BIS-Uncmw Farming, Saturday, April ii, 1998
GAY BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
SOMERSET (Somerset Co.) -
The newest member of the
Pennsylvania Maple Festival's
board of directors is just shy of
20 years old, but everything
Gala Woolley does is accompa
nied by a strong commitment
and a sunny disposition.
No doubt when they asked
her to join tljieir ranks, the out
standing elements the former
maple queen who reigned over
the 49th Annual Pennsylvania
Maple Festival in 1996, pos
sessed - coupled with her ener
getic enthusiasm - were quali
ties the board found compatible
to its mission.
The maple queen's committee
of which she is a member, han
dles the maple queen scholar
ship pageant, a classy affair for
the 12-15 talented high school
senior girls chosen as finalists in
auditions held earlier for three
times that many girls.
"Being maple queen was my
world for a year. They (the com
mittee) became my extended
family," the California Univers
ity of Pennsylvania sophomore
reported.
"They amaze me with all the
work they do, but they have
Sc
In the contained atmosphere
technique. Sarah controlled the
amount of gases reaching the eggs
under cool conditions. Several dif
ferent tests were conducted on the
eggs: after candling, she tested
them for the relative thickness of
the albumin, or the egg white; pH
of albumin; and others.
What Sarah soon discovered
was that, because of the natural
cuticle erf the European-style eggs,
without processing, after 20 weeks
without refrigeration the European
method stood up to the American
processed eggs. They were of bet
ter albumin quality.
“When Americans process
eggs, they break down the quality
of the eggs.” she said, because the
washing removes the cuticle. The
cuticle allows the egg to regulate
the transfer of gases from the out
side of the shell to inside the egg—
critical also to prevent egg quality
degradation. The cuticle coating
also provides a natural defense
against microorganisms that break
down egg quality. Sarah believes
that Americans, who want “sanit
ary” eggs, are “lulled into a false
sense of security” by the effects of
egg washing. A lot of why con
sumers shop for the washed eggs is
simply “aesthetics.”
Next year’s project will look
into using anti-bacterial jells, simi
lar used by restaurant employees,
and the effects on egg quality. Sar
ah has applied to the Governor’s
School For Ag Science this year.
She intends to study ag science
and minor in poultry or food sci
ence at one of several colleges,
including Penn State, North Car
olina State, or University of Ten
nessee. Sarah placed second with
her project in biology. Her adviser
is science teacher Robert Hertzler
of Hempfiekl.
Patrick’s Look
Into Soil Types
And Erosion Control
Patrick McCudden, 16, is a
Gala Woolley Brings Youthful
Energy To Maple
everything under control."
She alludes to final prepara
tions for the 51st annual maple
festival coming up the last two
weekends in April when in
Meyersdale, the harvest of
sweet water from the Somerset
County sugar bush, is celebrated
and features good-for-you-all
natural-100 percent pure, maple
syrup.
Children, especially special
needs children, respond * to
Woolley’s winsome personality.
She's an expert hugger - a spon
taneous one - operating in the
belief that hugs given away,
happily, are returned in abun
dance.
Special education (her prefer
ence), and elementary educa
tion, compose the dual major
she's taking, hopefully to fill an
immediate position after gradu
ation.
"I think it's important, to
teach and get the experience,"
she said. A master's degree will
come later.
"I take a full load, do some
extra and do summer. In sum
mer I work with gifted children,"
she says.
In three and a half years,
plus student teaching in the fall
of 1999, she will have completed
ence Fa
(Continued from Pago BIS)
sophomore at Hempfield High
School.
What he found out that soils
with the least uniform particle size
have the potential to be the most
erosion prone.
In his project, “The Effective
ness of Erosion Control Methods
On Various Soils,” Patrick found
out that Duffield and Beddington
silt loams can be worrisome for
erosion.
Patrick, son of David and June
McCudden, placed first in the
earth/environmental science
category in competition at the
county science fair.
He collected soil from various
sites in the school district, includ
ing Beddington silt loam, Lindsod,
Duffield, and Manor silt loam. In
all, he collected about a half cubic
meter of soil in all. The soil was
dried with dehumidifiers.
The project was set up with the
bare soil on a 10-degree slope. Fif
teen liters of water were used on
the slope. Three buffers were used
to determine their effectiveness,
including a grass buffer strip, a
stone filter bed, and a mesh
netting.
Water was entered over the top
of box and run through the box.
What Patrick discovered was that
the least uniform soil particle size
proved to be most erosive—espe
cially the Duffield and Beddington
silt loams.
Patrick became intrigued when,
in Bth grade in an earth science
project, he saw the erosion results
in some local streams. He saw
stream erosion, a “very major
problem in Lancaster County,” he
said.
The most effective erosion con
trol method was the grass strips
using a commercially available
mix. The mesh netting worked to
control erosion. The least effective
was the crushed stone.
In all tests, grass was the most
effective because the blades prot
rude up higher and screen, slowly
college.
She can hardly wait, yet,
along the way, where youngsters
are concerned, she ceaselessly
gives of her time.
"The more severe or profound
the disability, that's what I want
to do," Terry and Alice Woolley's
daughter says.
"To help the children have
independence and self-help life
skills will be so rewarding, I
think," she says.
A poem she found for a high
school forensics competition
about the daily limitations
afflicting a person with mental
retardation, deeply impressed
Woolley.
"Just Smile,” the mother of a
mentally-challenged teen enti
tled the work about her daugh
ter.
The imagery of living with
the inability to turn a door knob,
open a water faucet or brush
one's own teeth, etched itself in
Woolley's imagination.
Initially, some teens snick
ered then grew silent as Woolley
on the stage, quoted the winning
poem.
She later repeated her perfor
mance in the Junior Miss and
also, the maple queen contests.
The monologue, she felt, would
r Students
the water down and allowing the
sediment to drop.
Next year’s projects will look
into tillage methods and their
effects on erosion control, accord
ing to Patrick, who plans to attend
college and study biology.
Patrick’s adviser is Vicki
Strohecker.
Gregory Plotner, 17, is the son
of Edd and Cheryl Plotner, East
Petersburg. An 11th grader at
Hempfield and an Eagle Scout,
Gregory found out that more than
40 percent of the nation’s water
ways are contaminated to the point
they can’t be used for drinking or
recreating.
So during the first year of the
project, “A Five-Year Study On
Stream Water Purification: Deve
loping A Method,” Plotner looked
at the microbiological effects of
iodine and boiling to remove bac
teria from water. He used them
separately and found that boiling
the water removed 68.2 percent of
the bacteria Staphylococcus
Edidermidis and E-coli. lodine, a
nonmetallic chemical element,
removed 75.4 percent of the
bacteria.
In the third year of the study.
Plotner used a man-made filtration
system that, like the iodine and
boiling, proved only partially
effective at 79.9 percent
Additional research included
adding enzymes to the experiment
But the concentrations required
were not effective in eliminating
E-colo because of the bacteria’s
tough cell membrane.
More work is needed, using
another enzyme to break down the
fatty lipids in the wall, Plotner
noted.
Senior champion Plotner will be
going to the international fair in
Fort Worth. His adviser is Glenn
Shaffer.
Greg’s Quest
For Pure Water
Festival
touch people and enable them
also, to understand.
"I never wanted to do it to
win," she said.
Each week, after days and
nights spent cramming text
book knowledge into her mind,
Woolley says that working with
special children renews and
invigorates her spent energy.
She recognizes that Special
Olympians, unlike many per
sons, accept whatever blessings
life provides for them.
The various races, for
instance.
"They feel so proud," she
reports. "They cross the finish
line even though they don't
win."
"They don't criticize and are
so pleased with simple things.
They love to dance."
Still, each Saturday at the
pool the little one she is trying to
teach to swim is a very challeng
ing case to the patient Woolley.
In time, as tiny victories are
achieved, the no longer fearful
child, hopefully, will relax
enough to loosen her death grip
around Wolley's neck.
"Working with the really
delayed is hard," Woolley said.
She foresees a future where con
quering her natural emotional
attachment to these special
lives, as a professional, will be
her private challenge.
"I know I'll want to bring
them home with me."
Each child is a precious gift
whom God has given a purpose
W-f'K
issH?
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1 1 '*• Ji - ’«» *
Gala Woolley, former Maple Queen, la backdropped by a
photographic display of her reign In 1996.
Mother's Day Tribute
Surprise your mother, wife or
grandmother by sending one of her
recipes to be included in a special
tribute to mothers in the May 9th
issue of Lancaster Farming.
Include a few sentences about
her and a picture if you have one.
Make sure that you include your
name. Your address must also be
for living is her resolute convic
tion. And those who have tried
dissuasive arguments have
found her opinion on the matter,
unshakable.
Woolley's only sibling is
Brenton, her 26-year-old brother
who, with their father, operates
Woolley Fabrication and
Welding located in New Stanton,
Westmoreland County.
In Somerset, however, the
family residence is on Walters
Mill Road.
Woolley belongs to an educa
tion honor fraternity - Kappa
Delta Pi; is on the Educational
Advisory Board which deals
with the university's education
department; in the mentor pro
gram to assist incoming fresh
men, and holds a part-time job
at Polo's in the Horizon Outlet
Center.
She also collects Precious
Moments Dolls. Her favorite
one is a child in a wheelchair
holding a basketball. "Give
Ability A Chance," is its caption.
Giving Woolley's ability a
chance is what the queen's com
mittee did last fall when they
turned over the maple princess
fashion show and let her coordi
nate it at the Somerset Country
Club.
"Mom was my backbone," she
reports of the assignment to
entertain and feed several hun
dred guests, while the starlets
modeled clothes a la mode.
Obviously, the two are the
very best of friends.
‘ 'A ! Jf .
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V > ”J .v *-*• ■
included if you want the picture
returned.
Submissions must be received
in our office by May 4 to be
included. Send the information to
Lancaster Farming’s Mother’s
Day Tribute. Attention Lou Ann
Good. P.O. Box 609, Ephrata, PA
17522.