First quarter Western Wayne eighth grade family & consumer science students, after studying different cultures in their social studies class, voted to represent Mayan culture in a Cake-Off Competition held in late October. The Cake-Off Competition was made up of nine teams, competing against each other to be the ultimate Cake-Off winner.  Mrs. Dawn Krautter is the Western Wayne Middle School family & consumer sciences teacher.

Krautter explained that each team created a cake that represented Mayan culture, civilization, or contributions.  In addition, the teams wrote a descriptive paragraph explaining their representation. Cakes were judged on eye appeal, creativity, accuracy of facts, descriptive paragraph writing, and overall presentation. 

The third place cake winner with a total of 216 points was made by Justin Eldred, Leah Fedorchak, Cayden Rose, Isis Christian, and Karina Booths. The second place cake winner with a total of 217 points was made by Taylor Maiocco, Laila Filkovsky, Eddie Belavitz, William Parry, Darrell Schramm and Adrianna Scarpati. Finally, the first place champions with a total of 229 points for their cake included Stephanie Soom, Michaela Birnkrant, Emily Dickson, Tyler Gottshall, and Cianna Tyler.

The third place cake winners explained that astrology played a key role in the design of their cake that has purple and blue icing and looks like the night sky in a galaxy. 

“The Mayans enjoyed studying astrology, so we decided to make that part of our cake design,” eighth grader Karina Booths explained.

Fellow group member Isis Christian discussed the challenges the group faced that later paid off in their third place win.

“Leveling the cake was challenging,” Isis explained.  “We also had to learn how to be cooperative with each other and be able to work with the supplies we had to make the cake.”

The second place cake winners agree that they learned a lot about working together from their experience in the Cake-Off Competition.

“In order to get everything done in time, we had to learn how to do separate jobs within the group at the same time,” eighth grader Taylor Maiocco explained.

This second place group worked together to create a cake that looked like a temple where Mayans would worship the Gods and bring food and other sacrifices to it to please them.

The winning Cake-Off Competition group included a variety of different aspects of the Mayan culture into their cake design.  They had a small temple on it made of Rice Krispie treats, a river on it with Goldfish crackers in it to represent how the Mayans got some of their foods, and the sides of the cake were a grayish blue color to represent the Mayan’s love of astrology.

“We wanted to incorporate as much as we could about the Mayan lifestyle in our cake design,” eighth grader Michaela Birnkrant explained.

All of the eighth grade students involved in the Western Wayne Middle School Cake-Off Competition were excited to take on this challenge and display their work for the school community.  Western Wayne Middle School administration, faculty, and staff are proud of the accomplishments of these students.

Western Wayne Middle School Administration has recognized Samantha Duval and Luckus Balmer as outstanding sixth grade students for the month of October.

          Samantha enjoys her library and science classes best this year.  She loves to read especially mystery and romance books.  In her science class, she likes reading and learning about the earth.  When she grows up, Samantha would like to be a veterinarian, and, therefore, she knows she will need to know a lot about science. 

          In addition, when Samantha isn’t reading.  She can be found practicing her flute.  “I’ve always loved music and love to play the flute,” Samantha said.

          In her spare time, Samantha does more reading.  Two of her current favorite books are A Dog’s Purpose and Wonder.

          As a hobby Samantha likes to make rubber band jewelry for her family and friends.  “It makes me happy that I’m making other people happy,” Samantha explained.

          Luckus also likes to make others happy in school by showing them respect.  He said he is working hard this year to participate in his classes especially his math class.

          When Luckus isn’t answering discussion questions in his classes, he can be found practicing his trombone in band class.

          “I like to play in band where I get to work on my music with a lot of kids who are really good at their instruments,” Luckus said.

          In addition to band class, Luckus also enjoys his technology education class.  He explained how they are working on a windmill project made of Legos.  Luckus likes to do hands-on work.

          In Luckus’ spare time he continues to work on his music skills. 

          “I practice my trombone in my spare time, because that way I will get better at it,” Luckus explained.

          Western Wayne faculty, administration, and staff are proud of both Samantha and Luckus’ accomplishments and wish them the best with their continued efforts for success.

Western Wayne Middle School Administration has recognized Mitchell Lunn and Gianna Rosetti, both sixth graders, as outstanding students for the month of September. 

        Mitchell has been very respectful to his classmates and teachers this first month of school.  He has even been seen holding doors open for his teachers.  “It feels good just to be helping people,” Mitchell said.  Mitchell’s favorite class is math.  He is always prepared for class and loves learning about exponents.  Mitchell also enjoys his band class where he is learning how to play the trombone.  In his spare time, Mitchell likes to ride his bike, play video games, and take walks with his mom and two dogs.

      Like Mitchell, Gianna has also been recognized for being very respectful to others at school.  She too enjoys her math class the most.  “It’s a fun class where I get to figure things out,” Gianna said.  In addition, Gianna likes her chorus class where she can develop the quality of her singing.  In her spare time, Gianna enjoys taking walks with her younger cousins. She also looks forward to joining track and cross country in seventh grade.

The Western Wayne community is proud of Mitchell and Gianna’s accomplishments and can’t wait to see what they do next.

The Strengthening Families Program 10-14 returns to Western Wayne School District Wednesday, September 25, 2019.  SFP is designed for 10-14 year old students and their parents.  It is designed to help youth learn about setting positive future goals, peer pressure resistance skills, positive management of emotions, coping with stress and communication skills.  It is a great opportunity for families to work together as their youth transitions to the teen years and adjusts to middle school.    There is an opportunity for parents to develop decision making, establish boundaries, and life skills including stress management, peer relationships and goal setting. It is a great opportunity to meet new families and build on your family strengths.    

The program runs from 5:30-8:00 PM at Western Wayne Middle School.  Each of the seven sessions begins with a family supper. Babysitting is provided for those families with younger siblings.  There is no charge to our families for this project.  Sign-up today by contacting Mrs. Jennifer Bradley, Principal of Western Wayne Middle School, 800-321-9973.