Western Wayne High School Students attended the Wayne County Collaborative Transition Expo. held on Oct. 22 at Ladore Lodge in Waymart.  At the event, they learned about college and career opportunities.  The event is designed to assist transitioning students with disabilities and their families.

          Senior Rebeccah King enjoyed the knowledge she gained from the event.

          “Representatives from different schools help you with your questions about college,” King, who aspires to study welding after graduation, explained.  “They offered scholarship help, and I also learned about opportunities for employment available to me now.  I learned that Woodloch Pines is hiring.”

          Rebeccah’s classmate Becca Boots also thought she gained some valuable insights from the expo.

          “I am very interested in culinary studies in college,” Becca explained.  “I spoke to someone representing Lackawanna College’s culinary program, and I learned that they have a separate building on campus for that major.  That made me even more interested in attending that school.”

          All of the students who attended the transition expo. were happy to gain more knowledge about fields they can pursue after their time in high school.

          Pictured are some of the Western Wayne High School students who recently attended the Wayne County Collaborative Transition Expo. held on Oct. 22 at Ladore Lodge in Waymart.  Front row, from left:  Jamie Newman, Mya Lukas, Amy Newman, Caleb Burns, Jordan Diaz, Braydon Christian, and Rebecca Weist.  Back row, from left:  Jack Klikus, Caleb Swingle, Becca Boots, and Rebeccah King.

Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) from Western Wayne High School learned leadership skills, organizational skills and project ideas while attending the FCCLA Regional Leadership Meeting on October 25^th at Reading Area Community College.

            Members attended workshops on Leadership, Statewide Initiatives, Publicizing your Chapter, Safety, Family Consumer Sciences related topics, and State Officer Candidacy.  During the meeting, local chapter members also learned about the PA FCCLA outreach project and the membership campaign.

            Western Wayne members expressed enthusiasm toward returning to their chapter with great ideas and lots of motivation for a successful year.

WW Freshman, Ashley Small learned about FCCLA programs and competitions and stated “The workshop taught me about a useful planning process that will help me organize community events and achieve my future career plans.”

WW Sophomore Katarina Wood explained “I attended an FCCLA work session that gave me key strategies to balance my extracurricular and academic skills.”

Sinclaire Ogof, a WW Senior and Vice President of Membership, reported that “Twenty seven students attended the FCCLA Regional Leadership Meeting and our Western Wayne Chapter’s membership has tripled this year, totaling  52 students!”

            Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America is a dynamic and effective national student organization that helps young men and women become leaders and addresses important personal, family, work, and societal issues through Family & Consumer Sciences Education and Related Occupations. 

FCCLA is unique among youth organizations because its programs are planned and run by members.  It is the only national in-school organization with the family as its central focus.  Participation in national programs and chapter activities helps members become strong leaders in their families, careers, and communities.

The Western Wayne Marching Band visited local nursing homes on Wednesday, Oct. 30.  They spread some cheer for the fall season while playing music and wearing costumes at Ellen Memorial, Wayne Woodlands, and Julia Ribaudo nursing homes.  The band is under the direction of Mrs. Elaine Ort.

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.