Category: School Happenings

By Bryan Buckius-

A day that will live in infamy. December 23, 2010 is a day that will forever be in the minds of many Penn Manor senior athletes.

This year on winter fun day not everything went as planed for the faculty of Penn Manor High School. During the annual Senior versus Faculty basketball game it looked as if the faculty would wrap up another easy win.

But things don’t always turn out as expected.

On Thursday, April 14 at 7 pm in the high school’s east gym, the faculty will have the chance to get revenge on the seniors for the unfortunate events of fun day. Penn Manor Gridiron will be hosting the game as a fundraiser. Admission is $3 but children under 7 get in for free.

“The teachers were good and I thought they were going to win easily again,” said senior Emmy Hess.

As the game went on, however, the senior team cut the teachers’ lead and, on the last possession of the game, were only down by two. After receiving the in-bounds pass, senior Mark Curtin dribbled the ball up the court. He was swarmed by the faculty defense so he kicked the ball out to a wide open Garrett Young.

“As soon as Mark found Garrett open in the corner I knew we were going to win,” said senior Megan Wilson.

The pass was cleanly received by Young and as the time expired, the gym became silent. With the ball traveling towards the hoop like a guided missile, all eyes were fixed on the court as the ball gently swished through the net.

“All that I remember is making the shot and before I knew it I was surrounded by my screaming teammates,” said Young.

The teachers believe that they won’t have a problem defeating the students this time around.

“If we can contain Teon Lee and Demitrius Dixon we will win by 20 points at least. I’m not even worried about Garrett,” said Mr. Eck.

The seniors, however, fell differently.

“For all the students who missed the first time the teachers lost, make sure you come to see them lose again,” said senior Jessen Smith.

Will the seniors be able to back up these bold predictions?

By Matt Ulmer –

Is it bribery? No, not even. It’s a new system of rewards for those who put forth 100 percent effort on those dreaded PSSAs.

Philip Gale took over as head principal in 2009, and this year he’s willing to consider how kids want the school to operate – to a point.

Last week at an assembly prior to the start of PSSA’s, he explained his expectations and, for the first time, possible rewards for those students who excel.

“I’m open for suggestions,” said Gale.

In a recent meeting with Gale, he stated the requirements for receiving these incentives A) Scoring Proficient on the Math and Reading sections or B) Improving your score from 8th grade to 11th grade.

Those who score advanced on these tests are subject to even more luxurious rewards.

Many students think of PSSA week as a time of relaxation and to slack off. Gale said he is initiating these rewards to inspire those to “go all out.”

There is always the struggle, even with remediation, of pushing kids to put forth their full effort on these tests, Gale said.

Assistant Principal Eric Howe said, “I think it’s an incentive and will create ownership for students.”

Gale had a few ideas that he thought students would like.  One was a discounted parking pass for those who despise the cost of school parking or maybe a Comet card. But he’s totally open for student suggestions.

Junior James Servanksy said, “Yeah, discount cards sounds like a solid idea”

A discount card would allow students to get into certain school events like sports games for free or a lowered price. The idea would be to have a hole punched out for each event they attend, similar to the system they have for drinks at gas stations.

Another junior Megan Schlegelmilch said, “Umm desert cards would be a good idea.”

Megan explained her desire for big cookies, and others agreed.

An idea that seemed to stir up the excitement in many kids was that of special club periods. Many students just sit around in homeroom and don’t get much done, but if there were clubs like floor hockey or basketball many kids would work hard to earn the privilege of participating.

“Having a floor hockey club would be a good and active way to relieve the daily stresses of school”, explained yet another junior, Harrison Manning.

As great as these idea sound to underclassmen, not all students are happy about this sudden generosity, mainly the class of 2011. Many seniors feel as if it’s unfair to them that now these amenities are being presented.

Senior Mark Curtin said, “I want my reparation check in the mail because I know I did well last year.”

However, resident school genius Ben Clark doesn’t have a problem with the new system.

“You have to create other systems sometimes,” he said.

“Kids need to be motivated about PSSA’s because it makes our school look bad if we do bad, so I see wheres Gale’s coming from,” said Senior Peter Ashworth.

-Here is a list of proposals students around the school suggested

1) Seniors can leave school early rather then come in later

2) Graduation Project Extension

3) Desert “punch” cards that would act like a coffee card

4) Discounted Parking Pass

5) March Madness Basketball Tournament can be viewed

6) Basketball and Floor Hockey

Of suggestions so far, Gale is considering:

1) March Madness games

2) Premium Parking Spots

3) Graduation Project Extension

4) Basketball/Floor Hockey Club

5) Parking Pass Discount (his idea)

6) Comet discount Card (his idea)

Above is just a list of the main ideas Gale is considering. He wanted to make it clear that he appreciates any suggestion or ideas that a student has to offer, as long as it’s reasonable.

Please add a comment for any additional suggestions for an incentive.

By Lauren Ressler –

“When the Shalako falls, you better watch out.”

Maria Vita, a teacher at Penn Manor High School, is well-known for her uproarious personality. Currently Vita teaches college prep US history I, advanced placement psychology and social psychology. Vita is marked by her strong sense of humor, admired for her lack of technological conformity, and content with being an independent woman. Although most students know her face, many aren’t aware of an experience that changed the way she views life.

Maria Vita studied Indian history at the University of Wyoming. She uses the word ‘Indian’ because she feels it is the most accurate way to describe Native American culture.

Following graduation, Vita decided to live on and teach at a Zuni Indian reservation in New Mexico.

“Even though I loved Indian history, I still had myths in my head about the people,” said Vita.

She said she thought all Indians were spiritual and that they all worshiped the Earth and the land. Vita was shocked when she witnessed an Indian boy littering on the reservation. It reminded her that Indian people fall victim to human tendencies, like the laziness of not finding a trash can.

She recalled that the kids on “the res” enjoyed video games and sports, and behaved much like the typical American teenager of any other race. There also were Christian churches and private schools on the reservation, creating a society not much different from modern American society.

“Indians don’t like other Indians, and they don’t know their own history,” noted Vita, explaining that tribes often don’t get along.

She explained that the Zuni tribe was one of the few Indian nations not greatly affected by the American ‘kill the Indian, save the man’ movement. The Zuni people were kept isolated and therefore preserved their culture and religion better than other tribes that were forced to conform to English-based rules of society.

“Indians are very spiritual,” Vita said about most of the Zuni people she encountered on the reservation.

The spirituality of Indian culture is not just tradition, it’s religion.

“To the Zuni, they aren’t wearing a costume. In their religion, they truly believe they become that spirit. It’s very serious to them,” said Vita when describing the ritualistic holidays of the Zuni tribe.

Vita said one of the holidays that the Zuni people take most seriously is the Indian New Year. During this time, a member of the ceremony puts on a very tall, heavy headdress to represent a spirit named, the Shalako. This costume makes it very hard to balance, and the Zuni believe that when it falls, everyone must be whipped with Yucka tree branches to ‘whip the evil out.’

“I had my running shoes on, ready to book it,” said Vita with a laugh.

Vita also said Indian people are very spiritual about air.

“If I would throw out a plastic water bottle away with the cap on, they would tell me I’m wasting my life because I left my air inside the bottle.”

Coupled with their strong sense of spirituality, Vita said she learned from the potent sense of humor present on the reservation.

“People that live in poverty are different than people that have things,” she noted about the Zuni people’s ability to laugh about everyday situations.

Vita said her experience on the Zuni reservation changed her outlook on life. Maybe it is important to experience something similar ourselves, something that brings us a little closer to earth and inner-peace instead of materialistic views.

By Sarah Schaeffer and Jay Jackson –

Adding to the school district’s budget woes, the Lancaster County Tax Collection Bureau announced a change in state regulations that will cause a two to four month cash flow lag in some of their collections. According to Terry Hackman, Executive Director of LCTCB, Act 32 will impact school district revenue as it mandates collecting residency information about employees from their employers.

“Cash flow will be fine,” said district business manager Chris Johnston,”what’s more difficult is if we book revenue in one year and another year there could be a major hit to our revenue which we won’t get back.”

Board member Donna Wert questioned Hackman on where unknown money ends up. Hackman explained that if they can’t determine the residency of an employee, that money goes back to the municipalities where the employer is located.

The board also discussed the state budget cuts of more than $1.8 million to the district. A meeting will be held tonight at Manor Middle at 7 p.m. to discuss possible cuts in sports team funding.

Also on the chopping block is reimbursement for dual enrollment classes.

“Dual enrollment will lose money, but not the program,” said Superintendent Dr. Michael Leichliter,”the program will still exist, I just don’t see as many students being able to afford it. Now parents will be paying Millersville or HACC tuition without payback.”

As a part of a proposed solution, meetings will take place between Leichliter and Principal Philip Gale to discuss the possibility of cyber-classes in place of dual enrollment in the future.

Another facet of last night’s meeting was student insight presented by senior Katie Maisel and junior Evan Bigler. The two presented the idea, already approved by Gale, to have student leaders meet with board members to discuss any ongoing events and concerns and answer any student questions. This meeting will take place in early April.

“We’re going to affect your parents’ pocketbooks, but we’re going to affect your lives,” said Frerichs of the future meeting.

With Hambright Elementary among the aging buildings in the district, the school board was discussing the opportunity for the public to have a voice in the outcome of the school building; whether it should be rebuilt or just renovated.

By Jake Shiner –

The prestigious Intel Science Talent Search ended in Washington D.C. last week with one of Penn Manor’s own named in the Top 40, none other than Ben Clark.

The talented senior added yet another award to his constantly growing achievement list. He placed seventh in the science competition geared toward seniors, using the same project that he entered in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology last December.

Clark’s project sounds simple enough.

“I determined how close binary stars are,” said Clark. “The underlying fact is that this can be used to determine how stars are formed.”

The competition was tough with 1700 seniors going for the awards, narrowed down to the top 40, whom were flown in to D.C. on an all expenses-paid trip.

“We were staying in a hotel two blocks from the White House,” said Clark with a smile. He said the back of the nation’s capitol building was visible from his room.

The young senior has already been to similar competitions, but one thing always stands out as his favorite part.

“The best part is always the interactions with other students who also enjoy science as much as you do,” said Clark.

Clark had the privilege of meeting the leader of the United States while in Washington, saying, “meeting the president was definitely cool.”

While in the capital he got to go to Capitol Hill and met new Pennsylvania senator, Pat Toomey.

Clark also sat with the president of California Tech at the award dinner, where he is thinking of attending college, which he said was a very exciting experience.

The young genius has many potential futures. He says he has narrowed it down to physics or astrophysics, but doesn’t know which one. As of right now, that may be the only thing Clark doesn’t know.

By Evan Shertzer –

“It’s not pleasant.”

According to Amanda Stoltzfus, Ag teacher at Penn Manor,  the mice running around Penn Manor High School are not welcome.

Over the past few weeks, the mouse problem has started to increase. During classes, students hear them scratching and gnawing around in the ceiling, smell their nests from a few yards away and sometimes find them running around during class.

Scott Appel, a sophomore, has heard the mice during class.

“I didn’t know of any before hearing them in the classroom,” said Appel, “I have not seen any right now, but heard probably about seven.”

Matt Ferrick, a junior, also has had encounters with the mice and knew they were in Penn Manor for a while.

“I caught about six or seven mice last year,” said Ferrick, “I’ve seen about 12. I’m not scared of them.”

Over the past week, there have been preventative measures to take care of the mice.

“Since we’ve cleaned and received traps, we have seen a decrease in the mice population,” Stoltzfus said, “we haven’t seen them in our office anymore.”

Stoltzfus doesn’t think the strategies are solving the problem, but thinks it’s definitely helping.

The mice infestation isn’t just happening one area of the school though, it’s widespread.

“Teachers have food in their refrigerators and desks, which attracts the mice,” Leighton Dickenson, head of the Janitors at Penn Manor, said, “once they have a food source, they go back to their nest and tell the other mice and then they go to that food source.”

Since mice are attracted to food, one of the most likely places for them to be would be the cafeteria’s kitchen, but according to Dickenson, that isn’t the case.

“The kitchen has basically no mice because they lock everything down in there and close all the doors,” Dickenson said.

So with the recent measures to get rid of mice such as traps, cleaning, and locking things up, Penn Manor’s furry little friends might soon be extinct.

By Bryan Hess and Stetson Hershey –

Thirteen Penn Manor students will be traveling to Germany this summer to experience what life is like halfway around the world.

German teacher Nadine Smith, is taking some of her more experienced German students back to her homeland to expose the students to the culture.  The students will be leaving for their destination on June 9 and will be staying for three weeks.

Not only will the students be vacationing in Germany, they will be living  full-time with their exchange students for the first two weeks of their stay in the foreign country.

They will also be attending school with them during the week, because in Germany, they have school year round.

“They observe how school works over there,” said Smith.

Even though these students will have to be attending two extra weeks of school, there are a select few who like the idea of going to a school in Germany.

“I’m interested to see what level English they are learning,” said Tyler Keck, a senior and one of the more fluent German speakers according to his teacher.

After the first two weeks, the students will spend the third and final week traveling throughout the country.

One of the destinations will be Smith’s hometown, Mühlberg.

“My parents usually host us for picnic,” said Smith

The students will also be traveling to Frankfurt, Munich, the Bavarian Alps, and Bamberg.

In order for the students to go on the German trip, some money must be raised.

“I’m not a big fund-raising person,” Smith said, “but it must be done so students can go to Germany.”

“We have done multiple fundraisers,” stated senior Kyle White, “I think they were successful.”

The fundraisers that were done are a car wash and two candle sales.

“The car wash wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t like selling candles. I’m not very convincing at selling things” Joked junior Austin Rowley.

The students raised about $1,800 towards their experience.

Once the students get to Germany, they all will be participating in a culture show.  The culture show is an opportunity for the students to showcase some of their talents for their German friends.

Each student will be involved in at least one dance, but some students wanted to do something more personal.  Senior Peter Horning will be playing the piano.

Keck, along with senior classmate Katie Coons, will be doing a German dance.

“I’ve been dancing since I was three,” said Coons.

The goal for the students is to use little to no English on the trip.  Although the students will have their exchange students to help translate, the biggest challenge on this trip will be communicating.

In order to speak in all German, they need to keep studying the language.  Many students are achieving this goal by being a part of German club, others go above and beyond and study on their own time.

“I’ve been reading some articles in German,” said Keck.

A five-ten minute presentation will also be made, in German, by each student in front of a class full of German students.  The presentation will be on a topic that is part of the culture that the students live in.

“I’m a little nervous about the presentation,” said Horning.

“The goal of all presentations is to enlighten the students on daily life in America,” said Keck, whose presentation is about sports in America.

These 13 students are putting in a lot of hard-work and preparation for their trip to Germany, but they are all still very excited.

“I am excited,” said Rowley, “I think I will be homesick though.”

“It’s going to be a great way to experience the culture first hand,” said Horning.

By Lauren Richards –

“The inspiration is an ugly wall in a beautiful courtyard.”

Students in all of Teri Hay’s art classes have been working on spicing up an empty 10-foot by 65-foot wall in the courtyard at Penn Manor High School for the past three years. The design being put on the wall is based on Van Gogh’s Starry Night. What started out as a one-year project has faced many obstacles and has proven to be more lengthy than expected.

“The commercial art classes came up with the design two years ago,” said Hay.

The task at hand has turned into much more than just a quick fix, due to how time consuming it is. Hay has to spend an hour on each square before the students even get to touch it.

The process for each section is very distinct. It starts out with a paper sample for students to go off of, then they use color coding to find the pieces of glass they need to create their individual sections.

There are other preparations that need to be done as well, such as putting tape on the wall and then peeling it off 24 hours later.

Senior Jill Zimmerman is one student who has worked on the wall.

“It was pretty time consuming,” Zimmerman said.

Time isn’t the only thing making this project difficult, the actual work that goes into it is anything but easy.

Hay said that one complaint from students is that they cut themselves.

“I enjoyed the end result but working on it was really hard,” Zimmerman said.

Whitney Reno said she has worked on the wall the majority of the time it’s been a project. Reno even takes Independent Study to work on the wall. She enjoys participating in this project and said she really got into working on it last year.

“I think everyone should be exposed to art, and it’s one giant piece of artwork that so many people work on,” Reno said.

With all the different aspects of this project it’s no surprise that money is an issue. The Penn Manor Education Foundation (PMEF) funded most of what was needed.

“The whole thing is expensive,” said Hay.

Although the task has not followed its original time-line, Hay said she’s hoping it will finally be completed by the end of this school year.

“The biggest challenge is to get people to see the big picture,” Hay said.