“Owl Pellets” lyrics from the song by MC Paul Barman will forever be remembered by Western Wayne Science students in Dr. Mark Nebzydoski’s classes.  The song goes, “Owls/ Scoop prey in their jowels/ Bones and fur stay in the gullet/ Meat goes to the bowels/ Comes out like a bullet/ After six hours.”

Nebzydoski’s students spent some time in their February lessons learning about ecology through a lab in which they had to dissect owl waste pellets to then reconstruct the animals and organisms the owls had eaten.

          Students first read about different types of owls and owl pellets.  Then they studied pictures of what gopher, weasel, rabbit, vole, mole, bird, and rabbit skeletons would look like when they got the bones to put them together from the owl regurgitate pellets.

          Overall students enjoyed learning about ecology in this very hands-on lab despite some of the dirty work they had to do to get the animal bones.

          “I feel I learn better when I am doing something instead of writing it down all the time,” freshman Joanna Regalbuto said.

          Fellow classmate Gavin Henwood agrees.  “A lab like this is more interesting because you can get into it easier when you are dissecting the owl pellets.”

          Gavin’s lab partner Nick DeCandis said once he got over the mental struggle of thinking about what he was picking apart that he really liked the lab.

          “It was like putting together a dinosaur set,” Nick explained.  “I thought it was surprising that once we started pulling the bones out that we seemed to find them in the order of what the owl had eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I had thought the bones would be more scattered in the pellets.”

          The main challenge the students said they faced from the lab was not breaking the bones when pulling apart the pellets to find them.

          “Everything was very compacted inside the pellets,” Carleigh Galliford explained.  “You had to be gentle.”

          Fellow student Gabby Velez explained how she took on the challenge of handling the delicate animal bones.

          “We used tweezers to take the different bones out and to get the fur and other hair off of them.”

          Freshman Sarah McAndrew thought the best part of the lab was learning about all of the animal bones.

          “It was interesting to see what all of the different bones look like,” she said.

          Nebzydoski is pleased that his students did well accepting the challenge of dissecting the not physically appealing pellets for the greater benefit of furthering their knowledge of ecology.

          “I think the students appreciate getting to do hands on work that is a change of pace from some of their other studies.”

Over ninety members of the Western Wayne Wildcat Marching Band and Color Guard performed this past Friday, Feb. 1 at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World.  The group marched in the park’s afternoon parade called Disney Festival of Fantasy.  Led by band director Mrs. Elaine Ort, the group performed “Circle of Life” from the Lion King.  The students were thrilled to have the once in a life time opportunity of playing as they marched through Main Street USA.  “We are very proud of all of the accomplishments of the members of the Wildcat Marching Band,” Ort said.

Two self-portraits titled “Jet Fuel” and “Made of Dust” and a color pencil piece of actor Luke Evans won Western Wayne High School art students Melanie Roberts and Shailyn Pugh first and second place respectively at the 4^th High School Emerging Artists Showcase at The Art Factory of White Mills on Saturday, Jan. 19.

Students from local schools participated.  Western Wayne had a number of high school students submit pieces including: Maya Black, Miriam Sheehan, Melanie Roberts, Melody Gershey, Dayla Jones, Kat Moore, Rachel Butler, Shailyn Pugh, Abby Burke, and Nina Nerys.

Junior Shailyn Pugh won the second place prize of a 75 dollar gift card to Michael’s.

She felt proud of her color pencil portrait of actor Luke Evans who, among many other roles, recently played Gaston in the newest Beauty and the Beast film.  Shailyn enjoys creating portraits and other realistic pieces.  She thinks the one she did of Evans is one of her best.

“I used to be afraid of blending colors,” Shailyn explained.  “But for this piece I think the colors I needed were there in the end.”

The prize money will help Shailyn purchase water color paper and new paint.  She would like to practice more painting and explained that she loves the challenge involved in creating good quality art work.

“When I’m finished with a piece, I like to see what I created and usually I can see myself getting better,” Shailyn said.

Her classmate senior Melanie Roberts came in first at the showcase for her self-portraits, “Jet Fuel” and “Made of Dust.”

Melanie explained how she

enjoys creating symbolic self-portraits that display qualities about her.

 

“Jet Fuel,” created with half colored pencil and half pen and ink, has a background of half water with her head under it.

“A lot of my pictures show emotion,” Melaine said.

Daydreaming and wonderment is represented in Melanie’s other portrait in the showcase called “Made of Dust,” created with colored pencil, charcoal, and some acrylic.  She explained how there are planets and starts around her head in the picture which represent how her head is sometimes in the clouds.

Next year, Melaine wishes to start college in the spring and study art.  In the meantime, she plans to use the prize of a 100 dollar gift card to Michaels to buy more acrylic paint and pen and ink markers.

“I like to show how I feel in my art work,” Melaine explained.  “It helps me to explain things because it is hard to talk about emotions.”