Western Wayne Chorus students attended the virtual PMEA District 9 Chorus Festival. 

Rebecca Boots, Rhonda Fenkner, Bridgette Flannery, and Joanna Regalbuto had a successful and fun musical experience.

Senior Rhonda Fenkner and junior Joanna Regalbuto placed in their auditions and are now eligible to audition for the PMEA All State Chorus Festival which will also take place virtually in March.

            Rhonda and Joanna explained how even though their experience with district chorus was very different this year that it was also extremely enjoyable and rewarding.

            The students sent in their auditions virtually. Then for the festival they were able to practice with students from other districts and a guest conductor on Zoom.  The students worked to record their songs and editors compiled the songs together into finished pieces.

            “I really liked how one of our instructors did improv vocal exercises with us,” Joanna explained.  “He would have us hit a sour note and then fix it.”

            Rhonda explained after having done music festivals for years in-person that this year’s festival still had many of the great qualities that ones in the past have had for her as a musician.

            “I learned that it’s possible online to have a music festival experience,” Rhonda, who will attend Marywood University next year and study music therapy, explained.  “People were talking in the chat box and practicing together on the call.  All of us had a really good time.  We were all boosting each other’s confidence throughout the process.  It was very challenging and rewarding to sing out loud in front of about 90 of my peers on a Zoom call.”

            Rhonda and Joanna look forward to auditioning for the PMEA All-State Chorus Festival which will also take place virtually in March.  From left:  Joanna Regalbuto and Rhonda Fenkner.

            Western Wayne FCCLA students wrote letters to residents at the Julia Ribaudo Extended Care Center for Valentine’s Day.  The students were paired with a resident earlier this school year, and, for their first correspondence, the club decided to send their letter with mugs and sweet treats for their new pen pals.

            FCCLA Vice President Amelia Bosshard explained how she introduced herself in the letter and talked about how much she loves to read since her new pen pal also enjoys this activity.

            “I like knowing that they will get a smile from what we have sent,” Amelia explained.  

            FCCLA President Caitlyn Burdick also tried to make a personal connection with her resident through her letter.

            “My pen pal is a woman who likes music, so I told her about how I used to play ‘Sweet Caroline’ in the Western Wayne Marching Band,” Caitlyn explained.

            Both Amelia and Caitlyn plan to work with children in their future careers.  Amelia aspires to be an elementary school teacher.

            “A lot of what we do in the club is helping others, and I think in education I will be teaching kids compassion and teamwork,” Amelia explained.

            Caitlyn will study early childhood education and psychology after graduation.

            “As president of the club, I have worked to plan many events.  This will relate to working in a classroom because I will have to plan lessons, activities, and projects.”

            FCCLA plans to send more correspondence to the nursing home residents as the year continues.

FCCLA has coordinated with the Wayne and Pike County Victim’s Intervention Program to make it known that February is “Dating Violence Prevention Month.”  Students have placed bright orange flyers and ribbons in the hallway with flyers and important information for anyone who may be seeking help or experiencing an abusive relationship. Students have the opportunity to take an awareness quiz for a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card.

FCCLA Director of Fundraising Paige Lee, sophomore, explained that her time learning about and promoting dating violence prevention has been a rewarding experience.

“I hope that students at our school realize that this issue should be taken seriously,” Paige, who also participates in indoor track and softball, said.  “I want them to know how important it is to contact someone for help if it is needed.”

FCCLA President Caitlyn Burdick, senior, agrees.

“I hope that my classmates realize that they can get out of a bad situation. There is always someone there to help them,” Caitlyn explained.

Did you know that one out of three high school students across the country experience an abusive relationship before they graduate? If you need help, reach out to an Advocate today! Call 570-253-4401 or text 570-798 -4VIP (4847).  Chat : vipempowers.or/chat

Western Wayne High School has two student semi-finalists in a statewide Suicide Prevention contest run by Prevent Suicide PA.

            Please vote for DonVito Borrelli, sophomore, who submitted Poster B and Sydney Hutchinson, senior, who submitted Audio File C.

            The 2021 PSA contest page can be accessed at http://psa.preventsuicidepa.org/2021-2/. Click on the thumbs up under each entry to vote for that entry.

            Both Western Wayne students take pride in their work and hope that it makes a difference for others.

            DonVito’s poster reads “Your Life Matters. You are Not Alone. There is always hope.” 

            He has incorporated three cartoon-like figures on the poster.  He explained that he tried to make the design pleasing to the eye.  DonVito has enjoyed drawing in this style for several years.

            “Cartoons inspired me to get involved in making art in the first place,” DonVito explained. “I watched a lot of cartoons as a kid, and I was always interested in how they were made. I drew a lot when I was little, and I just kept doing it and it developed into an active hobby.”

 He explained the most challenging part about making this particular contest poster for the statewide Suicide Prevention contest run by Prevent Suicide PA.

 “The most challenging part was probably the text on the bottom. I didn’t want to put something that was incredibly common, but I also didn’t want to put something that was more obscure, so I tried to find a good middle point.  I hope people see that there are still people there for them. No matter how alone they feel, there is still someone there to help them, even if it seems like there isn’t.”

            DonVito was happy to use this contest as a way to express himself through his artwork. 

     “I love creating art because I want to make people feel something. I specifically enjoy  animation. I want to entertain people, and I want to leave a lasting impression on them with the things I make. I want to make people be able to go, ‘Hey, I enjoy this and I’m going remember this for years to come,’ ” he explained.

      DonVito aspires to go to a community college and then do freelance animation and graphic design work or other art-related projects.

            Fellow Western Wayne semifinalist Sydney Hutchinson also aspires to pursue a liberal arts related field after graduation.  She plans to pursue communication journalism in college.

             For her entry in the contest, she created a 30 second audio file about suicide prevention awareness. She explained that the most challenging part was making her submission fit the time requirement.

            “It took many tries to get it right,” she explained. “I hope that people get from my audio file submission to know that they can always reach out for help if they need it.  Someone is always there for you.”

            When listening to her submission, pay attention to the sound affects she added for typing, emailing, etc. She really enjoyed creating this project, and it made her feel even more confident about her choice to pursue a career in possibly broadcast journalism.  She has committed to Penn State Main Campus in the fall.

            “I love to write especially when it is about something I enjoy,” Sydney explained.  “I have learned a lot in my Western Wayne classes to help prepare me for my career especially about how to work with people and how to get along with them.”

            Sydney is involved in many activities at Western Wayne which include:  cross country where she serves as captain, indoor track, outdoor track, NHS, FBLA, yearbook, and student council.

            The Western Wayne School District encourages the public to vote online for these two talented students in the Suicide Prevention Contest.

The public voting is open from now until Friday, February 26th. One vote per person, per contest, per day. Voting is open to anyone and can be shared widely. Contest winners will be announced in early March, and winners will be honored in the spring.

The 2021 PSA contest page can be accessed at http://psa.preventsuicidepa.org/2021-2/. Click on the thumbs up under each entry to vote for that entry.

Sydney hopes that after the public views her submission and the others on the website that they feel hopeful.

“I want people to know that they are not alone.  There is always someone that is there even if you don’t think there is.”

Pictured is DonVito’s poster entry.

Western Wayne Senior Tyler Peet has always had a love of cars.  He has been involved in competition racing since he was seven years old.  Members of his family have been involved in racing and this sparked Tyler’s interest in the sport.

            This past race season, in October of 2020, Tyler won a race at the Big Diamond Speedway in Pottsville and received a $1,500 dollar prize.  The Big Diamond Speedway track is one that races weekly once the season starts. To partake in the race, participants arrive, pay a fee to participate, and then race.

             “An event like this is very wild, hard, and stressful.  The race format would be 7 p.m. warm-up laps for all cars, then there are heat races which is one of your qualifying races.  This is a short 8 or 10 lap race with about 10 cars in the field (depending on how many cars come to race).  In a heat race, your goal is to finish as close to the front of the field as possible because only a certain amount of cars will make the A-main.  The cars that don’t qualify through the heat race will go to a last chance qualifier which could have anywhere from a six car field to a twenty car field.  This race will be around fifteen laps long and less cars will advance to the A- main.  The people that qualify for the A-main will race with the main goal being to win,” Tyler explained.  ““In this race, I started in fifth and I was able to pass the four cars in front of me to take the lead and eventually take the race win.”

Since Tyler has been involved in car racing since he was very young, he has had a lot of training experience by racing as much as he possibly can during each season.  He also enjoys his auto shop classes at Western Wayne and considers himself an all-around repair man.

            “A big thing in the racing world is not giving up,” Tyler said.  “This is a big lesson because in just a second your entire night can change.”

            Being a part of the racing scene isn’t something that a lot of high school students commonly do.

“I would say being a high school student and racing is not very common,” Tyler, who also plays baseball for Western Wayne, said.  “However, I know a good amount of people that are my age that race.”

There are some challenges that racers must overcome which Tyler discussed.

“I would say the most challenging thing is qualifying for the race just because of how many cars that show up,” he explained.  “For example, I was at a race, at the end of the year, where about 90 cars came and only 30 made the main event.”

Tyler greatly enjoys his experiences with racing and hopes to continue racing after high school.

“My favorite part about racing would have to be winning races,” he said.  “After high school, I still plan on racing.  My goal is to move up the ranks and eventually turn it into my full-time job. Throughout the years, I have met a ton of people.  I have not only had the opportunity to be around and talk to some of the biggest names in racing, but I have been able to also become friends and work with some of them.”

Western Wayne junior Hudson Malinowski recently was accepted to the PMEA All-Eastern Concert Band on clarinet. Hudson will represent Western Wayne at the virtual festival later this spring.  This is the first time in recent memory that a student from Western Wayne has achieved this honor.  Western Wayne faculty and staff congratulate Hudson on this great accomplishment.  The photo was taken during Western Wayne’s 2019 fall field show.

Western Wayne High School had four seniors recognized as winners of the Artist of the Month Contest for this year by the Scranton Times: Cori Talarico, March; Irene Sheehan, June; Noelle Cruz, August; and Abigail Lopez, November.
In these stressful times, Cori Talarico’s Times submission will be sure to have a calming effect on all those who take in its beauty.
“The piece I entered is a very serene landscape of a lake,” she explained. “I really like this piece because it is filled with cool colors that make it very calming to look at. Working on this painting provided an outlet to free my mind from everything that has been going on in the world recently. I really enjoy doing landscapes that highlight the beauty of nature. I am often inspired by nature in our living area for my landscapes.”
Cori has been drawing since she was two and painting since she was about four. She has taken art classes throughout middle and high school at Western Wayne. Currently, she is in three different art classes.
“My favorite medium to use is acrylic paint,” Cori said. “You have a lot more creative freedom with it since you can always paint over messy areas or mix different colors to make the one you need. I always do fine details in colored pencil on top of acrylic paint, because the colored pencil adds more vibrancy to the painting.”
After graduation, Cori plans to take a gap year to focus on herself and what she wishes to pursue. She knows art will always be her favorite hobby, and she thinks it could be involved in her future career. Cori values the importance of art to her life.
“Art provides an escape from stressful situations in life. Whether it is sketching, drawing, painting, or sculpting. Art is something that I have complete control over when everything else in my life is turbulent and changing,” Cori explained. “It gives me piece of mind as I am able to be as creative as I’d like to be.”
Fellow senior Abigail Lopez also loves the creativity involved in being an artist. Abby has been drawing and doodling since elementary school. She also has been teaching herself different coloring and shading techniques since she was young.
Her favorite medium to use is digital.
“I can always do digital art as long as I have my tablet or phone and don’t need to keep buying supplies and fearing running out of said supplies, which is always a win,” Abby explained. “It also makes it easier for me to fix mistakes that would usually discourage me from even wanting to continue a project.”
The piece Abby submitted to the Times is a work-in-progress digital piece. It depicts a character from an ongoing “series” online called the Dream SMP.
Abby, who plans to attend Mansfield University for Digital Design, explained her work process for her digital art.
“I actually don’t have a theme for my projects,” Abby explained. “I really like just creating whatever inspires me or motivates me at the time. Whenever I’m making digital art, I’m more likely to draw fanart or original characters. I love that you can create scenes out of such simple things. You can take a scene from a low-poly video game and turn it into so much more or just take a concept in your mind and bring it to life.”
Another Western Wayne art student who has been excited about bringing her art to life this year is Noelle Cruz. Noelle has taken Studio Art every year throughout high school. She hopes to create a senior display for the art show and knows she will focus on bright multi-colored depictions of nature for it.
“My favorite medium recently is colored pencil. It takes longer, but I can be more precise with my drawing which allows for more detailed artwork. I like how realistic I can make something look with the more time I put into the piece,” Noelle said.
She further described a favorite realistic piece she created this year.
“My favorite piece that I’ve worked on this year is my colored pencil drawing of a jellyfish. I love how vibrant the colors are on the black paper as if it’s glowing,” Noelle explained.
In the future, Noelle plans to attend Pennsylvania College of Technology for a bachelor’s in dental hygiene. She is also interested in joining creative clubs and in taking digital art classes in college because she has never experimented with digital mediums before.
Noelle is excited to continue to develop her creative abilities even after high school.
“What I enjoy most about creating art is the freedom it allows my creative mind to have,” Noelle explained. “I sketch something simple that came across my mind and a week later that image in my head is now full of life for others to see on the canvas in front of me.”
Fellow senior Irene Sheehan, like Noelle, plans to continue art as a hobby in the future.
She explained that acrylic is her favorite medium to create with.
“You can layer it, so it’s fun to do more impressionistic pieces that way,” she explained.
The artwork Irene created for the Times is a picture of a fairground.
Irene explained the peace she finds in developing her art.
“It’s calming to me,” Irene said. “In my time at Western Wayne, I have learned a lot about technique, and I now have the ability to overcome, less anxiously, the barrier of having a blank piece of paper in front of me when beginning the creative process.”
Irene looks forward to studying music and psychology after graduation.
Western Wayne faculty, staff, and administration are proud of the accomplishments of these aspiring young artists and encourage the community to look for their work in the Scranton Times to celebrate their accomplishments.