Ten years of bowling with the waxed lanes and the sounds of the pins falling, has finally paid off.
Penn Manor bowler Coty Johnson is off to nationals to compete against the best of the best from across the United States. Fifty bowlers (one from each state) will compete in Indianapolis.
The road last traveled was not an easy feat, to say the least, for Johnson.
Johnson has been bowling since second grade and hasn’t looked back since.
“It was just for the fun of it,” said Johnson, “and then it got competitive.”
In order to compete at states you have to be at least twelfth seed or better. Johnson barely pulled off being in the tournament in the twelfth spot.
“It was a shock, I was emotional. I was packed and ready to leave,” said Johnson.
State Bowling Champion Coty Johnson Photo by Cody Erb
In the first round of states, Johnson beat the fifth seed. From there, he beat the fourth, third and second seed in the competition.
In the final round of the tournament, Johnson had to face an already two-time state champion. The odds were stacked against him but there was nothing to do from there but bowl the best he could and hope it would all pay off.
It did.
The final score of the game was Johnson-222 to the first seed’s score, Antonio Palangio, of 165.
“It’s a thrill, really exciting to be the best in Pennsylvania.” said Johnson
Now with a state championship under his belt, along with four 300(perfect) games, a 832-3 game-high series and more than 30 trophies, Johnson is on his walk to fame.
Johnson plans to continue to bowl in college for West Chester University. He earned a $5200 scholarship from the PIAA youth bowling.
“I plan to go to West Chester University and bowl for them while trying to get a degree in sports med,” said Johnson.
Penn Manor’s bowling team captain is now on his way to nationals to bring back a new title.
Every student does it. Crazy Taxi. Curveball. Bubble Shooter.
It’s a game of cat and mouse. Can kids get away with playing games secretly on their computer in class while they are supposed to be doing school work? Can teachers outsmart their crafty pupils and force them off these sites?
Every day is the same battle.
Kate Harrold looks out for a teacher as she plays the Helicopter game.
With the luxury of using a computer in some classes, right away, teachers attempt at giving some sort of intimidating caution with this rare school-day privilege.
“I better not catch you on any game sites,” or, “Make sure you are doing your work!”
A lot of students silently scoff at these typical warnings and jump on their favorite, accessible gaming site as soon as their computer screens are out of the peripheral vision of their instructor.
Sam McCreary, a junior at Penn Manor, says, “I pull up two tabs with one tab having the site I’m supposed to be on, and the other having the game site. When my teacher comes by my computer, I just click out of the game tab.”
This double tab strategy seems to be used by many, but not stealthily enough to fool most teachers.
Social studies teacher, Lara Paparo says, “I’ll ask if I can see something quick [when kids have two tabs up on their computer], and I’ll click on their game site tab and bust them just like that.”
“It’s definitely a cat and mouse game,” says English teacher, Melissa Frerichs. “Kids will minimize their game site quickly when you approach their [computer] screen, and pull it back up when you walk away.”
Whether it’s Gold Miner, Helicopter, Tetris, or Penn Manor’s classic, Bubble Shooter, kids love the mischievous thrill of playing these hard-to-find games on Penn Manor’s limited web access that they wouldn’t normally play at home during their leisure time.
Bubble shooter may be the most popular "underground" game for Penn Manor students who are blocked from most game sites at school.
“It’s an accomplished feeling when you click out of your game when the teacher walks by you and you don’t get caught,” confessed Penn Manor senior Steven Resch.
Because the web access is so restricted, kids go as far as bringing in flash drives that have their favorite games on it.
Sophomore, Joey Jackson, who was a user of this “beat the system” strategy says, “It’s more fun [to play games] because it’s better than what you’re actually supposed to be doing.”
Jackson’s flash drive unfortunately became a victim of his washing machine, halting this subversive arcading tactic.
Senior, Aaron Frederick, who has had his fair share of times getting caught playing games by teachers says, “I usually just get on ESPN Arcade until I find another site that hasn’t been blocked yet.”
Just recently, www.grygry2.com (kids – don’t bother trying) which had arguably been Penn Manor’s default arcade sanctuary, was blocked.
Uproar in Penn Manor’s underground world of online gaming began when this site went down.
Senior, Kenneth Tomaszefski says, “Grygry2 was the sun that started my morning in my class.” Tomaszefski was an active user of grygry2 along with many of his friends.
“When grygry2 went down, my heart went down with it,” says Tomaszefski.
Head of technology in the district, Charlie Reisinger was tracked down during this secret time of despair for many of Penn Manor’s gamers.
Reisinger ended the popular notion of there being some guy sitting behind a desk watching every site students visit and stopping any distracting or inappropriate sites from being viewed.
“A computer called the 8E6 is a sort of filter that looks [at everything that flows through the districts online web], and compares each site to the districts block list,” says Reisinger. “The computer gets smarter with every site that it blocks and recognizes any future sites that are similar with prior blocked sites,” says Reisinger.
Teachers and students are doubtful the 8E6 will win this battle of man versus machine, it won’t stop kids from trying to quench their thirst for danger and having fun doing it.
Welcome to another edition of PM Nation. This week we will not only have our weekly debate column, but also for the first time PM Nation will be coming to you from PMTV studios in video. This column’s topic will talk about the problems with professional sports.
PM Nation
Cody Straub: People including me love professional sports because of the competition between the best athletes on the playing field. What happens off the field is the problem with professional sports. The amount of money handed out to the players is ridiculous. The passion in professional sports is not anywhere near the passion in college sports because of one reason, money.
Taylor Groff: There are too many things nowadays wrong about professional sports. The thing that angers me the most is how deceiving these athletes are. There are too many kids in the world seeing elite athletes making great plays on the field and terrible decisions off the field. They are portrayed as the most heroic people in the world at times, but have bad judgment and disappoint many.
Taylor Groff Co-editor for PM Nation
CS: I agree it is disappointing to see these pro athletes make bad decisions, but overpaying the players hurts us more. Ticket prices have risen over the years to go watch a ball game because the teams have to pay their players millions of dollars.
TG: I agree a lot of players are playing for money and not the love of the games. You know what would really make me happy next year in the NBA?
CS: What?
TG: With Lebron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade, I would like them to take pay cuts to play for teams with NBA final potential, instead of playing for a terrible team and making more money.
CS: I have an idea that would bring passion back to professional sports. Instead of guaranteeing players millions of dollars when they sign a contract, make the contract completely performance-based. The only way players should make a lot of money is if they perform on the field, and stay out of trouble off the field. This would bring back the passion in the college games back to professional games.
Cody Straub Co-Editor of PM Nation
TG: I love it.
CS: WOW! First thing we have ever agreed on. I guess there is a first time for everything.
TG: Tune in later this week for our first PM Nation video which will focus on the Final Four and the QB crisis in Philadelphia.
What do you fear most? Is it dying? Is it heights? Well, according to faceyourfearstoday.com, the number one fear is snakes and surprisingly, public speaking comes in close at number 2.
Penn Manor’s very own Jennifer Drumm wouldn’t know anything about that, though. She placed first in Extemporaneous Public Speaking, which is a competition that consists of 11 participants from all over the region.
Jennifer Drumm won first place in Extemporaneous Public Speaking. Photo By Alex Flurry.
Contestants are given half an hour to prepare a speech about one of three topics pulled from a hat. The speech is timed and must be 4-6 minutes long. After presenting it to the committee, the judges ask questions relating to the topic.
Drumm’s topic was how H1N1, or the swine flu, affected the animal population.
Drumm couldn’t believe that the fear of public speaking topped the fear of death.
“When I was a freshman I was terrified [of public speaking],” Drumm said, “I’d never raise my hand in class, but now I love it.”
It may seem like Drumm is pretty fearless, but it turns out that she has one weakness.
“Snakes. I don’t like snakes at all.”
Amber Williams placed third in senior prepared public speaking, while Margaret Drumm and Katrina Reff placed fourth and fifth place respectively. They will both move onto the regional competition.
In a recent Penn Manor study, students were asked what their favorite computer is, Mac or PC?
We found that of the 20 students polled, a majority (11) chose PCs over Macs.
But on both sides of the discussion, opinions are strong.
“Macs are more convenient,” said Justin Herr, “PCs have a lot of ins-an-outs and what-have-yas.”
When buying a Mac, some people say you’re just paying for the name.
The lowest priced MacBook is $999 and the lowest priced iMac is $1,199.
For only $479.99 you can buy an HP laptop with nearly the same specs as the $999 MacBook.
You can buy an HP desktop for $549.99 with almost the exact specs of the $1,199 iMac.
The new iMac model. photo coutesy of techfresh.net
Penn Manor science
teacher, Paul Chismar said, “The only reason I like Macs is because I have gotten use to using them at school.”
“PC’s you can right click, Macs you have to control, apple, F,Q and crap,” said Penn Manor junior Cody Welch.
“I love macs because of their user friendly format and the lack of viruses,” said Penn Manor English teacher Greg McGough, pointing out one of the major upsides of a mac and one of the major flaws of a PC.
As far as an exact number of viruses for macs, it is hard to tell because it all depends on what you consider a virus and what operating system you are using.
When looking at the number of viruses for a windows operating system like Windows Vista, their is not an exact number, but according to Networkworld.com, “The total number of viruses will reach 1 million by year-end, according to security experts.”
One argument is that PCs are better than Macs when it comes to gaming, which
An HP Desktop. Photo courtesy of elerush.com
attracts a lot of young users.
On the other hand, Penn Manor sophomore Matt Ulmer said, “I like Macs because they’re better for gaming.”
Welch disagrees, “I’m a gamer you know,” when asked why he is a PC user.
So it comes down to a matter of opinion when you are talking Mac versus PC, but at Penn Manor, PC is victorious, slightly.
Stay tuned next week, when the debate continues over video games.
Penn Manor was taken over by DJs, chefs and accountants Friday to give students the opportunity to explore their future during Career Day.
The counseling department worked for months to prepare and organize the annual event.
Marjean Long, guidance counselor, said, “I think it went very well. I wanted to get kids into the speakers they wanted, but it was hard because of the snow day because some speakers couldn’t come today.”
Students met by graduating class in the auditorium to learn about life after high school. Photo Jim Yearsley
But setting up this massive event had it’s challenges. Students attended three sessions including a large-group seminar in the auditorium with eight speakers who have attended various colleges.
Penn Manor students learned about various jobs on Career Day. Photo Jim Yearsley
Professionals across the spectrum were represented from attorneys to a dog trainer, a psychologist to a state police officer – and everyone in between.
“It was hard getting all the kids to sign up because it was our first year using SurveyMonkey,” said Long.
Sophomore Christina Stoltzfus said she would have enjoyed Career Day more “if the speakers would have been more enthusiastic. They were just too long.”
But more good came from it than bad.
“Yes I did [enjoy Career Day]. The assembly was very long and a bit boring, but I enjoyed listening to the speakers,” said freshman Nick Charles.
All kinds of careers were represented including art, dance instruction, health fields, teaching, the military, landscaping, nuclear engineering, small business and accounting, to name a few.
Principal Jason D’Amico said, “It fits in with our goal to help students prepare for life after high school.”
Compared to other local school districts, it appears that Penn Manor’s got the big bucks. But it still isn’t quite enough.
Schools have known for years that there would someday be a major increase in the amount of money they must pay into employees’ pensions. That nightmare has become a reality for Lancaster County public schools and few of them are well-prepared, if prepared at all.
Pensions are retirement funds for employees of public schools. Each year, school districts are required to put a certain percentage of money into a pension for each employee, along with what the school employees contribute themselves. In the coming years, the percentage of school budget going into these pension funds will dramatically increase from around 4 percent to somewhere around 15 percent.
Retirement funds will be a problem for many school districts in coming years.
The increase is needed in part because, for several years, the state legislature delayed these contributions for schools, creating a big hole in what should have been regular pension contributions. Public schools will have to dig deep in their pockets for some spare change to catch up, according to officials.
Of the 17 school districts in Lancaster County, many are looking at a financially stressful future. The School District of Lancaster will need an estimated $1.7 million to put into pensions in just this year alone, and currently have no money reserved. Manheim Township and Octorara also have no money reserved.
Penn Manor’s budget, however, is looking more solid. From the 2009-10 school year through the 2012-13 school year, Penn Manor will need about $4 million for pensions. Luckily, the district has $4 million in reserve funds for this purpose, making them the most well-prepared for the “pension tsunami.”
Dr. Michael Leichliter, superintendent of Penn Manor School District, attributes the district’s preparedness to planning ahead.
“In 2005 [legislators and school districts] projected a big jump [in pensions] to 15%. They assumed the market would get better, but Penn Manor saw that jump, so they started saving,” Leichliter said.
Chris Johnston, business manager of Penn Manor School District, agreed.
“We have had some warning that the problems were coming,” Johnston said, “and have had some time to prepare. But no amount of preparation can help us to avoid the problems we’ll be facing.”
Funding for extracurricular activities or specialized classes may be cut in the coming years.
Although Penn Manor has $4 million set aside, there will still need to be funds generated for future pension contributions. Since taxes for this purpose can’t be increased higher than a state-mandated index, rumors have been bouncing around about increasing class sizes, charging fees for extracurricular activities, and cutting certain counseling programs.
Leichliter said nearby Wilson School District has launched a proposal to charge a flat fee of around $80 to students wishing to participate in extracurricular activities.
Leichliter said that this idea has not been given serious consideration at this time in Penn Manor, but it is not entirely off the table.
He said the money generated from activity fees would not be anywhere close to covering the increases necessary to fully fund the pension contribution. He said the majority of expenses in the school district’s budget are for personnel, so that is where the focus will need to be.
“When somebody retires, we’ll have to ask if they really need to be replaced,” Leichliter said.
Leichliter believes there could be an elimination of some elective classes that aren’t as popular as others. He said there could also be an increase in class size for some classes.
Johnston believes teamwork is what will help make the next few years less difficult.
“The key is to work together with the community and the staff to come up with a solution- there is no magic solution that will make everyone happy,” Johnston said.
Jess Burkhart sunk much of her competition March 17, as she came in eighth place at the state level swimming competition.
It was her first state medal.
“I am very proud of her,” said Burkhart’s coach, Cece O’Day. ” There hadn’t been a female state champion for swimming in 16 years. This was amazing.”
Burkhart achieved a personal best time of 24:05 during the 50-meter freestyle, bettering her time by just one crucial second.
Jess Burkhart won eighth place at the state competition. Photo by Abby Wilson
“At that (state) meet I was competing against 32 people,” Burkhart said, “but there were levels [to the competition] so it was like I was competing against the whole state.”
And Burkhart has learned that to be good, a swimmer needs to put in the miles.
“[Swimming] takes up all your time. I practice twice a day because I’m a part of the school team and a YMCA club team,” Burkhart said, “and I have about three meets a week. It doesn’t leave much time for anything else.”
However, all this swimming glory comes with a price.
“Practices are really tough,” said Burkhart, “and having practice all the time is really tiring.”
Because of her medal performance at states, Burkhart gets the chance to do a little traveling.
April 5 – 10, Burkhart will be swimming at the national competition held in Florida for the YMCA club team on which she swims.
At the competition, Burkhart will be competing in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle events.
But Burkhart isn’t just interested in the awards.
“I was 6 when I started swimming,” she said. “I guess I’m just naturally talented. I do it for fun, really.”
