Category: School Happenings

Dr. Seuss is on his way to Penn Manor High School.

Sunday Feb. 28, Seuss’ birthday, Penn Manor is holding their tenth annual Read-A-Thon; a day of reading for children under the age of 8. The event will last from 2-4 pm.

“Ten years ago Mrs. Wall, Mrs. Shellenberger, and I started [the Read-A-Thon] and it just became tradition,” said Susan Hostetter, Penn Manor’s librarian and a founder of the Read-A-Thon.

Kids will participate in several activities Sunday varying from crafts to reading Seuss books to a pajama parade for those who wear their pajamas.

Craft stations will be based on different books. Kids will be jumping on bubble wrap while reading “Hop on Pop” and eating Swedish fish during “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish”.

Millersville Fire Company will be attending the event, carting in the Cat in the Hat. Children will have the opportunity to explore the inside of a fire truck.

Faculty, along with the students, will dress up like Seuss characters and be available to read to the children.

“The day is all about high school students [and teachers] showing how important reading is,” said Hostetter. “I think it brings our community together.”

“The purpose is to encourage reading as a life long activity,” said Amy Wall, a business teacher at Penn Manor and another founder of the day.

Children’s books were collected from Elementary Schools for the event.

Each child has the opportunity to register to win various prizes, including gift certificates to Barnes & Nobles and Borders- donated by the Penn Manor Education Association.

Other sponsors involved are Kauffman-Gamber Physical Therapy, Darrenkamp’s- who gave paper products for activities and snacks, Shultz Transportation, and the Penn Manor Education Foundation.

Penn Manor’s Serteen Club and National Honors Society will also be involved in the Read-A-Thon.

“We couldn’t hold this event without them,” said Hostetter.

Any child  planning on attending is asked to bring a caring adult, their favorite book for D.E.A.R.- Drop Everything and Read time, and if possible, a new book to donate for a child who is less fortunate.

By Emily Brody

Every year, the Penn Manor Serteen Club and FFA host the winter formal dance.  This is very similar to the homecoming dance, except that all the proceeds go to an individual, typically in the Penn Manor School District.

Last year, $800 was raised and given to Ron Reiss.  This year’s proceeds will go to Sam Bell, a senior who has lymphoma cancer, hence the name of the dance, Songs for Sam.

Songs for Sam will be held Saturday, Feb. 27.

“Serteen and FFA usually work together on this dance, but they’ll be working even closer this year because of Sam,” president-elect Stef Friedman said.

Serteen’s president, Kayla Pickle, explained that they put together a little challenge, with hopes of raising more money: each grade has a team of two people, one a serteen member, one an FFA member.  Each team has the goal to collect money, winning a prize if you collect the most.

The colors of the decorations will be purple and white, the colors for lymphoma (as seen by the purple ribbons on people’s backpacks throughout the school).

Dress for this dance is similar to that of homecoming.

“All we ask is no jeans,” said Pickle.

The two clubs hope to collect $1600 this year to give to Sam, with tickets costing $5 each and a teacher dress down day the day before the dance.

By Brittany Burke

Penn Manor is seeing nothing but white fluffy snow and temperatures so cold that we might have to start getting advice from Eskimos on how to keep warm.

 Lancaster has roughly one  to two feet of snow on the ground, already.  But that’s not the end of it.  According to Weather.com, the county should expect yet another foot of snow later this week. There are 22 counties now under advisories, watches and severe weather warnings.   

The snow is expected to start around 3 p.m. Tuesday and is supposed to continue into late Wednesday night. Temperatures Tuesday should be around the 30-degree mark and on Wednesday it should drop to a high of only 29 degrees. There will be wind gusts up to 20 mph on Wednesday, according to WGAL.com.

So break out the sleds, shovels, salt and snow blowers. It’s time to go walking in a winter wonderland, again.

By Gabby Myers

The Tony award winning musical “RENT” is coming to Lancaster.  The musical will premier in February and run through March at the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater, 510 Centerville Road in Lancaster.

“Rent” tells the story of a group of closely knit friends that struggle with love, drugs, and AIDS in the Lower East Side of New York City.

Cast members include: William Bailey (Angel), Brie Cassil (Mimi), Kaitlin Doughty (Maureen), Chris Anthony Giles (Collins), Andre Jordan (Ensemble/Angel understudy), Colte Julian (Roger Davis),  E. J. Marotta (Mark Cohen), Cheyenne Nelson (Ensemble/Maureen Understudy),  Michael Stiggers, Jr (Ensemble, Collins/Benny Understudy), Calvin Thompson (Benny Coffin) t

The Dutch Apple will also be showing “Big River” in May and the beginning of June, which will be a great resource for the English department and students studying classic literature.

Bu Damien Oswald

The decade began in the middle of a weather pattern that puts to mind the word “Ice Age” to some. Only this ice age won’t include any acorn-chasing prehistoric squirrels and beastly mammoths.

Temperatures are below zero, and not just in the north- but nationwide. This same weather pattern is putting a strain on the school heating system and parking lot maintenance.

The janitorial staff has the benefit of an up-to-date computer system which connects to every room and the building heating system. They are able to see how open or close the vents are, the temperature set in the room, and the temperature of the air coming out of the heating vents.

Every room is set to 70 degrees from six am in the morning until three thirty pm, where the system enters night mode, which is set to 60 degrees.

Mr. Homsher and Mr. Dickenson continued to explain that if they are aware that any room or area will be in use after three-thirty, they will make sure that the room’s heating system is still set at 70.

The janitors went on to explain that when bodies enter the room, the room temperature increases, the vents will then pull cool air from the outdoors in order to cool the room back to 70 degrees. This will continue in order to maintain the set temperature.

And many times when the air seems cool, it may just be that the air is anywhere between seventy or even ninety degrees, but as long as the air is below body temperature (98.6 degrees), the air will continue to feel cool to the touch.

Earlier this week there was an issue, when the eastside boilers were broken, but as of now they are working up to par.

The system runs on both gas and oil, though by law, once the temperature including the wind chill reaches 9 degrees, the system must switch to oil, which will burn at a higher temperature.

Regarding this season’s frequent dusting of snow, there is simply nothing they can do except spread both salt and cinder along the pathways and parking lots, which they do just prior to teachers and students arriving at school.

By Tyler Barnett

In late October, swine flu hit Penn Manor hard, with a whopping 214 students absent in one day!  (Not all these absences are swine flu related.)

The state of Pennsylvania originally offered the vaccination to those in specific target groups, including individuals 6 months – 24 years of age, caregivers for children under 6 months of age, pregnant women, emergency medical service personnel, and individuals under 65 years of age with underlying health conditions.

Now that most of the people that are more prone to complications have been vaccinated, it’s open to the public, free of charge.

Penn Manor’s nurse, Anne Butterfield, advises people to get it.

“There has been a decline in the past few weeks, but it’s going to return in waves,” said Butterfield.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is offering H1N1 vaccinations free of charge January 8^th and 9^th, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.  In Lancaster County, there are two locations: Lancaster County Public Safety Training Center in Manheim, and Lancaster/Lebanon IU13 in Lancaster.

An appointment must be made first, at www.H1N1inPA.com, under “What’s Hot,” or by calling 1-877-724-3258.

By: Brittany Burke

Penn Manor School District has been known as the Comets with pride in its colors-blue and gold.

Though the logo for Penn Manor is simple and well known, it is not a consistent one. There are many different logos and designs that have been made for the school district over the  years.

The school district is looking for a new logo, one that can be  consistent. They are looking for a creative mind to come up with a new logo to be able to use from here on out.

The blue and gold colors of Penn Manor have changed a lot over the years. It has gone from more of an aqua blue and yellow…to a navy blue and sparkly gold.

If you have any ideas for Penn Manor’s new logo you can email your ideas or a drawn picture to cindyrhoades@pennmanor.net or mail to PM Logo, P.O. Box 1001, Millersville, PA 17551 by January 15, 2010.

You do not have to be a graphic designer or any kind of genius with art.  The district is just looking for something creative to show the pride of the Penn Manor School District for years to come.

by Cassey Graeff

This year Martin Luther King Jr. Day is expected to be a tricky one for driving.

On Sunday,  Millersville is expected to receive a “light wintry mix” of snow and rain showers, according to Weather.com. The winter weather is expected to run throughout the week  with temperatures ranging from 39 to 43 degrees.

Penn Manor students have a 4-day weekend vacation from school and many plan on working around the predicted weather.

Senior Becca Conner, excitedly said, “I’m going to King of Prussia!”

Another senior, Jimmy Durborow, claimed, “I’m going to hang with my girlfriend and some friends and play a game or two.”

The weather isn’t stopping any of the students here at Penn Manor from doing things they enjoy doing.

Like junior Larry Thomas, students plan to go to work and others, such as junior, Cassey Graeff, are going out for their driver’s license.

Abby Newport, a junior forgot about  the Monday and Tuesday off.  She said, “I don’t know what I’m doing! But, Friday, I have a basketball game and Saturday, I’m going to Veritgo (a teen club in York). I’m so excited!”

Penn Manor students and staff will begin a new semester Wednesday.

By Ariela Contreras

A snow shower is expected in Millersville on Thursday.

According to Weather.com, around 2 p.m. The town is expected to have a low temperature of 28 degrees with winds around 5 to 10 miles per hour. The shower is predicted to leave the ground covered with one inch of snow. The weather is likely to extend itself onto Friday.

With showers and flurries from Thursday night, be ready to wake up to a light snow covered lawn. Winds are expected to be about 10-20 miles per hour with a high of 31 degrees. According to WGAL, Friday will leave the ground covered with one to three inches of snow, however Saturday morning will be dry, partly cloudy, yet still windy.

By Ariela Contreras

This year the members of the Young Humanitarian League are giving a gift that goes way past candy canes and wrapped boxes.

On December 22, the club reached their goal to raise $5,000 dollars to buy an ark from the Heifer International Foundation. It took merely 364 days to achieve it.

The ark is going to be filled with fifteen different sets of two animals, and it is being sent to countries where people are less fortunate.

This is enough incentive for the students of the club to do all they could to raise money.

“[We did this] to help countries that are economically worse off than we are,” says Chloe Reisinger, a senior at Penn Manor and the Vice President of the Young Humanitarian League.

Reisinger had been the one to suggest the idea of giving an ark, instead of just an individual animal. The class studied Africa and poverty and they started thinking of something they could do to make a difference.

Reisinger said she is extremely happy and very proud that they made it to their goal.

These students are looking past the smaller picture of high school, and into the bigger picture of the whole world.

“When we heard about the project we were excited to do something for people less fortunate,” says Will Shipley, a senior at Penn Manor and also the club’s president.

The club held several fundraisers such as sub sales, selling gummy bears and animal crackers, and simply promoting the club with signs around the school. The sub sale was organized by Ambria Armstrong, a member of the club, and her mother, Jaymi Armstrong.

Now that they’ve reached their goal, club members plan to continue to do fundraising projects, however they might focus their efforts to a new cause. They are going to pick a project on Kiva.org, which has micro-lending, and they could find someone to donate their money to. This money could help someone in a poverty-ridden country to start a business and help them move forward in their lives.

The Young Humanitarian League has gone above and beyond with this project, and they’re going to continue to change the world.

By: Abby Wilson