Congratulations to Lenny, the first one ever to win a District II Tennis Championship at WesternWayne and he is only a freshman!! WOW, what will be next for Lenny? Can’t wait to find out!
Congratulations to Lenny, the first one ever to win a District II Tennis Championship at WesternWayne and he is only a freshman!! WOW, what will be next for Lenny? Can’t wait to find out!
Western Wayne alumni Mike Minor will be the guest speaker at this year’s Varsity Club 18th Annual Sports Banquet on Tuesday evening, May 29th at Ladore Conference Center in Waymart. Mike is a 2x Paralympian medalist, representing the United Stated this year in Pyeongchang, South Korea, including a gold medal. Mike graduated from Western Wayne in 2008 and participated in Wrestling and Soccer while in high school.
Our Varsity Track and Field teams competed at the Robert Spagna League Championship Meet held at Scranton Memorial Stadium yesterday. Our girls finished 1st in AA out of 9 schools and 2nd overall (against AAA competition), losing only to Abington Heights, a larger school that just set the record for most consecutive dual meet wins in Lackawanna League history. Note that scoring goes out to eight places, and the place mentioned also accounts for going against AAA compeition, teams we will not see at districts. The girls were led by Trina Barcarola’s 3rd Place and new school record Pole Vault finish of 11′-6″, breaking her old school record of 11’0″. Trina finished 2nd in the 300 Hurdles with a new school record time of 45.74, breaking Michelle Morcom’s old record of 45.93 set back in 2004. Trina also finished 2nd in the 100 Hurdles and teamed up with Samantha Atcavage, Annie Skirpan, and Gianna DeBastiani to earn a 2nd place medal in the 4 by 400 Relay with a time of 4:08.16, which is now 5th all time. Annie also took 3rd in the 400 and 7th in the 800. Samantha added a 6th place finish in the 300 Hurdles. Gianna also took 4th in the Long Jump and teamed up with Cassidy Asinski, Noelle Orehek, and Elizabeth Pulice to earn 6th place points in the 4 by 100 Relay. Sydney Krompasky took 5th in the Pole Vault, while Esmerelda Mendez took 4th in the Discus and 6th in the Shot Put. Maya Black and Kaila Johnson tied for 8th place in the High Jump. The 4 by 800 Relay team of Victoria Hutchinson, Morgan Wagner, Haley Estus, and Lilly Black took 7th.
The Boys finished 4th in the AA standings. Leading the way was Evan Coons, whose throw of 134′-07″ earned him a 3rd place finish as well as the 4th best throw in school history. Johnny Barcarola finished 3rd in the Long Jump, Dylan Walck finished 5th in the Javelin, and Ed Sledzinski finished 6th in the Shot Put. The 4 by 800 Relay team of Brandon O’Sullivan, Jake Pasake, Ryan Cavage, and Leonard Johnson finished 4th. Jake also placed 7th in the 3200.
Both teams are at it Tuesday at Scranton Memorial Stadium for the PIAA District II Class AA Championship Meet, with a start time of 3pm. The finals of events start at 5:30pm. The girls look to defend their title from last year, while the boys look to compete for their first district title since the 2015 season. #RollCats
CAR T- cell therapy, a cancer treatment, with a 90 percent success rate in treating blood cancers was the focus of Western Wayne students’ project for the Scientific Visualization category at the Technology Student Association Pennsylvania State Conference held from April 18 through April 21 at the Seven Springs Resort, Seven Springs, PA. Their 3D presentation of how this new form of immunotherapy works in the human body won first place at the competition. The students will move on to compete at the national level from June 22 through June 26 at the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA.
The group consisted of all Western Wayne juniors including: Vaeda Pontosky, Dahlton Frisbie, Journey Sosa, Maya Black, Rachel Butler, and Robert Carey.
Many of the students on this team had competed in previous TSA events and recalled that many projects in the Scientific Visualization category feature concepts related to space and the universe.
The group from Western Wayne decided they wanted their entry this year to be on a unique topic to the event that can relate to many people.
“We thought that everyone in their families has some kind of connection to cancer and we wanted our project to focus on showing how a very effective treatment can fix this disease,” Rachel Butler, team member, said.
The students explained that CAR T-cell therapy now is a very costly cancer treatment, but that at least two drug companies are currently working to make it more accessible to the public.
Fellow teammate Vaeda Pontosky is excited to educate the public further on this cancer treatment and believes that another reason their project stood out to the judges other than its subject matter was that the group created it with the software Blender. Vaeda explained how the software that is a free download on Mac computers helped the group to create a very realistic representation of how CAR T-cell therapy eradicates cancer cells.
“The software allowed us to create rotating blood cells,” Vaeda explained. “I watched many YouTube videos on how to use the software so we could create our video. We worked on the project from October through February.”
All members of the group contributed to the final product. Dahlton Frisbie was in charge of writing the script used to narrate the video.
“I made sure our script matched all scenes,” Dahlton, who wishes to study law and business after graduation, explained. “It was especially challenging to be sure that all of the scientific terms were spelled correctly.”
Fellow junior teammate Rob Carey enjoyed the challenge of this project because he feels it will help better prepare him to study engineering in college.
“I think I most benefitted from being able to create 3D imaging for our project,” Rob said.
Rachel also believes the project has helped her to better prepare for a career in graphic design. She explained how she was in charge of creating the storyboard for the project and how she worked on the project binder among other tasks.
“It was most rewarding to see our final animation come together,” she explained. “We worked very hard to make the project flow together and to explain the complex process of CAR T-cell therapy in layman’s terms.”
Teammates Maya Black and Journey Sosa also made important contributions to the project. Maya worked to add all of the individual video clips the group made into one. Journey helped to work on the project binder and work log.
All members of this first place team are looking forward to attending TSA Nationals.
“It will be exciting to see other people’s projects from across the country,” Rachel said.
Vaeda feels eager to share the group’s project at this level and wants to polish it even more before the competition.
“We would like to make our 3D representation of the therapy destroying the actual cancer cells even better,” she explained.
Vaeda, who was recently awarded a 2018 Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Research Fellowship, said the students on Western Wayne’s TSA team hope all of their efforts this year encourage more Western Wayne students to join the program in years to come.
“TSA teaches you so much about new technology in the world,” Vaeda explained.
“You are sure to find something you are interested in- even design and video editing are a part of TSA,” Rachel added.
To see the final edited copy of these students’ first place winning Scientific Visualization entry and learn more about CAR T-cell therapy visit https://ww3.westernwayne.org/tsa-scientific-visualization-presentation-first-in-the-state/
Vaeda Pontosky, junior, has been recognized as an outstanding student by Western Wayne High School Administration. Vaeda, currently ranked first in her class, recently won a 2018 Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Research Fellowship.
The fellowship is open to Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Region 2 students in grades 10 through 12. Vaeda along with about 15 other students presented their research at the 2018 PJAS Regional meeting on March 3 at Wilkes University.
Along with presenting her research in the area of immunotherapy, Vaeda also wrote a 500-word essay about her research and beliefs that natural treatments for diseases such as cancer are the future to successfully treating these illnesses.
Vaeda also had an interview with the faculty and staff from The Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine to win one of the fellowships for this summer.
“I felt especially proud to tell them that by the end of my senior year at Western Wayne I will have completed every science class offered at our school,” Vaeda said. “I think they were surprised that I doubled-up on so many science classes each year.”
Vaeda’s hard work in her science classes at Western Wayne High School surely will help her succeed at her fellowship this summer. She will get to attend the Medical College for two full days working with faculty and staff on cutting-edge medical research and learning about life in medical school.
“I am really excited to experience what a medical student goes through at my fellowship,” Vaeda explained. “I think this will help me decided if I want to pursue medical school after graduation.”
Currently Vaeda knows she would like to have a STEM career. She’s weighing all of her options and is interested in pharmacy, genetic counseling, and embryology.
Winning the Geisinger Fellowship isn’t the only prestigious award Vaeda has won this year. Her and her Western Wayne Technology Student Association teammates recently won first place in the state for their entry about CAR-T Therapy in the scientific visualization category of the competition.
The group created a 3-D video that showed the process of how this new therapy to treat blood cancers works. The group will move on to the national level of competition. Vaeda’s teammates for this project included fellow juniors: Dahlton Frisbie, Journey Sosa, Maya Black, Rachel Butler, and Robert Carey.
Vadea also did other research this year for her PJAS project where she analyzed data of how students in the state of Pennsylvania did on written PSSA tests versus scores on computer-based Keystone tests. She also added a component to her research where she gave a sampling of students a written test and online test to see who would score better. She says her results were very inconclusive and she would like to pursue this project more next year.
Finally, Vadea is a well-rounded athlete who plays both soccer and softball for Western Wayne.
Vadea looks forward to her senior year and achieving more in her science classes along with doing more detailed research projects for TSA and PJAS.
Western Wayne High School principal Paul Gregorski is very proud of Vaeda’s efforts and sees her as a role model for other students.
“Vaeda is creating a strong legacy for other Western Wayne students to follow especially in her pursuit of excellence in the STEM field.”
The 63rd Jordan Relays were held at Scranton Memorial Stadium. No Field Events, just relays.
The Eighteenth Annual Sports Banquet will be held on Tuesday, May 29, 2018 at the Ladore Conference Center starting at 6:00 PM.
Varsity/JV Athletes are free. We are very limited on space. We are limiting the ticket sales to the 1st 400, then reservations will be closed! The price for adults is $26 and Children (ages 4-12) are $16. It will be a dinner buffet including Baked Ziti w/Meatballs, Italian Sausage & Peppers, Chicken Fingers with assorted dips, Macaroni & Cheese, Home Style Mashed Potatoes Buttered Corn, Garden Tossed Salad w/assorted dressings, Fresh Hot Rolls w/butter, Hot and Cold Beverages and Assorted Pies for Dessert.
Awards will be handed out by the coaches and the Male and Female Athlete of the Year will be announced. We are waiting on confirmation of a very special guest speaker, and we will announce once confirmed. Should you need more than 2 tickets for your family, we will have waiting list. If you need additional tickets e-mail crizzi@westernwayne.org.
Students in Theresa Lubash’s Business and Personal Law classes at the Western Wayne High School recently attended a local Mock Interview event. They prepared their resumes and discussed interviewing (dress, typical questions, etc.) in class before attending. The event was sponsored by the Wayne County School-to-Work Committee and was held at the Stourbridge Project. Each student participated in at least three interviews performed by local business people. Students from Forest City, Honesdale, and Wallenpaupack also participated.
Western Wayne students from Theresa Lubash’s Entrepreneurship class and other Western Wayne FBLA members recently attended an Entrepreneurship Week Celebration sponsored by the Wayne Pike Workforce Alliance & the Stourbridge Project. At the event, students were given a tour of the Stourbridge Project and local entrepreneurs spoke with students from Western Wayne, Forest City, and Wayne Highlands. First row, from left: Braden McIntosh, Serenity Murphy, Brianna Neales, Kate Myers, Abby Gogoloski, Brady Olsommer, Kaitlyn Juhasz, and Ryan Cavage. Second row, from left: Cheyenne Stenlake, Nik Verdugo, Dakotah Sopko, Kayla Fitzpatrick, Kevin Lott, Jake Kunz, Austin Boguski, and Evan Coons.