The music department is in overdrive as they gear up for several spring concerts.
The band, orchestra and chorus students have two concerts this month on May 19 and 26 and another Coffeehouse night is scheduled for June 4. However, brand new this year, Penn Manor’s music-makers will have some special guests accompanying them on stage.
Penn Manor’s auditorium will be jazzed May 19 at 7:30 p.m. with high energy entertainment to compliment the musical selections. jazz band, Manor Singers and orchestra will each line the stage and perform a mix of up-beat Jazz, stealth spy tunes and movie soundtracks.
Manor Singers will showcase their vocal talents by performing various pieces ranging from Mission Impossible to African Gospel.
Chorus teacher, Melissa Telesco, said she wants her students to be “able to be exposed to so many different styles.”
“I like pulling in those other elements,” Telesco said about the combined performance of Baba Yetu, a Swahili version of the lord’s prayer, by Manor Singers and Orchestra, which will include a special performance from Olivia Stoltzfus and Kimberly Riley of the colorguard.
Orchestra teacher, Sara Ricciardi said she wants the final song, Baba Yetu, to be “as epic as possible.”
The tech crew will be contributing lighting designs to the number to add another layer to the performance.
“I’m excited about Baba Yetu because I’m designing a big light show,” Dana Landis, a member of the tech crew, said. She hopes the lighting designs will be a “big bang.”
The tech crew will also lend its skills to the orchestra with pink lights, as they perform the Pink Panther.
Ricciardi said she wants to choose pieces that challenge her students and the student reaction is overall accepting of her selections.
“I can hear it in their playing and see it in their faces,” Ricciardi said of the positive reaction to her decisions.
Band Director, Tom Mumma, said the jazz band will give the audience a taste of swing, rock, funk and they’ve even thrown in a little Latin-inspired music.
Mumma said he “tries to pick piece the students will be successful with.”
The lighting effects will be ever present during the concert and although most of the effects are hush-hush, the anticipation, as the musicians make final preparations, is contagious as the music directors watch the final pieces fall into place.
The Full Chorus and Concert Band will travel the world in the auditorium on May 26 at 7:30 p.m.
The Chorus members will show off their knowledge of Hebrew and an African language during their performances of “Erev Shel Shoshanim” (“Evening of Roses”) and “Bonse Aba.”
The Concert Band will be performing with effects from the tech crew that will make the pace of each piece as the songs become more “violent or calm,” Mumma said.
The Band will round out the show with a slower piece, “Isle of Calypso.”
The second edition of the Coffeehouse will be June 4 from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. and the admission fee is only $5.
Live musicians, including Tim Deubler and Tyler Funk, will be performing songs from artists such as Jordin Sparks and The Fray.
“I’m always trying to find places for the kids to sing,” Telesco said about the inspiration that lead to the start of Coffeehouse nights. “Everybody should have a chance (to shine).”
The original Coffeehouse night brought over 100 viewers and the huge success had the students begging for a second opportunity to show what they’re made of.
Refreshments, including coffee of course and baked goods will add a homey feel to the laid-back environment and the live entertainment will surely showcase Penn Manor’s musical abilities.
“It’s going to be loaded with calories, saturated fat and protein,” warned Anne Butterfield, RN, “it is abuse of the body.”
Given that I, like most Americans, eat something horribly toxic on a daily basis, I ignored her advice and bought one anyway.
The Double Down, pulled open.
It is the Double Down, so named for the fact that there’s two of everything, chicken, cheese and bacon.
It’s Colonel Sander’s newest creation and will be appearing at KFC’s nationally, though only for a limited time.
It comes with a cardboard pocket to hold while eating, a brilliant idea considering it has more grease than I thought even fast food chicken was capable of.
For those of you who refuse to eat this thing, and honestly, I don’t blame you, imagine eating chicken wings, a BLT and a chili dog at the same time. Really, I expected to end up reenacting the opening from Reservoir Dogs: “I’m gonna (expletive) die!” “You’re not gonna (expletive) die!” So far, it hasn’t killed me.
Looking for other students willing to down this “Down” thing, I found Carolyn Gable, who has not eaten one, but has heard of it.
“It’s like they were in the kitchen putting together a normal sandwich: ‘okay, chicken, bacon, cheese, mayo…Scott, we’re out of bread!’”
Then I spoke with Charles Kaufman, a sophomore who’s, apparently, brave enough to try what Stephen Colbert calls ‘the warped creation of a syphilitic mind.’
“It’s really indescribable. You finish one and you want more.”
He’s right about the indescribable bit. I only ate half of one and the only thing I remember thinking was “Dear God.” That and “I am going to die eating an abomination.”
Have you ever tried to eat two chicken breasts at once? It’s one of those things a person can do, but shouldn’t. You bite into this and grease just leaks from it into your mouth. It’s delicious and disgusting at the same time. And the Colonel’s sauce is just mayo. KFC owes me secret sauce. And a good chunk of my liver, probably.
Anyway, final verdict is that the Double Down is a pretty good sandwich that, yeah, was probably created by a crazy homeless man, but… oh, I think I’m gonna be sick.
Hispanics in this country will probably want to avoid the state of Arizona completely, at least I will.
A new immigration law in Arizona requires immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times and it allows law enforcement officers to question anyone if they seem to be in the United States illegally.
How does someone “seem” to be in the country illegally?
Do they walk differently? Eat differently? Oh, I get it. They look different!
“It is unjust and it’s inhuman, and it violates the civil and human rights of the Latino community … It goes against all human dignity, against the principles of most Americans I know,” said Shakira, a singer and celebrity.
Actually, I’m just saying that because I’m Colombian, nonetheless, the statement she gave about the new Arizona Immigration law is influential because of the truth of how this new immigration law violates the rights of so many Americans.
I do understand that there has to be control of the immigration problem in this country, but being in a country that was founded by immigrants and is run and defended by descendents of immigrants, it is hypocritical to impose such a law that targets one race.
I was born in this country. I am enlisted in the Air National Guard and I will avoid Arizona at all cost while this new immigration law is enforced there.
Look at the picture to the right, now imagine if I stayed out in the sun until I turn a nice bronze color, let my mustache grow until its thick and then I put a sombrero on. Would officials in Arizona ask me for my alien documentation?
Juan Montes, Penn Points columnist
The thing is yes, of course they would, but could you imagine the humiliation I would go through? I was born in this country and I serve this country and this same country can turn around and question my belonging to it?
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…” wrote by James Madison who authored the Bill of Rights.
If you feel like something isn’t right after reading the last quote and the new immigration law of the great state of Arizona, you’re not alone.
* Update 17 May 2009:It isn’t clear whether Manheim Township senior was allowed to attend his senior prom. As of Friday, Jordan Duncan was still fighting to attend the school’s social event of the year.
Marcy Brody, the Manheim Township Public relations personnel said she “can neither confirm nor deny that Jordan Duncan is attending prom.”
Brody or any other district official would not comment on the controversy.
Also, the Manheim township senior has not responded to several attempts to contact him about his status for attending his school’s prom. *
Duncan was suspended by the administration because of a parody he created about the new head principal, Deborah Mitchell, and her views on dancing at prom and homecoming.
He may have intended the video to poke fun at rumors about rules on dancing at prom that were flying around the high school, but the administration wasn’t laughing.
“I just made it as a joke, as a funny video that I could share with my friends,” Duncan said in a statement on a website he created after the incident. “And I posted it on Youtube because it is the easiest and fastest way for all my friends to see it.”
Suspended from school for nine days and barred from prom or any other school-related activities on or off campus., Duncan’s statement said it was because he was in “Violation of the Manheim Township School District Acceptable Use of Technology Policy.”
He allegedly made the video on school-district owned equipment in the school’s video lab.
According to Duncan’s statement posted on the www.freejordanduncan.com website, his first intentions with the raw video were to clear up a few school rumors regarding the possible cancellation of prom and the dancing policies.
Duncan released this statement on the website. “When I first started working on the project, my goal was to create a video to be aired on Blue Streak News (school news channel) that would effectively dispel all of the rumors about the dancing policy and prom at our high school.”
The Manheim Township prom was held Saturday, May 15th,
“I was given the most severe punishment possible without a mandatory discipline hearing by the school board,” Duncan said via the website statement. “The administration wanted to give me the most severe possible consequence while attempting to remain under the radar of the school board.”
An attorney for the ACLU, Mary Catherine Roper told the Intelligencer Journal/New Era Newspaper, “I find it very hard to believe that this is a standard punishment for somebody making unauthorized use of school equipment.”
A student at Penn Manor, a sophomore, Grace Gunde, said she feels Duncan deserves the punishment, “Kind of, because it was inappropriate, but at the same time, he did it to be funny and not personally attack the principal.”
Austin Richwine from Penn Manor disagreed. “He doesn’t deserve to be suspended for nine days because it’s not like he showed the funny video in school. He released it outside of school.”
Penn Manor Principal Phil Gale said “The thing this incident does is it demonstrates the concerns that all educators and people have when or how technology is used. Because of the things that can be done whether its just taking little clips or videos on cell phones, we do not know what happens with it after it’s recorded.”
Part of Duncan’s released statement on his website included an apology. “It was intended as a joke, and I regret that she took offense to an amusing attempt to lighten the entire dancing policy controversy. For that, I am truly sorry.”
The Flyers look to take all the marbles in their series tonight against the Boston Bruins.
After trailing their second-round playoff series 3-0 after the first three games, the Flyers have made a miraculous comeback to tie the series at 3 games a piece and force a game seven.
Usually during the playoffs being the road team is not something to look forward to. However, in the last nine games, the road team has won seven of those games which gives the Flyers a great fighting chance.
In the history of the NHL, only twice has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best of 7 series. If the Flyers win tonight they will be marked down in history as the third team to overcome this.
Members of the Flyers celebrate after goal. Photo credit to AP Photo/The Canadian Press.
“It will be a monumental upset if they win,” said Junior Brian Ramsey.
Besides the past statistics, the Flyers also have their team camaraderie on their side.
In the past three wins the Flyers have claimed, they have outscored their opponent 11-5.
Also the fact that they have won the past three games to stay in the Stanley cup race shows something about their team and their strive to win.
“They managed to come back this far, so I think they will win tonight,” said Brant Roth, a freshmen at Penn Manor.
Bring out your recycling bins Penn Manor- cash prizes could be coming your way.
Chestnut Grove, a non-profit organization whose mission is to protect and preserve the environment in the Penn Manor School District, is offering money awards to residents who are using innovative ways to change our community for the better. This year is their third “Seeds of Sustainability” competition.
In a press release, Cabell Kladky, the Chestnut Grove Foundation president said, “The “Seeds of Sustainability” program recognizes and rewards local homeowners who have demonstrated good stewardship of the natural resources on their properties.”
“This project was the brainchild of one of the board members to inspire people to protect our local environment,” said Kladky.
Homeowners in Penn Manor are eligible for cash prizes of up to $1000, $500, or $100 for any project that has been completed in the last five years.
One previous contest winner retro-fitted a farmhouse with geo-thermal heat. While this may be absolute gibberish to some, it is great news for environmentalists.
“Rather than forcing people to [‘go green’], we focus on what local people are already doing to protect our environment,” said Kladky. “The more innovative and inspiring the project, the better your chances are to win.”
Projects can be as simple as finding a way to grow your own fruits and veggies when living in an apartment complex.
Other possible projects for homeowners include : improved habitat for wildlife, increased home energy efficiency, woodland or wetland restoration, re-use of gray water, minimizing stormwater runoff, constructing a green roof, or using innovative energy conservation measures.
The cutoff for applications is July 9. However the applications have not yet come pouring in.
“Our first year we had very few applicants and the second year we had about twice that many,” said Kladky. “We have not been overwhelmed, but it’s only our third year.
“You have two minutes, you get to take two photos, and you must be blindfolded.”
We never thought we’d see the day, but our mission of finally going to see the bomb shelter at Penn Manor was happening.
Our guide, who showed the area on the condition his name would be kept anonymous, had strict guidelines for us to follow if we were going to see this bomb shelter.
We were told by our guide that, once we got to the bomb shelter, we would be allowed to soak in the mysteriousness for only two minutes, only capture two photographs, and our anonymous guide was going to drive us there while we were blindfolded in the backseat.
We immediately agreed to these terms despite their stringency and we patiently waited for the day to come that suited our unidentified conductor to lead us to our destination.
Our anonymous subject finally set a date for us to meet so we could embark on our highly anticipated journey.
We anxiously arrived early to school on a day when seniors would normally sleep in due to the PSSA tests, but we would have come early on a regular day if it meant we could see the bomb shelter.
With our blindfolds and camera ready to go, we entered a school van that our guide would take us to the bomb shelter in.
Cody Erb is bomb-shelter ready.
“Keep your blindfolds on tight, and don’t peak!” said our guide who was timid for maybe the first time ever. Maybe it was because it was the first time he was taking two blindfolded students in a beat up van around the school.
The ride was jerky, uncomfortable and took a lot longer than we expected, and after a short run in with the cops, our guide finally got us to our objective.
Still blindfolded, our director guided us to the bomb shelter one at a time.
Dessie Jackson is prepared.
Once we were both sealed inside, we were granted the right to remove our blindfolds.
Low and behold, the place we were dying to get a glimpse of was right before our non-blindfolded eyes.
A huge empty room with nothing but pipes, tanks, wires spread all throughout the enclosed walls.
The room was large, dungeon-resembling, and the smell of wet leaves lingered in the air.
We didn’t know where to start, and we only had two minutes, so the questions started flying out of our mouths.
Where does this door lead? Where does that door lead? What does this do? Where does that pipe lead to? Where are we?!
Pacing, we spotted a door. A very dark, looming door.
“That’s it. That’s the shelter.” said our anonymous guide.
Unmarked door found at unknown location on Penn Manor grounds.
We were practically shaking.
For years we have been searching, and looking for answers. Finally, we found it. Our ultimate dream. Our ultimate goal.
“Alright, time is up. Time to go.”
We forgot about the time limit.
Luckily we took multiple pictures, but this mysterious door five feet in front of us now had our attention more than the room we were in.
Before we left we demanded to know what was behind this door.
Mysterious window leading toward the shelter. Location: Unknown
“There are stairs that lead down to the shelter,” said our guide. “Those pipes lead down to it and have a big supply of water.”
“That’s where I’d be heading if anything bad ever happens,” said our subject.
We begged. We pleaded.
But, a contract is a contract and we are not ones to go against our word. It was time to go.
With one last look, we gloomily put on our bandannas and packed our bags. We were led up the stairs and into the van once more. It was time to part with this magical land of shelters.
Did we make it? Sort of.
We proved that there is truth behind this ‘myth.’ There is a shelter here at Penn Manor. But it is our time to close the book on this investigation for we have made it one step closer then any other student in recent Penn Manor history. It is time to pass the torch to the next bomb shelter believers.
Also, it is time to move on to our next endeavor.
No, not college.
“So, did they show you the underground tunnels too?”
As public school employee pension costs and a weak economy strike school districts in the area, many wonder if Penn Manor is next to eliminate staff positions.
The Lampeter-Strasburg School District school board recently announced a plan to reduce the hours of eight teaching positions for next year, in part because of budget concerns.
The School District of Lancaster proposed a plan this week which will eliminate nearly 40 staff positions next year, and administrators there said they may not be done cutting.
Millersville University announced this week, possible layoffs of staff in an attempt to cut costs because they stand to lose more than $3 million in stimulus funds in the coming year.
One new teacher at Penn Manor, Lisa Mayo, said she didn’t like hearing that news from neighboring school districts.
“I’m the last person hired in my department, so if they went by seniority, I’d be cut first. So yes, I’m fearful of losing my job,” said Mayo, who was newly hired for Penn Manor High School’s English Department for the 2009-10 school year.
But Penn Manor’s Superintendent, Dr. Michael Leichliter, said his district plans to reduce spending through other means than putting current employees out of work.
“Positions can be eliminated through attrition (natural reduction through retirement or resignation) or through furlough. If a district furloughs staff members then it must comply with certain regulations in the Pennsylvania School Code (State laws that govern public schools in PA.)” said Dr. Michael Leichliter, superintendent of Penn Manor School District.
Superintendent Dr. Leichliter
According to Leichliter, school property taxes will likely increase by 3.46% this year. The district, he said, is looking into ways they can keep taxes down in light of soaring pension costs in the coming years.
“In the next few years we will experience a large increase in our mandated pension costs along with other costs like normal price increases, rising utility costs, and other mandated personnel increases. The school will need to look at each and every expense and weigh what is truly essential,”said Leichliter.
“… We can borrow money for items like school construction through the financing of bonds. We cannot spend more than we have, though, for normal operating costs,” Leichliter said.
In order to prepare Penn Manor for the increase of tax, the school may offer advertisements and endorsements to the private sector, similar to Hempfield and Manheim Township.
“We’re willing to take sponsors and advertise,” said Leichliter. “Anything we can do to increase revenue.”
“Overall, the district is in excellent financial condition at the present time,” Leichliter stated in confidence.
Penn Manor High School, you may begin your performance.
Spinning flags, stomping feet, and the celebration of Penn Manor’s color guard.
On Saturday, April 10, Penn Manor Color Guard performed in the Cavalcade of Bands competition held at Wissahickon High School in Ambler, PA.
Winter Guard wins first place at indoor championships. Photo by Lyta Ringo
Penn Manor’s Color Guard placed first in the conference, defeating nine other schools.
“I am very proud of Winter Guard, we definitely deserved it,” said sophomore Shayla Moore, a member of Penn Manor Winter Guard.
Penn Manor Winter Guard preforms at the Festival of Learning. Photo by Lyta Ringo
The final score was Penn Manor with 92.8 points; Phoenixville in second with 88.2 points; and Wissahickon followed in third place with 87.8 points.
And at the end of the day, Penn Manor had a 17.9 point lead over 10th place Truman Senior High School.
Color Guard is not exactly a well-known sport but those in it say the more the audience sees it, the more they like it.
Ricky Eshleman, a member of the troupe, said “if more people would see it they would react differently to it.”
Captains Kim Riley (left) and Livie Stoltzfus (right) hold their first place championship award. Photo by Lyta Ringo
Has that been proven?
At the most recent pep rally, the Winter Guard performed for their teachers and peers, and the reaction was stunning. The students cheered like Green Bay Packers fans at a winning home game against rival Chicago Bears.
