Sophomores Chosen to Attend HOBY Leadership Seminar

  Western Wayne sophomores Donovan Gregorski and Isabella Kolp have been chosen to represent Western Wayne at the 2025 Central Pennsylvania HOBY Leadership Seminar this June 2025.

       Donovan is an accomplished Western Wayne honor roll student who enjoys being a part of a variety of sports and clubs at school including:  football, basketball, outdoor track, and FBLA.

In Donovan’s leadership essay for HOBY, he explained what leadership means to him by discussing how it relates to his life, and its overall importance in the world who benefits from it in so many ways.

“Leadership influences my life through its role in sports, work, and so many other things,” Donovan said.  “Through using leadership skills in my life, I feel more determined to accomplish my goals.”

After high school, Donovan aspires to study sports analytics in college to work as a sports statistician in the future.

      “I have a strong love for both sports and math, and I really want to pursue a career path that will let me combine these interests,” he explained.

Donovan’s classmate Isabella Kolp, a sophomore honor roll student, also, is a HOBY winner for Western Wayne and shares a similar view on leadership as Donovan.

“I think it is important for the world to have good leadership,” Isabella explained.  “This is necessary for things to run well.”

Isabella participates in the following activities:  tennis team, Cats Club, FBLA, and student council.

After high school, Isabella plans to major in international business. She loves to travel with her family and has gone on a variety of trips abroad during her high school years so far to places such as France, Japan, and Spain with Japan being her favorite experience at present.

“I really like learning about different cultures and want my future career path to include a way to foster my passion for travel,” she explained.

Both students look forward to attending the conference in the spring and meeting other student leaders from various districts.

The Western Wayne School District wishes them both much success at the conference and in their very bright futures.

From left: Isabella Kolp, Mr. Paul Gregorski, high school principal; and Donovan Gregorski.

Band Celebrates Halloween with Young and Old

The Western Wayne High School Marching Band took their show on the road for their annual Halloween festivities on Wednesday, Oct. 30.

 First, the students gave a performance to elementary students in the district at the R.D. Wilson School and on the same day, they performed in the community at the Wayne Woodlands and Julia Ribaudo Nursing Homes. They also included in their day a performance for the Western Wayne Middle School and Evergreen Elementary School as well.

The band students were thrilled to be able to perform for these very special audiences.  All of the students and nursing home residents who got to see the performances felt a lot of Halloween spirit.

“I am so grateful to be able to go out and perform in the community,” junior Kayelin Martin, color guard captain said.  “It adds another layer to our performances, and we get to have such fun experiences with new audiences.”

Fellow senior color guard student Rebekah Palko agreed.

“It was so wonderful to be able to go out into the community for our Halloween performances,” Rebekah said.  “I really enjoy performing for various audiences.”

Pictured is the Western Wayne Marching Band and Color Guard with director Elaine Ort and assistant director Maria Arneil.

Special Olympics – Open Mic “Special Edition” for members of our special needs community

In conjunction with Special Olympics, we are hosting our annual Open Mic “Special Edition” for members of our special needs community to perform at an open mic/karaoke setting.  As described in the attached flyer, the event will be held at the Wallenpaupack Brewing Company on November 10 from one to four. There is no admission charge, and all are invited (we hope you can make it!). Please circulate this information however you see fit to as many as possible as we hope to bring in a crowd of both performers and audience supporters.

For more details, please see the flyer below.

Western Wayne High School Students Win Innovator Award

Western Wayne High School students participated in the Engineering Competition at Wallenpaupack High School on Friday, October 25.  The team of Lia Hartman, Colette Schmitt, Kayla Walton, Julia Wehrmann, and Robert Scramuzza earned the Innovator Award for “most ingenious use of materials” during the competition.  This is the second year in a row that a team from Western Wayne has won this award. From left:  Julia Wehrmann, Robert Scramuzza, Colette Schmitt, Kayla Walton, and Lia Hartman.

Apple Crunch Day held at EverGreen Elementary

Members of the Hamlin Rotary Club were at EverGreen Elementary on Thursday, October 24th to participate in in Apple Crunch Day. They read Andy and Elmer’s Apple Dumpling Adventure to the second grade classes. This is a day for learning about local farms and where food comes from, and to celebrate local produce while supporting local farmers. We appreciate the individuals from the Hamlin Rotary Club for taking the time to visit our second grade classes!

PSAT – Tuesday, October 22nd

10th and 11th Graders Taking the PSAT:

We will host the PSAT tomorrow from 8:15 to 11:30. Students who registered for the test should arrive to their assigned testing room with a fully-charged laptop, a charger, and a calculator.

Best of luck to those test takers!

High School September Students of the Month

        The following students were recognized by the Student Council as students of the month for September. Their teachers and administrators weighed in on the decisions.  All of the students chosen hold a high standard of academic and personal excellence. They are true examples of the P.R.I.D.E. standards for PBIS at our school. 

 First, Olivia MacCollum is our selected freshman.  Olivia has been on the Western Wayne Color Guard team for two years and is a member of the National Art Honor Society.  Olivia enjoys making ceramic art. 

 “I love being able to share my personal experiences, emotions and activities through my art,” Olivia said. 

 In addition, Olivia enjoys being in a creative writing class at school and sharing all of her original ideas there. 

 Next, Kaylee Heise is our chosen sophomore this month.  Kaylee loves her ELA class, because it is a calm place where she can practice her writing.  

“Writing helps to calm me down,” she said.  “I really like journaling.” 

 Her hobbies include:  listening to a wide variety of music from rock to rap and going for walks.  She aspires to study psychology in college and pursue a career as a psychiatrist. 

 In addition, Logan Pauler is this month’s featured junior.  He is a member of the National Honor Society, the Robotics Team, the soccer team, and the volleyball team.  His favorite class is pre-calculus, and he plans to study mechanical engineering in college with his preferred school being Penn State. 

 “All of my teachers at Western Wayne have been a great help in leading me to figure out my path and to learn problem-solving skills,”  he explained. 

 Finally,  Makayla Walton is our senior spotlight this month.   Makayla enjoys most her advanced placement government and psychology classes this year.  She aspires to be a forensic psychologist.  She is involved in many activities including: band for four years, where she plays both the flute and piccolo.  She also serves as a woodwind section leader and band librarian.  In addition, she is Student Council secretary, a member of National Honor Society, Science Olympiad, and Envirothon.  She thinks she learned the most about leadership skills from her experience in the Tomorrow’s Leaders Today program her junior year. 

 “I learned how to be able to better communicate with others through confidence in my leadership skills,” she explained.  

The Western Wayne School District congratulates these September students of the month and wishes them the best in their future endeavors.

From left: Olivia MacCollum, Logan Pauler, Mr. Paul Gregorski, high school principal; Kaylee Heise, and Makayla Walton.

Western Wayne Students Win Five-day Artist in Residence Program

NEIU 19, Arts in Education Northeast Pennsylvania, The Ritz Theater, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts hosted a special program entitled “The Convening” on Wednesday, Oct. 16. It was a Day of Art Workshops based on Academic Standards taught by Nationally Recognized Artists.  Students and teachers from a variety of local districts including Western Wayne experienced art workshops in visual arts, theater and music contingent on their respective areas of teaching/ study. 

 The four senior students who participated from Western Wayne included: Lillian Maros, Colette Schmitt, Stephanie Maxwell, and Robert Scramuzza. They did a variety of workshop sessions. One was with Tara Middleton, Grammy nominee vocalist, who worked with the students in a jazz vocals session. She explained to students that along with the technical aspects of learning music that they have to be present in their performance as well.  “You have to be free enough to be in the moment when you are performing,” she explained to the students.

 For another session, the performance arts students worked with Conor McGuigan, an actor and writer from Scranton who performs throughout the area and off-Broadway.  He helped the students tap into a variety of characters from Italian theater in his workshop with a focus on comedic timing.  Also, the students got to end their day with the Kofi and Sankofa Drum & Dance Ensemble in which they were fully immersed in learning about culture, musical instruments, and dance.

In addition, there were a variety of raffle prizes given out at this event and Western Wayne was the only school to win a raffle drawing for a five-day Artist in Residence Program for their Drama Club.  The prize is a 1,000 dollar value.  They will have the opportunity to work with a professional artist to help them further develop their performance arts skills.  The Artist in Residence Program will be scheduled in correspondence with the school’s musical director and the NEIU.  

The Western Wayne Drama Club is extremely thankful to have won this experience and look forward to learning even more about their craft through it.  “We were really excited for all of the classes we took at the Convening,” Lillian Maros, Drama Club president, said. “It was an added special bonus to know that we have won, through luck of the draw, five more hours of experience with a talented local artist of our choosing.”  From left: Conor McGuigan, Lillian Maros, Stephanie Maxwell, Colette Schmitt, and Robert Scramuzza.