Wednesday night at Comet field in Millersville was not only frigid, but a senior night the Penn Manor Field Hockey players will never forget.
The Comets hosted the Hempfield Black Knights in a Section One throw down that would go in the Comets’ favor.
The Comets toasted the Knights leading 4-1 going into half time, led by veterans Renee Suter and Madelyn Hess, and there would be no let down.
The Comets came out in the second half and added two more goals, only allowing one more themselves, ending with a final score of 6-2.
“We played a very good game. I loved scoring all those goals but I wish we could of kept those two goals out of our net,” said Matt Soto, head coach for Penn Manor.
Matt Soto, coach of the Penn Manor Field Hockey team, is happy with the win over Hempfield. Photo courtesy of the PMFH Website
The Comets clinched the Section One race with a win over Warwick, Monday.
“We have to keep getting better,” Soto added. “We need to get better on defense, and really we need to score more goals too.”
The five seniors on the Penn Manor team, Katie Breneman, Renee Suter, Madelyn Hess, Mikah Farbo and Helen Doolittle, we’re recognized for the contributes to the team.
They knew, however, that it was their final season with Penn Manor.
“It was definitely a bitter sweet feeling,” Hess said.
Maddy Hess describes her senior night as "bitter sweet." Photo by Jessen Smith
“The season was a lot of fun, but when it’s over I’m really going to miss it,” said Breneman, a team captain for the Comets.
Soto added, “The seniors are a great class. I love having them around.”
The windmills are coming, the windmills are coming!
By December, there will be two new windmills in operation to help power Lancaster County. One windmill is already working here in Lancaster County. PPL, which owns and will operate the wind powered machines, is working on the finishing touches of the second windmill.
Many people have stopped to stare at the towering wind machines that will soon produce environmentally safe electricity.
Sometime in 2008, the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority Company and the PPL teamed up to place two new windmills on Turkey Hill in Manor Township.
The Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority leased the land they owned to PPL. The two companies spent $9.5 million dollars on the whole project.
“It was a combined effort of a coordinated team between the landfill authority, PPL, a general contractor and the construction crews who actually performed the work and built what you see today,” said Dan Lowell, an intern for PPL who worked on the project during the summer.
In the beginning of the project, there was a lot of planning. The workers spent 22 months studying the wind. They used a device to help determine the wind change. Afterward, they spent about 10 months studying birds. The companies researched the birds’ migration route.
“We had to make sure that the route didn’t intercept with propellers of the windmills and so that the birds wouldn’t get hurt,” said Ed Gordon, a board member of the L.C.S.W.M.A.
Gordon concluded after spending many hours of watching and recording birds, they were ready to start putting up the first windmill.
According to plant officials, the windmills will produce non-carbon electricity. Their main purpose is to use power without affecting the environment. So the windmills will be powered by wind. It will not affect the environment or people.
“The windmills are going to be there for many years to come,” Gordon said.
Penn Manor is modernizing with technology, but so are the students who are committing crimes here
Officer Hottenstein is Penn Manor’s resource officer. Photo by Jessen Smith
Jason D. Hottenstein, the school resource officer for Penn Manor, said there will always be crim
e in schools but at Penn Manor, and probably other places, the type of crime committed is changing along with changes in technology.
Hi-tech items such as cell phones, computers and ipods are being taken and are being used to commit crimes of harassment.
“We have stayed about average for crime. We are a high school with a large population, so crime’s expected,” said Hottenstein.
A recent news story in Lancaster Newspapers reported that although crime is going down in the city, some suburbs, including Millersville where Penn Manor High School is
located, have seen an increase in criminal activity.
Hottenstein explained he does not believe that crime has gone down in Lancaster City and up in Millersville, but places everywhere else are catching up, making it look like the city is lowering its crime rate.
What is changing is the nature of crimes committed at Penn Manor.
“The biggest things we deal with are bullying, and harassment. A lot of ‘he said, she said, I heard this, I heard that’ type of stuff,” Hottenstein said.
Popular technology that has been known for being stolen in Penn Manor High School. Photo by Jenna Reel
“Another thing is theft, especially electronics, iPhones, iPods, etc. We combat this with cameras (security cameras in school hallways),” Hottenstein noted. “We can tell when people come in and out of locker rooms and such. The cameras are extremely pivotal for us.”
The school implements policies to deal with different problems.
“The school has a policy for everything. So for example, if somebody steals something they receive the punishment from school, and then they can also have to deal with the police,” Hottenstein said.
Bullying and harassment on the Internet have been reported by the media and people are becoming aware of the problems it causes in the lives of many teens.
In the news recently, six youth have allegedly taken their lives because of cyberbullying.
“Nowadays with Facebook and social networking, bullying is extremely electronic. Bullying is rarely happening face to face anymore,” Hottenstein said. “The kids need to realize as soon as you post something, there is an electronic trail.”
Hottenstein recalled a recent incident where he had to get a search warrant from Facebook to pursue a bullying case.
Theft incidents of cell phones and ipods are becoming more common in school.
“I don’t think it’s really the kids that are causing the crime to go up, its the economy. The economy’s poor and instead of getting things the proper way, people decide to steal. That’s not just kids, it’s in general.”
Penn Manor students have gotten a technology upgrade in many facets of their school lives – from the lunchroom to the classroom.
Penn Manor’s students recognize the PolyVision Boards that have infiltrated classrooms, or the finger scanners at lunch or even the laptops teachers use.
A new Mac Mini, and one of the many the school has purchase
But are all of the new upgrades for our school worth the cost?
“They (the PolyVision Boards) are, one hundred percent, an enormous tool for educators,” said science teacher Sally Muenkel of the classroom technology.
Last year, the computer labs in the school library replaced the old computers (which ran the Windows XP operating system) with brand new Mac Minis. The other school writing labs also got the Macs, so the school computers now run faster and more efficiently.
According to Apple, the Mac Mini is the world’s most energy efficient computer (and it’s small, too, at only three pounds), saving the school utility costs.
Every day, the Penn Manor library computer lab is booked for all four blocks. With two classes of twenty occupying the space every block. The library has over 160 students traversing it most days- and this doesn’t count the students using it before and after school.
“The bottom line is that the modern workplace is info rich and requires that our students are proficient with multiple forms of technology,” said Penn Manor technology director Charlie Reisinger. “To not provide these services for our students would rob them of the skills necessary to be competitive in the global economy.”
Brendon Woods uses one of the Mac Minis.
Although one Mac Mini costs up to $699.00 retail Dr. Michael G. Leichliter, the district superintendent of Penn Manor said most of the new technology was paid for using the Classrooms For the Future grant money.
According to Leichliter, the district received about $600,000 to upgrade Penn Manor High School’s classrooms.
But before the technology could go in, the support for it had to put into the building itself.
Penn Manor High School was built in the 1960s, before wireless networking- or even the internet, so the school wasn’t built for the new network. The school spent nearly the same amount as the grant just to get the building ready for the technology.
The Mac Minis in the library and in certain computer labs were purchased with the technology director’s budget. Every year Reisinger has a set budget for replacement technology and new technology, said Leichliter.
The district is trying to be judicious, he said, in making upgrades from that budget.
The monitors on those computers were never replaced, even though they’re at least 10 to 15 years old.
The laptop carts alone cost around $35,000 each (including the laptops, of course).
“The library computers are checked out almost all the time. I would say 90 percent of the time,” said Susan Hostetter, Penn Manor’s high school librarian, as she surveyed the students working at the Mac Minis.
And then there’s the finger scanners, a entirely different technology.
In early 2009, Penn Manor implemented the M2SYS biometric systems so they could “increase the efficiency and security of the serving line transactions,” said administrators.
Every student (except the students who chose to opt out of the program) had their fingers scanned and entered into the school database in order to make lunch purchases quicker and more efficient.
“For a number of years, the Penn Manor School Board had been considering the finger scanners, and it was only recently that the action went through,” said Chris Johnston, the business manager for Penn Manor. “In some cases the finger scanners do make it faster to move through (the line), but when a student isn’t in the system or has trouble being registered, then it will cause a backup in the line.”
Almost every student chose to participate in the program.
But do the finger scanners – which are meant to save time and energy for both the cafeteria staff and the student – really save time?
“The finger scanners are really fast when they work.” said senior Lyndsay Funk, “But it’s really slow when there are difficulties – which is like once a week.”
She grimaces as she remembers past lunch periods gone by. “It seems like half the time I scan my finger it denies me. Some kids it seems every day they have to scan like a billion times before the system finds them,” said Funk.
The finger scanners lose accuracy when a student with “greasy or sweaty hands uses them,” according to cafeteria personnel. Then a film of dirt covers the scanner, and every student after that person begins to have difficulty scanning.
Technology advances lightening fast, and there’s only so much Penn Manor can do to keep up with it.
Career Cruising profile? Check. Thirty hours of community service? Check. Case study on the class of 2010? Check.
Four years ago, the counseling department at Penn Manor started a new graduation project that was aimed at preparing students for life after high school. The new project used an achievement goal theory to motivate students to complete the project.
The class of 2010 was the first one to complete this new project, and their progress was recorded and then documented in a case study completed by Sandra Deemer, an associate professor at Millersville, and Penn Manor’s own Melissa Ostrowski, high school counselor.
When the project was introduced, not every student was happy about it.
“When you change something like that, people go, ‘oh this is stupid!’” said Ostrowski.
Melissa Ostrowski, a counselor at Penn Manor. Photo by Whitney Reno
One requirement for the project was to search for schools to further a student’s education. The project does not stress a four-year college over other types of higher education or a career.
“We just care that every student who goes to Penn Manor does something, or has a plan to be a productive member of society,” said Ostrowski.
On the other hand, “the class of 2010 had no one to compare to,” said Deemer.
She said when the class of 2010 were freshmen, they saw the older students doing things like redoing their bedroom as their graduation project, and were angry that they weren’t allowed to do something similar. But the change to the new project allowed every student to pick something different that related to their career and life after high school.
This project was another way to show that Penn Manor is unique because very few schools “represent a unification of career exploration activities with state-mandated graduation projects.”
In other words, the state mandates every high school have a graduation project and Penn Manor now has one connected to skills and exploration the students can use to enrich their future.
The project used achievement goal theory, a motivational theory that highlights the importance of individuals’ perceptions in the learning process and focusing on the influence of the student’s task.
The project was also to give a sense of belonging to students, as well as motivate them to take career-related classes.
“Kids who have a sense of belongingness, are usually more motivated,” said Ostrowski.
Ms. Deemer, a Ph.D at Millersville Photo By: Whitney Reno
“If you have a sense of beloningness, and you feel safe in school and you feel happy, then things tend to go a little smoother,” Deemer said.
This motivation could lead them to picking classes that will help them in their plans after high school, explained the researchers. Instead of picking classes just to fill their schedule, students started to pick classes based on their career or life after high school in general.
But with new, big projects, there are bound to be problems.
Deemer conducted a series of small group talks and surveys of students in the class of 2010 to find out how they felt about the project and got suggestions on possible changes.
When the freshmen were first interviewed, they had mostly bad things to say and were generally upset about the new requirements, recalled Ostrowski.
“At first the freshmen hated it but we wanted them, and everyone else to know, that we’re not out to get anyone,” said Ostrowski.
During the interviews, Deemer found that students were engaging in aspects of the graduation project.
Also, Deemer found that students were talking with others about career interests on their own as well as doing career research on their own.
Another case study will be conducted on the class of 2014 with the same project.
Even with the kinks, Deemer felt that the project was a “thoughtful group of educators responding to a state mandate to create a valuable project.”
Uh oh. Some people think this generation is getting dumber than the ones before.
Best selling author Mark Bauerlein thinks the generation of teenagers and young adults under 30 are being turned into know-nothings because of technology and a lack of motivation. He explained his theory in his latest book The Dumbest Generation.
According to Bauerlein, the intellectual level and capability to complete and understand daily tasks are dropping – significantly. He says kids today can’t think for themselves and can’t even perform simple mechanical tasks such as sewing and mowing the lawn.
Penn Manor Junior Brian Geer responded simply to this idea: “I’m not stupid.”
New generations are being judged through academics. Photo courtesy of collegejolt.com.
Although some students admitted they find a way around using even the simplest household appliances.
Regarding our generation’s pull tab cans, Geer said, “You don’t even need a can opener, just upper body strength and powerful thumbs from flipping channels on the TV.”
Other students struggle with an array of household chores.
Taylor Breidenbaugh said that she doesn’t know how to sew.
Senior Bethany Dickert doesn’t know how to mow her lawn but claims, “I’m not allowed to go near my lawn mower.”
She also said she doesn’t know how to defrost a refrigerator or freezer.
But besides duties outside of school, what about academics? Despite the accusations of being a bunch of dumb teenagers, Penn Manor excels in ways that are very apparent.
According to school records, 45 students graduated with honors in 2006. This figure rose to 85 in 2009. As far as AP classes are concerned, 136 students were enrolled in 2003. This number rose to 145 in 2006 and sky-rocketed to 390 in 2009. Students in the class of 2009 took a total of 97 college classes.
In contrast, Lancaster Newspapers reported that Penn Manor’s SAT Scores have declined in all three categories this past year.
Critical reading? Minus 32 points.
Mathematics? Down 24 points.
Writing? Subtract 36 more points.
Altogether our district scored 92 points lower, pushing us down from the third spot in the county to the twelfth.
Along with Penn Manor’s SAT scores comes the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reviews. Pennsylvania Department of
Reports from the Pa. Dept. of Education show that only 71.5 percent of students scored proficient or above proficient in reading and even less, 58.9 percent were proficient in mathematics.
SAT scores of schools in South Central Pennsylvania. Courtesy of the Lancaster Newspapers.
PSSA test results recently came back as well. These revealed that Penn Manor’s math scores increased, reading scores stayed the same, writing scores dropped and the worst decline was in science.
The state is expecting 100 percent of students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014.
Many students here at Penn Manor have strong opinions on the criticism being hurled at their age group. Senior Kaitlyn Imel decided that, “It’s simply adjusting to social norms and technology.”
Other students like Caitlyn Whirt took offense to the article written by someone in her parent’s generation.
“They raised us. They shouldn’t be criticizing us, she said.”
Maybe this year will be the time to expunge our nickname of “The Dumbest Generation.”
Eyes from all over the world watched with intensity, including the eyes of many people at Penn Manor.
Chilean miners were raised above the lithosphere after spending 69 days a half mile under the earth’s crust to be greeted by the ones they love and cherish, their family.
Thirty three miners in all were rescued lasting an astonishing 22 1/2 hours. The first miner arrived at 4:14 EST, elated to see his children and wife, but quickly returning to the hole to help aid the rescue of his fellow workers.
The stories within the stories were amazing.
These miners emerged after 69 days trapped in a Chilean mine. Photo courtesy of Reuters News Service
Before the mine collapse, the last miner rescued, Luis Urzua, made one day’s worth of food for 33 people end up lasting 17 days, at which point they received more. “Palomas,” Spanish for carrier pigeons, were lowered to provide the miners with food, medicine, and necessities to survive.
At Penn Manor, the miners’ rescue affected students and staff.
“I would go crazy. I don’t like small spaces and the dark,” said freshman Maggie Mclintock, of the agony of being trapped in a mine for 69 days.
“I’d probably miss my family and the sunlight,” said freshman Mackenzie Trimble.
“I would miss the fresh air,” said freshman Kerry Wakefield.
Heather Paquette, health/gym teacher at Penn Manor, watched this horrifying incident since day one and said she would miss her family greatly if she was one of the miners.
“The fact that they got tubes down so quickly is fantastic since they (weren’t) supposed to be out until Christmas,” said senior Becca Irwin. ” It’s stupid they monitored everything, but makes sense.”
“It started out sad, now it’s happy,” said sophomore Elijah Villalobos about the ordeal.
“It’s about time they got’em out,” said senior Ella Perry.
“They were rescued pretty fast,” said sophomore Patrick Ament.
Senior, Tyler Beckley, would miss being able to eat homemade food, he said.
Sophomore, Amber Kuhns, said she would miss her family, phone, boyfriend and lights.
“The people got trapped and they thought they were dead, but they weren’t. I’d miss being able to do things and having a life,” said freshman Jesse Burkholder.
The whole rescue operation was a costly $22 million to the Chilean government.
Miners were given nausea prevention pills and sunglasses so the ride and arrival in the Phoenix, a 13 foot tall capsule painted with the colors of the Chilean flag, was not as stressful.
One by one, as all 33 miners stepped out of the Phoenix, Chilean President Sabastian Pinera greeted each one with a warm welcoming to life back on earth’s surface.
“I thought it was really cool that the president of Chile was there greeting everyone the whole time,” said junior Austin Fink.
These miners were the longest to survive trapped underground in recorded history.
All of the men emerged, wearing very little due to heat, in good health and were treated for physical and psychological issues.
This event will surely be remembered forever, here and around the world.
By Cree Bleacher
Sarah Garner, Toby Holsinger, Bri Reisinger and Jordan Sangrey contributed to this report.
Warwick’s legendary field hockey coach, Bob Derr, would find it beneficial for his team if Penn Manor’s star player, Renee Suter, were somehow off the field for Penn Manor.
Photo By Penn Points Renee Suter works her way down the field towards the goal box.
Monday night, Renee Suter scored three goals and had two assists in the game against the Warriors. The game ended with a score of 5-2, the victory going to the comets.
The win was the last one Penn Manor needed to gain the Section One title. Thanks in part to Suter, it was the fourth in a row for the Manor field hockey team
The goals began just 6:30 into the game when Katie Brenneman scored with an assist from Suter. Then at 21:30, Suter scored her first goal of the night after a feed from Eryn McCoy. The two goals put Manor ahead 2-0.
Senior Katie Brenneman is a captain for Penn Manor's field hockey team. Photo by Jessen Smith
While the Comets were scoring goals, Warwick’s Emma Rissinger was out on a penalty for her high stick. She was forced to spend five minutes on the sidelines after the yellow card was given.
Rissinger was attempting to protect herself from a ball that was coming straight for her. However, the laws of the game states no high sticks whatsoever, so the penalty was served.
Once both teams were back in full swing, Warwick’s Marissa Lutz scored the first point for her team with just over 4 minutes left before halftime.
Just as Warwick’s hopes were rising, Suter pulled a reverse-stick shot that went right between the legs of the Warwick goalie, Alexis Charles. Suter gave the Comets a two-goal advantage against the Warriors in the first half.
In the second half, Warwick’s Bethany Ashworth netted a ball after it was shot down the field by Alyssa Manley, making the score closer despite the Warriors going down in the end.
Manor’s coach, Matt Soto, was quoted in Lancaster Newspapers saying, “I thought it was really great of Suter sneaking a couple of those (goals) in.”
“We played really well and were able to shut down their strengths,” said Suter. ” We will go into the next games knowing what we have to do and hoping to win.”
Though the Comets have won their fourth Section One title with the win over Warwick, they still have two important games in which to look forward. One of those is a rematch against Hempfield at Comet Field on Wednesday.
The Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs begin Saturday with the quarterfinal round and are scheduled to end with the championship game on October 21 at Manheim Central.
Friday night’s homecoming game was a beat down, ending in a shutout for the Comets over the Ephrata Mountaineers.
The Comets were coming off a three-game losing streak and aimed to blanket the Mountaineers with their effort. They did, winning 21-0 and limiting Ephrata to 53 yards in total offense.
The game started out as predicted by sportswriters with the Comets using the workhorse of Garret Young, driving down the field on a few runs. The Comet’s drove flawlessly with a sudden halt to the drive as quarterback Adam Sahd had a missed communication and a fumbled pitch.
And, the Mountaineers recovered the ball.
From there, the game turned into a defense/special team’s battle with Penn Manor dominating. Even though Adam Sahd struggled to move the ball at quarterback in the first half, Sahd managed to clutch his punts giving the Mountaineers no short-field advantages.
Sahd booted a 61-yard punt to put the Mountaineers on their own three-yard line in the second quarter.
The Comet’s defense continued its dominance, holding the Mountaineers to three first downs all game. The Comets got the ball back and drove down field using Teon Lee’s athleticism to steamroll his way to the end zone on a 13-yard run producing the first score of the game. Comets were leading 7-0 into the halftime locker room.
Comet’s offense, run by Adam Sahd, still struggled in the second half before hooking up with his receiver, Demetrius Dixon, on a 28-yard touchdown to boost their lead to 14-0.
A few minutes ticked off the clock as the Comets accumulated another score with Teon Lee scampering in from a yard out, sealing off the game and bringing the score to 21-0.
The Comets go on with a record of 2-3 dropping the Mountaineers to a 2-3 record as well. The Comets will face the McCaskey Tornadoes who improved to a 3-2 record midway through the season.
