Whip, nae nae, and dab are all moves that most teenagers have mastered in today’s culture. However, it is not often that teenagers have an opportunity to learn traditional couples dancing. At the Western Wayne High School, it is a yearly tradition that students in the Spanish course take Spanish dancing as a part of their curriculum during the 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 had about nine sessions with Mr. Brust before debuting their new dance skills for other Spanish classes during the day on Thursday, Nov. 2, in Western Wayne’s newly renovated high school auditorium.

Students performed a variety of the dances they learned for their classmates. They did a choreographed dance with multiple partners and a mambo among other numbers during the day as a practice session for an evening performance. The Spanish students also gave the night performance on Thursday, Nov. 2, for their friends, family, and members of the community.

All of the students involved enjoyed having the opportunity to learn about this important aspect of Spanish culture.

From left: Brittney Reinert, Dillon Dante, and Bethany DeGroat pose at a final rehearsal before their evening Spanish dance performance on Thursday, Nov. 2, in Western Wayne’s newly renovated high school auditorium.

Local dance instructor and studio owner Mr. Vince Brust explains to an audience of Spanish students the types of dances they will see their classmates perform during an in-school performance on Thursday, Nov. 2. He is pictured with Western Wayne High School Spanish teacher Mrs. Elizabeth Sandrowicz.

The Western Wayne High School marching band took their show on the road for Halloween festivities during the final days of October.

The students performed at a number of events including Honesdale’s Annual Halloween Parade on Thursday, October 26. They also gave a performance to elementary students in the district on Tuesday, October 31 at the R.D. Wilson School and on the same day, they performed in the community at the Wayne Woodlands and Julia Ribaudo Nursing Homes.

The Western Wayne Marching Band will wrap up their Halloween season tour on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 2 p.m.  in the 52nd Annual Barrett Township Halloween Parade, Route 390, Cresco, PA, which had been postponed from a previous date due to rain.

From left: Rachael Harsch, color guard captain; Ellen Dwyer, color guard captain; Katelin Dennis, drum major; and John Kear, drum major.

On October 23^rd Western Wayne High School Students in grade 9 experienced the THINK! ENERGY Innovation Program. 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 23^rd.  The kits included four LED light bulbs, shower timer, a water conserving shower head as well an advanced smart energy power strip.  180 innovation kits were distributed overall.  This comes to 3,012 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.

Caption: Left to Right: Science Teacher, Mark Nebzydoski; Presenters Stephanie Dorman and Robert Penkala; Principal, Paul Gregorski.

Spending hours working to create the perfect wedding dress sounds like the kind of challenge famous designers featured at Kleinfeld Bridal take on to please their brides.  Students in Western Wayne’s Fashion II Class worked for about three weeks on a Wedding Gown Remake Project in which they took gowns donated to the school and redesigned them based on the style of professional wedding dress designers.

Seniors Kayla Fitzpatrick and Cailin Brown worked on this very challenging project.

Kayla’s original dress had a lot of length to it in both the front and back.  She decided to turn her dress into what she described as a “Modern Victorian” style.  She kept much of the train length but shortened the front of the dress to about knee length.

“The biggest challenge I faced in my redesign was working with the beading on the dress,” she explained.  “You have to be careful to not pull a string or it could be ruined.”

Kayla also redesigned a veil for the dress.  She took it off the headband it was originally on and put it on a choker necklace so that way it would be like a cape to go with the wedding dress.

“When I saw the veil I thought it was just too pretty to get rid of,” she said.  “So I decided to turn it into a cape-like veil because I just love the cape trend and thought it would make the ensemble look more modern.”

Fellow classmate Cailin explained that she wanted her dress to be the type of gown a bride could wear on the beach in the summertime but still be somewhat formal.

The dress she started out with had many layers of fabric.  Cailin decided to shorten the gown to about tea length and kept some of the back train.  She also added a pink ribbon around the waist.

“If there weren’t so many layers it would have been easier to work with,” she explained.  “I still plan to work on the dress more before showing it in our spring show.”

Both of the girls will have students model these wedding dresses along with a variety of other pieces that will be a part of their respective senior collections.

From left: Cailin Brown and Kayla Fitzpatrick pose with the wedding dresses they redesigned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kayla Fitzpatrick’s dress before and after her redesign.  She calls this style “Modern Victorian.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cailin’s dress after and after her redesign.  She envisions a bride wearing this dress to a summer wedding on a beach.

 

The National Honor Society is collecting non-perishable food and toys for the holiday season.  All donations will be given to the Wayne County Food Pantry, Ronald McDonald House, and the Wayne County Christmas Bureau.  Drop off locations are the offices in each school building.

Recently the AP Biology classes had the opportunity to learn from guest speaker Miss Danielle Swingle.  Danielle is a 2014 graduate of Western Wayne and currently at senior at East Stroudsburg University.  Danielle majors in Biochemistry with a minor in Chemical Biotechnology.  Danielle researches through the ESU Wildlife DNA Lab as well as holding an internship at a local chemical company and maintaining academic excellence.

During her visit Danielle shared her research on the Characterization of the Microbiome of American Dog Tick Mouthparts.  Her study used first generation sequencing technology to analyze American Dog tick samples collected in East Stroudsburg, PA, in order to characterize the bacteria residing on or in parts of the tick capitulum.  Danielle also shared her career pathway, information about her major and opportunities in the field of Biochemistry at local Universities.  Danielle also described how she manages her life as a student athlete at the collegiate level.  Students were excited to hear about current research in the field of Biochemistry from a fellow Wildcat.

We are very thankful to have an alumnus of the AP program take time out of her schedule to share research with our students as they study the field of Biology and plan their futures.

 

Allison Mattern, a junior at Western Wayne High School, has been recognized by Governor Tom Wolf for placing second in the nation in the Introduction to Parliamentary Procedure event at the FBLA National Leadership Conference held this past summer in Anaheim, CA. Mattern recently received a certificate from Governor Wolf commending her for this accomplishment. From left: Theresa Lubash, business department chair and FBLA advisor at Western Wayne and Region 22 FBLA co-advisor; Mattern; and Paul Gregorski, high school principal.