Western Wayne High School will send seven of their high school chorus students to the PMEA District 9 Chorus Festival to be held from January 15 through January 17 at Marywood University.  The following Western Wayne students have all been accepted to District Chorus as either qualified or as an alternate.  The students pre- auditioned to qualify for districts at Tunkhannock Area High School in October.  These students include: Alexandra Solimine, 1st place, alto 2; Joanna Regalbuto, 2nd place, soprano 2; Dakota Beavers, 7th place, tenor 2; Trinity Williams, 14th place, alto 2; Brad Wood, 16th place, tenor 2; Alex Taylor, 16th place, bass 1; Rhonda Fenkner, 19th place, soprano 1; John Nichols , 22nd  , 1st alternate; and Lily Visceglia, 23rd , 2nd alternate.

                All of the students involved are excited to represent Western Wayne at District Chorus in January.  The students will get their audition music sometime in November.  Western Wayne junior Rhonda Fenkner explained that the students will have at least seven songs to prepare.

                “It is exciting and stressful at the same time,” Rhonda explained.  “Last year we had both a South African and Korean piece to prepare for the audition.  Those pieces, of course, are more challenging because, along with learning notes and lyrics, you also have to learn all of the correct pronunciations.”                 Western Wayne Administration, faculty, and staff all wish these students the best at the District Chorus Festival in January.

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Learning rhythms, beats, steps, and choreography isn’t just work for the Rockettes and Broadway stars, Western Wayne High School foreign language students have a yearly tradition of learning Spanish dancing as a part of their curriculum each fall.

          Local dance instructor and studio owner Vince Brust works with the Western Wayne students to teach a variety of traditional Spanish dances such as tango, merengue, mambo, and salsa among others.

          The students have a few weeks of sessions with Mr.  Brust in the fall leading up to a performance for the community in early November.

          Some of the students in the classes with Brust have been working with him for four years.  Seniors Nicholas Gombita, Kendra Oliver, Samantha Scaduto, and Alyssa Iovacchini feel very excited to be working again on their dancing skills this school year.

          “The experience helps to immerse us in both the culture of Spanish and dance,” Nick explained. “I have been learning more this year about how to count different music when I dance.  Some dances are counted in threes and others in fours.  Each dance is different.”

          Another experienced dancer Kendra, who helped to choreograph one of the dances performed for the community last year in the annual Spanish dance performance, said she loves going to the classes each year to learn more and more.

          “The salsa and cha-cha are my favorites,” Kendra said.  “The steps are faster and more challenging than some of the other dances.”

          Students of all ability and experience levels take Spanish dancing as a part of their Western Wayne foreign language curriculum.

          Two freshmen Jaden Gregory and Nate Irvine have been enjoying learning this type of dance for the first time.

          “It was hard at first to get accustomed to dancing with each other,” Nate said.  “But it got easier the more we learned.”

          “My favorite part are the cross-body leads,” Jaden explained.  “They are a very smooth part of the dances.”

          Jaden’s classmates freshmen Julia Phillips, Cassia Sheehan, and Ashley Small-Bermudez also have been enjoying their first experience in Spanish dance with Mr. Brust.

          All of the girls have a lot of fun learning new steps each day.  Julia likes the spins and turning in dance.  Cassia thinks the cross-body leads are the most fun steps, and Ashley likes the expression she gets to put into the hairbrush step.

          “This connects really well with what we are learning in the classroom,” Cassia explained.  “It gives us a taste of what real Spanish culture is like.”

Western Wayne High School students in grade 9 experienced the THINK! ENERGY Innovation Program on Tuesday, October 22. 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 October 22.  The kits included four LED light bulbs, a water conserving shower head as well an advanced smart energy power strip.  Overall, 225 innovation kits were distributed.  This comes to 4,632 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. 

From left:  Dr. Mark Nebzydoski, science teacher; Eugene Shultz and Robert Penkala, presenters; and Paul Gregorski, principal. 

Western Wayne sophomores Bridget Oppelt and Rachel Tuman have been chosen to present Western Wayne at the 2020 Central Pennsylvania HOBY Leadership Seminar at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, from May 14 through May 17.

Both young ladies are very accomplished at Western Wayne. Bridget is an honor roll student who enjoys being a part of the Western Wayne Marching Band where she plays the alto saxophone. She also does baton with the Double R Twirlettes and likes to ride horses in her spare time.

Like her classmate, Rachel also is highly involved in academics and activities. Rachel is a member of the Mock Trial Team, PJAS, Science Olympiad, FBLA, Spanish Club, and is the vice president of the sophomore class.
The girls were chosen for HOBY through essays they submitted about what leadership means to them.
“I wrote about how leadership is a role that you can use to guide and help others,” Bridget said.
Rachel agreed that helping others is a large part of leadership.
“I wrote about how there are two types of leaders: positive and negative ones,” Rachel explained. “Positive leaders help to develop tomorrow’s leaders.”
Both girls are very excited to attend the HOBY Leadership Seminar.
“I look forward to hearing what is said about leadership and meeting other students and hearing their experiences,” Rachel said.

Local students had the chance to work hands-on with a 3D-printing machine, robots, and dissection tools among many other things at the 5^th annual Women in Science Symposium hosted by the Wayne Pike Workforce Alliance and the Lacawac Sanctuary& Biological Field Station on September 17 at the Woodloch Pines Resort.

       Western Wayne was one of the schools present at the event along with Delaware Valley, Wayne Highlands, Valley View, MMI Preparatory School, and Wallenpaupack Area.  Over 300 students attended the event. The keynote speaker this year was Dr. Katie Leonard, president of Johnson College. 

       The purpose of the event was to give students, like women, minorities and other underdeveloped groups, information on STEM career paths, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education. Students met with representatives from local colleges to discuss career options, hear presentations from female, working professionals and had the opportunity to speak with these professionals after the presentations finished. 

       Female students from both the Western Wayne middle and high schools had the chance to attend the event.

       The high school students from Western Wayne in attendance who have attended the event for multiple years prior said this was the best symposium yet.

       “It was all very interactive and hands-on,” Alexandria Bien-Aime, a sophomore at Western Wayne, explained.  “I want to be a surgeon so I was particularly interested in the station where I got to use tools to dissect animals.”

       Alexandria’s classmate Hudson Malinowski also liked the unique hands-on stations at the symposium.

       “I got to work with a robot and program it to play music,” Hudson, who wishes to pursue a career in music, said.

       The students explained how there were many different colleges represented at the event and that they were able to explore different majors.

       Sophomore Mia Rovinsky especially enjoyed the college fair portion of the event.

       “It was good to hear other students’ questions and concerns about the STEM field in the question and answer sessions,” Mia, who wants to be a doctor, said.

       Mia’s classmate sophomore Rachel Tuman also enjoyed taking advantage of all of the information about colleges and STEM at the symposium.

       “I think the experience helped us all to refine our knowledge,” Rachel, who wishes to pursue a career in forensic science, said.  “I enjoyed seeing all of the people there willing to help propel us into a science career.”

From left:  Western Wayne sophomores Hudson Malinowski, Alexandria Bien-Aime, Rachel Tuman, and Mia Rovinsky.

Western Wayne students learned about the physics, artistic qualities, and chemical properties of glass among many other things when the mobile glass studio based out of Keystone College visited on Thursday, Sept. 26 and Friday, Sept. 27.  Approximately 678 middle and high school students viewed the mobile glass laboratory, and 49 students had the unique opportunity of taking part in an individual hands-on demonstration.

The mobile glass studio is the only one of its kind in the region and is sponsored by the Dorflinger Glass Museum and Keystone College.  Funding for the mobile glass laboratory comes from donations to the Dorflinger Glass Museum by corporations under the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development EITC program. The companies get tax credits for donations that support innovative educational programs such as the glass studio.

The glass studio last visited Western Wayne in November of 2017 and the district was thrilled to host this experience for its students again.  Mark Nebzydoski, high school science teacher at Western Wayne, played a key role in planning this event.  He believes that Western Wayne science students greatly benefit from unique educational opportunities such as this.

          “It’s meaningful for students to learn about glass through these visual and hands-on demonstrations,” Nebzydoski said.  “They get to have an educational experience that they wouldn’t have anywhere else.”

 Keystone faculty member Brandon Smith, an advanced glass instructor and studio technician from Factoryville, was one of the teachers from the college that led the Western Wayne students through their experience with the mobile glass lab.

Smith explained how this glass lab is a part of Keystone’s STEAM project and that he helped to build the lab with various students from different parts of the world.

“The main goal of this project is to present information to students,” Smith said.  “We want to show kids that with a single material you can drive yourself into many different careers.”

Smith explained that students who study glass can go into fields such as museum archaeology, architecture, chemical laboratory work, laser technology work, and so many other areas.

Seniors Cooper Mistishin, Matt Rosengrant, and Max Phillips had the opportunity to learn from Smith and Michael Swanson, who teaches an introduction to glass course at Keystone College.  The boys participated in the individual hands-on glass demonstrations.

Cooper was surprised at the intensity of the heat used to mold the glass.

“It was interesting to see the differences in the glass from when it was really hot to when it cooled,” Cooper explained.  “When it was warm it looked like all of the glass was blended together and when it cooled you could see its shape better.”

Cooper, who plans to study computer science in college, was glad to have this experience and especially liked molding the glass.

His classmate Matt Rosengrant also had fun molding glass during the demonstration.

“I liked how hands on the demonstration was and how they allowed us to shape the glass,” Matt, who plans to study electrical construction after graduation, said.

Senior Max Phillips agreed that having this experience was particularly helpful for him as a student because of everything he was able to see and do.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” Max, who plans to study computer science in college, said.  “I enjoyed learning about the properties of glass and how it works.”

In addition, Keystone College admissions counselor Colin Dempsey admitted three Western Wayne students to Keystone during the glass blowing event at the school.  He read their transcripts and gave them admissions letters on the spot.

Nebzydoski and the Western Wayne community are excited for the prospects of having the mobile glass lab return for future learning events at Western Wayne.

In the meantime, Keystone College invites the public to their Keystone College Glass Harvest Sale and Glass Pumpkin Patch event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on October 12 at their campus lawn.  There will be live glass blowing at this event.

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