Penn Manor High School is home to more than just great students. Some of the best athletes in the Susquehanna Valley reside here in Millersville.
There were four in field hockey, one in soccer, one in volleyball, one in football and a cross-country prodigy to boot.
In all, Penn Manor had eight Lancaster Newspaper All-Stars. Three of which are players of the year.
Katie Breneman, Helen Doolittle, Madelyn Hess, and Renee Suter were named field hockey All-Stars, more than from any other school.
“It’s a great honor. We all worked really hard for it,” said Doolittle.
“All four of the girls are remarkable athletes. They have been blessed with athletic talent,” said field hockey head coach Matt Soto.
Willie Chalfant, a Temple soccer recruit, received the “Boy’s Soccer Play of the Year” award. An award given to a single player in the league.
Garrett Young, senior captain for the football team, was selected as an All-Star at linebacker.
Athletic director of the year, Jeff Roth.
“It’s very humbling,” Young explained. “I credit it to my hard work, coaching, and my faith in God and Jesus.”
Young also is ranked in the top 5 in his class academically, and plans to attend school for premed studies.
Girls cross-country runner of the year is no surprise. Gretta Lindsley, a freshman, dominated the L-L league not losing in league play. Expectations are high for her in the next three years.
“I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing,” said Lindsley.
Penn Manor’s spiking All-Star was found in Elly Rausch. Rausch was voted the Girls Volleyball Player of the Year.
“It feels great to have such athletes at our school,” said athletic director Jeff Roth, who himself was named Lancaster/Lebanon Athletic Director of the Year and District 3 Athletic Director of the Year award. “We have three league MVPs of the eight sports in the fall.”
Roth said, “I think our coaches are some of the finest in the league.” Our athletes reflect how far our programs have come in the past few years.”
Penn Manor swimmers are making a splash as they have been preparing themselves for Tuesday’s meet against Ephrata.
The swim team will battle against Ephrata at 4 p.m. at Ephrata Rec Center, close to Ephrata high school, right behind the middle school.
“This is one that we have a chance,” said head coach Cece O’Day. “Often we go in knowing what’s going to happen.”
Penn Manor kicks off the swim season in a meet with Ephrata.
Tomorrow’s meet will be a surprise for both teams as they see for the first time how they do without their seniors from last year and what new freshman they have to compete against.
“We don’t know how our new swimmers are going to do,” said O’Day.
“I am counting on our upperclassmen,” said O’Day. “Sophmores are being counted as upperclassmen because we have so many freshman.”
The girl’s team has 29 girls, 19 of them freshman. This is a young team and many of them need to get through the first meet and see how everything goes and how the team works together t come out with a win, according to O’Day.
“Travis Wells, Cooper Lindsley and Steven Armstrong need to come through for us because our boys team is so small,” said O’Day.
The boys team consists of only 15 swimmers who need to swim several different events at every meet to compete against the larger teams.
Imagine working everyday for two months after school, for just one day of preforming.
A few students did that and reached their goal to make county and district chorus, band and orchestra.
The chorus was judged on tone quality, melodic accuracy, rhythmic accuracy, intonation and musicality.
Meredith Hitchcock worked extremely hard on these skills. Hitchcock went to both the county and district auditions where she placed 13 out of 98 in the county competition, and 23 out of 111 in districts as a soprano two.
“Doing these auditions and being involved with these auditions will help me with the musical challenges after high school,” said Hitchcock.
Music students succeed at their audition. Photo by Mary Treier
The music that the music students had to perform were very difficult.
“The musicality was hard,” said Hitchcock.
Ian Bricker also auditioned to both the county and the district competition. Bricker placed 3 out of 23 in the county and 7 out of 63 in districts.
“I worked on my music everyday after school and during all the homeroom periods,” said Bricker. “I wanted to do this to better myself as a musician.”
Along with Bricker and Hitchcock, the following people made county chorus, Emily Biechler, Kate Harrold, Brendan Kincade, Kelly Lenahan and Mitchell Wise.
Harrold also made district chorus along with Bricker and Hitchcock.
The orchestra members who made county orchestra were, Olivia Deitrich, Danielle Barleib, Allison Herr, Nick Charles and Jesse Griffith.
Lily WuShanley and Sophia Wushanley were the only two Penn Manor members who made district orchestra.
Stores might be having sales for Christmas but the cost to get there is sky high.
That’s right, the gas prices have risen again even in Lancaster County.
From last week’s Pennsylvania gas price average was $2.98, it has risen to $3.09 this week. A month ago it was $2.86 and a year ago it was averaged $2.69, according to pennsylvaniagasprices.com, a website that tracks gas prices.
“That’s outrageous,” said Penn Manor student, Josh Carle. “I’ll just start walking to school or snatch a ride when I can.”
Gas prices have increased nationally. Photo courtesy of southernchestercountyweeklies.com
In the Penn Manor School District alone, the gas prices have reached a whopping $3.09 per gallon. The Getty and Turkey Hills located within miles of the Penn Manor campus all are priced at $3.09 for the regular gas.
“It’s in the middle right now, it could be worse,” said Tanner Kennedy. “I worked my butt off all summer to make it through the school year without having to work. I am going to take shorter routes or carpool to save on gas.”
For some, gas prices are costing them an arm and a leg. They thought prices were bad before, then they see the labeled signs on the corners of their local gas station and have a fit when they see the numbers.
Sophomore Jaime Reel explained how she does not pay for gas yet, but sure isn’t looking forward to it.
“I was with my mom on Monday and she needed gas. We were pulling up to the Turkey Hill in New Danville and all I heard her say was ‘oh my gosh.’ I saw her looking at the sign and I knew she was unhappy. Gas already costs her a lot because she drives an SUV that has real crappy gas mileage. I haven’t even gotten my license let alone a car yet, I didn’t even think about having to pay for gas, too. I just keep saying to myself, oh I can’t wait,” said Reel.
Others feel the same hole burning in their pockets.
“I’m not too happy. I drive a full size truck that gets 10 miles to the gallon. I also race dirt bike so I need race gas for my bike, which is a VP C12, and its $13.50 a gallon,” said junior James Frese. “I’m gonna carpool with a few of my buddies who just got their license, I’ll make them drive me around.”
No matter the size of one’s gas tank, people all over are not happy about spending any more money than they already do.
“I pay for my own gas,” said senior Jere Vital. “To save on gas, I’m gonna ‘Google Map’ the shortest routes everywhere.”
Every little bit will help, especially with the holiday season taking place.
“The gas prices suck, but I don’t holiday shop, so I don’t have to worry,” Eric Clark, a senior, said.
“Not only will my holiday shopping, but my everyday lifestyle will be affected because of these gas prices,” said Frese.
“Nobody likes to spend more money on things. But I also realize that we (Americans) still have some of the most inexpensive gasoline prices of the modernized world. Countries like England, France and Germany pay way more for gasoline than we do. So I try to see the glass as half full rather than half empty,” said social studies teacher Streeter Stuart. “It’s simply a matter of supply and demand. I walk or ride my bike to school almost everyday.”
There are a lot of injustices in the world of high school: no mashed potatoes with popcorn chicken, a misplaced paper you know was handed in or being broken up with at the homecoming football game.
But nothing is more horrible, more embarrassing or possibly more emotionally scarring than being a senior and being forced to, yes, I’m just going to say it.
Ride. The. Bus.
Some seniors are still riding the bus. Photo by Whitney Reno
The infamous parking pass that comes with driving to school has been a senior privilege and most seniors are eager to do just that. But not everyone is not that lucky.
Although you can rationalize that some seniors are lucky enough to take the bus.
It’s a reliable source of transportation, and will always get you to school on time; it isn’t so bad.
NOT!
One senior, Eric Clark, rides the bus on occasion when his car breaks down, and is less than thrilled to be a passenger.
“It’s a pain in the butt, literately and figuratively,” said Clark shaking his head. “It’s uncomfortable – grouped with a lot of obnoxious kids.”
Truly, never having grilled cheese again would be better than riding the bus.
“Not driving feels awkward because most of the other kids are underclassmen. I feel like I miss out on a major senior privilege!” said Danie Beck as she pounds her fist on the table and her look of annoyance says it all – she does NOT want to take the bus. But she will. Sigh.
And it’s not like these students can socialize with others on the bus. Who would be caught dead talking to underclassmen? Right?
Walking home would be favorable over having to hear about their underclassmen drama and who is dating who. Who cares?!
“I keep to myself most of the time, I don’t really want to meet new people on the bus,” said Clark with a small laugh.
No one can blame you Clark, the bus is a shady place to meet new friends.
If talking to underclassmen doesn’t put a damper on their social life, then the inconvenience of riding the bus will.
Most after school activities, whether it be hanging with friends at the Sugar Bowl, or sports practice, have these seniors relying
Beck is unhappy about riding the bus. Photo by Whitney Reno
on their parents to pick them up.
No mom, don’t bring the minivan! I don’t want to wear my coat, its 78 degrees out!
Senior Helen Hutchens says that her parents don’t mind getting her for her after school activities, but Beck says that she feels guilty because she must rely on friends to get her home if she doesn’t ride the, you know.
Getting up early on her senior year adds to the list of drags of riding the bus for Beck.
Cleaning the bathrooms at work would be more fun than get up extra early on my senior year. I’m sure everyone would rather sleep than do a lot of things, I know I would. But that’s besides the point.
Senior year is supposed to be a time for laziness, and getting up early to catch the bus is more motivation to participate in Senior Skip Days.
And there’s always the kid that should have stayed home. You know who you are.
With a look of disgust, Emily Miller recalled having to stop on the side of the road for ten minutes because a passenger threw up in their book bag. As if the bus didn’t smell bad enough, this kid had to make it worse! Oh yes, you did.
Never watching Glee again would be better than having to deal with bus mishaps. There are so many things that can, and will, go wrong. If you don’t think this then you’ve never fallen down the bus steps… or up them.
Some students, such as Hutchens and Beck rationalize their bus riding by saying that it’s environmentally friendly and cuts down on fuel emissions, but there is no way to rationalize riding the bus your senior year.
Carpooling with a friend cuts down on fuel emissions too, you know. You can try to rationalize. But save your energy. It’s okay, you will get through this.
Beck and Miller sacrifice the torment of riding the bus to save some cash.
“It’s stupid that we have to pay money for a parking pass. If they gave us a list of where the money goes, then maybe I wouldn’t mind it,” said Beck.
Is it really worth riding the bus, though?
Nope. Nothing is worth riding the bus, not even for all of the popcorn chicken in the school.
Penn Manor senior Ben Clark left for Washington D.C. as a hopeful candidate with a strong project in the Siemens Competition and returned as a national celebrity.
Clark came home to Penn Manor Dec. 7, the previous day his life was changed forever. Clark was at the Siemens Competition in Washington D.C. where he claimed the grand prize, a $100,000 scholarship to any school of his choice for his research on binary stars.
“I feel fantastic, I’m absolutely thrilled,” said Clark about his victory. “My parents are absolutely thrilled, they cried when I won.”
Senior Ben Clark has been celebrated by students and staff at Penn Manor since winning the $100,000 Siemens Science, Math and Technology award. Photo by Brian Dunne
Jill Clark, Clark’s mother, was very proud of his hard work.
“I’m incredibly proud, I’m thrilled that his hard work and perseverance has been recognized by a panel of highly respected professors.”
Clark’s father, Jay Clark, was also very proud and glad all his hard work paid off.
“It was all hard work, focus, and just an incredible god-given gift and a lot of people opening doors for him and moving him forward.”
On Friday, Dec. 10th, there was a reception held in the library from to recognize and commend Ben on his first place finish in the Siemens Math, Science, and Technology competition. A video of the competition was shown
With the money he has received, and his incredible smarts, the younger Clark has set his eyes on some of the nation’s top colleges. Among those schools are “Princeton, Cal Tech, Stanford, Harvard and MIT in no particular order,” said Clark.
“Ben put 7000 hours of work into his project. He also put 8000 hours of CPU work using IDL (Interactive Data Language),” said Clark’s mother.
The Siemens competition wasn’t all business, there was also time for games.
“We hung out, had fun, played capture the flag at like midnight the last night,” said Clark. “I just really loved being there, it was really fantastic to interact with all the other students.”
Along with the support of his family, Clark also had Penn Manor behind him rooting for him all the way.
Angie Stiklaitis, a Penn Manor math teacher and a former teacher of Clark’s was ecstatic when he won.
“During block two AP Calc BC, we watched it (Siemens Competition) live on the web cast and it was just really exciting when they began to announce in reverse order the individual winners. When they announced number two I literally jumped out of the desk. I haven’t jumped that high in 30 years,” said Stiklaitis. “He’s just a once-in-a-career student. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to work with him, I just predict that there are bigger things in his future.”
The perks of winning this competition have landed Clark with the opportunity to go to New York and ring the closing bell at the New York stock exchange on January 29.
Clark plans to continue with research in this project and other projects in astrophysics and physics.
Eye-black, check. Turf field, check. Cold weather, check. A whole lot of fun, check.
The Penn Manor tradition for a powder puff game will continue in Dec 2010, despite previous rumors that it would be canceled.
Both the senior and junior girls are excited, as well as the senior and junior football players who will act as coaches.
“Powder puff isn’t just a game it’s a way of life,” said senior girls coach, Corey Morales.
The game allows senior and junior girls to get a feel for what the football players experience on Friday nights. The girls get to throw on some eye-black and get physical.
“The game last year was a lot of fun. The best part is throwing on your eye-black and getting all mean and nasty,” said three sport standout (field hockey, basketball, soccer) Katie Breneman.
The powder puff game will be run by the “Penn Manor Pride Club”, also known as varsity club.
“I expect powder puff to be a good game. I expect it to be a lot of fun. I think it’s a great thing for the girls to look forward to,” said Pride Club adviser Brittany Clugston.
Now lets not forget about the coaches.
The senior girls will be coached by football players; Ande Olson, Garrett Young, Kevin Kann, Corey Morales, and Jessen Smith.
The junior girls will be coached by football players; Cody Stryker, Dylan Webber, Alex Cummins, and Trent Crider.
The game allows the football players to coach girls to victory on the gridiron.
The senior powder puff coaches are confident that their class will be victorious.
“It’s extremely exciting to teach the girls something and watch it come to life on the field,” said Kann.
“You have to simplify everything. And try to get the girls a good base and understanding of the game,” said Stryker, a coach for the juniors.
As far as history of the powder puff game goes, the seniors have been victorious more than not.
“We know we’re the underdog, but we think we can make it a lot closer than a lot of people think,” said Stryker.
“Our key to winning is our speed and strength,” said junior go-to girl Alicia Ygarza.
Thursday, December 9th at 6:30 pm, the girls will be ready to do battle.
Sixty-nine years ago yesterday was Japan’s retaliation on U.S. soil.
Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was the catalyst to the United States’ involvement in World War Two.
Penn Manor social studies teacher Dan Myers said it is important and necessary to teach students about the attack.
“It was one of the most significant events in U.S. history,” said Myers. “It was the event that actually brought us into the war. We wanted to stay out.”
Leading up to “Operation Z,” Japan’s secret name for the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt imposed an embargo on Japan’s oil exports in July of 1941 after their efforts to further expand into French Indochina.
Over the next several months, pilots were trained, equipment was amended, and intelligence was collected by Japan. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito never approved attack efforts until November 5 and final authorization was not given until December 1. By this time, the U.S. knew something fishy was up with Japan and put U.S. Pacific bases and facilities under alert.
Pearl Harbor bellowed with smoke as the Japanese take advantage of their unknown attack. Photo by eitsfan.com
But the U.S. underestimated Japan’s naval power to follow-through with more than one operation at a time due to their objective to attack the Philippines. Thus, Pearl Harbor wasn’t known as Japan’s main target and the attack soon astonished America.
Japan intended to destroy American fleet units, in return delaying America’s efforts to fight back and end their domination of expansion.
They also wanted to buy time for them to recuperate and increase their naval strength. Most of all, Japan wanted to drown American morale.
Japan’s game plan consisted of 408 aircraft in all; 360 for the two attack waves and 48 on defensive combat air patrol including nine fighters from the first wave.
The first wave’s mission was to demolish every possible armament with the second wave to finish off whatever was left. Japan sent two disguised aircraft out before the planned strike and had another four patrolling the area between their carrier force and Niihau to halt any counterattacks.
Japan originally wanted to inform the U.S. it was ending all peace negotiations 30 minutes before the attack, but the message was never delivered.
Finally, on December 7, 1941, at 7:48 Hawaiian time, the first wave soared over Oahu like a vast flock of birds releasing complete mayhem on Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor burning from Japanese surprise attack. Photo by pagotan.com
Thousands awoke to the sounds of alarms, gunfire, screams and exploding bombs.
“Air raid Pearl Harbor. This is not drill.”, were the words screamed from the headquarters of Patrol Wing Two, the first senior Hawaiian command to respond.
The attack was equivalent to a toddler in a ring versus a UFC fighter. The United States was caught completely off guard and had no means of readiness for a counterattack.
Japan wreaked havoc for a total of 90 minutes, killing 2,386 Americans and wounding 1,139. Of the 402 American aircraft in Hawaii, 188 were destroyed and 159 damaged. Of 33 PBYs, American flying boats, in Hawaii, 24 were destroyed, and six others damaged beyond repair.
On the other hand, there were only 64 Japanese casualties along with one being captured. Of Japan’s 414 available planes, 29 were lost during the battle with another 74 damaged by antiaircraft fire from the ground.
Upon the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, 15 Medals of Honor, 51 Navy Crosses, 53 Silver Crosses, four Navy and Marine Corps Medals, one Distinguished Flying Cross, four Distinguished Service Crosses, one Distinguished Service Medal, and three Bronze Stars were awarded to the American servicemen who distinguished themselves in combat at Pearl Harbor.
A special military award, the Pearl Harbor Commemorative medal, was later authorized for all military veterans of the attack.
Penn Manor’s own chorus will travel to Hawaii in 2011 to perform at the 70th anniversary of the attack.
Senior Jere Vital said, “I thought the surprise attack was vicious. This event shows a trend through history where attacking heavily populated areas using planes as a weapon foreshadowed events such as 9/11.”
Several current and former Penn Points staff members won national awards for their work in the National Scholastic Press Association individual competitions, announced this month.
The NSPA has competitions divided into sections for various groups such as online newspapers, yearbooks and story of the year. Each section has three places and an honorable mention category.
Sarah Schaeffer, Taylor Groff and Kendal Phillips holding their awards
Junior Sarah Schaeffer, 16, was awarded second place in the Multimedia Story of the Year category.
“It felt wonderful to know that I won this,” she said.
Her story told of Mandy Li, an immigrant to Lancaster County from China and about her talent at the piano and in math.
Another NSPA multimedia award was given to senior Kendal Phillips. Her multimedia project won honorable mention.
The story was about the high school’s mosaic wall project progress.
“I found out about my award in the beginning of the school year,” said Phillips.
Taylor Groff also was recognized for his video contribution to both awards. Groff did some of the video and multimedia in both projects. He said he was proud of his work and of Penn Points achievements.
Cody Erb and Dessie Jackson, 2010 graduates of Penn Manor, also worked on the Mandy Li story.
Every year, the NSPA awards students and school organizations for their excellent work throughout the United States.
All kids know how to drink water. Not all kids know how to swim in it.
Approximately 1.2 million people around the world die each year from drowning incidents and over 50 percent of those incidents are from children, according to ilsf.org, the website for the International Life Saving Federation, which is the world authority for drowning prevention and lifesaving sport.
About one third of those children who drown, do so in and around the home, according to the website.
All children should be taught how to swim.
Many parents picture their family vacations on the beach or at a resort, swimming in the ocean or the pool, playing, laughing and having a great time. The happy thoughts always drown out the bad ones. The thought of their child drowning is the last thing that crosses their mind. In fact, 58 percent of parents do not even consider drowning a threat to their children, as reported by infantswim.com.
I am a swimmer myself, and believe that all young children should be taught to swim.
Two key barriers preventing children from learning how to swim are fear of injury or drowning and lack of parental encouragement, according to the USA Swimming Foundation.
Yes parents, you may think “my child never is near water and never gets in the water, so why should they need to know how to swim?” That is a reasonable question, but the answer is that your child is not safe.
These accidents that have been causing deaths among young children are unnecessary. Swimming is a skill that must be taught. There are many basics to swimming that can only make a child safer near and in the water. Breathing is a crucial skill that can and will save one’s life. Floating and bobbing also have the same result.
“All kids should most definitely be taught how to swim. Its one of those ‘everyone needs to know how to do’ things. Once you learn, you can’t really forget it because its a skill,” said Abby Barley, who is a swimmer herself. “I’m a lifeguard and I’ve seen too many people who try to learn how to swim when they’re older, and it is much harder for them. Do everyone a favor and start when you’re young.”
With so many local places that offer swim lessons for all ages, it should not even be a question whether to sign up for a session. Its not like it is a hassle to hunt down a facility. In Penn Manor, the Conestoga and Millersville pools offer swim lessons to children in the summer, and local rec centers in Lancaster county do as well.
