Abington Heights
Two seniors organized a back-to-school carnival to kick off the high school's academic year.
Paul Cheng and Amelia Oon, members of the high school's National Honor Society, organized the carnival, which was held Aug. 31.
The carnival featured free games, food and live music, and helped to unite the community, Paul said.
"It absolutely was a success," Paul said. "Everyone had a great time. It was a perfect way to start off the year."
miorfino@timesshamrock.com
Blue Ridge
"An experience of a lifetime" is how two seniors at Blue Ridge described their summer adventure.
Madison Button and Jessica Jhingoor were given the opportunity to spend 17 days in Europe touring places such as Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Italy.
But the European tour wasn't just a vacation. With encouragement from their chorus teacher, both Jessica and Madison auditioned for the American Music Abroad choir and were selected. They sang at the Shonbrun Palace in Austria, performed in a cave and harmonized in many different cathedrals while visiting the different countries.
kbolus@timesshamrock.com
Carbondale Area
Two young ladies with medical career aspirations worked toward their goals this summer.
Bianca Cerminaro and Emily Scotchlas, both seniors, spent 10 days of their summer visiting St. John's University in Queens, N.Y., developing their leadership skills and learning about the medical field.
"I'm hoping to be a pediatrician, so this experience was a great eye opener for me," Emily said.
The two worked with current medical students and visited medical colleges and teaching hospitals during their trip.
"My experience ... helped me see exactly what a day in the life of a doctor is," Bianca said. "I had planned on medicine as a career, and this experience made me sure that this choice is the right one for me."
rbrown@timesshamrock.com
Delaware Valley
Senior Carla Centanni's schedule at school is full - and that's just how she likes it.
Carla is a member of the National Honor Society, National Business Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of America, Rachel's Challenge, Teens Against Tobacco Use and Mu Alpha Theta Mathematical Honor Society. She also serves as secretary of student council.
"Being involved in school makes me feel closer to my school," she said.
In addition, Carla plays on the school lacrosse team and is a member of the winter cheerleading squad. She is also a cheerleading coach and a lacrosse recreation league volunteer.
lzaccagnino@timesshamrock.com
Dunmore
Dunmore High School junior Amanda Sheehan was recently selected to participate in Tomorrow's Leaders Today.
The program, sponsored by Leadership Lackawanna, teaches students leadership, interpersonal and managerial skills with hopes of turning them into future leaders. Amanda is one of three students from Dunmore who applied and was selected to participate in the program.
"I wanted to participate because of the program's great reputation," she said. "I want to gain the knowledge needed to be a productive leader and to help make a difference in my community."
Once she graduates from the program, Amanda plans to put her leadership skills to good use with the many clubs and organizations at DHS. She is a member of the Spanish club, French club, service club, school newspaper, TACT club, SADD club, health careers club, Earth club and the National Honor Society, and she is a football cheerleader. She plans to attend college, with hopes of becoming a physical therapist.
rward@timesshamrock.com
Elk Lake
Meagan Bush, a senior, is serving as this year's student council co-president.
Meagan's first job of the school year is coordinating the Homecoming activities. The Homecoming games will take place on Friday, Sept. 28, and the dance is set for Saturday, Sept. 29.
"For the dance, we just ordered all of our decorations," she said. "For the game night, we have senior night for all of the sports. All the seniors and parents come and we recognize everyone, including extracurricular activities, sports, clubs and their future plans."
She is a member of Key Club, National Honor Society, and the basketball and track teams. Meagan is planning to attend college for nursing.
lzaccagnino@timesshamrock.com
Holy Cross
Holy Cross senior Gina Morgese participated in the Summer Serve Experience with the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters in Newark, Del., allowing her to help senior citizens while gaining valuable experience.
The IHM sisters, young adults and other high school students spent a week with senior citizens at Marydale Retirement Village.
During the summer program, Gina and other students cleaned apartments, did yardwork, played games, organized a variety show and participated in other activities to help residents of the retirement community.
"I think we got more out of the experience than the senior citizens," Gina said. "I love helping people."
When she graduates from Holy Cross, Gina plans to study social work and pursue a career helping others.
rward@timesshamrock.com
Lackawanna Trail
Inspired by a former teacher who suffered from breast cancer, three seniors at Lackawanna Trail Junior Senior High school organized a fundraiser that will run in October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Victoria Ellsworth, Emily Huffsmith and Colleen Brace are the leaders of "Pink Paws for a Cause," a group that is selling gray and pink T-shirts for $8 to students, faculty and local business owners.
All proceeds will go toward the American Cancer Society, Victoria said.
"We hope that everyone in the school buys a T-shirt," Victoria said. "It's such a great cause, and it's so important to raise awareness and funding for cancer research."
miorfino@timesshamrock.com
Mid Valley
Megan Monahan is looking forward to helping out her community.
The junior said she was excited to be one of the representatives chosen from Mid Valley to participate in Developing Tomorrow's Leaders Today.
"I'm really looking forward to working with other students from other schools," she said. "They seem to have interesting projects, so I want to see what our project is."
Outside of school, Megan is also involved with ballet and Irish step dancing.
rbrown@timesshamrock.com
Montrose Area
The summer months aren't just for play for Brandon Weaver.
The junior at Montrose sold two animals at the Harford Fair in August and received a blue ribbon for the showing of his sheep.
Brandon, like his friends, plans to continue showing at the fair. He has raised animals for 4-H for eight years.
He plans to enter again next year.
kbolus@timesshamrock.com
Mountain View
Victoria Ann Buckley was selected as a state finalist in the National American Miss Pennsylvania Pageant.
On Aug. 10 and 11, the senior traveled to the Hilton Harrisburg and Towers and participated in the teenage division of the pageant. She returned home with fourth place for acting and awards for being photogenic and best dressed.
Victoria is a member of the cheerleading team, volunteers after school at Gravestone Manor and works at Dunkin' Donuts. She enjoys acting, singing and modeling, her dogs, and spending time with family and friends.
kbolus@timesshamrock.com
North Pocono
Senior Kyle Major seems to excel at balancing school, outside activities and work.
Taking advance placement and accelerated classes, Kyle also serves as president of the class of 2013 and is a member of the National Honor Society, along with being involved in the Junior Statesman of America, Campus Life and the marching band.
He's also a lifeguard at Eagle Lake and works at the Philly Pretzel Factory. Kyle also finds time to volunteer at Parker Hill Community Church and the Scranton Rescue Mission.
After finishing high school, he plans to attend Liberty University in Virginia, majoring in ministry and minoring in political science.
rward@timesshamrock.com
Riverside
While not all students like math, Nathan Oliphant cannot get enough.
As a second-grade student at West Elementary, he is looking forward to his favorite class - math - and the rest of the challenges the school year offers.
"I can't wait to begin using all of the operations to solve the problems," Nathan said.
In particular, playing games with all of his friends during recess is also at the top of his to-do list this year.
jkohut@timesshamrock.com
Scranton
Sophomore Michael Roche is one of the first members of West Scranton High School's robotics club, which is new to the school this year.
Students will be using Lego Mindstorms Education NXT building sets to construct their own robots and will use creativity, logic and problem-solving skills while learning key science, technology, engineering, and math concepts, according to club moderator Scott Dustman.
shofius@timesshamrock.com
Scranton Prep
As vice president of student council, senior Matthew Knowles is working on keeping traditions alive.
He is helping to plan spirit week, along with a movie night and holiday activities for later this year.
"I'm just really excited about this year," he said. "I think we're going to do a lot of great things."
Matthew is also a member of the golf and basketball teams and the Spanish club.
shofius@timesshamrock.com
Tunkhannock Area
One junior spent the summer touring different countries in Europe as part of an organization that promotes world understanding and peace.
Through the People to People Student Ambassador Program, Sam Reposa, along with 45 other students from the nation, visited England, Scotland and Ireland in July.
"It was a great experience because we got a chance to interact with students who have come from a much different background than us," Sam said. "My favorite part is when, in Ireland, the students started playing a Taylor Swift song on the guitar and we sang along."
miorfino@timesshamrock.com
Valley View
One junior spent last week working to promote awareness during Suicide Prevention Week.
Emily Kotcho, the president of the Health and Physical Education Club, handed out information sheets about statistics, warning signs and how to get help. The club also provided yellow ribbon stickers for the students to wear on World Suicide Prevention Day on Sept. 10.
"I want to make the student body aware of the alternatives and preventive measures to help students that maybe struggling," she said.
Emily is also involved in the soccer and track and field teams, Students Against Destructive Decisions, the National Honor Society and the Spanish Club.
rbrown@timesshamrock.com
Wayne Highlands
Hannah Marin likes to keep busy.
Among others activities, the Preston Area School eighth grader is a top-finisher for the Honesdale Junior High Cross Country team and the point guard for the Preston girls' basketball team.
She took part in Honesdale Missy and AAU basketball leagues for five years, in addition to participating in student council.
She recently starred as the lead in the Preston musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr." and has participated in Preston's music program for four years.
"I like that Preston is small, but that there are lots of things that you can do," Hannah said. "I love all the extracurricular activities."
jkohut@timesshamrock.com
Western Wayne
Sophomore twins Kelsi and Kaitlyn Good earned a gold medal for their Focus on Children project at the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America national conference in Orlando this summer.
During the school year, they surveyed second and fourth graders at EverGreen Elementary school in Hamlin about seat belt use and compared the data, presented their findings at both the state and then the national FCCLA conference.
"We designed a presentation board and used notecards," Kaitlyn said.
Both sisters agreed they work as a great team and look forward to designing another project for competition this year.
rward@timesshamrock.com