Western Wayne’s CTC cosmetology junior Madison Bower won the Gold Medal in the CTC District Cosmetology Competition and then went on to place third in the State Competition. Both competitions took place this past spring virtually.

At the district level, Madison competed in the nail competition. This is a notable accomplishment as she is one of very few juniors to participate and only Gold Medalists are invited to compete at the state level. At the state level, Madison also did the nail competition and placed third.
At first, Madison did not realize how prestigious the competitions she was a part of were.
“After winning gold in the district competition is when I found out how big this competition actually was. I googled SkillsUSA and saw all the opportunities I had with this type of competition. That’s when I started getting really nervous,” Madison explained. “I did nails every free second I had. My house smelled like a nail salon 24/7. I focused mainly on the nail art. But the state competition required much more. It wasn’t as simple as gluing on tips and a quick acrylic layer. We had to do a gel overlay as well as sculpted acrylics which is where you sculpt the nail itself with no tip. I also had to know all the nail health and nail care for the interview questions. Then the nail art for five nails with a theme.”
Madison’s hard work and preparations paid off with her third place win at the state competition.

“ I can’t wait for next year and the chance at coming back to a SkillsUSA competition either in the nail care or cosmetology (hair) part of the competition,” Madison explained. She is excited to compete in a variety of areas and demonstrate her skills.
Madison has been interested in the cosmetology field for many years. She discussed what first got her hooked.
“When I was probably 12 years old, I went swimming and my hair turned bright green,” Madison described. “No matter what we did the green wouldn’t come out, so my mom let me dye my hair, and it escalated from there. My hair has been every color you can think of. After that I started really getting into make up. I was always watching YouTube and trying out all types of makeup techniques. When I found out about CTC and that they had a cosmetology program, I knew when I was a freshman that I would apply to CTC for the program and see if this was the right field for me. I absolutely love it and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”
Madison feels passionately about all aspects of cosmetology.
“ I love almost everything to do with cosmetology,” she explained. “I think my favorite part is just being able to be creative whether it’s with nail art, hair coloring, up-dos. I just love trying new things and see how it turns out.”
Madison plans to pursue the cosmetology field after graduation next year.
“My future goals are to attend college for a business degree as well as cheer in college and to work in a salon while earning my degree,” she explained. “ I’d also have to keep up on continuing education for cosmetology. Once out of school, I would love to open my own salon and possibly my own competitive cheer team. I have two loves, cosmetology and cheerleading.”
Pictured is Western Wayne junior Madison Bower with her gold medal and some of her cosmetology tools.

Western Wayne Family Career & Community Leaders of America (FCCLA)  recently were recognized for being Silver Medal Recipients at a virtual Eastern Region FCCLA conference. These students are now part of the Star Events National Team and will compete this summer at the virtual national conference.

FCCLA President Caitlyn Burdick, senior, won the Western Wayne FCCLA Chapter Member of the Year Award. Caitlyn serves as president of the club and has worked on many projects this school year.

“I most enjoyed my work this year planning our community events such as our Breakfast with Santa Drive-through,” Caitlyn, who plans to attend Marywood University upon graduation with a major in early childhood education, said.  “We did our best to work with COVID guidelines for such programs.  It was really worth it to see the smiles on little kids faces when they saw Santa at our event.”

Another winner at the conference was junior Adelaide Treibley.  She competed in the Professional Presentation event.  She had to present a ten-minute speech on the topic of her choice which was unemployment.

Adelaide feels passionately about her topic.  She discussed how she thinks a solution to the unemployment problem is to have more funding for higher education.  Therefore, more people would be trained for specialized jobs. Adelaide became interested in this topic during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She explained how she had to dress professionally for her presentation and deliver her message in a strong and academic manner.

Adelaide placed second in this STAR Event.  She will compete virtually in the National FCCLA competition.

In addition, Western Wayne juniors Kennedy Mistishin and Zoey Goldman placed second for their Community Service Project event.  The girls were co-chairs of Western Wayne’s Drive-Through Breakfast with Santa this past December.  For the competition, they had to create a display board and give a ten-minute speech about their experiences creating, preparing, and running the event.

The girls explained how they created a board with many pictures of their successful event along with how they illustrated their budget.

“I discussed how we were thrilled to get people out for our event, yet still keep them at a safe distance,” Kennedy explained.  

Zoey added, “It was such a good event during a year where our community has struggled so much.  I think we really helped the community.”

Both Kennedy and Zoey look forward to moving on to the National level of competition for their service project.  The girls also feel excited for their senior year in FCCLA where they hope to do even more good for the community.

PPL awarded Western Wayne student Amy Newman Wireless Beats Headphones as a prize for completing a survey about her usage of tools in the Innovation Kit that all Western Wayne 9th grade high school students and some students in other grades 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 and a special shower head for water conservation, among other items. Newman and many other Western Wayne students used these items and then filled in a survey about their experiences. Newman was the lucky winner drawn at random for the Western Wayne School District. “I love my Wireless Beats Headphones,” Amy said. “They are so much fun.” Pictured is Amy Newman enjoying her prize.

Twenty members of Western Wayne’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter were recognized at the Awards of Excellence program during the Virtual State Leadership Conference held recently.

During this conference, senior Lenny Maiocco, the PA FBLA Parliamentarian, and the other state officers conducted the session from their homes.  Nine officers were elected/appointed to lead the organization during the 2021-2022 school year including Morgan Coccodrilli, State Reporter; and Gabby Tetreault, State Parliamentarian.  Both students are juniors at Western Wayne.

The top ten members/teams were recognized for their performance in one of the 70+ different competitive events.  The top four winners in each event qualify for the National Leadership Conference to also be held virtually because of the Pandemic.

The members from Western Wayne included:  Intro to Parliamentary Procedure:  Jenna Kwiatkowski, first; Alex Chapman, third; and Skylar Long, fifth place.  Intro to FBLA:  Rhayni Carroll, second; and Emily Romanowski, tenth place.  Parliamentary Procedure. The team of Lenny Maiocco, Lena Piccolino, Gabby Tetreault, Rachel Hoch, and Kaeli Romanowski, third place.  Accounting II:  Alex Hineline, fifth; and Lacey Falloon, ninth place.  Management Decision Making, Rachel Tuman, fifth place.  Intro to Public Speaking:  Adrian Agnello.  Word Processing:  Laynee Nugent; Intro to Business Presentation:  Alaina Maiocco and Ella Pavlovich, ninth place.  Public Service Announcement:  the team of Julie Bryan, Cyrah Biehler, and Dustin Ferraro, ninth place.

In addition, the Western Wayne chapter placed fourth in the Outstanding Chapter event and third in the Local Market Share Award.  Lenny Maiocco placed third in Who’s Who in Pennsylvania FBLA and William Selden Scholarship Award.

Ms. Theresa Lubash is the local chapter adviser.

This past winter Western Wayne FBLA students participated in the Regional Leadership Conference for the state of Pennsylvania in a virtual format.  The students performed very well, and two Western Wayne students were elected as Region 22 FBLA Officers for the 2021-2022 school year.  Junior Luciano Azzato will serve as secretary for the region and Junior Morgan Coccodrilli will serve as president for the region next year.  At present, Lou serves as the region treasurer, and Morgan serves as the region secretary.

Lou said that he has been making the most of this unique year in education and FBLA.  He explained how he has had the opportunity to meet virtually with other region office holders.  Lou also enjoyed his experience in the virtual Regional Leadership Conference.  He discussed how he participated in the Business Calculations event and that he is preparing to participate in the State Leadership Conference for this same event during March.

As of right now, Lou is interested in the business field for a possible future career.  He really enjoys math in general.  He discussed what FBLA has taught him over the years.

“It’s taught me a lot of important skills that I have not learned in my regular classes,” Lou explained.  “I learned about interest and finance, and this has helped me to use my money the right way. Also, I have learned leadership skills such as responsibility, in taking care of others, and using my communication skills in a good positive way to get things done.” 

Lou aspires to attend a four-year university after graduation and is interested in Temple University, York University, and Penn State University.

Junior Morgan Coccodrilli is also glad to have the chance to participate in FBLA this year.  He explained how he helped to organize a meeting on a regional level by securing a speaker from the Woodloch Pines Resort to meet with the regional officers virtually.  Matt Kiesendahl of Woodloch spoke to the students.

“We learned how Woodloch has handled their business during the pandemic,” Morgan explained.  “We learned that it is important to cater to the people and to make sure your customers are your main priority. We also learned about the importance of caring for employees and adhering to CDC guidelines.”

In addition, Morgan explained how he really liked his experience in the Impromptu Speaking event at the Regional Leadership Conference.  He said that students in the event were given a prompt and ten minutes to prepare to speak on it.  The prompt was about how being in FBLA is like being a superhero.

“I discussed how being in FBLA is like being a part of The Avengers,” Morgan explained.  “You are a part of a team, and you help others.”

Morgan placed first in the Impromptu Speaking event.  He aspires to attend Penn State University and major in either engineering or premed.  He is also thinking about doing an ROTC program. 

“FBLA has taught me that a good leader understands when working with others not everyone will always agree.  You need to be able to find common ground to have success when working in a group,” Morgan said.

The following Western Wayne students placed in the FBLA Regional Leadership Conference.  In the Accounting II event: Lacey Fallon, first place; Alex Hineline, second place.

 In the Banking & Financial Systems event: Delaney Valinski, first place.  In the Business Calculations event: Luciano Azzato, third place.  In the Business Communication event: Hannah Elbert, fourth place.  In the Business Ethics event: Brett Schane and Caden Slifko, first place.  In the Business Ethics event: Adeladie Treibley, third place.

 In the Economics event, Haley Estus, fourth place.  In the Entrepreneurship event, Anya Rusnak and Sydney Hutchinson, fourth place.  In the Hospitality & Event Management Event:  Morgan Heenan, Sarah Collins, Alexandra Butler, first place.  In the Impromptu Speaking event:  Morgan Coccodrilli, first place.

 In the Introduction to Business event:  Lucas Putman, second place.  In the Introduction to Business Presentation event:  Alaina Maiocco and Ella Pavolvich, first place.  In the Introduction to Business Procedures event:  Brenna McGlone, second place; and Mackenzie Kennedy, fourth place.

 In the Introduction to Event Planning event:  Eleanor Black, fifth place.  In the Introduction to FBLA event:  Emily Romanowski, first place; Rhayni Carroll, second place; Taylor Maiocco, fourth place.  In the Introduction to Financial Math event:   Allie Pauler, third place; Weston Nugent, fifth place.  In the Introduction to Parliamentary Procedure event:  Skylar Long, first place; Alex Chapman, second place; Jenna Kwiatkowski, third place.

 In the Introduction to Public Speaking event:  Adrian Agnello, second place.  In the Management Decision Making event:  Rachel Tuman, first place.  In the Marketing event:  Aly McCarthy and Emilie McAllister, second place.  In the Parliamentary Procedure event:  Leonard Maiocco, Kaeli Romanowski, Lena Piccolino, Gabby Tetreault, and Rachel Hoch, first place. In the Personal Finance event: Thomas Gogolski, fifth place.

 In the Public Speaking event:  Kelton Slifko, second place; Lily Visceglia, third place.  In the Sports & Entertainment Management event:  Jake Kopcza, Alex Iovacchini, and Ashton Fitzsimmons, third place; and Caleb Hoch and Matthew Henneforth, fourth place.  In the Word Processing event:  Laynee Nugent, second place.

 In the Public Service Announcement event:  Julie Bryan, Cyrah Biehler, and Dustin Ferraro, all are Top 10 State Qualifiers.