Category: School Happenings

By Corbin Gillichbauer –

Students at Penn Manor attend Chess Club not only to play the game but to have fun and take a break from school for a short period of time. Chess can be played by anyone, good or bad, it is just how you “play the game” that determines your fate.

Zach Miller a senior at Penn Manor high school said, “It works my brain, plus I can come up with some cheesy pun lines. Like I will pawn you in chess…oh yea that’s a good one.”

Some students think that chess club should be a respectful situation  and players should not scream across the room to ask how was your weekend or what did you do with this move.

Brendan Carroll a senior at Penn Manor high school says, “It’s always the underclassmen that are annoying, it not because I know them, it is just that they come in groups and know how to be pungent and make my ears bleed, hypothetically.”

Chess club is a way to help students pick up a new game or to help students get better at chess and think outside the box just a little bit further to predict the next move.

Logan White, a junior on the chess team says, “There are some basic things you need to know when playing chess. First is don’t be stupid.  Second is control the center of the board and third don’t call the knight a horsey.”

Chess club does not just exist to play and get better, but to have fun and play against your friends. You may want to try stiffer competition and play against Penn Manor’s chess team. Penn Manor chess team plays other schools in the district.

The Chess team has a record of 2-5-1 and are fifth in the league.

White said when playing Carroll, “He forgets everything I teach him, he listens for one second then he makes a bad mistake.”

Carroll retaliated and said, “I’m here because this isn’t homeroom, I am having fun, I don’t care if I lose.”

Chess club is more then meets the eye. Anyone that wants to come try it out is more then welcome next year to join and try to beat the adviser, James Yearsley.

By Jake Shiner and Cody Straub –

Even with the school district experiencing a tough financial situation and desperately searching for answers to  the impending budget  crisis, one school club has found the way to raise money for a struggling school in Honduras.

The Young Humanitarian’s League (YHL) is donating money and supplies to a school in Honduras as part as a club project. The school in need  was selected  specifically for YHL by the founder of the Central American Relief Effort Steven C. Mentzer.

“Mr Menzter spoke to us about Honduras,” said YHL President Cody Diehl. “We asked him to find a school that needs help.”

Diehl gave an example of  how the students they are assisting are less fortunate than us in the United States, “While we get full pencils, they might only get half.”

Honduras is located in Central America and widespread education has been a problem for them. According to Honduras Weekly the average years of formal education for a Honduran is 6.5 years, compared to United States  average  of 12 years. Without international  help, this number might become even lower, which is why aid like the YHL’s is so important.

New member Zach Kauffman also spoke of some of the initiatives of the club. “We’re sending them old desks from the elementary school Central Manor,” said Kauffman. He also commentated that they may send other non-school supplies for hygiene such as toothbrushes and toothpaste.

In the meantime he is continuing to buy gummy bears and other snacks from YHL in room 300 to help support the fund-raising for the Honduras school, and you can too.

YHL is having a school wide supply drive for the Honduras school, in which every Penn Manor student can help the needy school by bringing in school supplies to donate.

“This will be our biggest project, we hope to build a relationship and continue funding,” said Diehl.

“Within the next few years we’re hoping to send kids down there to help out, and see how the kids and school are.” said Kauffman.

“A future goal of ours is to give them playground equipment,” said club adviser Donna Brady.

The club hopes this project is the start of a long lasting relationship with the school.

 

 

By Lauren Richards –

May has finally rolled around and summer is so close most students can taste it.

Usually this is the time when attention spans become shorter, grades drop and motivation decreases. For some students, however, this is a very important time of the year. It’s AP test season and students have worked all year in hopes of scoring a 5. AP tests can be stressful so a lot of students are doing the most they can to prepare.

Natasha Fletcher is taking two AP classes, Literature and Biology. Her tests are coming up and she said she has begun preparing for both.

“For bio I’m studying outside of class. I feel more prepared for lit,” Fletcher said.

While many students are taking time outside of class to prepare for their tests, a lot are reviewing in class as well.

“We’ve been reviewing in class ever since we finished the curriculum, which was about two months ago,” said Veronica Willig, referring to her AP Calculus class.

Eric Bear has also been spending time in class preparing for his AP French test that will take place on May 10.

“We do a lot of listening and recording of native speaking to prepare for the listening portion of the exam. We write a lot of essays that are timed,” said Bear.

Students have spent their whole school year learning loads of information they’ll need to be ready for their AP exam. And even though it’s a lot to remember, many students feel confident about their upcoming test.

Conor Snow takes AP US History and will take his test on May 6. He said he’s been getting review packets in class to prepare and believes he will get at least a 4.

“I think I’ll do fine,” Snow said.

Jenna Santaniello prepared for her AP Literature exam and felt confident.

“I’m not really nervous,” Santaniello said.

Students aren’t the only ones who feel stressed when AP test season rolls around. Teachers also worry about the scores their students will achieve.

AP Psychology teacher Maria Vita is confident that her students were prepared for their exam on May 2 and she encouraged her students to believe they’ll do well.

“Expect a 5 and nothing less. That’s the only thing to do on this test, except also do your very best,” Vita said.

 

 

By Crystal Bugner & Amber Brenner–

Q: What is the name of the club that answers random trivia questions for an hour every Monday?

A: Quiz Bowl.

The Quiz Bowl coordinator is Sallie Bookman, who is also the Gifted coordinator.  The team’s “final countdown” has begun. With the national competition just around the corner, the club is revving their engines for the event while the seniors are putting the brakes on their high school career.

The national Quiz Bowl competition is from June 3 to June 5 in Washington DC.

But the “A team” is mostly seniors this year. The team consists of Lars Anderson, Garrett Young, Helen Hutchens, Morgan Flood, and Anthony Cazillo. There is not a single junior in the club at all. So it would appear to the outside eye that the team next year might be in trouble.

But the club’s seniors don’t agree. Young, whose niche is sports, feels they did well this year, and thinks that the up and coming members won’t have any problems doing just as well, if not better.

That means a lot considering the current team got to the final four in the Westfield Insurance Brain Busters competition this year, a contest consisting of 38 schools.

“Usually we make it to nationals,” said Hutchens a senior on the team. Implying that this year’s sophomores have some very big shoes to fill for next year.

Flood is one of the sophomores, and instead of looking nervous, she has a lot of spirit. Especially when she proudly announced that she wants to beat Penn Manor’s records for quiz bowl.

Flood hopes to continue to start on the “A Team” next year, and she plans to keep up Quiz Bowl in the upcoming years to keep Penn Manor’s legacy going.

She hopes she keeps that legacy. Although, Flood admitted that she really “doesn’t know what to expect” about nationals this year.

By Laura Revelt –

Penn Manor students spent the day cleaning up one of Lancaster’s treasures.

Penn Manor’s Serteen Club and the Life Skills class cleaned up Long’s Park on April 29. This sort of preparation is vital for the upcoming Sertoma Chicken Barbecue and the park’s summer season.

It started out as a cool April morning with overcast skies, but eventually temperatures reached 70 degrees, a hot day to be working outside. At the entrance of Long’s Park, Penn Manor students were already hard at work. Their day consisted of mulching, planting flowers,  pulling weeds and much more.

The Serteen Club and the Life Skills class arrived at Long’s Park at 8:00 am and their day was to end at 2-2:30 pm. A long day of volunteering, but this is nothing new for this group. According to Barb Rathbone- Frank there has been a long history of Serteen helping out at the park near the end of April.

“It’s just what we do every year. Same time, same place,” said Rathbone-Frank.

“It’s another way to give back to the community, which is our main goal,” explained Stef Friedman, the Serteen President.

Eric Bear, another Serteen member, said its important to get people throughout the community together and to be aware of service needed.

“Every little bit counts,” added Bear.

This is both Friedman and Bear’s third year volunteering at the park.

The group may be dedicated, but it’s not always easy.

“Horrible allergies! My nose runs all day,” said Friedman.

Multiple workers could be spotted wiping their noses, sneezing and rubbing aggravated eyes.

The Life Skills class also helps at the park every year. According to Melissa McMichael, a Life Skills teacher, Serteen and the Life Skills class coordinate schedules to set up a day that they can both help at the park.

“It’s a good opportunity for the kids to have fun and to practice their work skills,” said McMichael.

“It’s a nice thing,” said Rathbone-Frank, “to have them working together is good,”

“They definitely look forward to it every year,” added McMichael.

Rachel Taylor, another Life Skills teacher said, “It’s nice for them to come back in the summer with their families and point out the things at the park that they did.”

Overall the student’s efforts are definitely valued.

“Next to the Barbeque, this is the single most important day of the year for Long’s Park,” said Debra Martin Berkoski.

Berkoski is the Long’s Park Maintenance Supervisor and has been for 13 years. Berkoski graduated from Penn Manor in 1985.

“When I was in high school I was in 4H and FFA,” said Berkoski. “By doing those I gained a lot of knowledge necessary for working here.”

“I, along with three total people here, maintain the 80 acres and we facilitate any event here,” explained Berkoski.

According to Berkoski, Long’s Park has 18,000 trees, 13 weeks of concerts over the summer (Sunday nights, Memorial day through Labor Day), a petting farm, four police horses are housed at that park, fireworks on the Fourth of July and events that hold up to 50,ooo people. Other perks of the park include the pond with a bridge and gazebo, walking paths, an open field for activities and playgrounds.

According to the park’s website, Longspark.org, besides the Chicken Barbecue and summer music series, another major event is the Long’s Park Arts and Crafts Festival. None of these events would be possible without the efforts “behind the scenes.”

“Some people (who come to the park) are really grateful, but others don’t realize the work behind it,” said Bear.

Perhaps because people are so accustomed to the park being there for all to enjoy or because public goods are taken for granted, it is overlooked that there are people, including Sertoma, volunteers, and Maintenance, that work hard to keep it that way.

According to Lancastersertomabbq.com, 80 percent of the money made from the Chicken Barbecue goes towards Long’s Park. Along with the park, Lancaster Sertoma supports Penn Manor’s Serteen Club with scholarship money, by paying for t-shirts and this year paid for the teachers’ substitutes during the cleanup.

The Sertoma Chicken Barbecue is the World’s largest chicken barbecue and will take place on May 21 from 1o:oo am- 6:oo pm (Lancastersertomabbq.com). Come out and help raise money for Long’s Park.

 

 

By Jay Jackson –

The next sound you hear could be the clip-clopping of mini horse hooves in Penn Manor hallways.

Miniature horses have recently been added to the animals that may assist physically handicapped students in the Penn Manor school district.

“I think anything that they are willing to let us use is great. I know that my students can open up to animals more than people,” said Melissa McMichaels, who teaches life skills at Penn Manor high school.

When you think of a seeing animal you think dog right?

This may be a funny thought however these horses have been used to guide  the blind.

Mini horses can actually be better for horse lovers and for people who are allergic to the very popular seeing eye dog.

These miniature horses can greatly help people in need of another set of eyes to guide them. The benefits of service horses are that they live longer. According to guide dog trainers, guide dogs have a useful life between 8-12 years. In the meantime miniature horses have an average life span of 30-40 years.

Apparently these special horse have many other advantages such as cost efficiency, better acceptance, calm nature, great memory, excellent vision, focused demeanor, safety conscious, high stamina and good manners.

Training these miniature magicians is a full time job and only should be attempted by a professional.

“The down side would be that it could distract the students in class while they need to focus on their work,” said McMichaels.  “We would also need to take care of them.”

This could be a problem with such an extraordinary animal walking the halls grabbing hundreds of students’ attention.

The guide horses regularly work inside while leading the companion around restaurants, malls and offices. However when these horses are off duty they prefer the outdoors where they spend time in their small outdoor barns.

With the new seeing eye dogs being trained, walking the halls in Penn Manor high school, that could easily be a miniature horse roaming the halls

 

By Abby Talbot –

The stars of Penn Manor will shine.

Entertainment Penn Manor will be held on Saturday at 7-10 p.m it’s an exciting event for students to show Penn Manor what they got. If  a preview seen by the student body Friday is any indication it will be a very popular event.

In an assembly Friday a few students participating in ETPM performed and showed their fellow students a sneak peak.

Marcos Rivera, a senior danced a hip hop routine to a remix.

“I thought he did really good, dancing switches it up between the singing and instruments,” said Maddi Eckenrode, a junior.

The audience cheered with lots of ethusiasm after and during every act. After the prievew was shown to the school, the halls were buzzing with excitement.

“I though it was a really great, everyone who preformed did an awesome job,” said Demi Greenwalt a junior.

Bryan Buckius and Lily Ngo sang “Rhythm of love.

Greenwalt said, “It was very cute and a great song for them to sing.”

“ETPM is a good way to show hidden talents,” said Eckenrode.

Admission is $6 and the money is going to a scholarship foundation for disadvantaged children.  A donation is also going to the theater department.