Octorara Area JR./SR. High School

Principal’s Summer Spotlight 2014

• On Tuesday the Octorara FFA students who attended the FFA State Legislative Leadership Conference in

Harrisburg visited with House Representative John Lawrence. He even posted our picture on his Facebook page. These students were in attendance:

Matt Bucklin Taylor Edgington Erin Kent Myah Troop Felicia Nellius These students were great representatives of our district, Ag Program and FFA chapter.

• Chester County High School Art Exhibition, April 5-12, 2014 Come out and meet the young artists of Chester County. Nearly 500 works of art created by Chester County high school students will be on exhibit to the general public at the Chester County Art Association in West Chester. The annual Chester County High School Art Exhibition will begin on Saturday, April 5, 2014 and will be on display through Saturday, April 12th. A free reception and awards ceremony will be held on Monday, April 7 from 5:00-8:00 p.m. for students, their families and the general public. Exhibit hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 9:30a.m.-4:00 p.m. The exhibit and the reception are free and open to the general public. The Chester County Art Association is located on 100 N. Bradford Avenue in West Chester, PA (telephone number 610-696-5600).

The students that will be representing Octorara Area Senior High School are … Taylor Edgington Jenna Altizer Amber Kent Hannah Anderson Brianna Fletcher Debby Pillitteri Kelsey Bruntrager Linzy Amen Megan Flaherty Erika Schaefer Bryar Bullock Katelyn Bromley

Anna Bortle Rachel Boldt David Jackson Mason Dillon-Hill Julie Upchurch Kelli Maher Anna Cassidy Katie Kuderka Christian Hampton Amanda Trauger Caitlin Alexander

• Alissa Buckwalter earned 4th place at this year's Congressional Art competition. Her framed artwork will be on display for 1 month in one of the 2 district offices; Kennett or Lancaster. The art department is very proud of this achievement as this is a very competitive contest.

• Brielle Kirk – Congratulations to Brielle for being this year’s Lenfest Scholarship winner. For this particular scholarship students must endure three rounds of selection, four essays and if

they make it through that, an interview. It is all worth it in the end. The results are $12,000 a year for four years to the college of her choice.

• Carson Michalowski has accepted a full four-year scholarship to Capitol College in Laurel, Maryland. He will be studying Astronautical Engineering.

CJ HUNTSINGER

• Troop 20 of Atglen proudly announces that Christian Jaq Huntsinger “CJ”, son of Darren & Valarie Huntsinger, earned the rank of Eagle on 2/24/14. The Eagle Scout rank is the highest award in Boy Scouting. To obtain this rank, a Scout must earn numerous merit badges that demonstrate various skills, spirit and leadership. In addition the Scout must plan and lead a service project that benefits the community.

Huntsinger earned a total of 31 merit badges with his favorite being Indian Lore and the one he deems most useful being First Aide. He attended camp at both Camp Rodney and Camp Ware, participated in numerous weekend adventures and community service activities, and was inducted into the Order of the Arrow where he has earned his OA Ordeal and OA Brotherhood. The Order of the Arrow is an Honor Society for Scouts and is quite an accomplishment.

In 2011, Huntsinger participated in a two week high adventure trip to Philmont Scout Ranch located in New Mexico which is made up of hundreds of miles of rocky and rugged terrain, amazing nature scenes and wildlife. His favorite Scout memory is having the opportunity to sit on The Tooth of Time at Philmont.

Huntsinger’s Eagle project consisted of working with the Atglen Borough to renovate a gazebo gathering place that was in need of TLC. He began by removing and replacing rotted deck boards, roof shingles, and hand railings. He then cleaned up trash and graffiti; power washed the area, and trimmed the shrubbery. Next, Huntsinger and his fellow Scouts removed the old picnic table and benches and built and installed a new picnic table and benches. He also removed two worn out park benches, and designed, built and installed two new park benches with backs for more comfort. Finally, Huntsinger installed solar lighting to make this a more secure place to visit.

In addition to scouting, Huntsinger who is a 16 year old tenth grade student at Octorara Senior High School, participates in football and track and field. He is planning to attend a military academy, such as USNA or attend a college with an ROTC program. He would like to major in History.

JAYCEE DAGNEY

• On March 20th, James T. Harris III of Widener University and Tim Furlong of NBC10, presented Jaycee Dagney with the Widener University High School Leadership Award.

The Widener University High School Leadership Award recognizes high school students within our region who embody the university’s mission to develop and inspire leaders that will affect positive change for the greater good. The award recognizes the student’s ability to demonstrate courage by standing up for what is right, finding a way to address a wrong, or making a difference in a significant way.

Jaycee will attend Widener’s unique leadership program this fall, where all the 2014 student award winners will reconvene on Widener’s campus for an exciting day of leadership training and education.

BAND NEWS

• April 25-27th, about 60 members of the high school band participated in the 61st Annual Parade of Nations in Norfolk, VA under beautiful blue skies and for one of the most enthusiastic audiences we have ever had. The parade and the entire trip was an overwhelmingly positive experience. The band was awarded a Silver rating for our performance in the parade (two bands were awarded gold, two band were awarded silver, and 4 were awarded bronze) and Erin Murphy and Mandie Wendling both earned the Best Drum Major Award. Please congratulate them and ask the band students about the trip as I am sure they would love to tell you all about it.

The annual Spring Concert was Thursday, May 1st at 7:00 PM in the auditorium. Thank you for supporting the band students in their musical endeavors. You can be proud to know that these students represented Octorara with excellence and dignity.

Octorara Envirothon • I wanted to share with you the fruits of the student’s hard work and commitment to the program.

Yesterday Octorara placed 3rd overall at the middle level competition (27 teams had competed). We were also able to field our first high school team in 15 years. I believe we had over a hundred students involved in the program this year (K-12). Many of the students are participating in the OA-BEST Expo at the end of the month, and are already talking about next year (especially the 3rd-5th graders, who unfortunately had their competition day rained out).

Alumnus Spotlight: Teaching About Civil Rights

Jeff Butch March 17, 2014

• After developing a new semester course for high school students called “The History of Racism from a Black Perspective,” I applied to attend Street Law’s first Civics & Civil Rights Institute. It sounded like it matched perfectly with the content of my course and would provide me with new ways to teach this important subject to my students.

I entered the teaching profession at age 49 and have been teaching for the last 15 years at Octorara Area High School in southern Chester County, PA. Living through the 1960s and witnessing civil rights issues first-hand piqued my interest in developing a course using black authors and their thoughts on the topic.

In today’s high schools, very little content about racism is explored through the eyes of African Americans. What do black people think, feel, and discuss about the issues of slavery and racism? Offering a course that uses the works of black authors helps students of all colors better understand the issue of racism.

This semester I am teaching this course for the third time and am enjoying putting much of the information and resources gained at the Civics & Civil Rights Institute to use. I wholeheartedly recommend this professional development institute to every teacher I meet! The materials and methods provide a perfect foundation integrating civil rights topics into social studies courses.

JEFF BUTCH

• Mr. Butch, a teacher at Octorara High School, will travel to Washington, DC this June to attend the prestigious Supreme Court Summer Institute. After a highly competitive application process, 60 teachers were selected to participate this year. The Institute, open to teachers in the fields of law-related and civic education, is co-sponsored by Street Law, Inc. and the Supreme Court Historical Society.

The Institute offers teachers the opportunity to study recent Supreme Cases in detail and learn innovative teaching methodology for conveying this information to students. Well-known Supreme Court lawyers, reporters, scholars, and educators will be among the speakers and instructors for the Institute. Teachers will visit the Court to attend decisions and a reception.

Upon returning home, teachers will be available to present workshops on the U.S. Supreme Court, and to meet with media to discuss how the new skills and information will apply to their classrooms.

CITADEL’S HEART OF LEARNING AWARD

• Each year, Citadel is proud to recognize 15 educators from across Chester County for excellence in the classroom. Our 2014 honorees represent nearly 900 educators from more than 2,300 nominations for this year’s award-all of who are worthy candidates, and deserving of our deepest gratitude for their devotion to our children.

This year Octorara is proud to announce Scott Cullen as one of the high school finalists. “Mr. Cullen deserves this honor because he is so far beyond a teacher to all his students. He is always a positive, hard working, dedicated, generous, brilliant man who happens to be a teacher on top of all his other talents. Mr. Cullen has shown me, through his own life, the importance of music in every aspect of life.”

• Mrs. Watson - On April 25th-Educator Jennifer Watson of Octorara High School was recently selected as a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction by The National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS). A role model to pupils, Jennifer Watson was nominated by student Courtney Moore for outstanding dedication and commitment to excellence in the classroom.

Student members of NSHSS have the opportunity to nominate the educator who made the most significant contribution to their academic career. The Claes Novel Educator of Distinction award recognizes role models who have made a lasting difference in their classroom by encouraging students to strive for excellence.

“Dedicated educators who exhibit a commitment to excellence deserve our highest praise and appreciation,” said NSHSS President James W. Lewis. “We’re excited to provide an ongoing means to do so, and we encourage our student members to nominate teachers and counselors who have contributed to their academic success.”

OCTORARA GRADUATES IN THE SPOTLIGHT • Katy Ferrier completed her BA in Psychology, Master's in Education, and certification in School Counseling from Millersville.

During her time in the Master's program, she discovered that she enjoyed working with students both at the high school and college level, so working in Admissions allows me to work with both populations of students. My doctoral program at Temple is in higher education administration.

Patricia Oswald • This morning I received this fax from Brian Oswald who wanted to share this information with everyone. Tricia was Valedictorian

of the class of 2010. On May 17th, Tricia received the LaSalle School of Business Senior Academic Accounting Department Award. This award is given to the person having the highest academic standing in the accounting department for seniors. On May 18th, Tricia will graduate with her Bachelor’s degree in business. During the summer Tricia will take classes and prepare for her CPA test. Tricia will graduate around September with her Master’s Degree in Business. Tricia was part of the accelerated

Master’s Program at LaSalle. Tricia has secured a position with a major accounting firm in Philadelphia-KPMG. Mr. Oswald thought this information might be inspirational to show students how hard work and diligence can shape your future!