation and explained that the feeling he gets on a flight is incredibly exciting.

“I remember one solo flight I did in college that was special,” Tim explained.  “It was right before the sun came up.  I was flying from Daytona Beach south past Kennedy Space Center.”

In addition, Tim feels very excited to be able to use the skills he learned in college when he starts his pilot training for the Air Force.

“I have always had a love for aviation that I couldn’t explain,” Tim said.  “I have also always been fascinated, from when I was younger, with American history and events such as Pearl Harbor.”

Kyle also is eager to begin his field artillery training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  His first duty station will be in Fort Drum, New York.  He feels he has learned a lot about leadership from his time at VMI that he will use in the future.

“VMI taught me that good leaders are confident with their decisions,” Kyle explained.  “I have also learned to lead by example.”

Western Wayne, faculty, administration, and staff wish Tim and Kyle the best with their future endeavors along with thanking them for serving our country.