Awards and Achievements

Weatherly Area Middle School students Samantha DeSpirito and Morgan Gower recently completed a 5-session training called "Tech Wizards" at the CLIU 21 in Schnecksville.  The program, which lasted throughout the school year, was made up of 5 trainings on emerging technologies.  The students' job is to then share that new knowledge with their peers and teachers.  The Eighth graders were accompanied by Computer Science teacher Mr. John McGee.  Pictured are (L to R) DeSpirito and Gower.

Several students from Weatherly Area School District were named Council level winners for the 2012-13 Reflections Contest.  Pictured are: (L to R) Front- Karoline Hirko, Olivia Hirko, Amanda Colecio.  Back Row- Kelly Fisher, Dylan McDonald, Abigail Ormiston, Lynn Gunderman.

On December 19, 2012, the National Geographic Geography Bee was held at Weatherly Area Middle School.  The participating 7^th and 8^th grade students competed in seven preliminary rounds of questions relating to World and US Geography.  The top ten finalists were Gary Buck,  Anthony Zinskie, Traig Dempsey, Edward Gerhard, A. J. Knepper,  Evan Kunkle, Chris Martens, Morgan Gower, Matt Holland, and Lynn Gunderman.  After the semi-final and final rounds, Chris Martens won third place, A. J. Knepper won second place and Evan Kunkle was the Weatherly Area Middle School Champion.

Evan completed a one-hour written examination to determine if he will be a state competitor for Pennsylvania. The top 100 Pennsylvania contestants will be announced in early March of 2013.  All school winners are eligible to win the national championship and its first prize, a $25,000 college scholarship, at the national competition May 20 – 22, 2013 in Washington, D. C.

In Picture, Left to Right:  Chris Martens, A. J. Knepper, Evan Kunkle, Mrs. Slavick, Elementary Principal

Weatherly Area Elementary & Middle School recently announced its students that qualified for the Johns Hopkins Talent Search.  To be eligible, students must score Advanced on both their Language Arts and Math PSSA tests.  Pictured are 7th and 8th graders: (L to R) Front Row: Jillian Bartel, Gary Buck, Adam Fagner, Shannon Frye, Marie Gunderman, Joel Hinkle, Sarah Howard, Samantha Knepper, Victoria Luckwaldt, Zachary Moon.  Second Row: William Bachart, Breena Coxe, Samantha DeSpirito, Morgan Gower, Richard Grenet, Keith Gunderman, Madison Hartz, Hayli Heister, Jacqueline Henry, Joelene Hunsinger.  Third Row: Zachary Kalinowski, Morgan Kipikasa, Evan Kunkle, Chris MacNeal, Chris Martens, Kaitlyn Miller, Kim Ray, Lynea Reiner.  Fourth Row: Autumn Shoener, Rashelle Tiglio, Avery Vizentine, SDana Weiss.  Missing from photo is: Zoe Downs, Marty Cichowic, Ivy Dennebaum.

During the Weatherly Middle School awards ceremony, The Weatherly Education Association presented a plaque to the student in each grade (6th through 8th) who attained the highest average in their grade.  Pictured are (L to R) Mrs. Joan Falatovich representing WEA, Samantha Knepper, Morgan Gower, Alexis Hartz.

Weatherly Area Middle School recently honored 14 students who achieved Principal's Honor List for the entire 2011-12 school year.  These students earned an average grade of 95 or better in major subjects with no grade below a 90 in any subject taken.  Pictured are: ( L to R) Front- Autumn Shoener, Samantha DeSpirito, Julia Hinkle, Jessica McKee, Deanna Stolpe, Angela Grega, Dana Weiss.  Back- Morgan Gower, Evan Kunkle, Dillon Bizarre, Alexis Hartz, Samantha Knepper, Principal Sandra Slavick, Marie Gunderman.  Missing from photo was Victoria Luckwaldt.

The American Legion Auxiliary presented its Certificate of School Award to Weatherly Area 8th grader Alexis Hartz in recognition of honor, courage, scholarship, leadership, service, and Americanism.  The American Legion presented its Certificate of School Awared to Weatherly Area 8th grader Andrew Solonoski in recognition of his courage, honor, leadership, patriotism, scholarship, and service.  Pictured are (L to R) Ray Kochin, Solonoski, Hartz, Earl Drasher, Joan Drasher, Ted Bretsky.

Four 8th grade students represented Weatherly Elementary/Middle School in the PMEA District 10 Intermediate Songfest on March 30th. The festival took place at Bangor Area High School in the Bangor Area School District. Schools in Carbon, Monroe, Pike, Schuylkill, Berks, Lehigh, and Northampton counties participated. Pictured from left are: Jacquelyn Gillot, Cyan Botch, Olivia Winheld, and Alexis Hartz. Amanda Derr is the Middle School Choral Director.

Mr. Bruce Brazzo, second from right, has donated several of his paintings to the Weatherly Area School District.  The paintings will be hung in both the Elementary/Middle School Building as well as the High School.

Accepting the paintings are: (from left to right) Denise Stadnik; HS Art Teacher, Thomas McLaughlin; WASD Superintendent, Brazzo, and Sue Lenhardt; Elem/Middle School Art Teacher.

On Thursday, December 15th,  Weatherly Middle School held the National Geographic Geography Bee for seventh and eighth grade students.  After a full morning of competition, the winners were: Ryan Kelly, 3rd place, Evan Kunkle, 2nd place, and Cyrick Thomas, 1st place and school champion.

In the rigorous competition, after seven rounds of questions, five seventh graders and  five eighth graders entered the final competition.  In addition to the winners, other finalists were: John Hinkle, Gareth Perez, Samantha DeSpirito, Maddie Hartz, Drew Solonoski, Kim Harrison and Summer Peck. 

Cyrick will advance to the next level of competition, a written examination to determine state competitors.  All school winners are eligible to win the national championship and its first prize, a $25,000 college scholarship, at the national competition May 22 - 24, 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Weatherly Area PTA recently announced the local winners of the PTA Reflections contest. The Reflections contest is an opportunity for students to use their creative talents by expressing themselves through their own original works. There are six categories: literature, music, photography, visual arts, dance choreography, and film/video production. This year’s theme is “Diversity Means...” The winning local entries will now advance to the next level of judging. Local winners are pictured.

Middle and High School winners are (L to R) Front Row- Vicki Luckwaldt, Samantha DeSpirito, Lynn Gunderman, Lynea Reiner, Samantha Knepper, Breena Coxe, Katlyn Sernak, Morgan Gower.  Second Row- Bree Hoffman, Sushant Arya, Kelly Fisher, Courtney Dickson, Vaness Richeson, Dylan McDonald, Abigail Ormiston.

Olivia Winheld and Heather Getten, both Weatherly Area 7th Grade School students, recently competed at the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit's Middle School Computer Fair in Schnecksville.  Their project, a Power Point presentation on Autism, earned them 2nd place overall in the Multimedia Presentation category.  They competed against all districts within Carbon and Lehigh Counties.  They were accompanied by teacher- sponsors Mrs. Jen Rockovich and Mr. John McGee.

Olivia Sipler is the winner of the National Geography Bee competition held at Weatherly Middle School on December 15^th.   This year’s competition was the closest race in recent years.  As the end of the competition, four students remained in the race to become Weatherly’s champion.  After an intense round of questions, Olivia won first place and Summer Peck took second place.  Morgan Mengel and Seth Harkins tied for third place.    The top ten finalists were Lee Nyer, Derek Coombs, Luke Reiner, Jessica Polchin, Samantha Hartz , Tyler Johnson and the place winners.  This was the second year in a row that a student, Tyler Johnson, won every question in the preliminary round.

Forty-eight 7^th and 8^th graders completed in this year’s bee.  After the preliminary seven rounds of questions, the top 10 students compete in a final round.  The top two students compete in a championship round for 1^st and 2^nd place.  Olivia will now advance to state competition if she scores high enough on a written examination, given after the school competition ended.

Judges and scorekeepers for this event are members of the Weatherly Area Academic team:  Joey Connors, Matthew Caccese (former Bee Winner at Weatherly), Andrew Vack and Christopher Hunt.

In photo, from left to right:  Summer Peck, Morgan Mengle, Olivia Sipler, Seth Harkins and Middle School Principal Sandra Slavick.