The Western Wayne Varsity Football Cheerleaders entertain the student body with one of their dance routines.Senior Skylar Long was master of ceremonies for the eventThe Western Wayne Marching Band entertains the student body.
The Western Wayne Wildcats hosted a pep rally on the morning of Friday, Nov. 11, in the high school gym. All fall sports teams were recognized. The student body enjoyed performances by the varsity cheerleaders and marching band along with getting to play some games in the gym with their classmates. A good time was had by all.
Top row, from left: Matthew Carlson, Mayson Aleckna, and Gavin Chapman. Bottom row, from left: Lilly Horton, Harlie Schneider, Machaela McGrady, and Keira Hauenstein.
Gavin Chapman, Lilly Horton, Mayson Aleckna, Harlie Schneider, Keira Hauenstein, Matthew Carlson and Machaela McGrady were elected class representatives for their 5th grade classrooms at EverGreen Elementary. These students were voted in based on their exemplary leadership skills, both academically and socially. EverGreen Elementary is thankful to have such wonderful Wildcats leading our pack!
This year Western Wayne High School continues their Student Ambassador Program. On Monday, Nov. 7, the ambassadors went through a training with instructor Julie Bialkowski to prepare them for the upcoming year of being student leaders. Ambassadors greet visitors to the high school and escort them to their destination in the building while participating in other school events including the school’s Veterans Day program where the district hosted veterans from the community at an assembly held at the high school on Thursday, Nov. 10. Student ambassadors are from grades nine through twelve. Pictured are the members of Western Wayne’s Student Ambassador Program. Row 1: Ciarra Kidder, Peyton Graboske, Skyler Murphy, Datanica Craven, Brooke Kellogg, Jaden Gregory, Grace Moser, and Zoe Albitz. Row 2: Xenia Vivona, Colette Schmitt, Weston Nugent, Adrian Agnello, Nicholas Hrosovsky, Dustin Ferraro, and Jared Goldman. Row 3: Kera Edwards, Emily Dickson, Hunter Smith, Jenna Kwiatkowski, Taylor Maiocco, Alex Chapman, Laynee Nugent, Alaina Maiocco, Cyrah Bihler, Brandon Lopez, Alex Enslin, and Lucius RIchner. Row 4: Nate Conway, Justin Korea, Will Dwyer, Marshall Davis, Rhayni Carroll, Emily Romanowski, and Khloe Mistishin.
From left: Paul Gregorski, high school principal; Dr. Nebzydoski, Western Wayne science teacher; and Gene Shultz of PPL.
On November 8th Western Wayne High School Students in grade 9 experienced the THINK! ENERGY Innovation Program. 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 November 10th. The kits included faucet aerators, pipe insulation, weather stripping, outlet gaskets, a furnace filter whistle, a water conserving shower head, outdoor light bulb as well an advanced smart energy power strip. 190 innovation kits were distributed overall. This comes to 4,822 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
“How do you eat an elephant?” was one of former Western Wayne Graduate Garrett Enslin’s questions that he posed to eighth grade students at an assembly held in the school gym on Thursday, November 3. Lieutenant Enslin, who graduated from Western Wayne in 2012, achieved many outstanding accomplishments in the United States Navy. Enslin was asked by Western Wayne Administration to give a presentation to all eighth grade students to get them thinking about future career paths in the Navy, in engineering, etc. One of Enslin’s overall points made clear by the elephant question was that no problem is too difficult to solve or no step is too difficult to handle on the road to success. “In order to eat the ‘elephant’, you have to break it into small pieces,” Enslin explained to the students. “You eat it one bite at a time. This relates to engineering because no matter how complicated the problem is you break it down into small pieces until you are able to solve it.” Enslin has been working on his problem-solving skills among many others since graduating from Western Wayne High School in 2012. In 2016, Enslin graduated from the United States Naval Academy where 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 with the students 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 next he began 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, 2019. He served as a surface warfare officer (nuclear). He ended up being a part of the longest deployment carrier in United States history since Vietnam because he was on the ship during COVID times which made his time onboard about three years. “I was able to see the world off the coast of Iran and Africa,” Enslin explained. “I also won the Navy’s award for Propulsion Plant Watch Officer for 2020.” Enslin told the students stories about his time in the military. “The science is all around you,” he explained when it came to his time in the Navy. As Enslin explained his job. The Western Wayne Principal of STEAM Elizabeth Watson guided the discussion for the students explaining about how Enslin, for example, used precision and accuracy for certain tasks in the Navy just as the students are learning about those concepts in their science classes at the middle school. In 2021, Enslin came back stateside and worked to get further qualifications in nuclear engineering. After getting out of the Navy this past June, Enslin has gone on to become a mechanical design engineer for Holtec International, Camden, New Jersey. He gets to design what makes up nuclear reactors at his job. One student asked Enslin the best part of his career. “Overall, I get to go in and do something that is important,” Enslin explained. “Every single day I get to learn.” Another student asked if Enslin always knew what he wanted to do for his path after high school. “I wanted to be an inventor,” Enslin said. “It’s about working hard enough that you can take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of you.” Both staff and students had the chance to speak with Enslin during the question and answer session after his presentation. Enslin’s former teachers remember his strengths when he was in school and are proud of his accomplishments. “As your middle school librarian, we are proud of you,” Michele Forbes said. “You have done well, and thank you for your service.” Enslin told the students that he hopes they find inspiration to have their own success stories from his presentation whether it be in the Navy, college, another military branch, the engineering field, etc. “Don’t ever let someone tell you how hard something is going to be and let that influence you not to try it,” Enslin explained. “If you want to do something, you decide how hard it is while you are doing it.” 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.
This fall semester Western Wayne 8th grade Family Consumer Science students worked on a sewing project called a “Monster Project” to be collaboratively created in a fun and creative way with Western Wayne students in Kindergarten classes at Evergreen Elementary School.
The Kindergarten students actually drew designs of a “monster” they wanted to see come to life, and the middle school students in Mrs. Jessica Gregorski’s Family Consumer Science classes recreated these designs in the form of a soft sculpture (stuffed animal).
Through this process, the middle school students learned how to do a running stitch, backstitch, overstitch, and blanket stitch to create a 3-D model of the elementary students’ monster questionnaire responses along with their own creativity and decorative elements such as favorite foods, colors, and facial features! Each monster even had a unique name, some of which included: Sparkle, Scary Larry, Shimmer, Happy Bestie, Snowflake, Kitty Monster, and Twinkle, among many others.
On Friday, Oct. 28, the middle schoolers presented their finished products to their kindergartners to keep and enjoy!
“We were so excited to create these special projects for elementary students,” Mrs. Gregorski said. “We hope the children and families enjoyed this collaborative project.”
Eighth grader MaKenzie Chearney really enjoyed making her monster called Spot for her kindergartner. Spot is half red and half black. Its eyes and tongue are pink. The mouth is black. The shape of the monster is a rectangle with arms, legs, and little ears on top.
“I used the back stitch for the red in the front and the eyes,” MaKenzie explained. “I then did the running stitch for the mouth and tongue. Lastly, I used the blanket stitch for the mouth and tongue. I changed the eyes and tongue to pink because it is my monster’s favorite color.”
MaKenzie was so happy to make a project to brighten the day of a younger student.
“When I look at my completed monster it makes me smile, when I know that I made a Kindergartner’s monster drawing into a stuffed animal that they get to have.”
Fellow eighth grade classmate Raegan Fox also had an enjoyable experience with this project.
“When I look at my completed monster, I am happy when I see it, because I didn’t expect for it to turn out better than expected.”
Raegan’s monster named Dinosaur is light blue and has bright neon orange pants, a red necklace, and four red eyes.
“His teeth remind me of a vampire, because they are sharp and red,” Raegan explained.
Raegan’s monster and the ones created by her middle school classmates were the perfect treat for the elementary students for the Halloween season.
A wonderful time was had by all involved when the middle schoolers and elementary students met and got to experience their collaborative projects together for the first time.
Picture One: Mrs. Tickner’s Kindergarten class
Front Row from Left to Right:
Celia Cawley, Skylar Davis, Emma Dennis, Lillian Dougherty, Case Carlson, Dennis Smith, Lincoln Salak, Anabella Rodas
Ayden Latimer, Asher Lindgren, Tanner Rush, Makayla Swendsen, Gwen Morris, Victoria Nixon, and Mrs. Germani
The Kindness Club is up and running at R.D. Wilson. After interviewing with Mrs. Germani (club advisor), six students were chosen to serve the Kindness Club for the fall season. These students got right to work planning a project that incorporated the nice weather. They wrote kind and encouraging messages on the sidewalk leading out to the recess area. For three days, students at RDW got to read things like “There’s only one you in the world” and “Spread kindness like confetti” as they walked out to recess. The group is excited to plan their next project to encourage kindness in our school.
From left: Jean of Julia Ribaudo Nursing Home; Izzy O’Donnell, color guard captain; and Emily Brophy, color guard captain.Picture Two: The entire Western Wayne Marching Band, Color Guard, and staff.
The Western Wayne High School Marching Band took their show on the road for Halloween festivities on Monday, Oct. 31.
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 live for these very special audiences this year after two years of performing via video for Halloween due to COVID. All of the students and nursing home residents who got to see the performances felt a lot of joy on the holiday.
One such resident was Jean at Julia Ribaudo Nursing Home. Jean was a member of The Rockettes years ago, and absolutely loved listening to the band play a wide variety of songs. She also danced along in her chair while the color guard danced in front of her and with her.
“I am so grateful to be able to go out and perform in the community again,” one of the color guard captains, senior Emily Brophy said. “It adds another layer to our performances, and we get to have such fun experiences with new audiences.”
Fellow color guard captain senior Izzy O’Donnell agreed.
“It was so wonderful to be able to go back out into the community for our Halloween performances this year,” Izzy said. “I was able to perform live for this type of event in my 8th grade year, and I am so glad to get this experience again in my senior year. I love to make people smile.”
The students at Robert D. Wilson Elementary marked Veteran’s Day by creating a series of beautiful, nautical themed cards, projects, and messages of thanks in art class this year. The students learned about the history of Veteran’s Day, formerly Armistice Day, and considered the many sacrifices that veterans and their families make for our country. Each student hand crafted a message in a bottle or a porthole design, that will be delivered to the veterans at Camp Freedom to express our gratitude.
Are you familiar with the phrase, “Community happens over coffee”?
If you are interested in learning more about our district, consider joining us for Coffee & Conversation. We hope you will stop by for a cup of coffee and engage in an informal conversation on Friday, November 18th from 9:00am – 10:00am at the District Office.
Kindly RSVP at the link below by Wednesday, November 16th. We hope to see you.
Band Performs at GDS Fair and Meets Kurt AaronAugust 29, 2024Kurt Aaron and Michael Olivo
Band and Color Guard perform at the GDS Fair.
The annual Western Wayne Marching Band and Color Guard performance at the GDS Fair was especially eventful this year because on the day of their performance Wednesday, August 28, WNEP’s Kurt Aaron and his infamous dog Ranger were also there doing live spots. Aaron briefly interviewed Western Wayne band member Michael Olivo, a senior. Michael proudly told the viewing audience about Western Wayne’s upcoming performance at the fair.
“It was really exciting to get to promote our band to a TV audience,” Michael said.
The students were thrilled to perform their 2024-25 Boy Bands themed field show for the audience along with playing some fan favorite stand tunes.
Drum majors this year are seniors Lia Hartman and Kalob Franko. This is Lia’s second season as drum major.
“We are all so grateful to be able to perform for the local community who is so supportive of us,” Lia said.
The Western Wayne Band is under the direction of Mrs. Elaine Ort who is now in her 11th season with the district.
The entire Western Wayne Band and Color Guard invite the local community to attend the first home game of the season for varsity football against Lackawanna Trail on Friday, August, 30, at the Sharkey-Rosetti stadium. Western Wayne will have the pregame show starting at about 6:45 p.m.; kick-off is at 7 p.m. [...]
Western Wayne to Host Annual Car Show Saturday, Sept. 7—NEW RAIN DATE! August 27, 2024The Western Wayne Hot Rod Club and Drama Club will host their 2024 Annual Car Show on Saturday, September 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the high school parking lot, 1970A Easton Turnpike, Lake Ariel, PA, near the football stadium. Please note our NEW RAIN DATE is Sunday, September 15.Food to be sold at the concession stand. Registration fee is $10. Spectators are free. The Hot Rod Club will give prizes for best car, truck, tractor, motorcycle, and best in show.In addition, the Drama group will sell a variety of concessions. There will also be a raffle of baskets and gift certificates generously donated by businesses and families in the local community.Drama Club student Robert Scramuzza is excited to partner with the Hot Rod Club for the for the Car Show. He explained how the Drama Club students will be dressed in 50s attire for the event.“We wanted our presence at the event to go along with the variety of cars from the past that surely will be there,” Bobby said. “We hope that the public comes out to enjoy the cars and to have some good food and purchase some chances to win baskets and gift certificates.”Members of the Drama Parents Club are working to obtain a variety of items for the raffle at the Car Show from many very generous businesses and families in our Wildcat community. The students involved in the Hot Rod Club and Drama Club can use the funds raised from this event for their club activities.The Hot Rod Club meets on a regular basis to work on a variety of automotive projects after school and can use the funds for their projects among other activities.The Drama Club meets on a regular basis after school to work on a variety of projects and activities.“Drama Club gives students a place where they can express themselves,” club president Lillian Maros explained. “We are like one big family in our club and really enjoy coming together to work as a team on events such as the Car Show.”All of the members of the Hot Rod Club, Drama Club, and Drama Parents Club cordially invite the public to attend this fun-filled event on Saturday, Sept. 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the High School parking lot near the stadium. Come out and see some great vehicles, take some chances on our basket raffle, enjoy some food, and enjoy some time socializing. Rain date is Sunday, September 15. [...]
Freshman Orientation – Save the Date!August 8, 2024August 22, 2024 – 6:00-7:30pm – Veterans Memorial Auditorium, WWHS
Western Wayne High School welcomes the Class of 2028!
Information on the high school/ 9th Grade Transition
High School Survival Guide
Student’s class schedule
Tours
Refreshments [...]
Safe2Say Something is a youth violence prevention
program run by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.
The program teaches youth and adults how to recognize
warning signs and signals, especially within social media,
from individuals who may be a threat to themselves or others
and to “say something” BEFORE it is too late.