Abington Heights
A senior has been rewarded for her extensive studies in a foreign language.
Rachel Ezrin has been selected as American Council of Teachers of Russian scholar laureate for 2012, an annual award given by each school where Russian is taught.
Named as the most outstanding Russian student at her school, Rachel joins a group of 41 students from secondary schools throughout the United States.
She will receive a certificate of award signed by the ACTR president.
miorfino@timesshamrock.com
Blue Ridge
One creative freshman designed and had signed a banner to send out to local National Guard troops.
Sabrina Smith presented the banner she created to the Pennsylvania National Guard. The going-away present was especially important to Sabrina because her brother, Derrick, was one of the most-recent members of the guard sent to Kuwait.
Sabrina had students in the middle school and high school sign the banner with well wishes. She felt the banner was a great way to honor the local men and women's sacrifice before the holiday season.
In the future, Sabrina says, she wants "to help and send other things to them."
She loves art and likes to draw cartoons. Sabrina also enjoys sending her brother cartoons while he is away on duty. She also takes part in chorus and Leo Club.
kbolus@timesshamrock.com
Carbondale Area
Students in the medical careers club are one step closer to their future professions.
The group recently listened to a presentation on the educational requirements, average salaries and further education required to hold a variety of medical careers.
Eliza Totsky, a junior, is interested in the field of pharmacy.
"This presentation helped me to be certain that this is the right career for me," she said. "It's good to get firsthand information and advice before making such a major decision. I'm glad our school provided me with this opportunity."
rbrown@timesshamrock.com Delaware Valley
Senior Dan Favaro is a very involved member of his graduating class, with memberships in Teens Against Tobacco Use, student council, Mu Alpha Theta and National Honor Society.
Dan also served as managing editor of Del.Aware, the school's newspaper. In addition, he is a high honor student and an AP scholar. Also active in sports, he is a member of the varsity football and wrestling teams. With his busy schedule, he has still found time to volunteer at the GAIT riding center, highway cleanup crew, United Way's Day of Caring, Relay for Life and the Autism Awareness 5K.
"I want to be remembered as a hard worker for my family, for my friends and for myself," he added.
lzaccagnino@ timesshamrock.com
Dunmore
Dunmore High School senior Courtnie Perri recently received recognition for her art project.
Courtnie was among several Dunmore students who submitted works of art to the Celebrate Sober poster contest organized by the Lackawanna County Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse. For the project, students created a design that can be used on billboards and buttons for the holiday season to encourage people to drive sober.
Among more than 1,700 entries, Courtnie's artwork placed fifth as an honorable mention. She was honored at an awards ceremony in Scranton.
Courtnie also won honorable mentions in this competition when she was a student in sixth and 11th grades.
After high school, she plans to attend Marywood University to major in interior architecture and design.
rward@timesshamrock.com
Elk Lake
Elizabeth Benscoter, a senior, traveled with the group Come Let's Dance, a nonprofit organization, to Uganda for her graduation project.
Her project taught her "money doesn't help people. Teaching them skills helps people," Elizabeth said. "I think I'm going back next summer for longer, a month instead of two weeks."
She is a member of student council and plays soccer, basketball, and track and field.
She plans to pursue a degree in economic development.
lzaccagnino@ timesshamrock.com
Forest City
Katie O'Neill used to watch the Artist of the Week segments on WVIA-TV as a child.
Now, the junior hopes her 6-year-old brother, Evan, will feel the same when she stars in an upcoming segment.
"When I was a kid and I used to watch WVIA, I'd always see those kids and think that was so cool - to be on TV for being talented," she said.
Though she only planned to sing, she also ended up sharing another talent during her visit. "They had a really nice piano," she said. "I played some Billy Joel and some Beethoven. It was so cool."
rbrown@timesshamrock.com
Lackawanna Trail
A junior at Lackawanna Trail is helping families during the holiday season.
Through the school's Interact club, MacKenzie Gardner helped organize a coin drive. The proceeds will go toward gifts for the families who cannot afford them, she said.
"We have done it before, and it usually turns out pretty well," MacKenzie said. "A lot of people help right now. We are just glad we can help a little bit."
miorfino@timesshamrock.com
Lakeland
For five years, Martin Lambert has been making videos and honing his filmmaking skills.
This year, the senior got a chance to put his skills to the test.
On a field trip to New York City with his English class, Martin operated a professional video camera for Current TV, the cable network based in New York City.
"It was so much fun, but you could tell how challenging it must be," he said.
Martin said he hopes to attend Ithaca College, in Ithaca, N.Y.
"It terms of the creative aspect, there is nothing more satisfying to me than being able to formulate a vision and see it through to its completion," Martin said.
miorfino@timesshamrock.com
Mid Valley
Eighth-grader Julia Betti meant business when she competed at Scranton Prep's 17th Annual Young Scholars Program.
She said the best part was "trying to pick apart the questions" in the academic competition. She and fellow competitors spent about three weeks preparing with "Jeopardy!"-style questions.
"School and getting good grades means a lot to me. To strive to do that is an honor," she said. "It was a really fun and enjoyable experience."
rbrown@timesshamrock.com
Montrose
This spring, Samantha Bennici will compete in the Future Business Leaders of America's state competition.
Samantha took part in this month's FBLA regional conference and placed second in the business calculations event.
"The regional conference was a success. There were informative workshops, a great speaker and hundreds of students working hard to represent PA FBLA Region 27," Samantha said.
Samantha, who is a junior at Montrose, says she is excited to participate at the Hershey event, even if she doesn't take home the gold.
"I am most excited to see how our chapter and region perform at the state level."
kbolus@timesshamrock.com
Mountain View
The Mountain View School Board's newest member is Veronica Robbins.
As student government school board liaison, Veronica must compile a report from club advisers, coaches and other representatives at the school and present her findings at the board meeting.
When she's not at board meetings, Veronica manages the girls soccer and basketball teams and also plays forward on the soccer team.
Veronica is passionate about the environment and lends her time to Envirothon and environmental forum trips and participates in the Science Olympiad.
She hopes to major in environmental resource management at Penn State and share her concern for our warming planet with others.
kbolus@timesshamrock.com
North Pocono
North Pocono High School senior class held its annual Christmas gift program recently.
For more than 20 years, seniors at the school have bought gifts for elementary school students in economic distress.
This year, more than 300 gifts were bought with nearly $3,000, said senior class adviser Glenn Pettinato.
Parents of the elementary school students pick up the gifts at the high school.
"The seniors are glad to help out the community in this manner since the community has supported them over the last 12 years and since most seniors have jobs and wish to give back something to the community," Mr. Pettinato said.
rward@timesshamrock.com
Riverside
While Riverside third-grader Ryan Terbovitch, 8, is anxiously anticipating Santa's arrival tomorrow morning, it was not long ago that he had the chance to be Santa Claus.
On Dec. 4, Ryan played Santa Claus in "Forty Winks," the Riverside Elementary third-grade play. He had fun, saying that he was granted the high honor of holding the naughty and nice list.
"It was fun playing the role of Santa, especially when I used the bell to wake up the children," Ryan said. "It was really hot in that suit, but I bet it keeps Santa warm while he's out in the cold delivering presents all night Christmas Eve."
jkohut@timesshamrock.com
Scranton
West Scranton High School held its annual blood drive for the American Red Cross on Dec. 14. Many students and faculty and staff members donated blood. Some of the students who spent the day volunteering included Mark Murphy, Pat Gerrity, Joe Godino, Brandon Oleski, Cassandra Novak, Jessie Purawic, Sara Tesluk and Meghan Gaughan.
shofius@timesshamrock.com
Susquehanna Community
Victoria Trynoski, junior, is helping to ensure a school of trout are on their way to a healthy life.
The Envirothon team at Susquehanna is participating in "Trout in the Classroom." They are raising brook trout from eggs to fingerlings. Once they are healthy and matured, the team will release them into their natural habitat.
Victoria and the rest of the team are working with the state Fish and Boat Commission to choose the best stream to release the fish.
Aside from nurturing young trout, Victoria enjoys the arts, reading, video games, cooking and playing soccer with friends. She aspires to get her degree in art therapy.
kbolus@timesshamrock.com
Valley View
Two seniors are looking forward to returning to school in 2013 to see their hard work come to fruition.
Ali Krehel and Tressa Olek are co-chairwomen of the Valley View semiformal committee.
The Midnight Masquerade-themed dance will be held on Jan. 19 at Fiorelli's in the Peckville section of Blakely. Both girls have worked to design centerpieces, name cards and decorations for the event.
"I am so happy to be involved in the planning and decorating of the this year's semiformal," Ali said. "It is a great deal of work, but so rewarding to make the dance special."
In addition to her role as co-chairwoman, Ali is involved in the health and physical education club, Spanish Club, SADD, National Honor Society, Math Honor Society, student council, track and field, varsity football cheerleading and dance.
rbrown@timesshamrock.com
Western Wayne
Two Western Wayne High School students spent a cold day outside to help evaluate whether students' and teachers' cars are ready for winter weather.
Matt Chapman, president of the Hot Rod Club, and Trevor Cobb, a member of the club, joined other students from the automotive technology department to help organize a free winter car care clinic.
"We checked about 15 cars, checking tire tread depth, fluid levels and lights," Matt said.
Both students work on automotive projects for their senior projects: Matt is restoring a tractor, and Trevor is refurbishing a 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier.
rward@timesshamrock.com