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Four seniors work juried into Scholastic 144 competition

students hold artwork

Congratulations to seniors Morgan Herb, Katie Ryan, McKenna Barker and Gabby Istenes for having their artwork juried into the Scholastic 144 competition at Shippensburg University. Their work, which could not exceed a combined 144 inches (hence the name of the competition), will be on display at the Kaufmann Gallery from November 5th through the 12th, and will be featured afterwards on their web gallery until March 1st.

Morgan's work, which was created in watercolor, depicts a young woman with her tongue tied--a nod to her childhood experience of having a speech impediment. Katie's colorful gouache work depicts a scene from the Smoky Mountains, which is where she vacationed this past summer. McKenna's oil pastel art is a moody, blue-hued introspective self portrait. Gabby also created a brightly-colored self portrait with colored pencils that depicts her favorite things, such as swimming, flowers and butterflies.

The students, who are all seniors, will have a chance to compete against other Pennsylvania and Maryland students to win awards up to $1,000.

Author Jordan Sonnenblick Drums Up Enthusiasm for Writing at ETJH

band plays in junior high auditorium
jordan sonnenblick teaches students during a writing workshop

Most visiting authors usually open a school assembly with a funny story, a reading from one of their books, or some sort of PowerPoint presentation. But when Mr. Jordan Sonnenblick, the acclaimed young adult author of books such as “Drums, Girls + Dangerous Pie,” and “Zen and the Art of Faking It,” came to Exeter Township Junior High today, he opened his assembly behind the drums. 

Music is a central theme of many of Mr. Sonnenblick’s young adult novels, often with his teenage characters finding solace, healing or popularity behind a drum, guitar or saxophone. So it was only natural for Exeter librarian Mrs. Kate Sowers to ask Mr. Sonnenblick if he wanted to incorporate music into his assembly and play with the Junior High's famed teacher-fronted rock band, “The Early Dismissals,” when he first came to visit the school in 2018. Fast forward five years later, when Mrs. Sowers invited him back, Mr. Sonnenblick happily accepted with a light-hearted caveat, “Only if we can get the band back together.”

Besides playing the drums today, Mr. Sonnenblick will focus a full day on inspiring 7th and 8th grade students to become better writers in writing workshops, assemblies and book signings. But, somewhat ironically, it was a student who inspired him to become a writer when he was an 8th grade English teacher and had a student in his classroom who was dealing with a sibling’s cancer diagnosis. As he explained to a hushed and packed auditorium this morning, in an attempt to help her, he looked for a book where the character was going through a similar situation–and came up empty-handed. It was then that he dedicated his nights and weekends to writing a similar story, which eventually became his debut novel, “Drums, Girls + Dangerous Pie.” 

That book, written in 2004, is now being read by all 7th grade students in Exeter, which was a purposeful and thoughtful decision among the reading teachers to coincide with Mr. Sonnenblick’s visit as students had a chance to meet, talk with, learn from and be inspired by an author they were able to meet in person said Mrs. Sowers. “I hope Jordan’s visit today will help them learn a little bit more about the process, practice and hard work it takes to be a writer,” she said, continuing, “But I also hope that it inspires them to see that if he can do this, I can do this, and that their stories are important.”

Senior High Students Prepare for their Futures During College & Career Readiness Day

students listen to tour guide at alvernia university
students gather on bridge at college

Yesterday, students at the Senior High all had a chance to dream, plan and start preparing for their futures during Exeter's first-ever College & Career Readiness Day. This event, which was held at many schools across the nation yesterday, offered all sophomores and juniors an opportunity to take the PSAT during school hours. The PSAT gives students and their families valuable insight and practice to take the SAT for college admissions, and allows juniors with qualifying scores the opportunity to earn prestigious scholarships and national merit recognition. While 10th and 11th graders worked on their exams, freshmen worked in Naviance on entrepreneurship activities and completed other grade-level activities and meetings. Seniors who chose to come to school listened to presentations from RACC, CareerLink and the Dream Team of Berks County. 

The majority of seniors, however, opted to arrange their own independent college visits, independent job shadowing experiences or enjoyed a tour and lunch at a local university on school-sponsored trips to Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology and Millersville University or RACC and Alvernia University. 

Senior High Principal Tom Campbell said he chose to dedicate a day for College and Career Readiness because it demonstrates the district’s commitment to have each student college or career ready by graduation–an initiative, he says, that has to begin in 9th grade. Assistant Principal Julie Davis said that students were already providing great feedback about the day. “Seniors were so excited about their opportunities to spend a day away from school to really focus on taking their next steps after graduation. We heard great feedback all afternoon as students said they were wowed by the experiences they chose.” 

Although the day was a massive undertaking to organize different activities for different grade levels and students with different interests after graduation, the principals said that the effort truly seemed to be appreciated by students and their families. “Parents expressed thanks for organizing the PSAT opportunity, and students showed up yesterday prepared to test and committed to do their best,” said Mr. Campbell, continuing, “Meanwhile, our seniors really appreciated the opportunity to take a day to tour colleges or arrange a job shadowing experience that they may not have done on their own or when it required missing a day of school.”

Merriment meets Exeter Students at Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

Huzzah! Throngs of junior and senior high masters and mistresses and lords and ladies merrily attended the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire last week to sing, act and soak up history–and just be soaked thanks to the rainy weather. The joint field trip saw junior high music students perform for the festival goers, and Mrs. Burkhart’s 8th grade accelerated social studies class took part in a wedding, watched jousting matches and noshed on turkey legs and exotic jerky. Senior high students from Mr. Wickstrom’s Creative Expressions class performed a scene from “Macbeth” in a theater competition, which students spent a month preparing for in class by rehearsing lines, assembling props and creating costumes–as well as gory special effects for a vengeful ghost. 

Nay. Although Exeter’s theatrical and musical performances did not win the day, Mr. Wickstrom said that the students left feeling great about their efforts and learned a lot throughout the experience. Mrs. Burkhart agreed. “The experience they had outside the classroom was absolutely amazing! I think students loved the most that everyone at the faire stayed in character and interacted with them throughout the day.”

Two Exeter Students Take Home “Top Company” During PFEW Camp

students pose in classroom

Pictured: Sydney Steinmetz, Malayna Spiller, Isaiah Choy, Johnathan Newnham and Owen Davis. (Missing: Madison Monroe) 

Along with more than 2,000 students and 250 business executives from across Pennsylvania, six Exeter students took a week out of their summer this past year to adopt an underperforming fictitious business, manage it through computer simulations and hands-on activities, and present their results to a panel of judges in an effort to beat out their competition and earn the title of “Top Company.” Working in teams with students across the state, Exeter’s Isaiah Choy, Owen Davis, Madison Monroe, Johnathan Newnham, Malayna Spiller and Sydney Steinmetz participated in the competition during various times in the summer and were placed on different teams. During their experience, they were mentored by business leaders and motivational speakers as they were immersed into the business world to handle finance, marketing, management, production and more. At the end of the competition, Sydney’s and Isaiah’s teams both won “Top Company” during their respective weeks of the competition. 

Sherri McGaffin, an Exeter business teacher who teaches courses on marketing, entrepreneurship and business law, encourages students (and their parents) to consider the week-long experience, which also gives students a taste of college life as they live in a dormitory at either Lycoming College or Pennsylvania College of Technology–both of whom offer scholarships up to $20,000 to camp graduates if they choose to attend that college after graduation. Explaining how the experience provides a real glimpse into the world of business and is a unique channel for resume building and networking, Mrs. McGaffin added, “Every student who’s attended says nothing but wonderful things about it.”

Students, who are a mix of juniors and seniors, also said that the experience really helped solidify their plans after high school. Malayna said she was initially interested in pursuing a career in graphic design or finance, but she said that experience changed her mind, “I just really fell in love with marketing during the week.” Isaiah had planned to go to college for accounting, and was glad he had the opportunity to act as CFO of his fictitious company. “It really amplified my passion for accounting,” he said. “It made me realize that this is what I really want to do.”

Homecoming King & Queen Crowned; Matt Bauer wins 100th game

Congratulations to Chase Cupitt and Becca Zilinski who were crowned Homecoming King and Queen tonight at halftime during Exeter's win over Muhlenberg. The game was also a milestone victory for head football coach Matt Bauer, who celebrated his 100th win with his team and his family.
Chase and Becca were joined by their Court, who included Kyle Stech, Sean Creamer, Brandon Davis, Matthew Dorn, Regina Ramirez-Sastre, Aashveen Randhawa, Summer Turczynski and Abby Renninger. Congratulations to all!