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Alycia Lenart Nominated for BCIU’s Annie Sullivan Award

a woman receives a certificate and poses with her husband

Mrs. Alycia Lenart, right, with her husband, Joe.

Mrs. Alycia Lenart, Exeter's K-12 Student Supports Coordinator, was Exeter's nomination for this year's BCIU's Annie Sullivan Award. This annual award recognizes people who work in educational institutions who provide outstanding advocacy and service to students with disabilities. This year’s ceremony was a historic occasion, recognizing an unprecedented 20 nominees, representing each of the 18 school districts and two career and technology centers within Berks County. Mrs. Lenart was nominated by her peers for her ability to "move mountains" for students who are struggling. Mrs. Lenart's role in the district is so broad--it's often hard to define exactly what she does since she will do anything to help any student who needs it--but if forced to define her role, Mr. Tom Campbell, high school principal, says: "She works with at-risk students who have academic, attendance or behavior issues in a much more holistic manner than a typical school counselor. Her work with kids is often about things in their lives that extend beyond the school day and beyond the school walls."

In her nomination letter, Mrs. Vickie Willier, Exeter's 5-8 Special Education Supervisor, wrote: "Our students are struggling, our resources are strained, and our programming development has shifted. In the gray areas between IEP service and medical need, there can exist a disconnect that becomes a student’s biggest barrier to school success. And while these barriers are very real and can feel impossible to displace, Exeter is able to do just that through (her) tireless work."

Anyone who works with Mrs. Lenart describes her as creatively able to bridge school and community agencies for students and families by tapping into a wide network of resources that she's built during her 20-year career in Exeter. But Mr. Campbell noted that it's also Mrs. Lenart's ability to build relationships that makes her such a valuable asset to the Exeter student community. "She has a wonderful ability and skill to develop trusting relationships with both students and families." Indeed, in her nomination, Mrs. Willier echoed Mr. Campbell's thoughts: "If you don’t know Alycia personally, you most certainly have a friend of a friend or a cousin who does, as she seems to know, have graduated with, be related to, or is somehow connected to everyone in Berks County and she will not hesitate to ask for a favor! She is well respected by clinicians, and routinely can find appointment openings, funding streams, and opportunities for students where there seemed to be none."

Mrs. Willier noted that the work that Mrs. Lenart puts in daily is rewarded when she sees students she's worked with receive their diplomas on graduation night: "If you ever need to be reminded why we each do the work we do, stand with Alycia at our high school graduation ceremony. She is easily one of the most sought after hugs from our graduates, who melt into her with gratitude and relief on the night they receive their diplomas. She is often the unilateral support that created their path to success... She is often the only one they are looking for in the crowd."

The Annie Sullivan Award is given in recognition of an individual who has worked to encourage the understanding and promotion of students with disabilities in his or her school or community. Annie Sullivan was Helen Keller’s devoted teacher and mentor who was nearly blind herself. After treatment, she regained her sight and committed herself to teaching the blind and deaf. Our warmest congratulations to Mrs. Lenart and her fellow nominees for their heart-felt and dedicated work for students throughout Berks County.

Exeter Releases Winter Data Report

During the March 19th Board of School Directors' meeting, Dr. Josh Hoyt, Director of Teaching and Learning, presented the winter results of Exeter's benchmark testing, which gives the teachers and the administration a spot check on student progress and academic growth throughout the district. Mrs. Becky Bush, Supervisor of Literacy and ESL, presented updated Acadience and Star assessment results for the elementary grades; while Dr. Joe Alcaro, Supervisor of Mathematics and Academic Enrichment, presented CDT data given at the secondary grades. In nearly all areas, Exeter students showed improvement and growth from the beginning of the year. 

While the team reminded those in attendance that these tests are only a snapshot of student abilities and are helpful in predicting early literacy skills and success on state assessments, they illustrated how valuable the tests are for teachers to make real-time strategic instructional shifts in their classrooms in response to their students’ scores. For example, they cited winter data in Lorane that showed gaps in student growth. Through a series of instructional strategies that teachers immediately implemented, students were able to drastically increase their scores just a few weeks later on follow-up Progress Monitoring tests.  

Internship Spotlight: Madison Grider

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Madison Grider is a senior completing an internship at FXV Digital Design, a marketing agency in Wyomissing. Freddy Vasquez, owner, says he's impressed with how helpful Maddie's been to his agency--particularly with creating content for social media: "Maddie is absolutely remarkable! Since she became part of our team, she's swiftly become the go-to person for our TikTok content, enhancing our consistency--a key ingredient in our formula for success!" However, he said that he's even more impressed with Maddie's work ethic, which has given her an opportunity to return to FXV following her internship: "While it's feasible to teach someone various skills, imbuing them with genuine character and a robust work ethic is a different ball game. Maddie has integrated wonderfully with our team, building strong relationships and steadily gaining confidence in her decision-making and social interactions," he said. "We champion individuality and confidence in idea-sharing among our staff--it's what fuels a team's passion and originality. Maddie has genuinely become an integral part of the FXV Digital Design family, and we're hopeful she'll choose to continue her journey with us after her internship."

Maddie, can you tell us a bit about what your plans are for after graduation? Have you selected a college and a major?

After graduation, I will be attending Penn State University Park in the fall, studying under the College of Information Sciences and Technology. I am super excited to explore my major, which is called Human-Centered Design and Development.

Can you tell us a bit about your internship? What does a typical day look like for you?

My schedule is generally pretty relaxed. My typical work consists of tasks related to social media management and also content creation and planning. So far I’ve worked on blog posts, which require lots of research and copywriting, as well as TikTok videos, which I get to script, film, and then edit for FXV’s social media.

How did you select your internship? Did someone help you select it? Did you seek out the opportunity on your own? Were you asked to do the internship?

I selected this internship because it was extremely intriguing to me and I also just wanted to get some more work experience before stepping into the real world. Mr. Ricketts, the internship coordinator at Exeter Township Senior High School, was a big help with finding an internship that felt like a good fit. I wasn’t really sure where to start initially, but Mr. Ricketts provided me with tons of resources and we ultimately selected FXV. Soon after deciding on the internship, I met with my mentor and it felt like it was going to be a great environment. The entire team at FXV Digital Design has been so great to work with and they have made me feel so comfortable.

Do you think your internship is helping you feel more confident about your decision to go to college and pursue your major?

I would say so! Even though my major doesn’t revolve around social media management or content creation, this internship has helped me learn many real-world skills that I can use when I get to college. I have become a more confident and outspoken person since starting this internship, and this makes me convinced that I can conquer any challenges that college might throw at me.

What do you like most about your internship? 

The thing that I like most about my internship is that I get to work on a variety of assignments in a given week. I never find myself bored or without something to keep me busy. I love that I get to acquire many different skills through the diverse projects I work on.

And finally, what would be your advice to a high school student who's thinking about Exeter's internship program?

My advice to a high school student thinking about getting involved in the Exeter internship program is to do it! Even if you don’t know where you want to intern, take advantage of the opportunity. There are endless options for you to explore and you will definitely be able to find an internship that interests you. Get out of your comfort zone and try something new, you never know what might come out of it!

Senior High Students Prepare Meal for 60 Women & Children

student cooks chicken in a pan
students chop broccoli and prepare food in a classroom
students chop broccoli and prepare food in a classroom
On days when they cook for schoolwork, Senior High students in Food & Nutrition, Sports Nutrition and Life 101 classes usually eat their own culinary creations. But today, students worked with extra care and attention to prepare meals they will never taste: By the end of today, six classes will have spent the day preparing a dinner of 12 pounds of garlic parmesan pasta with chicken and vegetables; four large garden salads with homemade ranch dressing; and blueberry, cherry and apple sheet cakes to give to those who are sheltered by Safe Berks, an organization that provides emergency housing and services to women and children affected by domestic violence or sexual assault. 
When Mrs. Preston introduced the idea to her classes, she said she could feel a shift in the room where everyone was fully paying attention to the assignment. "They were really taken aback by the purpose of the organization. They understood the gravity of the assignment and the power behind a good meal for people in need." The recipes they selected are a normal part of their curriculum and something they could easily scale up and transport to feed approximately 60 people at Safe Berks--a number that shocked many of the students. "I think they were surprised that there was an organization this big in Berks County to work specifically with victims of domestic and sexual abuse," said Mrs. Preston. "I think there was a realization among the students that they don't know everyone's story."
Typically, the Food and Consumer Science Department does not have the funds to purchase the ingredients to cook a meal of this magnitude, but thanks to a local philanthropic couple's donation of the ingredients and an offer to transport the meal from the high school to the shelter, the department was able make the project work. "If we had the funds for it, our department would love the opportunity to do this once a semester," said Mrs. Anne Thomas. "It's been a rewarding experience for everyone and gives us an opportunity for our students to help those who are less fortunate than themselves."

Science Olympiad Students Earn Medals at Regional Competition

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Senior High Science Olympiad Team

2024 JH Science Olympiad team

Junior High Science Olympiad Team

students pose wearing medals from academic competition

Zander Bogust and Alex Boyer

3rd place Tower

Michael Jordan and Owen Schafer

students pose wearing medals from academic competition

Juliana Nerney and Phillip Lake

students pose wearing medals from academic competition

Hansika Kunduru and Addison McKittrick

students pose wearing medals from academic competition

Shaun Rathman and Gillian Foster

students pose wearing medals from academic competition

Meredith Batz and Katie Hoover

students pose wearing medals from academic competition

Gillian Foster and Katie Hoover

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Audrey Gierlich and Shaun Rathman

What a week for science in Exeter! This week, Senior High and Junior High students competed at the regional Science Olympiad at Kutztown University against 27 other schools from Berks, Lehigh, Northumberland, Northampton and Schuylkill counties. The Senior High team placed 6th, qualifying them for the State Tournament in Altoona in late April. Additionally, six teams earned medals, including:

  • • Juliana Nerney and Phillip Lake in the Scramble
  • • Hansika Kunduru and Addison McKittrick in Anatomy & Physiology
  • • Shaun Rathman and Gillian Foster in Fossils
  • • Meredith Batz and Katie Hoover in Wind Power
  • • Gillian Foster and Katie Hoover in Geologic Mapping
  • • Audrey Gierlich and Shaun Rathman in Astronomy

 

At the Junior High level, Alex Boyer and Zander Bogust placed 2nd in “Write It Do It” and Michael Jordan and Owen Schafer placed 3rd in the Tower Building event.

Founded in 1984, Science Olympiad is the premier team STEM competition in the nation, providing standards-based challenges to 6,000 teams at 425 tournaments in all 50 states. During tournaments, students test their knowledge in many different areas of science, including earth science, biology, chemistry, physics or engineering, such as building structures, creating design logs and data tables, and completing lab practicals or exams. The teams are advised by Mr. Will Lasky and Mrs. Amber Bollinger at the Senior High and Mrs. Tracy Powell and Mrs. Gretchen Hess at the Junior High.

Congratulations to all of our STEM students who represented Exeter in tournaments this week, and best of luck to our students who will be continuing to represent Exeter at the state level next month!

Elementary Students Solve Real-World Problems Using K’Nex

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The Exeter Elementary Engineering Elves (aka E to the 4th Power) from Jacksonwald: Yossef Flecha, Elliot Lloyd, Aria Papst, and Lillian Cocozza (not pictured)

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The Turtle Titans from Owatin Creek: Felicity Bluestone, Scarlet Jordan, Oliver Scaccia and Natalie Lamborn

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Lorane's Exeter Eliminators: Rowan Ouimet, Autumn Schlosser and Aaron Kravetz

Teams of fourth-grade students from Jacksonwald, Lorane and Owatin Creek dreamt up new innovations to solve modern-day problems using just K'Nex building pieces, teamwork, and a whole lotta brain power during the 2024 BCIU STEM Design Challenge held this week at the Berks County Intermediate Unit. The design competition challenges teams of four students from each elementary school to build a unique prototype using K'Nex building pieces. To prepare for the competition, teams spent several weeks before the competition working together to identify a modern-day problem, imagining a prototype that they could build to solve that problem, creating computer-designed blueprints and models using CAD software, and then practicing building their finalized prototype using K'Nex. Along the way, students documented the process by keeping a design notebook and writing a script for their design presentation. When the challenge day actually arrived, teams had just two hours to build their K'Nex prototype from scratch and less than two minutes to impress and wow the judges with their presentation

This year, students dreamt up designs to try to increase food production for Pennsylvania farmers. The Exeter Elementary Engineering Elves (aka E to the 4th Power) from Jacksonwald [Yossef Flecha, Elliot Lloyd, Aria Papst, and Lillian Cocozza (not pictured)] created an Elf Bot, which is a solar-powered automated tractor that digs holes, plants seeds and waters crops. The Turtle Titans from Owatin Creek (Felicity Bluestone, Scarlet Jordan, Oliver Scaccia and Natalie Lamborn) made Big Timmy the TractorBot, which features solar panels on the roof, sensors that work with GPS, pokers that make holes, a seed dispenser and a water sprinkling system. Lorane's Exeter Eliminators (Rowan Ouimet, Autumn Schlosser and Aaron Kravetz) made a drone that sends signals to roving scarecrows that can also zap weeds with an electric shock. Although Exeter didn't place in this year's competition, they had a great day of thinking, creating, presenting and competing against other Berks County schools!