March 29, 2016
March 29, 2016
THE GROVE GAZETTE
Supplement
Selinsgrove Area High School Student Newspaper
This Special Edition Supplement is
an informational
EXTRA presented
to you by our editorial staff.
Selinsgrove Drama = Xanadu
By Daniel Napsha
This spring, the 1980s will come back to Selinsgrove in the
drama department’s performance of the hit musical, Xanadu.
The musical, based on the 1980
roller disco film of the same name, was
nominated for the Tony Award for Best
Musical in 2008. The show takes place in
the 1980s in Venice, California. The plot
follows a depressed, struggling artist
named Sonny, played by junior Jonah
Roth, as the characters in his sidewalk
mural come to life, with the lovely Kira
(played by senior Johanna Kantz) at their
lead on roller skates. The characters present themselves to inspire Sonny to
make more art, and together Kira and
Sonny rebuild a roller disco theater.
The musical combines the classic disco scene with Greek mythology,
from which the mural’s characters originated. It features a large ensemble cast
with members from all grades. Senior
Nettie Martin, who plays Calliope, described the show as a “comedy that
makes fun of itself.” Fellow senior Chris
Hauck, playing Hades, echoed that senti-
ment and encouraged the community to
watch and to listen for “a lot of laughs.”
Both Nettie and Chris agree, “It is a great
way to spend an evening.”
Xanadu will play in the high
school auditorium from April 14-16 at
7:30 pm, and on April 17 at 2:00pm.
Regionals in Sight for ‘Grove FFA
By Nathan Moyer
On Thursday, March 3, thirteen of
Selinsgrove’s finest FFA members travelled to Mifflinburg High School to compete in the annual SUN Area Public
Speaking competitions.
The students represented Selinsgrove in all six competitions which included Creed Speaking, Junior Prepared Public Speaking, Senior Prepared
Public Speaking, Conservation Public
Speaking, Extemporaneous Public
Speaking, and Parliamentary Procedure.
Creed speaking consists of members reciting the FFA Creed by E.M.
Tiffany. After reciting the eighty-five year
-old paragraphs, the students must answer questions related to the creed and
Continued on next page.
News Editors: Savanna Foor & Dan Napsha
Sports Editor: Angelo Martin
Opinion/Editorial Editor: Isabel Bailey
The Grove Gazette is a student organized newspaper. If you are interested in working for the Grove Gazette as a writer, editor, or photographer, please join us during the first
half of lunch on Thursday, March
31st for our next meeting. You can
also email Mr. Switala at
[email protected] if you cannot
make the meeting.
Page 2
Regionals in Sight for ‘Grove FFA
Continued
what FFA means to them. Two
Selinsgrove competitors, Lucas Bailor and Aaron Hoke received fifth and
seventh place in this competition,
respectively.
Junior Prepared Public Speaking requires that the students prepare
and present a three to five minute
speech related to any topic in agriculture, then receive and answer questions from the judges.
Participating in the Junior Prepared contest were freshman Kyle
Martin, who wrote about equine diseases and received fifth place, freshman Nathan Sauers, whose speech
on agricultural mechanics received
seventh place, and sophomore Liz
Gemberling, who spoke about swine
and received eighth place.
Similar to Junior Prepared,
Senior Prepared students wrote
speeches six to eight minutes in
length on various agricultural topics,
followed by judges’ questions. The
students who participated in this contest were juniors Nathan Moyer, who
received first place for his speech on
entomophagy and insect farming,
Elizabeth Perkinson, who wrote about
therapy dogs and took eighth place,
and Michael Huggins whose topic
was GMOs and received ninth place.
Parliamentary Procedure is a
contest that teaches the proper way
to run a meeting room. The contest
consists of two parts: a written test
and a meeting. In the second half, a
team of six students put on a mock
meeting, following parliamentary law.
After the ten minute meeting is
over, the judges then ask a series of
questions related to parliamentary
procedure. The Selinsgrove team
consisted of Kevin Dressler, Nathaniel Moyer, Alyssa Landis, Hannah Ross, Michael Huggins, and
John Merroth, Jr. earned a second
place finish.
All students and teams who
received third place or higher are
eligible to move on to the regional
contest held at Penn Tech in Williamsport in April.
Photo credit: Valerie Fry
The SAHS FFA students pause for a photo op following the awards
Girls Run Towards 2016 Track Title
By Sam Rodkey
The Selinsgrove girls track team,
“Many of us have been getting a
led by head coach Jeff Kiss, has been lot of miles in the winter, so our chemtraining since the winter to repeat as
istry and bodies are already in great
District IV AA Champs.
shape to start the season,” said
Maurer.
Although the team has lost several key athletes from last year’s team,
In the sprinting events, 2015 seniors
the Seals will still have much talent
Alexis Auman and McKenzie Apple will
returning in many events.
be greatly missed, but freshman Megan Hoffman will be a very important
In the track events, the Seals will part in getting points for Selinsgrove.
have outstanding depth in both the
Also, senior Bree Brown, juniors Sara
sprints and long distance events. Jun- Arbogast and Natalia Brown will be key
iors Ashley Blair, who is returning off of in the relay events, along with Hoffman.
an injury, and Brittney Carnathan will
Sophomore Lauren Imhoof will be a
lead the distance group. Sophomore
sprinter and hurdler to watch, along
Skylar Maurer will also be key for diswith senior Kayleen Long.
tance.
Continued on next page.
Page 3
Girls Run Towards 2016 Track Title
Continued
Perhaps the most intriguing return
for Selinsgrove is junior Natalie Brown.
As a freshman, Brown made it to the
PIAA AA State Championships in March
where she broke the Selinsgrove freshman record in the 100 meter dash with
a time of 12.6 seconds. Showing immense promise, Brown would later be
derailed by injuries. This year, she returns.
to finally get after it,” said Brown.
In the field events, many seniors
and juniors have helped teach and instruct underclassmen in events new to
them. Senior Erin Reed will lead the
pole-vaulters, and senior Shana Hollenbach has been a help in showing new
throwers the techniques and ways to
make them the best they can be.
The first track meet for the boy’s and
“It feels good to finally be back
girl’s
teams will be a dual meet at home
out there again. I lost two critical years.
th
But I feel better than ever and can’t wait against Mifflinburg on March 29 .
Loss of Vice Principal Longwell
By Daniel Napsha
Charles “Chuck” Longwell, Assistant to the Superintendent for Special
Education and longtime Vice Principal
at Selinsgrove High School, died unexpectedly on February 8, 2016.
called a story relayed to her when he
paid for a student who did not have
enough lunch money, and then refused
to be paid back. “The student told me,
‘that’s when I knew I liked him.’”
Mr. Longwell, who was vice principal for 14 years, was known in the
Selinsgrove school community for his
generosity and
kindness. He
had a friendly
sense of humor,
and often walked
in the hallways
with a smile on
his face. His approachability
made him well
liked among the
students.
He was a supportive member of
the Selinsgrove community, and as one
teacher, Ms. Katie Robbins, noted, he
was a support in
and out of
school. Senior
Kevin Dressler,
a prominent FFA
member, described him as
very supportive
of agriculture.
“He wanted people to live a little.
He always
bought my
eggs,” Kevin
said with a
smile.
Current
high school Principal, Dr. Lorinda
Krause, pointed
out that Longwell
It seems
was unusually
that Mr. Longpopular for a
well wanted eveVice Principal, a
rybody in need
position responto know that he
Former Vice Principal Charles Longwell
sible for disciwas in their corpline handling. In
ner and thinking
Krause’s words, “Kids didn’t look at
about them. It is fitting then that his two
[time with Mr. Longwell] as punishment.” positions at Selinsgrove put him in
For most, time with him was an opporcharge of discipline and then onto spetunity to hear meaningful advice.
cial education. He moved into the Assistant to the Superintendent role for that
He wanted to steer kids who
area in the 2014-2015 school year.
needed direction on the right path and
was deeply concerned with those that
In honor of Mr. Longwell, a scholneeded attention, with those who need- arship will be started in his name for
ed encouragement. Selinsgrove 2015
Selinsgrove students. Direct donations
graduate, Roger Hilbert , said of Longto this scholarship can be made through
well, “He was my greatest inspiration for www.flowerpowerefundraising.com, just
staying out of trouble.”
search for “Longwell Scholarship” in the
organization box under the “Find a
More than anything, Mr. Longwell Group” tab.
looked out for people. Dr. Krause re-