Each year Exxon Mobil gives millions of dollars in grants to schools nationwide. They have a long history of supporting educational programs, like Educational Alliance, that focuses on improvements in math and science from pre-school to higher education. Exxon believes it is fundamentally important to encourage the next generation to pursue studies and careers involved in these fields. This year Western Wayne High School was one of 16 schools in the state of Pennsylvania that Liberty Petroleum Distributors, based out of Scranton, working with Exxon Mobil was able to present with an Educational Alliance Grant for 1,000 dollars for use in its math and science programs. From left are Jennifer Bradley, Western Wayne High School Assistant Principal; Paul Krewson, District Manager for Liberty Petroleum Distributers; Maria Masankay, Co-Chair of the Western Wayne High School Science Department; and Ted MacDonough, Chair of the Western Wayne High School Math Department.

On December 20, 2017 the Anatomy and Physiology, AP Biology and Honors Chemistry students had the opportunity to learn from Miss Diana Hassan, a Physician Assistant Student from St. Francis University.  Miss Hassan is a 2013 Western Wayne Graduate and will be completing her Master’s Degree in the Physician Assistant program in May of 2018.  Diana spoke with students about her research on the disease Meningitis.  Her presentation entitled Meningitis:  A True Medical Emergency gave students information about the varying causes of Meningitis as well as symptoms and treatments.  This information was particularly valuable for students who are college or military bound and will be living in close proximity to one another.

            Miss Hassan educated students on the importance of seeking medical care if a person is suspected of suffering from Meningitis and classic symptoms that are associated.  She also shared statistics and information on the varying pathogens that can cause the disease at different stages of life.  Students had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the disease .  Diana then spoke to the students about her college pathway and how she attained her degree.  Students were grateful to hear about such an important topic from a Western Wayne graduate.  We are thankful to Diana for sharing her expertise and her career pathway with our students.  We are wildcat proud of Diana and her accomplishments!

 

Western Wayne Cooking Students Create Holiday Projects Creating delicious sweet treats isn’t only a job best suited for Santa’s elves. At the Western Wayne High School, students in Mrs. Stephanie Zoppi’s Basic Foods class along with her other culinary classes have been working all month to create a variety of decadent holiday cookies and treats.

Cappuccino cookies, craisin cookies, gingerbread cookies, and lemon butter cookies are all endeavors they have taken on this holiday season just to name a few. The students say they enjoy learning new recipes and baking techniques from Zoppi. Many of them chose to take Basic Foods because they have always loved cooking and baking with their families.

From left: Felicity Sickler, Zane Janiszewski, Caitlyn Burdick, and Maggy Langendoerfer prepare lemon butter cookies in preparation for the holiday as a part of their Basic Foods class at Western Wayne High School.

The students all gathered for an opening general session to kick off the event and then had their choice of a variety of workshop sessions and presentations. These sessions covered a variety of essential information that FBLA students looking forward to continued academic and professional success could benefit from. Pictured are Western Wayne students who attended the event.

Row 1, from left: Julia Sennefelder, Cosette Talarico, and Abby Gogoloski.
Row 2, from left: Claudia Kovaleski, Jillian Dudley, and Grace Hollister.
Row 3, from left: Laura Booths, Skye Smith, Laurel Frable, and Allison Mattern.
Row 4, from left: Gracie Guarino, Paige Barillo, Journey Sosa, and Melissa Petrilak.
Row 5, from left: AJ Merone, Brandon Garnett, Gianna DeBastiani, and Samantha Atcavage.
Row 6, from left: Bailey Walck, Jake Ortola, Dylan Walck, Evan Coons, and Ezra Tetreault.

Western Wayne High School FBLA members attended the FBLA Regional Leadership Workshop at Woodloch Resorts on October 26.  From left, Laurel Frable, Dakotah Sopko, Cheyenne Stenlake, Kayla Fitzpatrick, Alexandra Buckman, Taylor Burdick, and Summer Franklin.

Reciting original limericks was always a fun activity in Ezra Tetreault’s family.  Little did he know that this skill would help him in winning a local section of the most recent National Chemistry Week Poetry Contest.

“My dad has always been really good at limericks,” Ezra, a sophomore at Western Wayne High School, said.  “I ran my poem by him before bringing it to school.”

Ezra’s chemistry teacher Maria Masankay challenged her students to enter the American Chemical Society’s 2017 National Chemistry Week Poetry Contest.  Much to his surprise, Ezra won the Susquehanna Valley Section of the contest.

“I had no expectations for winning,” he said. “The idea came to me quickly.”

Ezra explained that once he knew the topic for the poem was “rocks” he immediately started to think about writing a limerick because of his experiences with them in his family.  He then started to think of a rhyme scheme and realized that just about all types of rocks end in the suffix “ite”.

After doing some quick research, he found that only three types of rocks do not end in that suffix.  Therefore, he gave Basalt, Gabbro and Pumice a featured line in his poem.  He accented his entry by including a drawing of a volcano and some of the rocks.

His poem has now made it to the national level of the contest.  Ezra’s family and Masankay are invited to attend the ACS Awards Banquet in May where Ezra will be presented with a $50 check for being section winner.

This isn’t the first time Ezra has made it to a national level competition. Last year, he competed at FBLA nationals in public speaking as a freshman.

This year Ezra and a team of two other Western Wayne students Noelle Orehek and Trina Barcarola are working on a presentation to enter into the FBLA introduction to business event, which is a state-level competition. Ezra serves as the sophomore representative for FBLA.  Also, he is sophomore class president.

When he is not writing poetry and FBLA presentations, Ezra plays football and track for Western Wayne.

Ezra loves all of the academic and extra-curricular experiences he is having at school so far and looks forward to participating in more activities.  He also is greatly interested in politics and aspires to join the Coast Guard Academy and possibly work for NASA in the future.

“We are all very proud of Ezra’s efforts in all areas at Western Wayne,” Paul Gregorski, high school principal said.  “We look forward to seeing if he advances in the NCW contest.”

 

From left: Ezra Tetreault, 2017 NCW Poetry Contest Section Winer for the Susquehanna Valley Section of the ACS, and Paul Gregorski, Western Wayne High School principal.