Shhhh…Quiet Sports-Where are the Fans?

Where have all the fans gone?

Although many Penn Manor school sports are becoming a bright spot in the Lancaster-Lebanon League in recent years, other sports remain rather unnoticed – and their fans are scarce.

Unlike the more popular sports like football, field hockey, lacrosse and basketball, where  hundreds attend the games, girls tennis, girls volleyball, softball and cross country can hardly round up more than a handful of loyal fans.

Sometimes a tennis match has less fans than a football practice.  Why?

Some players from the unnoticed sports believe that people don’t know about their sport.

“Nobody knows anything about girls tennis,” senior Laura Revelt, from the girl’s tennis team, said.

Words short and sweet to define the feeling these quiet sports players sometimes feel.

A member of the Penn Manor Girls Volleyball team for her fourth year, Alicia Burns, agrees with Revelt.

“The lack of support and pride for these teams are said to be lowering the performance because it doesn’t always feel like a big game,” said Burns. ”There are few people that know. It would make a bigger impact on the game if we had more people cheering us on and following us.”

Some sports have nothing on their bulletin board while...

“Like football,” Burns continued.  “I want to see that pride and encouragement through a sport like volleyball.  Two years ago Penn Manor Girls Volleyball were fifth in states. Who hears about that?”

The school was buzzing when the football team made it to states last year but other sports do the same with less spotlight.

Another team whose members sometimes feel “left out” is girls softball where, Brittany Wright, a senior, said she doesn’t feel students support the team.

“The school doesn’t know crap about softball,” said Wright.


...football has plenty of news articles.

Wright said the people who come and watch their softball games are parents and rarely ever students.

“I think that students coming to our softball games would have an impact on our play and make us go from a 9-11-0 season last year to at least a .500 season,” Wright added.

By Ryan Mays

2010 Rocket team to maintain international title.

The weight is on the shoulders of Penn Manor’s new incoming rocket team after last year’s team ended up winning the Third Annual Transatlantic Rocketry Challenge during the summer.

Penn Manor science teacher Brian Osmolinski, rocket club adviser, has a rebuilding year for 2010-11 after  five seniors graduated.

Last year’s performance went further than any team from Penn Manor had gone before, a lot further.  They were number one in the world, in fact.

Before they could conquer the world, the Penn Manor rocket team went up against 700 teams across the country at nationals. And they won.

Finishing with an average score of 26.32, sealed the deal for the win. The score was accumulated over two flights. The first flight was an outstanding score of thirty, followed by a score of 23.32 on the second flight. The challenge was to fly a rocket 825 feet staying airborne for 40 to 45 seconds, and return with a raw egg unbroken. Each team also has to present their rocket to the judges which could add to their final score.

From Nationals, the first place team had an opportunity to go across the seas to Farnsborough Air Show in England. The best teams from France and the U.K competed with Penn Manor’s rocket club. Penn Manor captured the win and the satisfaction of being international winners.

Mr. Osmolinski advisor of the Rocket Club Photo By Ryan Mays

But it was not all fun and games.

Last year’s team put in hours and hours of preparation, flying rockets after rockets to beat the best, and to make a name for themselves. Osmolinski said.

“We lost half of our team members last year and must rely on the kids with some experience to teach kids that have no experience but want to be a part of the team,” Osmolinski said.

Rebuilding the team for Penn Manor will be a hardship, but past Marticville Middle School students Wyatt Shiffler, Tom Sowers and Jessee Stoner already placed in nationals right behind the high school team.

Repeating as international winners might seem like an impossible task for a rebuilding team, but Osmolinski is not counting it out.

“To maintain our title we will stick with the same game plan, which is heavy rockets, big motors, and more team work said Osmolinkski.

To maintain their budget, the rocket club will be selling food at the school from the snack cart, sell tickets for a raffle produced by Osmolinski and other fundraisers.

The rocket club is meeting on Saturdays to fly their rockets, be the best and defend their international title.

By Ryan Mays

Penn Manor Allergies Force Precautions During Lunch

When a student is feeling sweaty and faint and looking red, it may not be the flu. It could be a food allergy.

About three million children in the United States have food allergies and some of them are here at Penn Manor.

Penn Manor High School’s cafeteria takes precautions so that kids with food allergies are safe when they eat what the school provides.

Sherlyn Wolf, a lunch lady at Penn Manor, said, “With peanut butter we use a separate cutting board and utensils, and when were done we wash it off and sanitize it. All our menus have stars next to the stuff with peanut butter.”

Another way the school employees are working to keep students safe  is by keeping all the staff members in the school aware of the kids with allergies of any kind, according to Wolf.

“Any student that has an allergy has a paper in the nurse’s office,” said Wolf.  “When they scan their finger (in the lunch line), their allergy comes up. Probably once a year we have to ask the student if they are allowed to have what is on their tray. If they say they are allowed to eat it now, we send a paper home to update their allergies.”

Many times the school tries not to put peanut butter in things that don’t need it, like cookies.

“We mark the tray if we put out peanut butter cookies for parent’s night or special events,” she said.

School is not the only place where children with allergies have to worry about what they are eating.

Corey Morales, a senior at Penn Manor, said, “My nine year old brother is allergic to milk. When he was younger we really had to watch out for other foods that had milk in them.”

Many students with allergies pack their lunch most of the time just to make sure what they are eating is safe.

Junior, Selena Hasircoglu said, “I’m allergic to tree fruit and tree nuts as long as it’s not pasteurized. I normally pack a lunch. I have to read nutrition labels and carry an epi pen just in case I have an emergency.”

Many students have to take precautions about what they eat when at school and at home, but many students in elementary school are too young to know what they can and can’t eat, so the school has to get involved to keep the child in a safe environment.

Peanuts are a common allergy food.

A young boy at Conestoga Elementary has a nut allergy that school personnel have to watch carefully. There isn’t much the school has to do this year because the child isn’t involved with other children in other grades,” said an official at that school.

He doesn’t eat lunch in school yet and the kindergarten class has their own playground for recess. They may eventually have to turn the whole school into a nut-free zone.

Dr. Jason D’Amico, an assistant principle at Penn Manor, said, “I guess we would have to see where he is at. He has another nine years until he is here to figure out how to deal with his allergies in school. I’m not sure how allergies progress over time.”

Lisa Heisler, the school nurse at Hambright Elementary said, “We have children with food allergies that have a special spot to sit so they aren’t getting exposed. We’ve sent home letters if they send in birthday snacks. The children we have to be really careful for are the anaphylaxis,when they go into shock or have trouble breathing.”

By Liz Lawrence

Teen Smoking Rules are Tested at Penn Manor

They’ve been told its bad, but these students just don’t care.

Nearly 20 percent of teens were smoking in 2009, according to national statistics.

Student smoking at Penn Manor has increased over the years; so have the violations.  In the  2006-2007 school year, 15 students were tagged with a first offense for smoking. As the years went on the number increased to 22 in 2009-2010 school year.

According to the tobacco policy of Penn Manor School District, the first offense is a letter home and a $10 fine for the use of tobacco products.  For possession, principals will confiscate cigarettes, lighters, etc; a letter is sent home and a $10 fine is handed out, just as in the first offense.

If a student gets caught red-handed for smoking,  they get snagged for possession as well.

There are many reasons why students smoke despite the penalties.

Many students said it “relaxes” them and keeps them “calm.” Others say “it’s fun” and “consumes their time.”

Penn Points agreed to keep the identities of students private for this article.

One student said it’s something to do when he’s depressed. He also got caught with cigarettes once. He said he got caught with two other students.  He recalled school resource officer Jason Hottenstein, let him back into the school and gave him a warning.

Do these students know?

With over 4000 chemical compounds present in cigarette smoke, these students still think its the “cool” thing to do.

Officer Hottenstien said, “The addiction to nicotine is real but they need to learn how to control the urge.”

He also said that students normally get caught after smoking in the school’s bathrooms because they go from where they’re supposed to be to the other side of the school building and are seen from the cameras in front of the bathrooms.

“Most certainly,” is what Officer Hottenstein said about the cameras helping to catch students in the act.

The most severe punishment for “lighting up” on school property is when police need to be called.  Students can be hit with a fine as high as $500 and several Saturday school detentions.

Hottenstein added that his main concern is having a “clean and safe (school) environment.”

By Kim Blake

End of the Recession Not in Sight for some Penn Manor families

It’s over.  The recession that is.  Sort of.

In a recent article posted in the Lancaster New Era, the National Bureau of Economic Research declared an end to the recession. They announced the end on September 26 2010. However, the bureau said it really ended back in June 2009.

Despite what the research shows, many Penn Manor Students have a hard time believing the recession is really over.

“I want to see the results of this ‘healthy economy’,” said senior Jeremy Vital.

The experts say the recession is over but not everyone agrees.

“We’re definitely  still in a recession, people are still having a lot money problems,” said another senior Jessica Burkhart.

Though the National Bureau of Economic Research based their decision on numbers and data, did they stop to take in account the burdens still being placed upon the American people?

The lives of many local families show that they continue to be affected by this economic crisis. Money is tight, expenses have been cut short, and jobs have been lost. The government may say the recession is over, but the lives of families say otherwise. Some of those families are part of our Penn Manor community.

Vital said that his family is having to vacation less often. He also had a terrible time finding a decent job.

Burkhart is in a similar position. Her mother had to go from being a stay-at-home mom to getting a part time job. Her family has cut back on unnecessary costs and are restricting how often they drive.

Ella Perry, a student at Penn Manor says her family is unable to buy her a car. They told her its not a necessity.

Not only are families restricting their budgets, many are facing unemployment. Parents are out of work, and jobs are incredibly hard to find. This hit home for senior Janine Haberstroh.

“My dad was laid off. it was hard on all of us.”

Students are still experiencing first hand the effects of the recession. Is the recession really over, or are we still in the midst of this economic downturn?

By Toni Warfel

Lampeter Fair Showcases Penn Manor’s Ag Efforts

With the tractors lined up, the animals groomed and the milkshakes cold and frothy the Lampeter Community Fair was ready to start.

“In general, we had a lot more animals entered and that made this a good year for us,” said Penn Manor ag teacher Carole Fay.

More than 30 members of Penn Manor’s FFA team proved to the community how much dedication, effort and hard work they put into making sure their animals were healthy and ready to be shown.

Many of Penn Manor’s FFA members left the fair with awards for their animals.

“There were 192 animals entered and sold on Friday night,” Fay said.

Penn Manor FFA participants and award winners included Brianna Hess, Abigail Reiff, Katrina Reiff, Michelle Zercher, Jessica Bauman, Laura Wissler, Lyndsey Wissler, Victoria Walton, Butch Conver, Taylor Brown, Atalie Winters, Kenny Barley, Milliam Harrington, Kaitlin Harrington and Jessica Herr for showing sheep and lambs. For showing swine Aaron Steager, Ethan Murry, Margaret Drumm, Derric Harsh, Jessica Bauman, Tyler Bauman, Alex Cantey, Michaela Barley, Jonathon Eshbach, Ross Frey, Angela Keagy, Ricky Stetler, Cody Rittenhouse, Bo Perez, Jennifer Drumm, Cameron Long, Katrina Reiff, Katie Hess, Ethan Murry, Caleb Hess, Cade Murry, Ethan Barley, and Jordan Burkholder. Butch Conver for his goat. And for steer and diary beef Caleb Hess, Katrina Reiff, Abby Reiff, Margaret Drumm, Bo Perez, Clara Hess, William Harrington, Wayne Rineer, Ethan Barley, Cameron Long, Ethan Murry and Jessica Herr.

Some of the awards included heavy weight, light weight, medium weight, light heavy weight, showmanship and grand champions.

“This year the kids made more profit due to the price increase and there was more interest, so we are hoping that there will be more involved next year,” explained Fay.

By Jordann Stekervetz

L-S Homecoming Dance Canceled

Lampeter-Strasburg School District has canceled it’s homecoming dance because of “dirty dancing” and instead is having a talent show.

Carroll “Butch” Staub, the principal of Lampeter-Strasburg High School, has had enough of inappropriate dancing at their homecoming dances. “Three years of trying to get these kids to dance appropriately at school dances and it hasn’t worked,” he said.

According to Staub, the school district has tried putting lists of rules for the dances on the school announcements, putting a list of rules on the tickets, throwing kids out of the dances and turning on the lights during the dance.

“We could no longer sponsor the dance because of the sexual dancing,” Staub said. “It got to the point where we couldn’t even get chaperones for the dance.”

Out of the 1100 students in the high school, about 800 were in attendance to the last homecoming dance. According to Staub, the majority of the kids were sophomores and freshmen.

Staub said, “I told parents at parent’s night and they were appalled about how their kids were dancing.”

According to Staub, administrators from other schools were supportive of L-S bowing out of the homecoming dance.

Penn Manor administrators agreed students sometimes take dancing too far.

“If someone’s doing something wrong (we do ask) them to stop,” said Jason Di’Amico, assistant principal of Penn Manor High School.

Lampeter-Strasburg School District has decided to have a talent show which will include cash prizes, pageant winner Miss Maryland (a graduate from L-S), and a free ice cream sundae party afterward.

By Jessen Smith

Penn Manor Shunning Free Fitness for Priced Memberships

Penn Manor students and faculty have an easily accessible, fitness room with weights, fitness equipment and other cardio machines – and it’s all free.

However the word “free” does not seem to matter to many.

A new trend has emerged, despite the tight economy, that even though students and faculty have this luxury, they do not always take full advantage of it.

Penn Manor students are joining local gyms and purchasing these memberships has arisen from just a fad, but its become a priority for reasons other than “just to workout.”

The Penn Manor weight room is not always being used. Photo by Jenna Reel

Some use both the school’s weight room and their own gym membership, and some just totally avoid the school weight room altogether.

Abby Barley, a junior at the high school, explained that she goes to Hempfield Rec because her parents also go there and they have a family membership.

“There’s no classes offered like zumba and yoga (at Penn Manor)…” Barley continues, “But I go especially because there’s no pool here.”

Senior Lizzie Pflumm joined the Lancaster YMCA also because of a family membership , and she does not use the weight room at the high school.

“The treadmills here aren’t very good, and I don’t like working out with people I know,” Pflumm said.

“There’s no pool to use for swimming either,” Pflumm said referring to the high school facilities.

There are a plethora of reasons why athletes pay for gym memberships, but senior Jere Vital, voiced a different reason.

“I have a gym membership so I feel more obligated to work out since I’m paying for it,” said Vital. “It also gets way too crowded here with everyone working out and only so much equipment to use.”

The Penn Manor students are not the only ones who have access to the weight room but sometimes don’t use it.  The faculty does too.

Gym teacher Scott Lackey sometimes uses the high school facilities and sometimes a private gym. Photo by Jenna Reel

Scott Lackey, phys ed  teacher at the high school, states that he does use the weight room, but because he lives out of town, he has a membership at the West Shore YMCA. He only uses the fitness room when he’s at school.

“I don’t live around here,” said Lackey. “I have that membership (at West Shore) so that my family can also use it.”

Biology teacher, Erick Dutchess, is a member at the Lampeter YMCA.

“There’s a larger free-weight selection, open-gym time,(at the YMCA) and Marjean Long (a counselor here at the high school) teaches a kick-butt, slammin’ aerobics class, which is totally worth the money because she makes you feel like a weakling…” Dutchess continued, “And there’s a pool.”

By Jenna Reel

I’m Freakin’ Out! College Applications Soon Due

Chewed up pencils, pulled out hair and crumpled up pieces of paper, it must be time for the high school’s seniors to apply to college.

As the recommended deadline for college applications comes near, many Penn Manor seniors are feeling the pressure to get their applications in, as well as finish the graduation requirements for high school.

One senior in particular, Rebecca Irwin, is feeling the heat.

“The application requirements aren’t very clear and I don’t have a lot of time to call and ask because I’m too busy working on my senior project for here [school] and for CTC,” said Irwin.

Irwin plans to apply to Messiah College, Liberty or Bloomsburg universities for nursing. She’s preparing for her future profession by attending the County Career and Technology Center (CTC).

Seniors feel the stress as they apply for college Photo from: Google Image

“I’m not even close to finishing my applications, and it really concerns me,” said Irwin.

The guidance office recommends that students have their applications handed in no later than the end of October and that each student should apply to at least four colleges in which they are interested.

Four colleges means four application fees.

“I hate them (application fees) because you’re supposed to apply to more than one college, and that’s a lot of money for nothing, because three out of the four fees are for nothing,” said senior, Cheyenne Brubaker.

Brubaker plans on getting a major in business management with a minor in accounting and, in preparation for college, she attended a week-long business camp.

As if it’s not bad enough that seniors have to deal with application dates and choosing their colleges of choice, they are getting bombarded with college mail.

“I usually just throw it [the mail] away,” said Irwin.

Some words of comfort may come from teachers who are more than willing to write a letter or recommendation, something which the counseling office recommends that seniors hand in along with their applications.

Although senior, Emily Hess was worried about her recomendations.

“I’m applying to all the military branches, and I asked teacher from my old Mennonite school to write my letters, but they don’t believe in war so I thought they wouldn’t do it, but they did,” said Hess.

Another recommendation from counselors to seniors is to retake the SATs if they aren’t happy with their scores or if they feel as though they could have done better on them.

Hopefully, by November, bald spots the seniors have created from pulling out their hair will be filled in.
By Whitney Reno

Penn Manor’s Perfect Storm Causes Early Dismissal

The rain was pounding on the school building, an unfamiliar sound after weeks of drought.

Rising water around the school and the announcement of an early dismissal Thursday excited students, but brought troubles to the custodians of Penn Manor High School.

Janitor John cleaning up. Photo by Kyle Hallett

“Attention all students and teachers, due to the inclement weather, school will be dismissed at one o’clock,” said Jason D’Amico, assistant principle at Penn Manor over the loudspeaker at the beginning of block three.

Superintendent Michael Leichliter sent an e-mail to district employees at 11:30 a.m. telling them that  Lancaster County Emergency Management were not mandating a school dismissal, they were strongly suggesting it. The superintendent decided to proceed with caution and send students home.

“People were telling me that we were getting an early dismissal today, but I didn’t believe them. Then I heard the announcement Mr. D’Amico made, and now I’m really exited,” said senior Coty Johnson.

But not everyone greeted the storm.

Rain seeped through the walls in the girl’s locker room, dripped in the coaches room and flooded the hall below the big stairs.

Students were not allowed to travel these hallways and were forced to detour.

Ryan Connelly, a senior, was one student who was affected by the flooding.  “The stairwell by the entrance to the weight room was ridiculous,” he said.

Mike Weimer, a custodian at Penn Manor, was cleaning up puddles and pools of water all morning.  The low spot below the big stairs was filled with almost two inches of rain and took an hour to clean, he said.

Another school custodian, John Wealand, who was cleaning up the mess the rain caused said, “we’ll have to stay on top of it throughout the day.”

The custodians used shop vacuums to suck up the water and concluded that there was no damage done by mid day on Thursday.  Unfortunately, the water was still coming in the school.

Photo by Kyle Hallett

According to The Weather Channel, Lancaster is under a heavy rain threat that has been dumping two to five inches of rain in the central Pennsylvania region.  The flow of moisture out of the tropics and the remnants of tropical storm Nicole following close behind is to blame.

The other good note about the storm is that weather officials say it is putting a dent in the deficit of groundwater the area has been experiencing since August.

But too much of a good thing can be a hazard.

Douglas Eby, dean of students at Penn Manor, said due to the amount of rain, roads are flooding, and is posing a safety hazard to motorists.

“It’s our responsibility to keep the students safe,” Eby said.

By Cree Bleacher