& Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, March 21, 2001 5 By M.B. GILLIGAN Post Correspondent DALLAS - A Dallas Middle School eighth grade student has just been noti- fied that she won first place in a nation- al writing competition. Amanda Nichols, daughter of George and Eileen Nichols of Dallas, will have her short story published in the April/May edition of Writing! magazine. In addition she will receive $150 in prize money. “I love to write so when we were given an assignment to write an essay about time for our English class I decided to write a story about how much I will miss my neighborhood and my childhood as I get older,” said Amanda. “I really didn’t expect to win first place in the whole country.” Students could choose to write a poem, a short story or an essay on the subject of time in the contest that was open to students across the country. “We were astounded when we realized we had a student win first place and an- other who received an honorable men- tion,” said Mrs. Nancy Ferko, an English teacher at the middle school. Her eighth grade student, Cara Bestwick, received an honorable mention award for her es- say entitled Touching Time. “The English department decided to have all eighth graders write for the con- test and then we picked the best ones to submit,” said Mrs. Ferko. “We invited the other grades to enter if they wanted to.” Dallas Middle School submitted about 30 entries to the contest. “They were all so good and there must have been hun- dreds from around the country. I'm sure the judges had a hard time select- ing the winners.” Amanda’s original story was close to 2,000 words long but she had to cut it down to reach the contest limit of 1,000 words. “Her original copy was even bet- ter but we had to cut out major por- tions,” said Lisa Niewinski, Amanda’s English teacher. The Dallas School District has made a direct effort to improve the writing skills of their students over the past few years. Students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade take a Supplemental Writing course that lasts one quarter of each school year. “I'm following the state standards for writing and teach the stu- dents the three types of writing required “Nichols wins national writing contest by those standards. They are informa- tional, persuasive and narrative imagi- native,” said Jonelle Pall, who has been teaching the program since its inception at Dallas. “In addition to this course, all of the English teachers work on at least one major writing assignment in their regular classes,” she said. Amanda's story is entitled “Mid-Sum- mer Nights” and describes memories of her wonderful childhood. She uses beautifully descriptive phrases like “sparkling blue ripples” and “dare-you- to-wink-blue.” “Teachers have encouraged the stu- dents to improve their writing skills and we're teaching all the steps of writing but creativity is something that cannot necessarily be taught,” said Mrs. Ferko. Amanda is planning on saving the prize money she won and she is now looking for somewhere she can submit her full story to. “The entire school community is proud and excited for Amanda Nichols and her family,” said Tony Martinelli, middle school principal. “It's a wonderful thing to have her story published in a national magazine for other children to read.” Dallas drive benefits SPCA The Dallas Middle School Student Council, under the direction of Ms. Norine Amesbury, recently conducted its annual SPCA charity drive to benefit homeless animals. Dog and cat food, towels, cleaning supplies and money donations were collected by the Dallas Middle School students. A pizza party was awarded to the homeroom which collected the most food, sup- plies and money. Mrs. Joan Rakowski’s homeroom 203 was the winner with 100% participation and the largest overall con- tribution. The drive successfully ended when 25 boxes and bags of food and supplies were turned over to the Luzerne County chapter of the SPCA. A monetary donation was also included in the presentation. Pictured are representatives from homeroom 203. Row 1: Megan Youells, Courtney Tay- lor, Lindsey McCabe, Maxxe Spencer and Samantha Kissinger. Row 2: Michael McAndrew,Thomas Parrish, Stephen Zubko, Lee Kozokas and Robert Hayes. DigitalChoice® Calling Plans LnCclude free nationwide long distance from within your local toll-free calling area for as long as you're on Get a $30 the lan . With two-year agreement. See your sales rep for details. : : P | instant equipment rebate with a two-year agreement. The DigttalChotce Calling Plans: YY 400 Monthly Access 569" 800 Monthly Anytime Home Airtime Minutes Get 1000 minutes of night and weekend home atrtime including Free nationwide long distance for just $9 more in monthly access. \ Drive responsibly. Call with care. Verizon Wireless. for delivery, call 1.800.2 JOIN IN (1.800.256.4646) Only Yesterday (continued from page 4) time en route to Germany. He will probably be stationed for two years in Germany. Mrs. Owens and her two children hope to join him later 40 Years Ago - Mar. 23, 1961 WILLIAM T. MORRIS FUND RE- MEMBERS LIBRARY Robert Bachman, president, re- ceived a check in the amount of $500 for Back Mountain Memori- al Library from E. S. Wellhofer, Shrine Acres, plant manager of Hazard Wire rope division Ameri- can Chain and Cable Company. The check is the gift of the William T. Morris foundation, cre- ated by the late William T. Mor- ris, West Pittston native, who at the time of his death some ten years ago, was president of Amer- ican Chain & Cable Company. Army Pvt. Richard M. Cummings, son of Mr. and Mrs. Phillip A. Cummings Sr., Sutton Road, completed the 11-week basic or- dinance electronics course at the Signal School, Fort Monmouth, N. J. Cummings entered the Army last August and received basic combat training at Fort Dix, N. J. Marvin Meade, son of Mr. and Mrs. Boyd Mead, Demunds Road, student at South Florida University, recently received an award for earning the sixth high- est number of points in a debat- ing tournament, the highest in the University. The University ranked fourth in the contest. 30 Years Ago - Mar. 25, 1971 COLLEGE MISERICORDIA BREAKS GROUND FOR BUILDING The official groundbreaking ceremony for College Misericor- dia’s new $2 million girls’ dormi- tory was held at the college re- cently, despite a blinding snow- fall. Sister Miriam Teresa, RSM, president of College Misericordia, presided over the ceremony. Con- struction of the four story dormi- tory is scheduled to begin imme- Motorola While supplies last. diately. Airman Stanley D. Dor- rance, son of Mr. and Mrs. Stan- ley F. Dorrance, RD 1, Dallas, has graduated at Sheppard AFB, Tex., from the Air Force medical services specialist course. He is being assigned to McConnell AFB, Kan., for duty with the Tac- tical Air command. Airman Dor- rance attended Dallas Senior High School. At Acme markets you could get roasting chickens, IIb., for .39, a dozen oranges, 49¢, sweet corn, 6 cans for 59¢, french fries, 5lb. bag 79¢, mar- garine, 4 lb. pkgs. 89¢, Washing- ton cake mixes, 8-0z box 10¢. 20 Years Ago - Mar. 18, 1981 GOOD THINGS HAPPEN AT LAKE-LEHMAN “Good things are happening at Lake-Lehman” was the evaluation reached by the state’s special ed- ucation auditors regarding the district's special education gifted program. The special education audit noted the program complies with established standards and auditors said they had “many warm feelings about the direction the program is taking. Also re- ceiving good reports were the sports programs. The board adopted a resolution congratulat- ing the basketball and wrestling teams on their fine accomplish- ments. Dallas Junior High School wrestlers ended a successful sea- son with five wrestlers competing in the district PIAA tournament recently. They are: Tom Bagley, ninth grade, 95 lbs.; Craig Rome, ninth grade, 105 lbs.; Mike Bor- ton, ninth grade, 120 lbs.; Steve Wiliams, ninth grade, 130 lbs.; Ed Fedrow, ninth grade, heavy- weight. The Harvey's Lake Histor- ical Society, Inc. will feature an exhibit on the early school history of the Lake Township school sys- tem at the new Lake-Noxen Ele- mentary School. The exhibit in- cludes pictures of early school classes, yearbooks, school records and a descriptive history of the Lake school system. V2260 Digital Phone e Built-in Internet web browser e Blue & orange Phonewrap” colors included Simple. Affordable. National. JOLN LN. verizon wireless AUTHORIZED RETAILERS shop online @ www.verizonwireless.com COMMUNICATIONS STORES AVOCA DICKSON CITY HAZLETON SCRANTON - STATE COLLEGE WILKES BARRE WILLIAMSPORT EBENSBURG BLOOMSBURG MUNCY 1400 Spruce Street Viewmont Mall Kiosk Laurel Mall #180 Steamtown Mall Nittany Mall 73 Wyoming Valley Mall YES CELLULAR EBENSBURG MUSIC MART PENNSEL PAGERS TELLUS (adjacent to the airport) (570) 207-2969 (570) 454-9857 (570) 941-0944 (814) 234-2163 (570) 829-1482 902 Washington Bivd 212 W High Street 1 East Main Street 2860 Rt. 405 Hwy. (570) 8838536 FRACKVILLE MILL HALL SHAMOKIN DAM STROUDSBURG WILLIAMSPORT (570) 326-4900 (814) 472-9570 (570) 389-9830 (570) 546-2492 BLOOMSBURG Schuylkill Mal Wal-Mart Colonial Village Plaza Stroud Mall Loyal Plaza LEWISBURG NORTHERN CAMBRIA DANVILLE 7 . 3081A New Berwick Hwy. RT 6 & 181 167 Hogan Place Rts. 11 & 15 (570) 426-7951 1931 East Third Street YES CELLULAR BARNESBORO MUSIC MART VALLEY COMPUTER (R ) RadioShack. (570) 387-7840 (570) 874-4072 MUNCY (570) 7430323 NEW LOCATION (570) 321-1896 Rt15 4207 Crawford Avenue 295 Mill Lane “= You've got questions. We've got answers® Lycoming Mall Kiosk #10 STATE COLLEGE TRUCKSVILLE (570) 523-3333 (874) 942.5510 (570) 2712878 (570) 546-8437 1500 N. Atherton Street 161 S. Memorial Highway (888) 589-6714 (814) 231-3948 (570) 696-5629 BUSINESS SALES CUSTOMERS CALL 1-888-848-3360 FOR AN APPOINTMENT good for existing Verizon Wireless customers and new activations. Subject to terms of Cellular Service Agreement & Price Plans. Two-year agreement required. Long distance and equipment promotions available on DigitalChoice 250 calling plans & higher. $175 early termination fee. Digital Service not available in all areas. COMA phone ired. Requires credit approval. Cannot be used with other offers. Usage rounded to next full minute. Unused allowances lost. After allowance minutes are used airtime and other charges may apply. All calls subject to taxes, tolls and other charges. Verizon Wireless long distance required. Long distance and airtime are two separate charges. ts M-F 9pm-6:59am, Sat-Sun. 12am-11:59pm. Limited time offer. Other Phonewrap colors are available for an additional cost. Phone equipment shown and phone prices may not be available at all PA/WV agent locations. ©2001 Verizon Wireless.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers