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Exeter Township Junior High

Grades 7-8 | 610-779-3320

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Directory

Exeter Township Junior High

151 East 39th Street | Reading, PA 19606
(610) 779-3320

Click Here For A Searchable Directory
  • Office

    x3004 Alex Brown, Principal
    x3003 Melissa Taylor, Assistant Principal
    x3001 Susan Purr, Attendance Secretary
    x3002 Patti Suruskie, Secretary

  • Counseling & Guidance

    x3015 Autumn Rheaume, Counselor A-L
    x3014 Kimberly Wickstrom, Counselor M-Z
    x3012 Shannon Buser, Secretary

  • Nurse

    x3016 Kathy Blume

  • Psychologist

    x3006 Chad Rutherford

  • Technology Support

    x3209 Carole McGarry

Note: Faculty phone numbers go to voice mail during school hours

  • Art

    x3214 Ryan Breton
    x3108 Kimberly Lopez

  • Computer Applications

    x3116 Kevin Adams

  • English & Reading

    x3103 Sophie Cannon
    x3104 Alexandria Embert
    x3211 Megan Heller
    x3105 Cheryl Larson
    x3106 Alison Patton
    x3219 Nina Reynolds
    x3117 Brindusa Said
    x3102 Stephanie Walters

  • Fitness & Wellness

    x3126 Anna McNutt
    x3127 Ryan Thomas

  • Librarian

    x3008 Kate Sowers

  • Mathematics

    x3306 Kelvin Altemose
    x3303 Laura DeLong
    x3301 Scott Haag
    x3305 Sara Prout
    x3302 Shawn Seidel
    x3304 Kathy Topper

  • Music

    x3122 Micah Albrycht
    x3123 Melissa Crotty
    x3221 Kyle Luckenbill

  • Science

    x3208 Meredith Heffner
    x3207 Gretchen Hess
    x3205 Brenda Kobie
    x3203 Tracy Powell
    x3206 Darryl Schucker

  • Social Studies

    x3202 Brad Galuska
    x3218 Cynthia Jurasinski-Boyer
    x3201 Janine Lucas
    x3227 Mike Noecker
    x3226 Mackenzie Ricketts

  • Special Education

    x3215 Ryan Contento, Learning Support
    x3210 Abigail Elsavage, Learning Support
    x3114, Justin Blatt, Gifted
    x3216 Amy Lubenow, Emotional Support
    x3113 Alyssa Raab, Life Skills
    x3101 Michelle Raccuglia, Learning Support
    x3215 Alaina Tunnell, Learning Support
    x3220 Sara Werner, Learning Support

  • Technology Education

    x3206 Darryl Schucker
    x3111 Zachary Schools
    x3224 Jason Zalno

  • Therapist

    x3217 Kristin Swartley, Speech Therapist

  • World Languages

    x3112 Cory DiGuardi, German
    x3212 Nichole Mandel, Spanish,
    x3219 Nina Reynolds, French

Home » JHS Students Published in Micro-Short Story Anthology

The first rule of “Fright Club” is that budding fiction writers 10-18 years old must craft a spooky story of 100 words or fewer to enter into a nationwide contest.

The second rule of “Fright Club” is that if you succeed in writing a spine-tingling mini saga that captures the attention of the “Fright Club” book editors, your story will be published in a book.

Thanks to their vivid imaginations and skill at writing extremely short stories, three Junior High students, Zoey Hoffman, Kevin Speakman and Holly Lange, are now published authors featured in this year’s “Fright Club: In the Shadows” anthology. The contest, which is sponsored by Young Writers USA, encouraged young writers to dream up an original tale told in fewer than 100 words that highlights tension, suspense and atmosphere. Using prompts to kickstart their imaginations, such as “my friends dared me to knock,” or “I didn’t believe in ghosts until…” Kevin’s story, “The Abandoned Shadow,” tells the tale of two boys exploring an abandoned factory near their school, while Zoey’s story, The Dyatlov Pass,” grips the reader as an unknown creature chases nine men from a tent in the snow, ripping out the eyes and tongues of those it captures. Holly’s story, “Happi’s Carnival,” details the narrator’s capture at a carnival as she’s thrown into a cobweb-strewn room.

All three students wrote their stories outsides of class time and entered the contest on their own after seeing a poster hung outside of Mrs. Cheryl Larson’s classroom. All three students say they enjoy creative projects, and were inspired to enter based on their own interests outside of school. “I have a passion for writing, especially historical fiction” said Kevin, 8th grade, as he described a new piece about a zombie plague set in 1899 in southwest America that he’s currently writing. Zoey, also in 8th grade, was inspired by her fascination of real-life events and based her fictional story on the account of the real Dyatlov Pass incident in the Soviet Union during the late 1950s. Holly, 7th grade, an aspiring story writer, lyricist and singer, said her idea for the carnival just popped into her head–which was the easy part, she said with a laugh. The real challenge was trimming her story down to 100 words, but “it was worth it in the end” as her mom bought several books for her to sign and give away to friends and family.

Young Writers USA says it has engaged students in more than 20,000 schools across the US with its writing contests and says that they are meant to turn young authors into confident and passionate writers by seeing their stories in print. Mrs. Larson said that, plus the intrigue of the 100-word limit, are what prompted her to advertise the contest to her students: “All of the stories (in the book) are very, very short, and I think when students are accelerated writers they have a lot to say, so it’s a task in and of itself to keep it short,” she said. Because of this, she said that it was really an “honor” to have three Exeter students selected to be published in the book, which was just released on April 7th, and will be available online at www.youngwritersusa.com. Congratulations Zoey, Kevin and Holly! 

Exeter Township Junior High School

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Address & Contact Info

  • 151 East 39th Street
    Reading, PA 19606

  • District Phone:
    610-779-3320

  • Fax:
    610-249-0171

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Our Schools

Exeter Township Senior High

Exeter Township Junior High

Reiffton School

Jacksonwald Elementary

Lorane Elementary

Owatin Creek Elementary