[evigallery view=”gallery” id=”7789″]

To finish yet another successful school year, the Western Wayne Middle School hosted its annual student vs. faculty basketball game.

All students in grades 6 through 12 attended the fun-filled event during the afternoon of Monday, June 18.  Eighth grade students played in the game against some of their favorite middle school faculty, including Middle School Principal Kristen Donohue.

Middle School Assistant Principal Elizabeth Watson served as announcer and D.J. for the game and guidance counselor Matthew Fitzsimmons worked as referee.

Fitzsimmons, who always enjoys participating in the event, felt especially excited because his son eighth-grader Ashton Fitzsimmons played on the student team this year.

“I just love being on the same court with my sons.  Whether I am playing, coaching, or refereeing,” Fitzsimmons, who serves as the Western Wayne Junior High Boys Basketball Coach, said. “I have coached my son for many years now and it is just so nice to see how he has progressed and what the future holds for him in his athletics.”

Eighth grader Kathy Shepherd played with Ashton on the student team.  Kathy played on the Western Wayne Middle School Basketball Team this year as a member of Team A.

She really enjoyed playing the game with her classmates especially the students she does not usually play with.

“I tried my best to tell them to think positively and do what they need to do on the court,” Kathy explained about working with the other students.

Kathy, who has already begun practicing for the Western Wayne High School Basketball Team, really thought she benefited from the challenge of playing against her teachers.

“It was fun but difficult because of the height difference,” Kathy explained.  “I took on the challenge by playing like I always do by looking for openings to take a shot.”

One teacher Kathy was able to to play against this year was middle school chorus teacher Sarah Calabro.

Calabro, who played basketball at the Valley View School District from third through tenth grades, loves participating in the game each year.

“My favorite part of playing this game with the students is that so many kids and teachers are able to participate,” Calabro said.  “You see a different side of the students on the court.”

An eighth grade team member who felt especially glad to show another side of himself when playing was Gavin Murphy.  Gavin does not play on the school’s basketball team, so he really felt that he benefited from warming up with his fellow eighth grade students who showed him some new skills like proper technique for lay-ups and jump shots.

“I liked running back and forth on the court and playing as a team with the eighth grade the best,” Gavin said.

Fitzsimmons and all faculty and administrators involved were glad students like Gavin enjoyed the game so much.

“The games are always fun and the students bring a lot of energy,” Fitzsimmons, who played basketball as a high school student at Forest City Regional under legendary coach, Julius Prezelski, explained.  “I have to say that this was the closest game that I can ever remember.  Also, I love the school spirit that comes out at these games.”

With help from her teammates Wednesday, Trinity Foulds hustled to pour liquid onto the blades of the water wheel they built with cardboard, wood and plastic cups.
The four seventh-graders at Western Wayne Middle School scrambled to keep the water coming as their wheel spun. A judge counted the wheel’s rotations as a 30-second timer ticked toward zero in the North Pocono Middle School science lab where they gathered for an engineering competition rooted in local history.

Made possible by a $725 grant from the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority, Wednesday’s competition saw 15 or so middle school students from four schools districts — North Pocono, Western Wayne, Forest City Regional and Wayne Highlands — test the efficiency of water wheels they spent months making. The water wheel angle harkens back to the early days of Moscow, which borough Councilman Marc Gaughan said was once home to at least five working water mills.

“We wanted a connection to local history,” North Pocono Middle School science teacher Michelle Swarts said of the contest, noting students were given dimensions for either a small-scale or large-scale water wheel and chose their own building materials. “Old Mill Park was recently dedicated in the borough … and so we though: “No one’s ever done water wheels before, let’s do that.’ It incorporates simple machines, which is a concept in our science curriculum.”
The project also involved many elements of science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum, commonly known as STEM; students designed and engineered the waterwheels themselves.
“I mostly enjoyed the building of the water wheel itself and just working with my team,” North Pocono seventh grader Alex Iannone said. “We put a lot of hard work into this.”

Alex’s team used scrap wood to build their wheel, which won first place in the large-scale water wheel category. The Wayne Highlands team, who built their wheel using a 3-D printer, won first place in the small-scale category.
And while Wednesday’s event was competitive, it was also collaborative, as students from the four schools participated together in several science-related activities after testing their water wheels. One challenged students to levitate pingpong balls by blowing through drinking straws — a lesson in Bernoulli’s principle.
Wayne Highlands seventh graders Eve Rogers and Gopi Patel said they enjoyed working with kids from the other schools. Wayne Highlands technology and engineering teacher Christopher Piasecki said it was a good life lesson.
“It’s very real world, because they’re not always going to work with this group of students their whole life,” Piasecki said. “They’re going to leave Wayne Highlands Middle School, they’re going to go to college, they’re going to get a job down the road and they’re going to have to work with some new people.”