also generously gave the Pheas-

ants Forever Program over

three hundred dollars.

The Day of Giving As-

sembly hosted some great

speakers as well, Sergeant Ma-

jor Todd Parisi, David Smith

and his mother, and a guest

speaker from Pheasants For-

ever.

As they celebrate their

hard work this year, they are

ready to prepare for fundraising

next year. Giving is always the

best way to give back. Article by: Allison Adamski

The Day of Giving As-

sembly is an annual event that

occurs at the middle school. The

money that has been raised over

the course of the school year is

collected and donated to vari-

ous organizations. During this

years Penny War there was

over one thousand dollars

raised, the money is donated

by the middle school to bene-

fit people and charities in the

community. The 2017 Day of

Giving Assembly took place

May 8.

With the money raised the

middle school was able to do-

nate five hundred and seventy dol-

lars to Multiple Sclerosis Re-

search, and fifth grader David

Smith who was recently diagnosed

with leukemia. The middle school

The 8th grade class will

soon be celebrating their three-year

adventure through the middle

school. On Thursday, June 1, the 8th

graders will be going to Matricula-

tion, where they graduate from the

middle school and matriculate to

the High School. Some of the 8th

graders are very excited while other

students aren’t so excited.

Many 8th graders are curi-

ous about what Matriculation actually

is and what they will be required to

do. When asked, Ms. Klein said that

the 8th graders will sit in Semi-

alphabetical rows, then when the stu-

dent's name is called, they will walk

up and shake hands with school offi-

cials and get middle school

“Diplomas”. Guest speakers will

speak, as well as the new middle

school principal Mrs. Petrosky. Also,

class officers will speak, saying

what happened over the course of

the school year. When that’s over,

they will walk back to the middle

school and have a celebration

complete with food, drinks, and

activities. Parents will pick the

students up at 9:30, then one more

half-day and the school year is

over.

Article by: Jack Donaldson

D A Y O F G I V I N G A S S E M B L Y

Looking Forward to Matriculation

The Dutchman Gazette

May 31, 2017 Volume 2, Issue 4

S T . M A R Y S M I D D L E S C H O O L

Dutchman Gazette Staff:

Editor & Chief: Hailey Anders & Angelina Steffan Head Proofreader: Kaitlyn Schlimm

Head Photographer: Irelynn Schreiber & Emily Kowalski Logo Design: Samantha Hayes

The Day of Giving assembly provided stu-

dents the opportunity to meet the people that

they helped with their fundraising.

On April 11, Mr.

Casey taught the 6th grad-ers about what life is like

in the military. The event

was held

in the LGI during 3rd p e r i o d

and Mr. C a s e y , who has

been in the mili-

tary for m a n y years, was

able to give many

examples about the life

of a military man. Mr. Casey also

talked about what hap-

pens when a soldier gets

an injury and how the wounded soldier is evacuated to a hospital

for care. The 6th grade was very interested in Mr. Casey’s presentation

and all the videos he showed. He even let them

lay in military like carri-ers for injuries. The pres-entation gave the 6th

grade class an up close and personal learning ex-perience.

Article by: Gina Salvaggio

the tanks, feeding them, and giving them salt.

There is also a greenhouse by the out-door classroom and club members can take care of different types of

plants too! In the spring the club members are re-warded by being able to stock the fish. On the day of the trip the fish will get loaded into a huge tank on a truck to be transported to their new location. The first stop is usually the creek that runs by the BV school, unloading around 150-200 fish. Then, the

next stop is Medix Run and the students go up and down the creek to put in what-ever’s left. When the tank is empty Mr. Fordoski will take about five students back to the outdoor classroom to re-fill the tank. The other stu-dents will take the bus and they will all meet at Sawmill Run, the last place to stock the fish.

After all of the fish have been delivered every-one goes back to the out-door classroom to clean up.

Article by: Tyler Byrd

Fish Club, with Mr. Fordoski in charge, is a club that takes care of fish and plants. Fish club starts at the beginning of the school year when Mr. Fordoski gets a lot of fish from a fish hatchery and places them in three large tanks in the outdoor classroom. Throughout the year, the club members take care of the fish by cleaning

M r . C a s e y T e l l s 6 t h G r a d e r s A b o u t

L i f e i n t h e M i l i t a r y

P a g e 2

Fish Club’s Stocking Fish Field Trip

T h e D u t c h m a n G a z e t t e

Mr. Casey discusses military life with the 6th graders. Vid-

eos and hands on activities were included in the presentation.

St. Marys. They left

school early one day

and went to the plant

and toured it. After

that they went back

and shot a lot of film

around the plant. They

had to film machines

working, the employ-

ees working, and they

had to interview some

of the employees to get more

information about the

plant. When they were done

filming and getting all the

videos they needed they went

back to school and spent

months editing and putting

the video together. Then

when the video was com-

pleted, they sent it to a PBS

editor and he checked the

video and gave tips to the

team on what they should

change, then the voting be-

gan.

On March 28 the team

went to the Red Fern in Ker-

sey, PA for the award cere-

mony. To their surprise, they

won the Outstanding Creativ-

ity Award, but that is not all

as they also won the Viewer’s

Choice Award! The team re-

ceived a plaque and two large

banners for winning the two

awards. The team was very

proud and went back home

with two victories. They

were also invited to attend the

PA Wilds dinner at the Du-

bois Country Club. The

team is hoping to carry this

victory to next year and win

once more. Article by: Dylan Aiello

end of the day, all the

students went to their

homerooms where a

movie was broadcasted

throughout the school.

The movie we watched

was Disney’s Moana. In

Moana, the main charac-

ter is picked by the ocean to

stop a terrible curse put on her

and family’s island. During

her quest, she meets Maui,

who once was a powerful

demigod. Together they sail

across the ocean. They face

many challenges but they also

We won! The Dream

It Do It contest and the entire

school got to celebrate the

win by watching a Disney

movie.

On April 11, we

started our school day with a

shortened schedule. At the

discover more about them-

selves. In the end, the curse is

lifted and the people of the

island are safe.

The Dream It Do It

team and staff members came

around to all of the home-

rooms and distributed pop-

corn and lemonade for every-

one to enjoy throughout the

movie. The movie was a

great way to celebrate win-

ning the Dream It Do It con-

test and a wonderful way to

begin spring break. Article by: Breanna Marconi

D r e a m I t D o I t T e a m W i n s A w a r d s

E n t i r e M i d d l e S c h o o l C e l e b r a t e s

C o n t e s t W i n !

P a g e 3 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 4

The Dream It Do It

consists of Aidan Bobik,

Simon Sheeley, Dylan Aiello,

Abby Erich, Tessa Reed, and

their coach Ms. Gigliotti. The

team had to make a video

about “What’s so cool about

manufacturing.”

The team selected a

powdered metal plant to fea-

ture in their video

about. Their choice was Ho-

rizon Technology located in

Members of the Dream It Do It team at the Red

Fern receiving the Viewer’s Choice Award.

On April 11, an as-

sembly was held at the high

school with comedian

Stanley Pearson. This pres-

entation was not only funny

but very inspiring.

Stanley came from

Atlanta to talk to our school

about being “different” in

your own way. Stanley has

talked to schools around the

country. He was telling the

school about his trip to At-

lanta and the people sur-

rounding him in-

cluding a little girl

who approached

him and asked him

to see his phone.

The little girl asked

him “what was on

his phone.” Stan

showed her his

phone, it was a pic-

ture of his fiancée.

The little girl replied by say-

ing “she is very beautiful.”

Stan said that even though

you might not want to give

someone a chance that if

you do just for a second you

may find out that they are a

really good person like Stan

meeting the little girl.

Stanley or “Stan the

man” talked about being a

teacher too. He had men-

tioned that he had been the

lead speaker for his school

and he would speak for the ad-

ministrator. That's where he also

said that he taught Spanish.

Stan mentioned his niece and

said that he would train her and

that your brain can be taught

through actions. He said that he

dropped a bottle while walking

one day, Stan said he stood

there in some kind of trace star-

ing at the bottle and his niece

picked it up and threw it away

that action in her mind taught

her to clean up after herself and

others; this is a valuable lesson

for someone of that age and also

of any age.

Throughout this whole

presentation Stan was trying to

get people to see that you can be

different and you can be great if

you choose to and if you want

to be great, it's all up to you!

Article by: Drake Caskey

from the park. Many fundrais-ers are created throughout their time at the middle school to help cover the ex-penses, so most of the money is raised by the stu-dents.

Chocolate is some-thing most people love. Her-shey Park is always a fun time, and chocolate makes it ten times better! Hershey Park offers a free tour on how the chocolate is made, and sometimes even a free sample. The trip is both fun and educational. The oppor-

One thing most 8th graders look forward to at the end of the year is their trip to Hershey Park. Hershey Park is an amusement park with many roller coaster rides. Students get the luxury of taking a coach bus to and

tunity to go to this park is great since most students have never been there before. Students are given the opportunity to roam around the park as they please and ride any of the 13 thrilling rides they want to. The Storm Runner is a very popular ride at Hershey; It reaches a height of 150 feet and catapults riders from 0 to 72 MPH in two sec-onds. This is incredible! The park is amazing, and students enjoy this trip every year.

Article by: Josey Curley

C o m e d y F o r A C a u s e

8 t h G r a d e r s H e a d t o H e r s h e y P a r k

P a g e 4 T h e D u t c h m a n G a z e t t e

Motivational speaker and comedian Stanley

Pearson preformed for the middle & high

school students.

Hershey Park Sidewinder

their travels to several different

schools to compete against

other Junior High students.

Back in late winter,

Mr. Straub came in during

lunch to ask students to sign up

for spring sports. During these

sign ups, around 50 students

signed up for the Track and

Field team. Forty of those stu-

dents that signed up partici-

pated in the sport. Each mem-

ber of the team helped the team

have a great season.

Every day the team

practiced from three to five

o’clock after school. These

practices were always tough to

get through because of the dif-

ficult workouts, but no one can

deny the great results at the

meets. At each meet, the team

always had members in several

events and the students always

did well.

Through every rainy

day and difficult practice, the

team showed how hardworking

and determined they were. It

is one of the best team sports

because of how close everyone

on the team became. For any-

one interested in signing up, go

for it. It is a great experience. Article by: Angelina Steffan

ing young adults what to do if they notice a friend or family member show-ing signs of harming themselves or needing to talk to someone.

The video that was shown by Sierra told us about the ACT proce-dure. In the ACT proce-dure, “A” stands for Ac-

knowledge that your friend or family member has a problem, “C” stands for Care about the situation and not let it go, and “T” stands for Tell a trusted adult. If that trusted adult doesn't believe you keep tell-ing people that you trust until one of them listens. After watching the video, students were given a card as well as a pen that had the suicide hot-

On Tuesday, May 9th, 2017, The St. Marys Area Middle School had a Signs of Suicide assembly. A suicide counselor named Sierra Gilmore, came to the school and showed students a video on how to handle a situation in which a friend or family member shows signs of suicide or depression. Si-erra was very helpful teach-

line phone number in case they need to talk to someone anonymously. Students were also given a paper to fill out if they want to talk to someone in person, or if they thought someone else needed to.

In conclusion, some felt this program was a huge benefit for the safety of the students and their family members, along with friends. After going to the program, students at St. Marys Area Middle School are informed about the Signs of Suicide, and should be well informed on how to handle those types of situations.

By: Maddy Neil

J u n i o r H i g h T r a c k S e a s o n

S i g n s o f S u i c i d e A s s e m b l y H e l d

P a g e 5 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 4

Junior High Track and

Field is now finished with its

2017 season. This year, many

seventh and eighth grade boys

and girls participated. All of

the students who were in-

volved had to do a lot of work

every day at practice. These

practices prepared them for

Wallops Island is a field trip that a select group of 8th grade students go on. Guidance Counselor Mrs. Kate McGonnell takes the students on this trip where they will study science and biology. Wallops Island is on the coast of Virginia where they launch rockets and do many activities involving science. The students participated in many fundrais-ers to raise money for this trip including Jeff’s Jams and Sal-sas, North Country Kettle Corn and Joey’s Bakery. They also did tag days at Wal-Mart to help raise money for the trip. Every time a student went to Wal-Mart they separated all the money that was collected and distributed all the money equally to every student. That money went towards their ac-count for the trip. Also, there were many meetings discuss-ing the trip. They will be going on a boat trip, walking through the intertidal, search through dunes at the beach and walk-ing through a marsh. A week before the trip I

interviewed Janelle Krug, a student going on this trip, about many questions I was wonder-ing about. The first question I asked was what she is most excited for and why. “I am most excited for the intertidal be-cause I love searching for shells in the water.” said Janelle. The next question I asked was how much time and money did you spend leading up to this point in the trip? “I spent a lot of time with fund-raising a few months prior to the trip, to try to get my $500 fee to go and I ended up only owing $275 or so in the end.” Janelle said. Another question I asked was what encouraged her to want to go on this trip? Janelle said, “My mom told me that I had to try to go because it would be fun. Plus, I heard from other people that have gone that it is really fun.” The last question I asked was what she is least excited for whether it is the trip or the bus ride? “The bus trip there and back. I don’t like riding to somewhere because it seems like it takes

forever. And I dread com-ing back because I usually don’t want to leave.” said Janelle. I interviewed Janelle Krug again after the trip to ask her different questions about the trip. The first question I asked was what her favorite activity was. Janelle said “My favorite activity was the intertidal zone. We first had to walk through a flooded path to get to the water. While we were there, there was two main activities. Before we started though, our advi-sors went over some infor-

mation we needed. Then we be-gan to do the activities. We first used sifters to look for the different organisms in the sand. Then we used nets to try to catch organisms in the water. Four people would hold on to the nets. The other stu-dent linked arms farther up in the water and ran towards the nets. When the students got close enough, the people with the nets pulled them out of the water to see the organisms they caught.” I asked her if she was happy to be home or if she would have liked to stay longer. She said, “I was happy to be home because I missed my family and friends, but I would have loved to stay an extra few days without any labs and go to the ocean and do other fun stuff.” The last question I asked her was if she had fun. “Yes I did. I got to room with my close friends and stay up late talking. Plus, all the activities we did together made it ten times better.” said Janelle. Janelle had a very fun time on this trip and I enjoyed interviewing her about it.

Article by: Elizabeth Valine

8 t h G r a d e S t u d e n t s H e a d t o W a l l o p s

I s l a n d t o L e a r n a b o u t M a r i n e L i f e

P a g e 6 T h e D u t c h m a n G a z e t t e

ball and learn new

concepts. They also

founded this program

because they wanted

to develop kids into

mature and good ball

players so they can be

ready for when they

play High School ball.

The Junior High Base-

ball program started in early

March and is still going on

until the 15th of May. When

the program started, there

were 20 kids who signed up

to play and that would over

time, make the program split

into two even teams. One

team was called the red team,

and the other was called the

blue team. Since there were 2

teams created, every school

St. Marys faced, played 2

games against them so the red

and blue team could play.

Overall in the sea-

son, St. Marys played a total

of 14 games between the two

teams. Also, as a whole pro-

gram, St. Marys won 8

games, lost 4 times, and tied

twice. The last opponent the

program played was Johns-

town on Monday, May 15

and both the red and blue

team won. This program will

now occur yearly, and it will

be preparing ball players for

the next level for years to

come. Article by: Conner Bressler

quarter two to quarter

three. For the entire sixth

grade only 11% were not

yet passing all of their

classes, but 89% were!

Mrs. Petrosky read off

all of the names of the

students that made the

honor roll for the quarter,

45% of them did! This quar-

ter was a little different than

the quarters before. Instead of

giving out a McDonald's gift

certificate, to all of the stu-

dents that made the honor roll

their name was placed in a

bucket and one name was

chosen for a ten dollar Wal-

On Wednesday, April

19th, the sixth graders gath-

ered in the LGI for their final

academic assembly of the

year. The middle school Prin-

cipal Mrs. Petrosky was there

to deliver their quarter three

data. She was very impressed

by their improvements from

Mart gift card!

After the honor roll

name was called, Mrs. Petrosky

continued to tell the class about

their improvement`s between

the two quarters. There were

60% of the students who did

improve and only 40% did not

improve. Once again all of the

students who improved got

their name placed in a basket to

get once again a ten dollar Wal

-Mart Gift Card! The overall

sixth grade class average was

91%! What a great way to end

the last academic assembly of

the sixth grade year!

Article by: Skyelyr Bish

J u n i o r H i g h B a s e b a l l T e a m S t a r t e d

F i n a l S i x t h G r a d e A d a c e m i c A s s e m b l y

f o r t h e Y e a r

P a g e 7 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 4

Junior High Baseball

was a new program intro-

duced this year for the 7th

and 8th graders who wanted

to play school baseball. This

program was founded by

J o h n C o u d r i e t , P e t e

McMackin, and Frank Bouch

because they wanted to give

middle school students an

opportunity to play school

St. Marys Junior High

Softball had twenty-two play-

ers this year. The coaches for

the team were Bob Young,

Kendall Young, Bill Ma-

kufka, Jim Hansloven, and

Joe Lenze.

This was an inaugural

year with twelve games. They

faced Curwensville, Altoona,

Dubois Central Catholic, Du-

bois Area, and Elk County

Catholic. They won eight

games, lost two and tied two.

The girls had a fun season,

and were glad that Junior

High Softball started this

year.

The coaches did a

great job coaching the girls.

Many of the girls had never

played together before, but

they really worked well as a

team. Although they would

have liked to play better, they

had a lot of fun this season.

Practices were Monday

through Thursday with the

girls having a break on Fri-

days and the weekends. Over

all this inaugural season was a

good one and the girls are al-

ready looking forward to next

year.

Article by Kayli Zuback

ferent homerooms in a variety

of events. Some of these events

include capture the flag, kick

ball, football, baseball, and

mattball. There is also a dunk-

ing booth where students can

throw softballs to dunk their

fellow class members into a

The end of the year is

right around the corner and with

that comes many events we all

enjoy like the encampment, the

day of giving, and field day.

Field day is a tradition

where students are able to go

outside and compete against dif-

large container of water.

Field day is a day that

the students and teachers enjoy

and it’s a great way to end the

school year Article by: Bryce Schatz

advisors. Mrs. Penn has

been doing this for twelve

years. Mrs. Erich has been

doing this for fifteen years.

They have done a wonderful

job through the years. In

yearbook club they work on

the yearbook all year long,

taking pictures and writing

about all the events that have

happened. When they make

the yearbook, they get pic-

tures of sports, students and

staff. The cost to buy a year-

book is $25.00 and can be

ordered on line or by bringing

the money in to the advisors.

On the last day of

school, whoever bought a

yearbook will get theirs and

head to yearbook signing.

Whoever bought a yearbook

has a lot of memories to re-

member when you get older

and remember the things that

happened in years past. The

yearbook is a good thing to

remember all of the students

in your class. Article by: Jakob Schauer

Yearbook club has

been working hard on this

year’s book. They have been

staying after school to put

their best work and time into

the yearbook. Mrs. Penn and

Mrs. Erich are the Yearbook

J u n i o r H i g h S o f t b a l l B e c o m e s a n e w

S p o r t a t t h e M i d d l e S c h o o l

F i e l d D a y F u n !

P a g e 8

Y e a r b o o k C l u b P r e p a r e s f o r B o o k

D i s t r i b u t i o n

T h e D u t c h m a n G a z e t t e

Next off was the Middle

School Concert Band. They

played two numbers; Allegory

and highlights from Grease.

The High School “Pop” Choir

came next. They sang Some

Nights, Mack the Knife, and

Carry On My Wayward Son.

The High School Con-

cert Band took stage next.

Their numbers included: Into

The Storm and The Locomo-

tive Chase. The Middle

School Choirs then sang Lull-

abye (Goodnight, My Angel),

Tres canciones de los elemen-

tos, and He Never Failed Me

Yet which had two soloists.

Sara Kleppinger and Will

VanSlander.

The Elementary Band

would be the last individual

performance. Playing two

numbers; Gizmo and March

for a Fat Cat. There were

plenty of soloists throughout

the concert. Some were Any-

thing You Can Do was done

by Sara Kleppinger And Will

VanSlander. La Separazione

done by Anneliese Wolfanger

and Stubernic done by Paul

Gornati, Devin Williams, and

Alexandra Wolfanger. The

concert ended with a full

band performance of Let’s Go

Band. The all district concert

was great and all of the per-

formers did an amazing job. Article by: Elijah Bobenrieth

they then went on to learn

about what happened in

these death camps. To learn

what it was like they would

watch interviews on people

that had survived the Holo-

caust. After listening to dif-

ferent people’s stories they

went on to learn about Jews

that went into hiding to es-

cape persecution. They read part

of the diary of Anne Frank. They

also did a play about when she

and her family went into hiding.

The students of Mrs.

Smith’s class started to learn

about the Holocaust by doing a

survivor project. In the survivor

In the early days of

April, the students of Mrs. Penn

and Mrs. Smith began to learn

about the Holocaust. The stu-

dents of Mrs. Penn began about

learning different types of con-

centration camps. After having

learned about the different types

project each student picked a sur-

vivor and researched their life

story to present to the class. Af-

ter having researched this person

they made a butterfly and put

them in the hall so that everyone

could remember what had hap-

pened. After finishing with the

survivor project and the butter-

flies Mrs. Smith pulled up pic-

tures and her students had to

write down what they thought the

picture was of.

These activities and ac-

tivities like this help us to re-

member the Holocaust. Article by: Jessica Decker

A l l D i s t r i c t B a n d a n d C h o r u s C o n c e r t

E n g l i s h c l a s s e s L e a r n A b o u t

H o l o c a u s t

P a g e 9 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 4

The All District Band

and Chorus Concert was held

on Thursday, May 18. The St.

Marys High, Middle, along

with all of the elementary

schools were in attendance.

The concert was held in the

High School auditorium and

started at 6:30 PM.

The concert started off

with the Star Spangled Ban-

ner and Alma Mater. The

band directors included Mr.

Chris Gankosky, Mr. Ed

Schwer, Ms. Stephanie Metal

and Ms. Tiffany Gump. The

chorus directors included Ms.

Amy Sines and Mr. Adam

Brooks. The concert started

off with the Elementary Cho-

rus singing Animal Imagina-

tion, Shojojee and Kyrie.

Many students at the

St. Marys Area Middle

School will have or do have

Mr. Casey for eighth grade

English, but many do not

know that he is also a military

Major. Mr. Casey’s military

career started almost thirty-

six years ago. Using his past

experiences in the service, he

gave the sixth grade students

an inside look into what he

does for a living aside of

teaching. He talked to them

about his experiences and

also those of others in the ser-

vice.

In his career, he has

been deported six times since

9-11-02. One of the major

points that he talked about

was the amount of hospi-

tals, nurses, and heroes on

the field. Without these

brave nurses and doctors,

there would be no one to

help the wounded soldiers.

One issue that occurs in

these field hospitals is not

having enough beds or space

to help treat all the patients.

Mr. Casey’s role is to trans-

port the wounded soldiers that

cannot return to battle. He

helps to get them to a safer

location for treatment recov-

ery. He flies to the field hos-

pitals to collect patients that

need further care. He can get

these men and women to Ger-

many in a matter of hours.

This job is very dangerous

because they are flying into

active battle zones. They also

have to learn how to land a

plane at night without lights

so they don't get exposed.

They have night vision gog-

gles, armed crews, and no

lights. Mr. Casey showed

several videos of this proc-

ess. These videos gave an in

depth insight to what brave

men and women do. There

are two different routes that

they can take to care for pa-

tients. The first one is to take

them to Germany to their

trauma center if they need

immediate help. The other

route that they can take is if

the soldier doesn’t need im-

mediate care, but cannot re-

turn to battle. They can take

them back to America in 3

days. These soldiers take a

round trip picking up patients

and delivering them to where

they need to go. Mr. Casey

along with many other warri-

ors are very brave and show

great strength in others’ time

of need. Thank you Mr. Ca-

sey for inspiring the teachers

and students at our school! Article by: Alexa Brothers

dents will then be able to ride all of the rides and have fun at the water park. The new water park has only been open for one year with many new features. Some of these include the Midnight Express, River Lazio, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Gravity Grove, and Wave Oceano.

Students can either bring their own lunch or buy lunch and dinner at the park.

This fantastic trip at the end of the year, will be taking place on June 5, as the Band, Chorus, Student Council, Year-book, and Civil War club mem-bers head to DelGrosso’s Amusement Park.

Once they arrive at Del-Grosso’s, they have a pavilion reserved for the entire day, where students will be able to keep all of their belongings. Stu-

Many different food venders provide a wide variety of food options including Marianna hoa-gies, pizza, hot dogs, funnel cakes, ice cream, and French fries. Therefore, everyone will want to remember to bring enough food and treats.

This trip will be one of the best and a great way to be-gin summer vacation.

Article by: Hannah Winseck

M r . C a s e y ’ s B o o t C a m p

E n d o f t h e Y e a r T r i p t o D e l G r o s s o ’ s

P a g e 1 0 T h e D u t c h m a n G a z e t t e

find solutions to environ-

mental problems and learn

about human impact on the

environment. Mrs. Dillinger

and her team of twelve

worked hard to prepare them-

selves for the big day. Dillin-

ger stated, “There were a few

other schools, and the compe-

tition seemed tough”. The

way the contest worked was

every student was given a test

to take on a certain topic.

After the students were fin-

ished with the tests, they had

a lunch break while the

judges took scores and added

up the averages of each

school.

The St. Marys team of

twelve took second in the

contest, which was very im-

pressive. The team was very

happy with their results.

Hopefully next year’s Envi-

rothon challenges more stu-

dents to gain knowledge

about the environments and

work hard to strive for suc-

cess again. It’s never too

early to start getting ready for

next year’s Envirothon, check

out some of the events being

held this summer at local

state parks on the DCNR

website. Conservation of the

environment is everyone’s

job. Article by: Kaleb Pesce

project. If students fail to com-

plete this project they must

take the final exam for her

class. Many students like this

idea then to take the final

exam.

The project is very

enjoyable and fun. Ms. Klein

wanted her students to be able

to choose something they en-

joy to do or want to learn a

little more about by doing a

hands on experiment on it, but

to understand how science can

be applied to it. At the end of

the project, students must cre-

ate a presentation to show the

class what they have been

working on for the duration of

the project. The project is

worth 100 points on to the 4th

quarter grade in her science

class. Many students person-

ally enjoy this project because

they get to choose what they

want to research and do a pro-

ject on, rather than to take the

science final exam. I person-

ally think that this project is

much simpler and a lot more

fun to complete and get the

final grade then to actually

take the final exam. Students

are permitted to present pic-

tures of what they have been

working on, videos, or a slide

show presentation on their

project.

Article by: Justin Meyer

This year, Ms. Klein

is doing an independent pro-

ject for her science classes

instead of doing a final. This

project is a fun and creative

way for students to learn

how science can be used in

things students do all the

time or just to try something

new and use science to ex-

periment or discover new

things about it. For the pro-

ject, students must choose a

topic that interests them but

has to have something to do

with what we learned in

class. For this project, stu-

dents have to record a blog

for each week of the project

up until the final week of the

S t u d e n t s C o m p e t e i n E n v i r o t h o n a n d

P l a c e S e c o n d

M s . K l e i n ’ s I n d e p e n d e n t P r o j e c t

P a g e 1 1 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 4

Every year students

from public and private

schools are invited to com-

pete in Envirothon. This

year’s event was held on May

3rd at Bendigo State Park.

Some of the areas the

team studied included

Aquatics, Forestry, Soils, and

Wildlife. Before competing

students can spend some time

testing their knowledge and

learning more about the envi-

ronment. Usually at Envi-

othon events, you can find

environmental professionals

such as foresters, biologists,

and scientists.

Students were re-

quired to work together to

Some students have

trouble studying for fi-

nals. Some stress, some

don’t. But, this is for the

people who need some

help. We all know the peo-

ple who do study, tend to get

better grades, unless you are

just a good guesser.

The first thing you

want to do to prepare for

your finals is find out what

subject is having their final

first. Once you find out,

you’re going to study right

away. To study, you could

look throughout your book,

if you have one for that

class. But, most teachers

hand out study guides to

study with. When you work

on your study guide, you are

going to want to put forth all

of your effort, because the

study guide is almost the

same as the final. If you ask

anyone that does study for

finals, they will most likely

always say that it helped

them a lot. You don’t even

have to study for that

long. All you have to do is

study for about twenty min-

utes every night until up to

the day of the final. If so,

you will pass it with

ease. However, every

chance you have to study,

study.

When it comes to the

night of the final, you are go-

ing to want to go to bed ear-

lier than usual. Not too early

though, maybe just about an

hour before. Then, in the

morning, you would eat a

good breakfast. Don’t get

nervous when it comes to fi-

nals. As long as you study,

you will pass. If you don’t

like studying, try to form it

into a game. Make it fun and

interesting. Studying isn’t

always boring. Don’t stress,

it only makes it worse. All

you have to do is study, and

you will do great.

Article by: Kennedy Caskey

hunts for terminally ill chil-

dren, veterans, and wounded

warriors. In the month of No-

vember, they did a collection

for troops. Mrs. Smith was

approached by Melissa Aul

to help send care packages to

troops over Seas. The collec-

tion helped make over 20

boxes in the month of De-

cember they sell candy

grams. Which are used to

wish your friends a Merry

Christmas. February is the

month that the penny wars

take place. This is the sixth

year having the penny wars.

Mrs. Smith is the ad-

visor for student council. The

student council is an organi-

zation that helps raise money

for local and national organi-

zations. They also do school

spirit activities such as spirit

week, and other events. This

year the student council

raised over 11,000 dollars for

local and national charities.

During the month of October

student council did a recy-

cling project for Pheasants

Forever. They cashed in 375

dollars’ worth of plastic.

Pheasants Forever do youth

This year we did a turf war.

Which means that all of the

grades competed to see who

could raise the most pennies.

This year they raised

1,139.85 dollars. Half of the

money was donated to MS.

And the other half was do-

nated to David Smith, a stu-

dent at SSMSES who is bat-

tling Leukemia. Student

Council is a great way for

students to have the opportu-

nity to give back to those

who need it most. Article by: Karli Tucker

P r e p a r i n g f o r F i n a l s

P a g e 1 2

S t u d e n t C o u n c i l A c t i v i t i e s H e l p M a n y

L o c a l O r g a n i z a t i o n s

T h e D u t c h m a n G a z e t t e

take selfies and group photos then upload them as proof that they found the items they were looking for. When it was lunch-

time, they ate on the lawn of the Arboretum. The weather was 77

degrees and was perfect for walking around the Arboretum.

After leaving the Arbore-tum, they went to the Pegula Ice Arena for ice-skating. They had lots of fun there, but there were injuries. Some had cuts and some had bruised, but no bro-ken bones. They skated for a few hours and then moved on to the Creamery for ice cream.

The students arrived back at the middle school at 4:45 PM. Most of them were

tired from their active day. Article by: Jermaine Louviere

data. For the entire Seventh

grade there was 20% in the

not yet passing all of their

classes, but 54% were!

Mrs. Petrosky read off

all the names that made it on

the honor roll and 54% of the

class was on the honor roll.

This quarter was different

than the quarters before. They

gave out a $10 Walmart gift

card, instead of the McDon-

ald’s gift Certificate to all the

kids that got on the honor

roll. But every kid that got

on the honor roll got their

name put into a bucket and

got picked out, if your name

got picked then you would

get the gift card.

After the honor roll

name was called, Mrs. Pet-

rosky told the 7th grade class

about their improvement be-

tween quarter two to quarter

three. There was 88% of the

students who did improve

and 20% that did not im-

prove. The overall seventh

grade class average was

89%! That was a great way

to end the last academic as-

sembly of the seventh grade

year. Article by: Savannah Ryan

The 7th grade aca-

demic assembly was held on

April 7th in the LGI for the

3rd quarter grades. Everyone

tries to do better every quar-

ter and get their GPA up or

if they aren’t on the honor

roll they have to try to get on

the honor roll next quarter.

The Middle School Principal

Mrs. Petrosky was there to

give out the quarter three

7 t h G r a d e r s T a k e a F i e l d t r i p t o P e n n

S t a t e

S e v e n t h G r a d e A c a d e m i c A s s e m b l y

P a g e 1 3 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 4

The 7th grade went on a

fieldtrip to State College on April, 10, 2017. They had to ar-rive to school at 6:15 and left at 6:45. They went to the Penn State Arboretum where they split into groups for a scavenger hunt. They were required to

D.A.R.E is a pro-

gram that the 6th grade stu-

dents have to learn about

drugs, alcohol, and the con-

sequences. Police Officers

come once a week for 10

weeks to teach the students

the consequences and how to

say no. The students get a

D .A.R.E

b o o k l e t ,

w h i c h

they do

activities

in. The

book has

examples

of people

being of-

f e r e d

drugs, the students have to an-

swer how they could say no to

the offer and walk away. The

officers also act it out by getting

students to come up and dem-

onstrate how they would say no

to the student who is offering

them the drugs or alcohol.

At the end of the 10

weeks the students have a

D.A.R.E graduation in the

gym. After the graduation the

6th grade and their parents go

to the cafeteria to eat pizza and

have drinks. This is when they

all get to get together and hang

out. After everything is done,

the parents can take their kids

home for the rest of the day.

During the graduation they

give certificates to the students

saying that they have finished,

and the essay winners get

something too. Article by: Irelynn Schreiber

6. Volunteer at the nature cen-

ter

7. Take a vacation to the

beach

8. Get a summer time job and

make money

9. Ride four-wheelers with

your friends

10. Go fishing on a lake or

stream

11. Go on a boat

12. Go bow fishing

13. Plant a garden

14. Go camping with your fam-

ily

15. Ride bike

16. Ride a roller coaster

17. Go to a baseball game

18. Clean out your closet or

dresser

19. Play in the water like slip-

ping slide

20. Get a membership to a lo-

cal library

21. Watch movies

22. Have a water balloon

fights with friends

23. Go to amusement parks

24. Go tubing in the rivers

with family or friends

25. Study for next year?

Maybe not!

Article by: Layton Paropacic

Have you ever

thought about all of the

things you can do over sum-

mer vacation? Many stu-

dents sit around bored over

the summer because they

can’t think of fun things to

do. Therefore, here is a list

of possible ideas to make

your summer vacation more

enjoyable:

1. Go swimming

2. Spend time with family

3. Stay over a friend’s

house for a couple of

weeks

4. Spend some time at the

woods

5. Make cookies

D . A . R . E . G r a d u a t i o n f o r 6 t h G r a d e

P a g e 1 4

P l a n n i n g f o r S u m m e r V a c a t i o n

T h e D u t c h m a n G a z e t t e

chinery.

Next, it was off to Lit-

tle Roundtop look out over

the battlefield. After walking

down to Devil’s Den and a

break for lunch at Bloody

Run the students then exam-

ined the rock formations at

Devil’s Den and the sharp-

shooter nests that had been

built in the crevices. The

club members then walked

down into the triangular field

that is supposed to be one of

the most haunted places on

the battlefield, to see if they

could catch any ghost sight-

ings.

The next stop was the

PA monument and the high

water mark where they saw

more monuments and tributes

to the men who died at Get-

tysburg. After being on the

hot battlefield for hours, the

club members were able to

enjoy a stop at Kilwins Ice

Cream Parlor before going to

the Heritage Museum shop-

ping for items for their Civil

War outfits. The trip ended

with an all you can eat dinner

at General Pickett’s Buffett.

This educational trip

although tiring brings to life

everything that the students

learned during the school

year about the Civil War and

they look forward to learning

even more during the en-

campment in two weeks. Article by: Josiah Banks

school. Mrs.

P e t r o s k y

talked to the

class about all

o f t h e i r

achievements

and what they

should strive

for as they

make their way to the high

school. During the assem-

blies, we usually rise and re-

ceive envelopes with our

names and our grade point

averages along with McDon-

ald or Wendy’s gift certifi-

cates if they made honor roll

or improved. This quarter,

Mrs. Petrosky decided to

draw a name from all of the

students that improved and

made honor roll and give

them a Walmart gift card.

To conclude the Aca-

demic Assembly, Mrs. Pet-

rosky turned to Mrs. Reed to

talk to the eighth grade class

about their standards, as go-

ing in the high school should

be and their class trip to Her-

shey Park. Article by: Katherine Garverick

On April 15, the

eighth grade class had an

academic assembly. In the

academic assembly, the class

discussed their improvements

and the eighth grade classes

goals as they continue their

academic careers into high

C i v i l W a r C l u b M e m b e r s g o t o

G e t t y s b u r g t o W a l k i n S o l d i e r s

F o o t s t e p s

8 t h G r a d e A c a d e m i c A s s e m b l y

P a g e 1 5 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 4

The Civil War Club

trip to Gettysburg on April 21

was a great experience for the

civil war club. On the trip,

they first went through the

town to a haunted footbridge

that General Lee used as his

getaway to retreat. The stu-

dents then went to the Slyder

Farm with a battle guide and

learned about how hard it was

being a farmer back it the

1860’s, without modern ma-

S u m m e r C r o s s W o r d P u z z l e

P a g e 1 6 T h e D u t c h m a n G a z e t t e

Across

4. What is green and you mow it?

5. What is made out of sand and you

build?

7. Where do you sleep when you are in

the woods?

8. You wear these on your feet to be

cool?

10. What is the season after spring?

11. What is red and green and you spit

the seeds?

12. what is very bright in the sky?

15. What do you wear when you go into

the sea?

16. You wear this on your head.

17. what is red and pinches you?

19. A body of water.

20. You fill it with water

23. What do you drink in the summer?

24. What is blue and you swim in it?

Down

1. What protects you from the sun?

2. Row, Row, Row your?

3. What is yellow and black and stings

you?

4. What is something you cook meat on

outside?

5. What do you wear when the sun is to

bright?

6. What do you cook over the fire?

9. What do you wear as pants?

13. A sailor that attacks ships.

14. A machine that makes you cool?

18. What is cold and you eat it?

21. What do you do during the day?

22. You have to go to this place in the summer?

Puzzle by: Rylie Poirier

Across

4. grass

5. sand castle

7. tent

8. flip flops

10. summer

11. Watermelon

12. Sun

15. swimsuit

16. Hat

17. Crab

19. Ocean

20. Pail

23. Lemonade

24. water

Down

1. sunscreen

2. Boat

3. Bea

4. Grill

5. Sunglasses

6. Smores

9. shorts

13. pirate

14. air conditioner

18. Popcicle

21. play

22. beach

of things about the

elk that inhabit

Pennsylvania and

their history. The

history of the elk

showed how the

game commission

helped keep the elk

from becoming ex-

tinct in Pennsyl-

vania. They also

learned how to track

and find the elk using the

tracking collars and what re-

gion of the forest to look for

them during different sea-

sons. They also got to look

out the overview to try and

spot elk. They even got to go

to the 4d theater to watch a

historical video about the elk

and the land they came to live

in, the theater also “snowed”

on the sixth graders during

the video.

The gift shop had

clothes and crafts made by

local businesses in the area.

Products sold in the gift shop

go to help save the elk that

inhabit Pennsylvania. This

was sure to be a trip the sixth

graders will remember.

Article by: Logan Snyder

student in the drum

line having a short

solo. The concert band

followed drum line.

The concert band pre-

formed a variety of

wonderful songs in-

cluding “Percus and

the sea monster” and

“Eagles soar.”

The Jazz band then

played a selection of songs

including “Free bird” and

“Pink Panther.” Next, to per-

form was the vocal ensemble;

their song choices included

“Lullaby” with Chelsea Het-

rick singing a solo. Another

song was “She sings,” this

piece was about a little girl

thinking about what the world

The amazing spring

concert was on Tuesday,

March 28 in the middle

school gym at 7 PM and

ended around8:30 PM. The

concert started with the mid-

dle school drum line. They

preformed “Space,” it was

something magical. The mu-

sic had incorporated every

would be like if there was no

music in the world. The Cho-

rus then followed vocal ensem-

ble. Chorus had a number of

songs, “He never failed me

yet” with Will VanSlander and

Sara Kleppinger having a solo.

Another song performed was

“900 miles.”

The concert was a com-

plete success as all groups did a

wonderful job. Article by: Julianna Blessel

6 t h G r a d e T a k e s a F i e l d t r i p t o t h e E l k

V i s i t o r C e n t e r

S p r i n g C o n c e r t H e l d i n t h e M i d d l e

S c h o o l G y m

P a g e 1 7 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 4

On May18th, the sixth

graders went on a fieldtrip to

the Elk County Visitors Cen-

ter, located in Benezette.

They learned a variety

Ms.

Stolarski is

the school

l i b ra r i an .

There are

s e v e r a l

h u n d r e d

s t u d e n t s

a t t end in g

school every day. So how

does Ms. Stolarski get all

the books back? She uses

several types of techniques

to get the books returned.

First, she tries posting

lists of students with overdue

books as a reminder to the

students to return them. Sec-

ond, she prints out individual

reminders that are distributed

to each student. Next comes

the personal visit by Ms. Sto-

larski.

If all else fails then the

students are charged for the

cost of the book. Frequently

at the end of the year when

lockers are cleaned out many of

the missing books turn up and

are returned. Over all very few

library books truly disappear

from the library inventory each

year as most students are very

responsible and get their books

returned on time.

Article by: Brayden Snyder

can’t wait until they are old enough

to play on a Little League

Team. The players make many

friends through the years from T-

ball through Little League.

After reaching the middle

school most players can’t wait to

be able to play Dutch baseball. In

sixth and seventh grade baseball is

considered a club and concentrated

on improving the player’s skills.

Almost everyone has a

hobby. A hobby is something

someone likes to do for

fun. Sometimes a hobby can be a

sport like baseball. Baseball can

be a lot of fun to play.

Most players begin their

baseball career when they are

very young and play with their

Dad’s and brothers in the back-

yard. As they grown up they

Finally this year a Junior

High baseball team started! This new

sport had coaches, practices, and sev-

eral games for eighth grades. Not

many school districts have Junior High

baseball teams so the team had to

travel far away to play games. But it

was worth it!

Article by: Garret Bauer

and Gracie started designing a

t-shirt. Mrs. McMackin

talked to Mrs. Petrosky about

the Muck Run. Mrs. Petrosky

gave an ok on the idea. The

obstacles were sliding down a

big slip and slide, climbing

over a stack of hay bales,

army crawling in the mud,

jumping over barrels, and

walking through a huge mud

pit. Mrs. McMackin sched-

uled this to be on May 6.

She raised a lot of

money for MS research with the

Muck Run. She was very happy

when she knew it was a success-

ful plan. There was food and

drinks at the muck run also.

Drinks such as hot chocolate

because it was very cool, rainy,

and a bit windy. Everyone had

lots of fun and got very dirty

with all mud pits and muddy ob-

stacles. Article by: Hailey Anders

The St. Marys Area

Middle School started a

muck run to raise money for

MS research for Mrs.

McMackin’s daughter and

other people with MS. Two

p e o p l e f r o m M r s .

McMackin’s 3rd quarter 5th

period Health class came up

with the idea when they were

watching videos for their

presentations. The two stu-

dents’ were Camryn Bauer

and Gracie Mattivi. Camryn

T h e C a s e o f t h e M i s s i n g L i b r a r y B o o k s

B a s e b a l l H o b b y B e c o m e s A S p o r t

P a g e 1 8

1 s t A n n u a l M . S . M u c k R u n H e l d

T h e D u t c h m a n G a z e t t e

students with class

work or explaining

directions for an

assignment in a dif-

ferent class. They

also go out of their

way to make school

interesting and fun.

Whether it is chap-

eroning a trip or

developing a lesson

plan that takes them

to a different time

and place teachers

are what makes the

middle school the

great place it is.

Thank you to

all the teachers we

really appreciate

your hard work. Article by: Walker Meyer

performed a choreographed b a s e b a l l themed routine. Their outfits re-sembled that of a typical base-ball player , and they used bats ,

benches, a gate, players mound, ball caps, and ac-r o b a t i c s . Last not least was the mixture of middle school and high school drum line. They performed with the color guard for fi-nal and did an amazing job. They use Bass, Electric, drums, xylo-phone, and really gave a beat to the others. Great rhythm and fo-cus goes to those who represented our middle s c h o o l . It’s plain to see how teamwork and coop-

eration play an important role throughout their pro-duction. Dance and color guard help each other move their equipment and keep a smile on their face. To look down the row of them all smiling you can clearly see that they help each other and encourage each other as much as they poss ib ly can. This was an amaz-ing performance by those three groups and hopefully some students will be in-spired to try it.

Article by: Kylee Rapp

On Friday, May 28 ; 6th,7th and 8th grade stu-dents attended an assem-bly put on by SMASH's drum line, color guard, and dance team . Each had a great performance show-ing how hard they worked together along with individ-u a l t a l e n t s . Color Guard per-formed using flags, step stones, and a spinning platform. It truly was some-thing to watch. They per-formed in the dresses for their role, had a vocalist, and great synchronization. The Dance team

T h a n k Y o u T e a c h e r s f o r A n o t h e r G r e a t

Y e a r

H i g h S c h o o l I n d o o r G u a r d , D a n c e

T e a m , a n d D r u m L i n e P e r f o r m

P a g e 1 9 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 4

The middle

school students

would like to thank

the teachers for

everything they have

done for the stu-

dents this year.

The teachers in this

school are very

helpful. They are

willing to help the

ior Center to perform several

pieces. It was a long busy

day filled with music, fun,

and ice cream.

The first stop was

Fox Township. The children

enjoyed the show and were

very involved with dancing in

their seats and trying to sing

along. One of the Vocal En-

semble songs was in Spanish

and Mrs. Sines had to explain

the words to the little kids.

On Friday the 19th of

May the Vocal Ensemble and

the Jazz Band had their Com-

munity Tour. They traveled

to Fox Township Elementary

School and the St. Marys Sen-

Second stop, the Sen-

ior Center. Most of the audi-

ence knew the jazz songs and

who they were written by.

Will VanSlander and Sara

Kleppinger had a duet that the

seniors loved. The students

loved seeing the older people

smile at their songs.

The whole day was

very tiring. The trip was very

worthwhile in the end. Article by: Emily Kowalski

Z W D W S W L C I O L S H B O

Y A D A Y S B G V N A E I G G

F U N L S U A E P A Z C R N B

W D O P W N R L O E Y M S I N

G C O O I S B P O C V A T H F

Y T G M M H E F L O W E R S V

J B P A M I C E L H H R O I G

T A O Z I N U L J O W C H F E

Q S P N N E E R C S N U S L R

Y E S B G Y A D I L O H H O P

H B I E B A P H S D E C T P I

V A C A T I O N I N G A Y S L

X L L A B T F O S D N E I R F

S L E E P O P D K K A B G E Q

R Q S K R O W B U T Y Z V Q R

B a n d a n d C h o r u s T a k e s T h e i r s h o w o n

t h e R o a d

SUMMER

BARBECUE

BASEBALL

BEACH

BICYCLE

ICE CREAM

DAYS

FIRE WORKS

FISHING

FLIP FLOPS

FLOWERS

FRIENDS

FUN

HOLIDAY

LAZY

OCEAN

POOL

POPSICLES

SAND

SCHOOL

SHORTS

SLEEP OVERS

SOFTBALL

SUNSCREEN

SUNSHINE

SWIMMING

TANK TOPS

VACATIONING

VOLLEYBALL

Can you find the following

words?

Puzzle by: Ethan Auman

the checks in a check register

in the back of the check book.

The students were also taught

how to balance a checkbook.

Balancing a checkbook is im-

portant so that you will not

bounce a check which means

that you write a check but

don’t have enough money in

the account to pay for it.

In Mrs. Hoffman class

the students learned how to

bank money. They learned

how to write checks the cor-

rect way and how to record

Students also learn the basics

of banking and how math

plays an important part in

banking.

This lesson was a very

important one as students will

use it as they grow up and

begin making their own

money.

Article by: Natalie Galmish

S t u d e n t s L e a r n t o W r i t e C h e c k s i n M r s .

H o f f m a n ’ s C l a s s