The robotics team FRC 4285 Camobots (composed of Honesdale HS and Western Wayne HS students) competed at the Hatboro-Horsham District Event and placed 8th. We are very proud of the performance for the team took on a tough engineering challenge of designing, building, testing, and competing in 6 weeks a 140lb robot to autonomously and human driven the task to pick up and place a 12” long piece of Sch40 4” pvc and 16” diameter rubber ball in specific locations. The team chose to design, build, and compete utilizing a 3 piece telescoping crane arm with manipulator, this took all of their time up and had minimal drive and interaction time with the robot prior to the event. The team learned, adapted, problem-solved, presented to CEO’s and engineers of major companies, and persevered to compete in the playoff round and place 8th. Congratulations to the robotics and engineering members.

Western Wayne team members are: Ethan Gillott, Grace Owens, Kyle Matthews, Aiden Matthews, Paul Borowski, Logan Pauler, Liam Pauler, Jake Obloshny, and Alexis Bartels.

Pictures are from the Hatboro-Horsham District Event.

Local Students Explore Real-World Environmental Solutions

Students from several local schools are participating in an educational program focused on environmental science and collaboration throughout the 2024-25 school year.

Each school has a team of five students and a teacher-advisor. The program includes hands-on field trips and investigations, allowing students to explore real-world environmental issues.

Participating Schools

Lackawanna County: Carbondale, Forest City, Lackawanna Trail, Lakeland, Mountain View, Old Forge, Riverside, Western Wayne, and Wayne Highlands.

Luzerne County: Crestwood, Hanover, HAAS, HACC, Hazleton, Northwest, Tunkhannock, and Wyoming Area.

Western Wayne High School students have already taken part in trips to Lackawanna State Park, Keystone College, the Old Forge borehole, and the Alliance Landfill. These experiences helped them learn about healthy watersheds, how to monitor their conditions, and ways to maintain water quality. The program is supported by Pennsylvania American Water Company, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), and DCNR’s Watershed Education Program.

March Field Trip: Water Treatment in Action

In March, students visited Pennsylvania American Water’s Lake Scranton Water Treatment Plant and its Sewage Treatment Plant.

At the Lake Scranton Water Treatment Facility, Sr. Superintendent Daniel Baratta led a tour, explaining how the system provides clean drinking water to about 160,000 people in 14 communities. The facility draws water from Lake Scranton and other reservoirs, processing an average of 19.5 million gallons daily.

Students also toured the sewage treatment plant, where they learned how wastewater is treated before being safely returned to the Lackawanna River.

Looking Ahead

The program will conclude on May 6, 2025, with a student presentation banquet at Montage Mountain. Western Wayne students will showcase their project: planning an ecology-based field trip for fourth graders at the Varden Conservation Area. Inspired by their own experiences, they designed activities to teach younger students about the environment in a fun and engaging way.

Through these hands-on experiences, students are gaining valuable knowledge about environmental conservation while working together to find real-world solutions.

“I really enjoy learning about the science field through these hands-on real-world experiences,” Western Wayne sophomore Dakota Douglas said.

Picture One, from left :  Dakota Douglas,  Giuliana Velazquez, Aliyah Gregory, Kyleigh Turner, and Jerrah-Ann DeBree.

Picture Two, from left :  Kyleigh Turner, , Jerrah-Ann DeBree, Dakota Douglas,  Aliyah Gregory, Giuliana Velazquez, and Water Treatment Facility, Sr. Superintendent Daniel Baratta.

The Hamlin Lake Ariel Rotary Club recently had their Rotary District 7410 Essay Contest giving students the prompt: Rotary’s Four Way Test, which guides all Rotary projects, including this question: “Is it fair to all concerned?”. Students were asked to write about the statement, “we use empathy to see other points of view, in the context of problems to be solved.” How can we use teamwork, inclusion, empathy, acceptance, belonging, and accountability to solve problems or achieve goals we set?

Rotary District 7410 offers this Essay Contest as an incentive for young people to develop their skills of self-expression, and as evidence of a sincere desire to demonstrate service above self, which is Rotary’s consistent motto.

Western Wayne High School students placed in the competition. Mercedes Pedersen, senior, took first place; Kennedy Scott, senior, placed second; and Anthony Redmond, senior, placed third. 

Mercedes along with writing is involved in a variety of activities at Western Wayne including: color guard, stage crew, and Spanish Club. She is also the president of Western Wayne’s Chapter of the National Honor Society. She plans to study veterinary medicine with an emphasis on exotic and domestic animals.

Mercedes discussed how she focussed on how a problem can be solved using the pillars named by the Rotary Club.

“I discussed how the different aspects work together when solving a problem,” she said. “This was a rich topic, and I was able to get four pages out of it.”  

Her work earned her a club-level first prize of 100 dollars in the contest, and she is excited to see her essay move on the district level where she will be in competition to win a 1,000 dollar prize for her excellent writing.

The second prize winner was Kennedy Scott.  Her essay focussed on solving conflict through the use of the Rotary pillars.  

Kennedy feels she will use the strong pillar qualities in her daily life more than ever next year when she takes on the unique opportunity of doing a gap year abroad through Colorado State University.  She will earn twelve credits and get to travel the world going to destinations such as France, Spain, the Netherlands, Ghana, Japan, Thailand, and many other locations.  She first learned of this academic opportunity through TikTok in her sophomore year, and she chose to pursue it and gained acceptance into the program.  She will study media marketing at Colorado State University and aspires to do promotions for businesses after she graduates.

Finally our third prize winner is Anthony Redmond. He is a four year member of the Western Wayne High School Marching Band serving as the percussion section leader for two years.  He also participated in Pep Band and Pit Band.  He wishes to pursue a degree in music education to be a high school band director. Anthony focussed on the aspects of teamwork, inclusion, empathy, acceptance, and accountability in his essay all of which he knows make for a good working team in a high school marching band.

“I discussed both how these aspects can help make people work as a good team and how they can bring people apart as well at times,” he explained.

The Western Wayne School District and especially their English teacher Mrs. Carrie Wittenbrader congratulates these students on their award-winning efforts and wishes them the best in their bright futures.

From left:  Mercedes Pedersen, Kennedy Scott, Anthony Redmond, and Mrs. Carrie Wittenbrader.

On Tuesday, March 4th, The University of Scranton held their second World Language Day in which they hosted over 100 high school students to experience lessons in Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, German, and Arabic.  Some Western Wayne High School students were in attendance and loved their experience.

“It was very interesting to be immersed in so many different languages,” Kallie Wehrmann, Western Wayne senior, said. “I really loved making new friends and learning about different cultures.  I am so excited to go to college next year and feel this experience makes me even more prepared for the future.”

From left: Mrs. Sara Orloski, Jack Sepelyak, Lance Hauenstein, Kaitlin Wargo, Leah Reeger, Loucy Allen, Julia Wehrmann, Katie Skirpan, Lily Kieva, Kallie Wehrmann, Chloe Gilpin, Maria Gadoua, and Mrs. Sandrowicz.

The following students were recognized by the Student Council as students of the month for February. 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, Leah Reeger is our selected freshman.  Leah is an all-around excellent student who has a passion for art.  In addition, she is involved in Envirothon, Student Council, and Ultimate Frisbee.  One of her favorite classes is her Honors English class.  She feels as though her writing is growing in strength this year, especially her poetry and literary analysis work.

She also is greatly enjoying her Introduction to Ceramics class this year.  

“We are learning how to make basic items like bowls,” Leah explained.  “I really like coming up with new items to create and then making them a reality through my art.”

Leah aspires to own a coffee shop with an art theme that focuses on nature.

 Next, Eric McGrath is our chosen sophomore this month. Eric is an enthusiastic student who gives his best effort in all he does.  His sports and activities include soccer, track, and Envirothon.  His favorite class this year is English.  

“I like writing best, especially fiction analysis,” he said.  Eric plans to attend college after graduation with an undecided major at the moment.

 In addition, Loucynthia Allen is this month’s featured junior.  She is another very dedicated student who enjoys art.  Her clubs and activities include Spanish Club, National Art Honor Society, and Envirothon.

Her favorite class this year is ceramics.

“I really like being in my own world when I create art,” she said.

She aspires to become a dentist or dental hygienist for her future career.

 Finally,  David Elias is our senior spotlight this month.  David is an exceptional academic student and talented student athlete.  His sports and activities include basketball, track and FBLA.

His favorite class is calculus.

“I enjoy problem solving and working with numbers,” he said.

David plans to attend a four-year university upon graduation with an undecided major.

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

From left: Leah Reeger, Eric McGrath, Mr. Robert Black, high school assistant principal; Loucynthia Allen, and David Elias.

A group of ninth grade students at Western Wayne High School received the Honorable Mention award in a special PPL contest. 

 Aidyn Graci and Mitchell Ferraro General Science, students from the high school were the Honorable Mention winners in the PPL Electric THINK! ENERGY Innovation Challenge. The contest required students to develop an interactive and hands-on presentation on energy, natural resources and environmental issues.

  Science teacher Dr. Mark Nebzydoski led the challenge for Western Wayne by registering all Western Wayne High School students for free energy conservation kits, which consisted of three compact fluorescent light bulbs, a smart energy power strip, a shower timer, a faucet aerator and water-saving shower head. Each student was then asked to take the kits home, install the energy-saving equipment and survey how much energy was saved due to the use of the equipment. 

 “The students projects submitted were very creative and entertaining.” Nebzydoski said. “Seeing students learning about energy efficiency and applying it to the real world is the perfect model of how education should work.” “High school students are tomorrow’s homeowners, so reinforcing energy efficiency messages is important.”

 The winning students’ project included a video on energy efficiency. They can be found from a link on the Western Wayne Website.  https://youtu.be/EDmCGFHw4Lk Winning students each received Beats wireless earbuds. Dr. Nebzydoski received $250 for classroom supplies.

 “I am proud of the student’s hard work and achievement,” Dr. Nebzydoski said.

The students really had a lot of fun making the video with the ongoing theme of “Come on, Mr. Nebz!” Throughout the clip, they kept telling their favorite teacher to be more careful about energy usage in his classroom.

Mitchell Ferraro, who of the winning students who aspires to be a social studies teacher, really liked how fun it was to make the video and tell Mr. Nebz what to do throughout it.

Fellow video creator Aidyn Graci, who aspires to study business one day be very successful, was relieved when they finished the project.  “I was glad to get to the end and see our hard work pay off,” he said.

PPL Electric Utilities, in conjunction with National Energy Foundation (NEF) and the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), is proud to sponsor the THINK! ENERGY with E-power educational program. There are three program offerings for various grade levels and each is designed to provide teachers and students with energy education. All program offerings are free and are correlated to Pennsylvania learning standards.

Please see contest link https://thinkenergy.org/ppl-innovation/teachers/

From left: Dr. Mark Nebzydoski, Mitchell Ferraro, and Aidyn Graci.

PPL awarded Western Wayne sophomore student Liam O’Brien an amazon gift card as a prize for completing a survey about his usage of tools in the Innovation Kit that all Western Wayne 9th grade high school students got as a part of the PPL Think! Energy program this past fall. The students were challenged to use the items in the kit such as a smart power strip, LED bulbs, and a special shower head for water conservation, among other items. Liam, who aspires to study culinary arts or sports broadcasting in the future, and many other Western Wayne students used these items and then filled in a survey about their experiences. Liam was the lucky winner drawn at random for the Western Wayne School District. Liam said he got the most use out of the power strip from the PPL kit. He likes his science class and prioritizes helping the environment. “I think it is important to be environmentally conscientious so that plants in nature can thrive and people in general have better health,” Liam said.
From left: Dr. Mark Nebzydoski and Liam O’Brien.