Western Wayne Senior Tyler Peet has always had a love of cars.  He has been involved in competition racing since he was seven years old.  Members of his family have been involved in racing and this sparked Tyler’s interest in the sport.

            This past race season, in October of 2020, Tyler won a race at the Big Diamond Speedway in Pottsville and received a $1,500 dollar prize.  The Big Diamond Speedway track is one that races weekly once the season starts. To partake in the race, participants arrive, pay a fee to participate, and then race.

             “An event like this is very wild, hard, and stressful.  The race format would be 7 p.m. warm-up laps for all cars, then there are heat races which is one of your qualifying races.  This is a short 8 or 10 lap race with about 10 cars in the field (depending on how many cars come to race).  In a heat race, your goal is to finish as close to the front of the field as possible because only a certain amount of cars will make the A-main.  The cars that don’t qualify through the heat race will go to a last chance qualifier which could have anywhere from a six car field to a twenty car field.  This race will be around fifteen laps long and less cars will advance to the A- main.  The people that qualify for the A-main will race with the main goal being to win,” Tyler explained.  ““In this race, I started in fifth and I was able to pass the four cars in front of me to take the lead and eventually take the race win.”

Since Tyler has been involved in car racing since he was very young, he has had a lot of training experience by racing as much as he possibly can during each season.  He also enjoys his auto shop classes at Western Wayne and considers himself an all-around repair man.

            “A big thing in the racing world is not giving up,” Tyler said.  “This is a big lesson because in just a second your entire night can change.”

            Being a part of the racing scene isn’t something that a lot of high school students commonly do.

“I would say being a high school student and racing is not very common,” Tyler, who also plays baseball for Western Wayne, said.  “However, I know a good amount of people that are my age that race.”

There are some challenges that racers must overcome which Tyler discussed.

“I would say the most challenging thing is qualifying for the race just because of how many cars that show up,” he explained.  “For example, I was at a race, at the end of the year, where about 90 cars came and only 30 made the main event.”

Tyler greatly enjoys his experiences with racing and hopes to continue racing after high school.

“My favorite part about racing would have to be winning races,” he said.  “After high school, I still plan on racing.  My goal is to move up the ranks and eventually turn it into my full-time job. Throughout the years, I have met a ton of people.  I have not only had the opportunity to be around and talk to some of the biggest names in racing, but I have been able to also become friends and work with some of them.”

Western Wayne junior Hudson Malinowski recently was accepted to the PMEA All-Eastern Concert Band on clarinet. Hudson will represent Western Wayne at the virtual festival later this spring.  This is the first time in recent memory that a student from Western Wayne has achieved this honor.  Western Wayne faculty and staff congratulate Hudson on this great accomplishment.  The photo was taken during Western Wayne’s 2019 fall field show.

Western Wayne High School had four seniors recognized as winners of the Artist of the Month Contest for this year by the Scranton Times: Cori Talarico, March; Irene Sheehan, June; Noelle Cruz, August; and Abigail Lopez, November.
In these stressful times, Cori Talarico’s Times submission will be sure to have a calming effect on all those who take in its beauty.
“The piece I entered is a very serene landscape of a lake,” she explained. “I really like this piece because it is filled with cool colors that make it very calming to look at. Working on this painting provided an outlet to free my mind from everything that has been going on in the world recently. I really enjoy doing landscapes that highlight the beauty of nature. I am often inspired by nature in our living area for my landscapes.”
Cori has been drawing since she was two and painting since she was about four. She has taken art classes throughout middle and high school at Western Wayne. Currently, she is in three different art classes.
“My favorite medium to use is acrylic paint,” Cori said. “You have a lot more creative freedom with it since you can always paint over messy areas or mix different colors to make the one you need. I always do fine details in colored pencil on top of acrylic paint, because the colored pencil adds more vibrancy to the painting.”
After graduation, Cori plans to take a gap year to focus on herself and what she wishes to pursue. She knows art will always be her favorite hobby, and she thinks it could be involved in her future career. Cori values the importance of art to her life.
“Art provides an escape from stressful situations in life. Whether it is sketching, drawing, painting, or sculpting. Art is something that I have complete control over when everything else in my life is turbulent and changing,” Cori explained. “It gives me piece of mind as I am able to be as creative as I’d like to be.”
Fellow senior Abigail Lopez also loves the creativity involved in being an artist. Abby has been drawing and doodling since elementary school. She also has been teaching herself different coloring and shading techniques since she was young.
Her favorite medium to use is digital.
“I can always do digital art as long as I have my tablet or phone and don’t need to keep buying supplies and fearing running out of said supplies, which is always a win,” Abby explained. “It also makes it easier for me to fix mistakes that would usually discourage me from even wanting to continue a project.”
The piece Abby submitted to the Times is a work-in-progress digital piece. It depicts a character from an ongoing “series” online called the Dream SMP.
Abby, who plans to attend Mansfield University for Digital Design, explained her work process for her digital art.
“I actually don’t have a theme for my projects,” Abby explained. “I really like just creating whatever inspires me or motivates me at the time. Whenever I’m making digital art, I’m more likely to draw fanart or original characters. I love that you can create scenes out of such simple things. You can take a scene from a low-poly video game and turn it into so much more or just take a concept in your mind and bring it to life.”
Another Western Wayne art student who has been excited about bringing her art to life this year is Noelle Cruz. Noelle has taken Studio Art every year throughout high school. She hopes to create a senior display for the art show and knows she will focus on bright multi-colored depictions of nature for it.
“My favorite medium recently is colored pencil. It takes longer, but I can be more precise with my drawing which allows for more detailed artwork. I like how realistic I can make something look with the more time I put into the piece,” Noelle said.
She further described a favorite realistic piece she created this year.
“My favorite piece that I’ve worked on this year is my colored pencil drawing of a jellyfish. I love how vibrant the colors are on the black paper as if it’s glowing,” Noelle explained.
In the future, Noelle plans to attend Pennsylvania College of Technology for a bachelor’s in dental hygiene. She is also interested in joining creative clubs and in taking digital art classes in college because she has never experimented with digital mediums before.
Noelle is excited to continue to develop her creative abilities even after high school.
“What I enjoy most about creating art is the freedom it allows my creative mind to have,” Noelle explained. “I sketch something simple that came across my mind and a week later that image in my head is now full of life for others to see on the canvas in front of me.”
Fellow senior Irene Sheehan, like Noelle, plans to continue art as a hobby in the future.
She explained that acrylic is her favorite medium to create with.
“You can layer it, so it’s fun to do more impressionistic pieces that way,” she explained.
The artwork Irene created for the Times is a picture of a fairground.
Irene explained the peace she finds in developing her art.
“It’s calming to me,” Irene said. “In my time at Western Wayne, I have learned a lot about technique, and I now have the ability to overcome, less anxiously, the barrier of having a blank piece of paper in front of me when beginning the creative process.”
Irene looks forward to studying music and psychology after graduation.
Western Wayne faculty, staff, and administration are proud of the accomplishments of these aspiring young artists and encourage the community to look for their work in the Scranton Times to celebrate their accomplishments.

The Western Wayne High School received a 500 dollar 2020 ExxonMobil Educational Alliance Grant for their math and science departments.  ExxonMobil and Onvo present these grants to various area schools each year.  The check was awarded to Western Wayne this November.  Western Wayne Administration and staff are excited to use these funds to better the educational experiences of their students. The District intends to use these funds to purchase upgraded calculators for use in their math and science departments. The following picture was taken during the 2019 school year. Due to COVID-19 circumstances, a picture from this year could not be taken.  From left: Mr. Matthew Barr, high school vice principal; David Stinson, district manager; and  Mr. Paul Gregorski, high school principal.

By Jessica McLaughlin

Western Wayne student Kayla Peirce, won second place in the 9-12 grade category of the national 2020 National Chemistry Week (NCW) Illustrated Poem Contest pertaining to the theme, “Sticking with Chemistry.”

This is the first time in our section’s history that a student’s poem made it to the National level. Kayla is also the 2020 ACS Susquehanna Valley Section National Chemistry Week Poetry Contest 9^th-12th Grade Winner. Kayla’s poem was judged as being the best out of all 9th-12th grade entries received by our Section.

 Kayla will be honored at the annual May banquet with her parents and teacher Mrs. Maria Masankay. In light of the COVID pandemic, the ACS Susquehanna Valley Section has not yet decided on a format for the banquet. If they are unable to hold the banquet in person this year, Kayla will receive a $50 check and a certificate via mail in May.

In addition, Kayla’s winning poem entry is featured on the campaign’s website at www.acs.org/ncw, which receives over 25,000 unique visitors annually. Her poem will also appear in an upcoming issue of the Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) magazine on December 21, which will be available to view  at cen.acs.org. Kayla will receive a cash prize, a certificate, and a letter of congratulations in the coming weeks.

Her winning poem is titled “A Gecko’s Grip.”  Kayla has always loved art almost as much as she enjoys creative writing.  This love of drawing influenced her to make a gecko the subject of her poem for the contest.

“I thought I could draw a gecko well,” Kayla explained.  “I did some research and then from there the poem just came to me.  I really enjoy writing.  I keep a journal where I practice my writing.”

Kayla’s favorite subject is English.  

“I really like the writing part,” Kayla, who wishes to study psychology in college, said.  “I like how you can do so much with words.  I also like looking back on my writing and thinking about how much fun I had making it.”  

Western Wayne music students auditioned virtually for District Band and District Chorus this year.  

The following students were accepted to District Band. They include:  Jenny Guadagno (Placed 5^th and is 1^st Alternate for District Orchestra), Madison Kammer, Ash Mangieri, Aidan Donnini (Placed 1^st and qualified for District Orchestra), Hudson Malinowski (Placed 4^th and qualified for District Orchestra), Alyssa Donnini, Madison Weinczyk (placed 2^nd), Nicholas Valentin (2^nd Alternate for District Orchestra), Maggie Nagle (1^st Alternate for District Band), and Bridgette Flannery (1^st Timpani Alternate for District Band).

These band students will be participating in the festival later this winter in a virtual format with nationally recognized clinicians and will have the opportunity to qualify for the All-State Festival.

Also, five chorus students auditioned for District Chorus and all five were accepted. They include: Rhonda Fenkner, Joanna Regalbuto, Rebecca Boots, Bridgette Flannery, and Alex Taylor.

The district is proud of the accomplishments of its music students and wish them the best at their respective upcoming festivals.

In photo:  Western Wayne seniors Alex Taylor and Rhonda Fenkner posing at a dress rehearsal for last year’s musical.

By Jenny Guadagno

The Western Wayne Music Department  is thrilled to announce the release of Christmas concert recordings for the community. 

The High School Band, High School Chorus, 7th/ 8th Grade Band, 8th Grade Chorus, and 7th Grade Chorus, all worked with their teachers to create concert recordings for the holiday season.

After a year away from the stage, these music groups have returned in full swing to spread some holiday cheer via video performances. 

Although the virtual nature of the concerts are certainly different from previous years, the band and chorus is growing accustomed to it, especially the high school band. Having already published a Halloween recording during the High School band’s marching season, they came prepared to make a video in the concert season.

Students in all Western Wayne musical groups were  spaced out and utilized personal protective equipment based on their instrument, ranging from face shields and instrument bags to bell covers, special player’s masks, and face masks for chorus students.  

Equipped with this gear and decked out in festive sweaters, the band and chorus students performed a variety of fun holiday songs for all to enjoy.

In a truly wild year, it is reassuring to have a holiday concert remain constant. As low brass section leader Madison Weinczyk of the High School Band puts it, “It’s definitely a different experience, but I’m glad to still have this opportunity”. 

The concerts can be found at the following links:

High School Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vS8GbhT-aQ&t=10s

High School Chorus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa6rHfhYhtg

7^th/8^th Grade Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyIwzkirX2w

8^th Grade Chorus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXTiT0XF0V0&feature=youtu.be

7^th Grade Chorus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-yU7J6BaPA&feature=youtu.be

The Western Wayne Music Department in both the high school and middle school hope all enjoy this holiday treat!

In photo:  Senior Drum Major Alyssa Donnini directs the high school band at their community day held this past fall.

Western Wayne FCCLA presented a check to The Wayne County Children’s Christmas Bureau in the amount of $455.09.  The money was raised at the recent FCCLA Drive Through Breakfast with Santa which was planned by students Kennedy Mistishin and Zoey Goldman as part of FCCLA’s STAR EVENT participation (Student’s Taking Action for Recognition).  Kennedy and Zoey will be presenting on the topic of Community Service at the virtual FCCLA State Leadership Conference this spring.

From left: Western Wayne high school principal Paul Gregorski; Western Wayne FCCLA Members and event Co- Chairs Zoey Goldman, Kennedy Mistishin; and a representative from the Wayne County Children’s Christmas Bureau Mr. John Carmody.