Creating a model roller coaster, building a model plane, and designing a model bridge were just some of the tasks that Western Wayne Middle school students faced at the Science Olympiad Northeast Regional Tournament on Friday, March 9, at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Campus.

Due to weather conditions, Western Wayne arrived late and competed in eight of the 23 events they were prepared to participate in. However, in the ten of the 15 events they did compete in, they ranked within the top ten schools.

Some of Western Wayne’s eighth grade students placed in the top five of their events. Jenny Guadagno received a 4th place medal in the Ecology event. She explained how for the event students had to take a test about how organisms respond to their environment. Jenny plans to pursue a career in the STEM field.

“A competition such as this helps you get to learn a lot about how to research,” she explained. “I think this will help me be better prepared for a science career.”

Jenny’s classmates, Rachel Tuman, who also wishes to have a STEM career, and Alexandra Butler, who aspires to be a surgeon or marine biologist, received 4th place medals in the Rocks and Minerals event.

The girls discussed how in preparation of the competition they spent time creating a binder of notes to help them in identifying the rocks and minerals they could encounter. They, also, feel they learned a lot about research and preparation from their experience at Science Olympiad.

“We learned about how important careful preparation is for an event such as ours,” Alex said.

The following Western Wayne Middle School students also competed and did a wonderful job: Alexandra Bien-Aime, Jenna Eldred, Sydney Ely, Bridgette Summers-Flannery, Trinity Foulds, Jaden Gregory, Rachel Hoch, Ivan Knecht, Hudson Malinowski, Anna Mangieri, Emma Pike, Stephanie Room, Kailey Tickner, and Adelaide Treibley.

Pictured are members of Western Wayne Middle School’s Science Olympiad team. From left, kneeling: Alexandra Butler, Kailey Tickner, Jenny Guadagno, Sydney Ely, Emma Pike, Jaden Gregory, and Ivan Knecht. From left, standing: Mrs. Nichole Musewicz, team advisor; Rachel Hoch, Rachel Tuman, Anna Mangieri, Trinity Foulds, Jenna Eldred, Hudson Malinowski, and Miss Elizabeth Watson, Middle School assistant principal.

Please visit the link below to find and VOTE FOR the video our WWMS students created to show everyone “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?”

https://www.whatssocool.org/contests/northeast-pa/

The “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing” contest voting begins at 12:01AM March 19, 2018 and concludes March 21, 2018.  Please consider voting!

At the Western Wayne Middle School some eighth grade students are taking part in a special endeavor where they get to work as student leaders by assisting some of their peers to do research. These students were given an option to use some of the time during their academic lab period to work with peers in a special education classroom to assist them in doing research for a science project.

Mr. Todd Pauler, middle school teacher, and Mrs. Elizabeth Bellush-Moore, special education teacher, collaborated for the unique project which students are taking part in during the third quarter. Pauler thought it would be a good way for all students involved to learn from one another.

“Classrooms are social environments that rely heavily on students being able to interact, socialize and communicate with others effectively and appropriately. This can be a challenge for all students but especially students with autism and other learning disabilities,” Pauler explained. “So, the main goals of this cooperative activity are to help students gain these social skills, to not be overwhelmed by the process and to become aware and accepting of the different needs that some of us may have. The secondary goal is to learn about different wetland animals.”

Pictured are some of the students and the teachers who participated in this special cooperative-learning project at the Western Wayne Middle School. From left, standing: Mrs. Elizabeth Bellush-Moore, Emily Shemanski, Riley Kennedy, Gabby Ostolaza, Owen Kotchessa, Kennedy Mistishin, Becca Boots, and Mr. Todd Pauler. From left, sitting: Braydon Christian, Daisy Ann Kuniegel, Colin Cordier, Brody Cleveland, and Jamey Christopher.