Around the Schools

Western Wayne High School Students Attend Transition Expo.

Western Wayne High School Students attended the Wayne County Collaborative Transition Expo. held on Oct. 22 at Ladore Lodge in Waymart.  At the event, they learned about college and career opportunities.  The event is designed to assist transitioning students with disabilities and their families.

          Senior Rebeccah King enjoyed the knowledge she gained from the event.

          “Representatives from different schools help you with your questions about college,” King, who aspires to study welding after graduation, explained.  “They offered scholarship help, and I also learned about opportunities for employment available to me now.  I learned that Woodloch Pines is hiring.”

          Rebeccah’s classmate Becca Boots also thought she gained some valuable insights from the expo.

          “I am very interested in culinary studies in college,” Becca explained.  “I spoke to someone representing Lackawanna College’s culinary program, and I learned that they have a separate building on campus for that major.  That made me even more interested in attending that school.”

          All of the students who attended the transition expo. were happy to gain more knowledge about fields they can pursue after their time in high school.

          Pictured are some of the Western Wayne High School students who recently attended the Wayne County Collaborative Transition Expo. held on Oct. 22 at Ladore Lodge in Waymart.  Front row, from left:  Jamie Newman, Mya Lukas, Amy Newman, Caleb Burns, Jordan Diaz, Braydon Christian, and Rebecca Weist.  Back row, from left:  Jack Klikus, Caleb Swingle, Becca Boots, and Rebeccah King.

Western Wayne Graduate Excels in Navy

Lieutenant Junior Grade Garret Enslin, who graduated from Western Wayne in 2012, has gone on to achieve many outstanding accomplishments in the United States Navy.

 Enslin graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2016.  He earned a degree in mechanical engineering. After graduation, Enslin was stationed on a ship in Everett, Washington, for about two and a half years.  He worked as a gunnery ordnance officer where he led twenty sailors in maintenance work.  This type of work included working with the guns on the ship, logistics projects, management of the ammunition itself, getting missiles on board, coordinating teams, etc.

          Once his first tour was completed, Enslin received a Navy Achievement Medal for his work as Gunnery and Ordnance Officer onboard the U.S.S. Momsen.

          Enslin went on to Nuclear Power School, a technical school operated by the U.S. Navy in Goose Creek, South Carolina, to train enlisted sailors, officers, KAPL civilians and Bettis civilians for shipboard nuclear power plant operation and maintenance of surface ships and submarines in the U.S. nuclear navy.  There he learned theory about how nuclear reactors work among many other aspects of this field.  He graduated second in his class from Nuclear Power School. Then Enslin applied the theory he learned at Nuclear Power School in prototype school, which is a Nuclear Power Training Unit.

          Enslin explained that at the training unit there are essentially two nuclear power submarines that were decommissioned from naval service and refitted for the specific purpose of training nuclear operators now.  Enslin graduated first in his class from prototype.

He discussed how his training was a progression because first he learned the theory in Nuclear Power School, then he applied that theory in his prototype training, and now he will begin applying all of this acquired knowledge from school and training on a ship that has two actual nuclear reactors, the U.S.S. Nimitz. 

Enslin started on the Nimitz on November 4.  He is a surface warfare officer (nuclear).    He will spend 28 months there running and overseeing operations and working to lead about forty sailors.

Enslin explained why he chose this path in his military career.

“I love the technical aspect of it,” Enslin said.  “I was able to get a lot of in-depth technical training, and this has allowed me to be really able to think about problems.  This path has given me the chance to lead others very early on in my career.  It is a great opportunity.”

In addition, Enslin also fondly reflected on his days at Western Wayne.  He recalled enjoying his time on the wrestling team.  He was a part of the team from his time in middle school through his four years of high school. 

Another highlight from Enslin’s time in high school was the leadership qualities he learned as a member of the Future Business Leaders of America club that was led by advisor Fran Vitosky at the time Enslin was a member.

“My time in FBLA in which I learned how to speak well in front of others has most directly translated to some of the success I have had,” Enslin explained.  “Speaking well to another person when you meet that person for the first time is very important.  First impressions are very important in life and in the military.”

Enslin also has some words of wisdom for Western Wayne students who will soon be entering the real world upon their graduation this coming year.

“It is very important to be humble,” Enslin said.  “Being able to admit that you are wrong and to seek help even if you don’t want to is a very important part of succeeding.”

Enslin discussed how he, at a young age, after graduating the Navy Academy, had to oversee some people who were much older than him.   He explained that he learned a lot about critical thinking and humility from that experience.

The second piece of advice he gives Western Wayne High School seniors involves resilience.

“It is important to be resilient and come back from failure,” Enslin said.  “You need to reflect honestly about why a failure occurs, so you can learn from that mistake.”

Enslin is excited for his experience on the Nimitz, and says that after this tour he plans to look for work outside of the Navy.  He thinks his experience on this ship will be a good transition to him working in the future in civilian engineering.

Western Wayne administration, faculty, and staff are very proud of Enslin’s many great accomplishments and wish him the very best in all of his future endeavors.

Western Wayne High School learned leadership skills while attending the FCCLA Regional Leadership Meeting

Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) from Western Wayne High School learned leadership skills, organizational skills and project ideas while attending the FCCLA Regional Leadership Meeting on October 25th at Reading Area Community College.

            Members attended workshops on Leadership, Statewide Initiatives, Publicizing your Chapter, Safety, Family Consumer Sciences related topics, and State Officer Candidacy.  During the meeting, local chapter members also learned about the PA FCCLA outreach project and the membership campaign.

            Western Wayne members expressed enthusiasm toward returning to their chapter with great ideas and lots of motivation for a successful year.

WW Freshman, Ashley Small learned about FCCLA programs and competitions and stated “The workshop taught me about a useful planning process that will help me organize community events and achieve my future career plans.”

WW Sophomore Katarina Wood explained “I attended an FCCLA work session that gave me key strategies to balance my extracurricular and academic skills.”

Sinclaire Ogof, a WW Senior and Vice President of Membership, reported that “Twenty seven students attended the FCCLA Regional Leadership Meeting and our Western Wayne Chapter’s membership has tripled this year, totaling  52 students!”

            Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America is a dynamic and effective national student organization that helps young men and women become leaders and addresses important personal, family, work, and societal issues through Family & Consumer Sciences Education and Related Occupations. 

FCCLA is unique among youth organizations because its programs are planned and run by members.  It is the only national in-school organization with the family as its central focus.  Participation in national programs and chapter activities helps members become strong leaders in their families, careers, and communities.

Western Wayne Middle School Holds Cake-Off Competition

First quarter Western Wayne eighth grade family & consumer science students, after studying different cultures in their social studies class, voted to represent Mayan culture in a Cake-Off Competition held in late October. The Cake-Off Competition was made up of nine teams, competing against each other to be the ultimate Cake-Off winner.  Mrs. Dawn Krautter is the Western Wayne Middle School family & consumer sciences teacher.

Pictured are the eighth grade winners of the Middle School Cake-Off Competition. From left: Cianna Tyler, Tyler Gottshall, Michaela Birnkrant, Emily Dickson, and Stephanie Soom.

Krautter explained that each team created a cake that represented Mayan culture, civilization, or contributions.  In addition, the teams wrote a descriptive paragraph explaining their representation. Cakes were judged on eye appeal, creativity, accuracy of facts, descriptive paragraph writing, and overall presentation. 

The third place cake winner with a total of 216 points was made by Justin Eldred, Leah Fedorchak, Cayden Rose, Isis Christian, and Karina Booths. The second place cake winner with a total of 217 points was made by Taylor Maiocco, Laila Filkovsky, Eddie Belavitz, William Parry, Darrell Schramm and Adrianna Scarpati. Finally, the first place champions with a total of 229 points for their cake included Stephanie Soom, Michaela Birnkrant, Emily Dickson, Tyler Gottshall, and Cianna Tyler.

The third place cake winners explained that astrology played a key role in the design of their cake that has purple and blue icing and looks like the night sky in a galaxy. 

“The Mayans enjoyed studying astrology, so we decided to make that part of our cake design,” eighth grader Karina Booths explained.

Fellow group member Isis Christian discussed the challenges the group faced that later paid off in their third place win.

“Leveling the cake was challenging,” Isis explained.  “We also had to learn how to be cooperative with each other and be able to work with the supplies we had to make the cake.”

Pictured are the second place winners of the Western Wayne Middle School Cake-Off Competition. From left: Eddie Belavitz, Taylor Maiocco, Darrell Schramm, Adrianna Scarpati, Laila Filkovsky, and William Parry.
Pictured are the third place winners of the Western Wayne Middle School Cake-Off Competition. From left: Cayden Rose, Isis Christian, Justin Eldred, Leah Fedorchak, and Karina Booths.

The second place cake winners agree that they learned a lot about working together from their experience in the Cake-Off Competition.

“In order to get everything done in time, we had to learn how to do separate jobs within the group at the same time,” eighth grader Taylor Maiocco explained.

This second place group worked together to create a cake that looked like a temple where Mayans would worship the Gods and bring food and other sacrifices to it to please them.

The winning Cake-Off Competition group included a variety of different aspects of the Mayan culture into their cake design.  They had a small temple on it made of Rice Krispie treats, a river on it with Goldfish crackers in it to represent how the Mayans got some of their foods, and the sides of the cake were a grayish blue color to represent the Mayan’s love of astrology.

“We wanted to incorporate as much as we could about the Mayan lifestyle in our cake design,” eighth grader Michaela Birnkrant explained.

All of the eighth grade students involved in the Western Wayne Middle School Cake-Off Competition were excited to take on this challenge and display their work for the school community.  Western Wayne Middle School administration, faculty, and staff are proud of the accomplishments of these students.

Western Wayne High School Students to Compete in District Chorus

From left are some of the students who have qualified for District Chorus: Alex Taylor, Rhonda Fenkner, Lily Visceglia, Joanna Regalbuto, and Trinity Williams.

Western Wayne High School will send seven of their high school chorus students to the PMEA District 9 Chorus Festival to be held from January 15 through January 17 at Marywood University.  The following Western Wayne students have all been accepted to District Chorus as either qualified or as an alternate.  The students pre- auditioned to qualify for districts at Tunkhannock Area High School in October.  These students include: Alexandra Solimine, 1st place, alto 2; Joanna Regalbuto, 2nd place, soprano 2; Dakota Beavers, 7th place, tenor 2; Trinity Williams, 14th place, alto 2; Brad Wood, 16th place, tenor 2; Alex Taylor, 16th place, bass 1; Rhonda Fenkner, 19th place, soprano 1; John Nichols , 22nd  , 1st alternate; and Lily Visceglia, 23rd , 2nd alternate.

                All of the students involved are excited to represent Western Wayne at District Chorus in January.  The students will get their audition music sometime in November.  Western Wayne junior Rhonda Fenkner explained that the students will have at least seven songs to prepare.

                “It is exciting and stressful at the same time,” Rhonda explained.  “Last year we had both a South African and Korean piece to prepare for the audition.  Those pieces, of course, are more challenging because, along with learning notes and lyrics, you also have to learn all of the correct pronunciations.”                 Western Wayne Administration, faculty, and staff all wish these students the best at the District Chorus Festival in January.

Western Wayne Students Learn Spanish Dancing

Western Wayne High School students perform the “double hand turn” which they learned in Spanish dance class this fall from local dance instructor Mr. Vince Brust. Left to right: Kristin Hauenstein, Elizabeth Wasylyk, Kailey Tickner, and Alyson Buchinski.
  • From left: Julia Phillips and Ashley Small Bermudez practice their Spanish dance steps at Western Wayne High School.
  • From left: Julia Phillips, Ashley Small Bermudez, and Cassia Sheehan learn Spanish dancing at Western Wayne High School.
  • Freshmen Nate Irvine and Jaden Gregory practice the steps they have learned in their Spanish dancing class at Western Wayne High School.
  • From left: Samantha Scaduto, Alyssa Iovacchini, Kendra Oliver, and Nick Gombita learn Spanish dancing at Western Wayne High School.

Learning rhythms, beats, steps, and choreography isn’t just work for the Rockettes and Broadway stars, Western Wayne High School foreign language students have a yearly tradition of learning Spanish dancing as a part of their curriculum each fall.

          Local dance instructor and studio owner Vince Brust works with the Western Wayne students to teach a variety of traditional Spanish dances such as tango, merengue, mambo, and salsa among others.

          The students have a few weeks of sessions with Mr.  Brust in the fall leading up to a performance for the community in early November.

          Some of the students in the classes with Brust have been working with him for four years.  Seniors Nicholas Gombita, Kendra Oliver, Samantha Scaduto, and Alyssa Iovacchini feel very excited to be working again on their dancing skills this school year.

          “The experience helps to immerse us in both the culture of Spanish and dance,” Nick explained. “I have been learning more this year about how to count different music when I dance.  Some dances are counted in threes and others in fours.  Each dance is different.”

          Another experienced dancer Kendra, who helped to choreograph one of the dances performed for the community last year in the annual Spanish dance performance, said she loves going to the classes each year to learn more and more.

          “The salsa and cha-cha are my favorites,” Kendra said.  “The steps are faster and more challenging than some of the other dances.”

          Students of all ability and experience levels take Spanish dancing as a part of their Western Wayne foreign language curriculum.

          Two freshmen Jaden Gregory and Nate Irvine have been enjoying learning this type of dance for the first time.

          “It was hard at first to get accustomed to dancing with each other,” Nate said.  “But it got easier the more we learned.”

          “My favorite part are the cross-body leads,” Jaden explained.  “They are a very smooth part of the dances.”

          Jaden’s classmates freshmen Julia Phillips, Cassia Sheehan, and Ashley Small-Bermudez also have been enjoying their first experience in Spanish dance with Mr. Brust.

          All of the girls have a lot of fun learning new steps each day.  Julia likes the spins and turning in dance.  Cassia thinks the cross-body leads are the most fun steps, and Ashley likes the expression she gets to put into the hairbrush step.

          “This connects really well with what we are learning in the classroom,” Cassia explained.  “It gives us a taste of what real Spanish culture is like.”

Western Wayne High School Students THINK ENERGY!

Western Wayne High School students in grade 9 experienced the THINK! ENERGY Innovation Program on Tuesday, October 22. This program is an interactive, hands-on presentation with a take home energy efficiency kit for each participating student and teacher. The program teaches the importance of energy, natural resources and environmental resources, and gives each participating student’s family energy-efficient technologies to install at home. Students and staff in the high school received innovation kits on October 22.  The kits included four LED light bulbs, a water conserving shower head as well an advanced smart energy power strip.  Overall, 225 innovation kits were distributed.  This comes to 4,632 new LED bulbs distributed to the Western Wayne School District since the program’s launch in 2015.  This program will also result in a number of mini-grants for the teachers in the high school as well.  The Think Energy Innovation Program has been brought to the schools by the National Energy Foundation, PPL Electric Utilities, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.  For more information or questions, please contact National Energy Foundation at 1-855-494-2942 or email  stephanie.dorman@nef1.org. 

From left:  Dr. Mark Nebzydoski, science teacher; Eugene Shultz and Robert Penkala, presenters; and Paul Gregorski, principal. 

Western Wayne Middle School Recognizes Outstanding Seventh Graders for October

Western Wayne Middle School Administration has recognized Peyton Fox and Timmy Roberts as outstanding seventh grade students for the month of October.
Peyton loves her math class and is excited to be learning pre-algebra this year. She also enjoys her English language arts class because of the happiness she finds in reading.
“I love reading and learning new things about writing and figurative language,” Peyton explained.
When Peyton isn’t hitting the books, she can be found working on her gymnastics skills. Peyton participates in gymnastics at United Sports Academy in Dunmore. She began the sport when she was one and half years old.
“I like to practice gymnastics with my friends,” Peyton said. “My floor routine is my favorite, because I get to tumble and dance. I practice six days a week.”
Peyton’s classmate Timmy Roberts is also very dedicated to his academic studies and extra-curricular activities.
Timmy’s favorite class is English language arts.
“I like reading,” Timmy explained. “We are reading the novel Holes in class right now, and I find it very interesting.”
Timmy also enjoys working with his hands. He is looking forward to taking his industrial arts course later this school year. Last year, he really liked creating rockets in his sixth grade industrial arts class.
In addition, Timmy is a member of the Western Wayne Middle School soccer team where he plays the position of striker.
“It is nice to be around friends while playing a sport,” Timmy said. “The biggest challenge I have is shooting around defenders on the field.”
Western Wayne faculty, administration, and staff are proud of both Peyton and Timmy’s accomplishments and wish them the best with their continued efforts for success.