Western Wayne senior Alyssa Iovacchini has been honored for her exemplary volunteer service with a President’s Volunteer Service Award.

          The award, which recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of time to service their communities and their country, was granted by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program.  Western Wayne nominated Alyssa for national honors this fall in recognition of her volunteer service.

          Throughout Alyssa’s four years in high school she volunteered at Arrowhead Bible Camp in Brackney, PA.  She found out about this opportunity through her pastor at the Waymart Church where she is an active member.

          Alyssa described the service work she does each summer at the James Project held at Arrowhead Bible Camp.  The James Project, named after the Book of James in the Bible, is a summer camp for mentally disabled adults.  Alyssa and other volunteers work to clean the camp, so that the camp counselors can more focus their time on working with the campers.

          In addition, Alyssa works at the camp in the winter doing the same jobs when youth groups and church retreats are at Arrowhead.

          “I really enjoy this type of volunteer work because I am putting others before myself and making sure they have the most enjoyable time they can at the camp whether they be adults or other campers,” Alyssa explained.

          She also participates in other various service activities in Waymart with her church throughout the school year.

          “The faculty, staff, and administration at Western Wayne feel very proud of Alyssa’s accomplishments,” Western Wayne High School Principal Paul Gregorski said.  “We hope our other students look up to her as a role model.”

          In its 25^th year, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), recognizes middle level and high school students across America for outstanding volunteer service.

          “Across the United States, young volunteers are doing remarkable things to contribute to the well-being of the people and communities around them,” said Prudential Chairman CEO Charles Lowrey.  “Prudential is honored to celebrate the contributions of these students, and we hope their stories inspire others to volunteer too.”

          “Demonstrating civic responsibility through volunteerism is an important part of life,” said NASSP Executive Director JoAnn Bartoletti.  “These honorees practice a lesson we hope all young people, as well as adults, will emulate.”

          Prudential Spirit of Community Award application details were distributed nationwide last September through middle level and high schools, Girl Scout Councils, County 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and Points of Light Global Network members.  These schools and officially-designated local organizations nominated Local Honorees, whose applications were advanced for state-level judging.  In addition to granting President’s Volunteer Service Awards, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards selected State Honorees, Distinguished Finalists and Certificate of Excellence recipients.  Volunteer activities were judged on criteria including initiative, effort, impact, and personal growth.

          Alyssa feels honors to have been given this service award and to be able to represent the Western Wayne School District’s commitment to excellence through this honor.  Along with her service activities, Alyssa also is involved in other activities at Western Wayne which include the National Honor Society, Spanish Club, and FBLA.  After graduation, Alyssa aspires to attend a four-year college to pursue her teaching certificate in secondary education English.

          “I think that my service work is preparing me for when I will one day work with students in my own classroom,” Alyssa said.

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Wayne County Community Foundation, Youth Advisory Committee presented two separate grants to Western Wayne High School students Rachel Hoch and Sydney Hutchinson on Friday, January 24. 

          Ryanne Jennings and William Gershey, representing the Wayne County Community Foundation, presented the grants to the students.

Rachel Hoch, sophomore, received a grant to use for her senior project.  The project involves her work with Western Wayne High School’s annual spring Catwalk fashion show themed “Tune into Fashion”.  Rachel will work to plan decorations for the show along with sewing other projects for the event.  She also will choose a charity to donate proceeds from the event to.

 “I felt glad I wrote the grant,” Rachel explained.  “I know the funds will greatly benefit our spring show along with the community that will get to enjoy seeing it.” 

Fellow classmate Sydney Hutchinson, junior, received her grant for her senior project which is a 5K color run to take place at Western Wayne High School on May 16.  More information on her project will be available at www.westernwayne.org in the spring.  Sydney is a member of both the Cross County and track teams and has an interest in studying business in college.  She believes that her project will combine all of her interests and give her some experience in event organizing.

 “I’m excited to use the grant money to develop an amazing 5K event for the public to enjoy,” Sydney explained.  

Western Wayne High School administration and staff feel proud of these students who received grants and encourage the community to come out and enjoy both of these upcoming spring events.

Picture one, from left, standing:  Trina Barcarola (YCA), Mrs. Colleen Carmody, Rachel Hoch, and Brendan Fitzsimmons (YCA).

Picture two, from left, standing: Trina Barcarola, Mrs. Laura Wojnar, Sydney Hutchinson, Mrs. Annette Fox, and Brendan Fitzsimmons (YCA).

This year Western Wayne High School has begun a student ambassador program. Ambassadors greet visitors to the high school and escort them to their destination in the building among participating in other school events. In November, the ambassadors went through a training with Julie Bialkowski from Penn State Scranton.
Senior Lenny Maiocco explained how students learned a variety of skills at the training like how properly to shake hands, how to introduce themselves, how to speak at an accurate volume, and how to be open in speaking to others along with how to dress in a presentable manner. In addition, all student ambassadors have Western Wayne blazers with the school emblem on them to wear to look uniform and professional for all of the events they participate in.
The following high school students are a part of the program:
Celeste Orchard, Madison McGlone, Jamie Bryan, Kaeli Romanowski, Skylar Long, Cyrah Bihler, McKenzie Laity, Miranda Montijo, Cassidy Asinski, Angelia Reggie, Trina Barcarola, Landon Firmstone, Zane Janiszewski, Alex Amorine, Asia Nichols, Sinclaire Ogof, Brendan Fitzsimmons, Zachary Rovinsky, Jack McAllister, Parker Howell, James Fryzel, Derek Mason, Lenny Maiocco, Alaina Maiocco, Abby Black, Sinaea Buford, Ashton Fitzsimmons, Morgan Coccodrilli, Sydney Peet, and Ezra Tetreault.
The students felt very excited to attend their first event, Curriculum Night in January. The student ambassadors had the pleasure of serving as escorts for 8th grade students and their families to give them a taste of what the high school has to offer. The following ambassadors attended Curriculum Night: Jamie Bryan, Cassidy Asinski, Miranda Montijo, Celeste Orchard, Trina Barcarola, Lenny Maiocco, Ezra Tetreault, Derek Mason, Brendan Fitzsimmons, and Landon Firmstone.
Senior Landon Firmstone was especially glad to share information about the Robotics Team to an eighth grader in his tour group. Landon is highly involved in the Robotics Team and feels privileged to help pass on the legacy of the club to future freshmen.
“You almost don’t realize how much you know about the school until you serve as an ambassador and have to pass on your knowledge about it,” Landon, who aspires to study business management in college, explained.
Fellow ambassador Jamie Bryan also made connections with students in her Curriculum Night group. Jamie is a proud member of the Western Wayne Marching Band and discussed how she met five students who have an interest in joining band in high school.
“It was great to relate to possible future band students,” Jamie said. “I hope I helped them to feel confident in their decision to join our band.”
Senior Class President Ezra Tetreault explained how he also took time during Curriculum Night to inspire young students.
“I really wanted to impress on them that they can be who they want to be at our high school,” Ezra explained. “Whether it is in band, Spanish classes, business classes, sports, everywhere you look there is another opportunity to find yourself at our school.”
In addition to the ambassadors attending Curriculum Night, they have also started giving high school campus tours to visitors from the community.
Senior James Fryzel was the first ambassador to give a tour. He escorted John Brennan and Paul Brown from the Carbondale Technology Transfer Center (CTTC). Brennan and Brown spoke to Theresa Lubash’s marketing class about the CTTC which is a place to help people start businesses. The students learned how at CTTC they provide business and technical support, guided access to funding for businesses, and space with no long-term leases among a variety of other services and resources.
James felt honored to be able to give the opening student ambassador tour to Brennan and Brown. He was able to show them around the high school before taking them to his marketing class where they gave their presentation. Just as James was glad to share his knowledge of Western Wayne with the businessmen he was also glad to gain knowledge from his experience with them as was his marketing class.
“I learned that hard work and dedication can get you far in the business world,” James explained. “I think it is important to learn from people who have experience.”
James’ marketing class will be working to gather ideas for CTTC’s marketing department and will make a trip to CTTC as a way to further enrich their business studies.
James and all of the other Western Wayne student ambassadors look forward to meeting and welcoming more community members into their school.
Pictured are the members of the Western Wayne Student Ambassador Program. Row 1 (l to r): Celeste Orchard, Madison McGlone, Jamie Bryan, Kaeli Romanowski, Skylar Long, Cyrah Bihler, McKenzie Laity, Miranda Montijo, Cassidy Asinski, Angelia Reggie, Trina Barcarola, Landon Firmstone, Zane Janiszewski, and Alex Amorine. Row 2 (l to r): Asia Nichols, Sinclaire Ogof, Brendan Fitzsimmons, Zachary Rovinsky, Jack McAllister, Parker Howell, James Fryzel, Derek Mason. Absent from photo: Lenny Maiocco, Alaina Maiocco, Abby Black, Sinaea Buford, Ashton Fitzsimmons, Morgan Coccodrilli, Sydney Peet, and Ezra Tetreault.