Category: School Happenings

By DaYonte Dixon –

Nowadays it seems like good deeds go unrewarded, but Penn Manor is challenging that statement.

With a simple rocking chair.

Former librarian of Penn Manor High School, Susan Hostetter, retired last year and, to mark a long career of her great service to the school, including keeping the library organized and in good shape for the students, her colleagues decided she should be remembered in a special way.

A beautiful wooden rocking chair was donated from former Penn Manor English teacher Carole Shellenberger to the library in Hostetter’s name.

“I was overwhelmed and surprised when I first heard,” said Hostetter, referring to the rocking chair that was donated in her honor.

The rocking chair is currently sitting in the library and, although not currently in active use, it is covered in balloons and decorations and is on display for everybody to see.

“Any student is allowed to sit in the chair that has been dedicated to Hostetter,” said library assistant Barbara Trostle.

Hostetter was a key part of the Read-a-Thon celebration that took place at Penn Manor High School library every year to encourage younger children to read.

According to newly hired librarian Diane Bounds, Hostetter would bring a rocking chair to every Read-A-Thon.

“I think she deserved the rocking chair,” said library assistant Pam Yarnell. “She played a huge role in the Read-A-Thons.”

The chair is symbolic of reading and enjoyment of books, something the Read-A-Thon has been promoting to increasing success with district youngsters.

About 12 years ago Hostetter and teachers Amy Wall and Shellenberger started Penn Manor’s Read-A-Thons.

According to Hostetter, during the Read-A-Thons there were stations. At one of these stations was the rocking chair where a guest speaker would read aloud to a crowd.

“I honestly love rocking chairs,” said Hostetter “rocking is such a soothing motion.”

Hostetter dedicated 17 meaningful years to Penn Manor High School before retiring.

Since the retirement is so new, most students do not know the meaning of the rocking chair.

That simple rocking chair holds a lot more meaning.

By Shadrack Kiprop and Brianna Kelly-

With a kind and generous heart, students could change someone’s life.

A sweater can be wrapped- A bow can decorate a bicycle – one thing that cannot be wrapped is a lifesaving blood donation.  That’s just the kind of thoughts that attracted students and staff to give blood during a recent drive at Penn Manor.

Sacrifice some time, give a life chance to someone by donating blood. Its simple, free, rewarding and the generosity is shown and appreciated. Blood drive donations are a generous task because, by donating blood, students are saving a life – pint by pint.

“Its a good cause and most people should do it if they can,” said Emily Roberts. Roberts insisted it’s an opportunity to be a hero  and to show that someone cares about them.

Many people have a unique reason as to why they donate their precious blood, according to  Penn Manor senior, Kristina Simon. Simon with compassion in her voice claims she did it for her grandmother, who had to get a hip replacement surgery after an incident that occurred at her house.

Although many people do not  donate blood because they are afraid, Comets have anchored their hearts with a reason, to give a second chance to someone.

Sam Wright, a junior at Penn Manor, walked into the band room to donate blood for the first time, her heart pounding as hard as a drum, legs shaking and trembling in fear. She sat down on the queue line waiting, eager and frightened.

The entrance fee to the blood drive is – a snack and refreshing drink. The doctor’s precautions are – no recent piercings or tattoos, cannot be sick, cannot have been out of the country for the past year, and at least 110 pounds.

So, Penn Manor, don’t let the chance slip away – one contribution could save a life.

By Jake Shiner and Sam Valentin-

This week the halls will be filled with the euphonious sounds of music. With a different genre each day, the students will be able to participate in the march music madness.

Each day students can join in and celebrate their favorite type of music, dressing according to the day. Monday is favorite 21st century band tee, Tuesday is 50’s, Wednesday is Irish/Celtic, Thursday is Classical, and Friday is country. Participation is up to the students.

“I don’t plan on dressing up, but I may do it spontaneously,” said Matt Weidinger, a senior. “(But) there wasn’t good advertisement for the event,” he said.

Tim Deubler, a senior, is involved with the coordination of the week long event.

“We are trying to raise awareness about music in schools, how important it is,” said Deubler. “We started it last year.”

He continued to explain that he and a group of others including Courtney Jacobs, Lily Ngo, and Mitch Wise are cooperating with the Tri-M Music Honor Society in spreading the importance of music in schools in light of recent school budget cuts.

“Basically it gets funding for school music programs,” said Deubler. “This week isn’t about the money, its about raising awareness.”

Afterward they will begin fund-raising.

“[We’re going to] try and have a dress down day on Friday to raise money,” said Deubler.

“I wish everyone would dress up. Its fun, at least for me. I think everyone should participate.”

Unfortunately some students don’t share the opinion of Deubler. Joziah Rodriguez says he will not be participating and doesn’t think others will either.

“I dont think as many students find it as fun as spirit week,” said Rodriguez. In fact he had no clue the event was even happening this week until we told him about it.

According to Deubler, the halls will be filled with music this week. Secretary PJ Peters will be playing the music over the loudspeakers in between classes. But when interviewed, she was also not up to speed about music week and her assignment.

“No one has approved or given me music for that week,” said Peters. “Last year I did play music for them, but I haven’t been notified this year.” Although she says she will gladly orchestrate the music if she is given the CD’s. Peter’s also commented that she will try to have the hallway music continue to run past Music Week.

“I’ll talk to Mr. Gale and see if I can start the music in the halls again,” she said.

This is to the delight of Weidinger and Deubler but not to Rodriguez.

“I like quiet in the hallway but that is just me,” said Rodriguez.

Regarding the school-wide participation, Weidinger believes that Friday will be the most successful.

“I feel like country will be the biggest because it’s Pennsylvania and every Friday is flannel Friday. It’s the easiest and people might do it unknowingly, by accident,” said Weidinger.

Penn Manor music lover should savor this week as it may be the only time we hear music again.

By Jake Shiner and Sam Valentin-

Penn Manor takes its turn at the stock market.

Penn Manor’s government and economic classes are playing what they call the stock market game. According to Jon Boxleitner, Penn Manor’s history department has done some form of this game for the past decade. But this year it changed.

“Well we’ve been doing some form of it for maybe 10 years now. (We) keep changing it up,” said Boxleitner, a history teacher at Penn Manor who manages the game with the help of others.

“We play through Investopedia.” A website that was found by fellow history teacher Chris Meier. “The one thing that is good is we can set it to our own guidelines,” said Boxleitner, referring to the duration, amount of money, price, and other rules.

The new game seems to be more realistic then in past years and teachers believe students are enjoying the learning experience that goes along with it.

“I think so, they seem content and into it. Sometimes I overhear their conversations and they talk about checking their stocks out of class on their own,” stated Boxleitner, in response to if the students are enjoying the game.

Students seem to agree with his point of view. One of his students who is very engaged in the game is Darin Fry.

“(The stock market game) corresponds to the real stocks on Wall Street… it is pretty realistic,” said Fry, a senior, who is currently a week into playing the game. “I thought it was lame at first but now its cool.”

Fry was interviewed in the library, actually on his way to check on how his stocks were doing.

While many people are enjoying the current game, some have a different view of the game from the past.

James Servansky, who played a different form of the stock market game in Matt Scheuing’s class his tenth grade year, said that his experience with virtual stocks was not very realistic and he didn’t gain much knowledge on stock trading.

“[Scheuing] made the companies stock value fluctuate more aggressively than they would in real life. But that was just for fun between classmates,” said Servansky.

But Servansky does agree that it is helpful to have an understanding of the market.

“It is beneficial to see how the stock market fluctuates,” said Servansky. “They learn that stocks are high risk, high reward.”

Servansky, unlike some other students, has been involved in actual stock trading for about four years now.

“My dad bought me my own stocks freshman year and I’ve been dabbling ever since,” joked Servansky.

With the new version of the game, the students seem to be learning a lot more.

“I learned to appropriately invest in stocks, so now I could actually do it,” said Fry.

Fry said that the game plays from February through May, with each student starting with $100,000 virtual dollars. Students are required to make at least five trades and to not go in debt.

Troy Diffenderfer, another senior student playing the game, said, “I think it is really fun, you learn a lot, and it is a cool game.”

By Austin Rowley –

Having a well planned-out education can be key to having success down the road.

The counseling department is hosting an opportunity for Penn Manor High School students for the 2012-2013 school year to give suggestions and offer help with choosing courses and planning for their futures – Course Selection Night.

“Future high school students can start to think about how you really need to do four year planning when it comes to choosing courses,” said Penn Manor High School counselor, Melissa Ostrowski.

It is stressful to some students to figure out what they possibly may be doing after high school when choosing classes. Many students do not truly know what they want to do after high school, but it’s never too early to take your future into consideration during the course selection process.

“Sometimes you need to plan backwards and make sure you take courses in 10th or 11th grade so that you are eligible to take the courses you want your senior year.  We like the students to think about where they want to end up and use that as a starting point. This is a great night for them to learn about those and set goals for themselves,” said Ostrowski.

It is strongly encouraged for all students to attend Course Selection Night, but especially for up-and-coming freshmen.

Talking with teachers and learning a little bit about the available electives might make the transition from middle school to high school a little bit easier, the counselors said.

The next school year will feature name alterations in English courses for freshmen and sophomores, and the social studies sequence will be altered for sophomores.

English 9 will be renamed to Foundations of Literacy, while English 10 will be renamed to Foundations of Composition.  The 10th grade  social studies course will be Civics, in place of US History II.

The night though is mainly meant for students who have questions for certain electives they may be interested in taking, according to the counselors.

“Future high school students probably don’t even realize all of the really amazing electives we offer at the High School. This is a great night for them to learn about those and set goals for themselves,” said Ostrowski.

“The main purpose is for students to get a chunk of time to talk with the teachers about the specifics of various courses.  They can ask for advice on what may be the best courses to take, learn about the requirements of the courses, and learn about what courses they should consider taking in order to prepare for their post-secondary goals.”

Both parents and students and parents are invited to attend Course Selection Night at the high school, and current eighth grade students are urged to attend a presentation in the auditorium starting at 6:30. Students in grades 9-11 may attend Course Selection Night at 7 p.m., on March 1st.

Ostrowski stated that parents and students from the past have given positive feedback on Course Selection Night, and have let it be known that it has helped students picking elective courses.

“The parents and students tend to feel it is helpful,” said Ostrowski.  “Nobody likes to get into a class and realize that he made a bad choice so any research that is done ahead of time ( like attending Course Selection Night) can eliminate problems down the road.”

By Alexa Stewart & Breiana Herr –

Raising money for victims of tragic situations, reading to young kids, helping out with a world renowned chicken barbecue, and other acts of community service resulted in BIG awards for two Penn Manor High School seniors.

Jennifer Rote and Taylor Gamber are two head members of Penn Manor’s own Serteen club. Rote and Gamber are in charge of putting together volunteer opportunities for their club to partake in. Some events that Serteen participate in are; the Blood Drive, Daffodil Days, Read Across America, Winter Formal, Sertoma chicken barbecue, and Pennies for Patients. These events led to Rote and Gamber receiving scholarships and awards.

Rote is the president of the school’s Serteen club and was recently invited to a luncheon with the Sertoma president at Media Heights. There the president presented her with the three awards for her outstanding leadership in Serteen.

“I was ecstatic and honored at the same time when I was awarded with top club Serteen, top district Serteen, and top region Serteen,” said Rote.

Rote will be attending HACC in the fall and, although they don’t offer any scholarships for community service, she plans to continue her work in the community, helping and serving others.

Gamber, Serteen’s secretary, will be attending York College majoring in public realtions and minoring in graphic design for the fall and some of her tuition will be payed from a scholarship she received for her community service and Serteen.

“I love giving back to the community and the skills I received from participating in Serteen club, so receiving this scholarship was a complete honor and it feels really good to know they chose me,” said Gamber.

York college was so impressed with Gamber’s involvement with the community that they personally sent Gamber a letter stating that they’d really like for her to start a Serteen club at York College.

“I was shocked when they asked me to start a Serteen club at their college, and I knew I had to accept it right away,” recalled Gamber.

Serteen is a community service club and there are very few in Pennsylvania. In fact, Penn Manor is the only high school around that has a Serteen club at their school.

“Serteen is a really great club, and we’re so passionate about what we do. We work well together to make everything successful,” said Rote.

Serteen is also a teen version of the community service organization Sertoma. Sertoma host the biggest chicken barbecue in the world every year locally at Long’s Park.

“Everyone in Serteen is required to participate in the Sertoma chicken barbecue since it’s such a big event for Sertoma,” added Gamber.

“We all really enjoy the chicken barbecue and have a lot of fun together while participating in it,” said Rote.

Serteen club organizes all of the events that happen at Penn Manor. This year they set up winter formal and came up with the theme. They recently organized the blood drive at school, and are currently working on Read Across America where they encourage kids to read by reading them books, and handing free books out.

“Knowing we were the ones who made all the events successful and knowing we helped out without receiving anything in return is all what Serteen is about, and we’re honored to be head of the club and to have received the awards and scholarships we have,” said Rote and Gamber.

By Dayonte Dixon and Joey Jackson –

It’s the day that high school students talk about and prepare for since freshman year.

“Don’t talk to me about prom, I’m so ready for prom already,” said senior Janelle Musser.

Penn Manor’s prom of 2012 is quickly approaching, and seniors are beginning to take action on the preparations they have been setting up for some time. Unfortunately, the amount of time this takes seems to be increasing as more standards are set upon this year’s senior class.

For example, it’s no longer accepted for guys to ask their date straight up. As the years have come along, asking somebody to prom has evolved from a simple dinner date into complex plans that could range anywhere from a poster with pictures and flowers, to a pre-made fortune cookie. Unfortunately (from the man’s perspective of course) these extravagant plans have now become the norm for the high school prom-goer.

Senior Ian Toomey presented the question by giving his date a custom-made puzzle with a poem that incorporated the question. But it isn’t just a matter of “how” when you are going to pop the question, it is also a matter of “when.”

“When your heart begins to feel a tingling sensation, and your palms get sweaty,” said senior Ian Toomey, referring to the right time to ask a girl to prom.

How a guy pops the question is so important now-a-days, that even those who are currently in relationships have not asked simply because they haven’t  yet thought of a way that is clever enough to impress their prospective date.

After all, why put so much thought and effort into something that could be condensed into a one word question, “Prom?”

Maybe the best way to answer that question would be to break it up into two parts- the women would like the idea that someone put much effort just for them, while the guys are willing to make the effort necessary in order to make that one lucky lady say yes.

“I figure we are going to prom together,” senior Alex Cummins explains, “but I haven’t officially asked her yet because I haven’t thought of a way that is good enough yet.”

But even after all this, more preparation is yet to come.

Picking a dress for the woman, obviously one of the most time consuming pieces of the preparation process, must then be matched to the guys tuxedo, not to mention all the time spent getting hair done and pre-prom pictures.

Then there’s the deal of the cost.

Although the chivalrous and most common thing to do would be for the guy to pay for the girl, with ticket prices on the rise, some students have decided to take a more liberal approach.

“We plan on splitting all cost.” said senior Ian Toomey.

Even with prom about two and a half months away, a lot of seniors still haven’t made their intentions final, which can only mean two things, either we will soon see an outbreak of prom invitations or there will be a lot of seniors without a date.

By Chad Gates-

Check your calendars, it’s FFA week!

Here at Penn Manor, the agriculture wing is a much more important part of the school than it’s given credit. Although nearly 25% percent of all Penn Manor students are involved in the agriculture wing Most of what gets broken [chairs, desks, etc.] is sent to the ag-wing for repair. Not only that, one in every four students at Penn Manor is involved in FFA or takes an agriculture class.

The purpose of FFA week is to give members of FFA a chance to educate the public on the importance of agriculture.

Founded in 1928 as the “Future Farmers of America,” but later changed in 1988 to the “National FFA Organization,” or FFA, it is the largest youth organization in the United States.

According to the National FFA Organization’s website, the week of George Washington’s birthday was designated as National FFA Week in 1947 at a National FFA Board of Directors meeting. FFA Week always runs from Saturday to Saturday, and encompasses February 22, Washington’s birthday.

During FFA week, members are encouraged to wear a certain clothing each day to show their pride for FFA week. Tuesday is camo-wear, Wednesday is wear your official FFA shirt, Thursday is John Deere vs. International, and Friday is flannel Friday.

Tuesday, February 21, was the awards ceremony. Members of FFA are interviewed by a table of judges for them to decide if the member is eligible to win the award that they have applied for.

Wednesday was the Teacher-Staff ice cream social. Members of FFA made homemade ice cream and served it to the teachers and staff of the high school along with drinks, snacks, and various ice cream condiments such as chocolate syrup and whipped cream. The ice cream was made in a metal cylinder surrounded by ice and salt with a paddle that churns the ice cream when a handle attached to it is cranked.

The only flavor that was made was vanilla but those who there enjoyed it. Teachers Billijo Atkins and Brittney Klugston described the ice cream as, “creamy and refreshing.”

When interviewed, Doug Fellenbaum, an ag teacher here at the school revealed the recipe of the delicious dessert. It consisted of milk, sugar, heavy cream, evaporated milk, condensed milk, 1/2 carton of egg beaters and vanilla.

Friday, February 24 is the FFA lock-in. Members of FFA will spend a night in the ag-wing getting to know one another, and playing games. The lock-in starts at 7pm and will go until 8pm the following morning.

Kayla Major, a FFA member said, “The lock-in will last 13 hours and the goal is for members to pull an “all-nighter” and stay awake until the end of the lock-in the next morning. If someone gets tired though, there will be a room for the members to relax or sleep if they get tired or aren’t able to make it through the night.”

Sign up for the lock-in is in room 342 and members are encouraged to bring their own snacks. Breakfast will also be served in the morning as well.

By Christopher Gotwals –

Jon Arthur Boxleitner, a history teacher, a author, a Marine veteran, and a coach without a team.

Well he has a team, it’s just not a very experienced one.

As the smell of spring occasionally taunts Penn Manor students and teachers, thoughts turn to warmer weather, flowers, even tennis.

But for Boxleitner, his work is cut out for him this year.

“We will be hard pressed to get wins,” said Boxleitner, affectionately called “Box” but his colleagues.  “We lost our top eight players…in a year that the our league is moving from a five-varsity player format to a seven.”

“This will be a rebuilding year for us.”

Previously, a high school boy’s tennis season the varsity consisted of the top five players. Players “Challenge Match” other players which is to try to beat them in the determined amount of sets given by Box, to steal their spot in the rankings. But now in the 2012 season the league rules have changed to increase the varsity slots from five to seven. Most teams will be thrilled with this update to the rules, but this high school might not be ready for the challenge with the eight best players off to college.

But Boxleitner is no stranger to challenging opportunities.

He served a three-year enlistment in the Marine Corp and said the best part of it was, “the travel and serving our country in uniform.”

In 1996 Boxleitner came to Penn Manor and started teaching with his bachelors in speech communication and he later earned his masters degree in political science.

In September  2009 Boxleitner published his first book “Balancing the Ticket: How Selecting A Vice President Has Changed in the Modern Era.”

The 100-page paperback is about how he feels the selection of the U.S. Vice President has changed from 1968 to the present.

Boxlietner has always been happy with each phase of his life.

“Never thinking my glory days were behind me,” he said.

With that out of the way, he said the phase of him getting married, and having young children was rewarding, yet challenging.

“I can’t say that I’ve had one seminal moment that has driven me to success in any particular area,” recounted Boxleitner.  “I seem to arrive at things through a process. However, I will say that I did have an awesome professor in college that got me deeply interested in politics, which drove me into teaching.”

But now in 2012 he is teaching his own created course Government and Economics, and coaching a small tennis team that lost eight of its top players last year with graduation, but the team is still hopeful and ready to have a “ace” season.