Sunday, February 5, 2012 THE DALLAS POST PAGE 3 Qeachers dress down to fund school scholarships EIU 1 By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com If you stop by the Lake-Leh- man Junior/Senior High School on a Wednesday or Friday, chances are you might not be able to spot the teachers walk- ing amongst the students. That's because six days a month, teachers pay good mon- ey to wear blue jeans instead of slacks. Language arts teacher Cathy Wolfe started the school’s “dress down days” about four years ago as a way to wear comfort- able clothing to work while also paying homage to former Lake- Lehman employees and stu- dents. Teachers pay $5 to wear less formal attire to work every oth- er Wednesday, and the money funds book scholarships for graduating seniors, as well as school functions such as the Last Knight Lock-In. “We were looking for some kind of fun fundraiser to help with the senior book scholar- ships,” said Wolfe, who has been teaching at Lake-Lehman for 29 years. “« Each dress down day also The money raised from the district-wide fundraiser is do- honors a deceased member of the Lake-Lehman family. Some honorees include former special education teacher Linda Futo- ma, who passed away in 2004, nated to designated community the American Red Cross or the such as organizations, Back Mountain Food Pantry. “It’s a wonderful way of giv- and Lake- Lehman grad Brian Welby, who passed away in 2009. ing back,” said Wolfe. “It’s a small way, but it’s a good way.” Wolfe said the idea for the dress down days caught on quickly because, like students, teachers enjoy being comfort- “They were all such a large : part of the Lake-Lehman community when Cathy Wolfe they were here,” Wolfe said of the deceased. The initial fundraiser was so successful that Regan Bombick, another teacher, sparked a dis- trict-wide way to keep comfort- able while giving back. Two years ago teachers and staffers in all four schools — the junior/senior high school and Lake-Noxen, Lehman-Jackson and Ross elementary schools — began paying $5 a month to dress casually every Friday. “Its a bargain,” laughed Wolfe. able. “The students get to know that we, too, wear jeans, not just dress clothes,” said Wolfe. “Plus, if you plan to go some- where after school like the gro- cery store, you don’t have to go in a dress and high heels.” The junior/senior school fundraiser uating seniors. “I know how expensive books are, and it’s my hope that every senior goes to college,” said high generates enough money every year to give book scholarships ranging from $200 to $500 to 25 grad- Wolfe. “Even if the scholarship only pays for one book, that’s one book the student or parents don’t have to pay for.” BILL TARUTIS PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Ninth-grade world history teacher Susan Ferentino wears a sweater and blue jeans during dress- down day at Lake-Lehman High School. CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Marilyn Gregorski relaxes at her home in Dallas. She has moved on from her career at The Meadows. On to next chapter for Gregorski “Ever since my husband passed away 12 years ago, I live by ‘sink or swim." I'm going to start building Long-term employee at The Meadows says her departure is ‘leap of faith.’ By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com Less than a month after leaving a career she held for 27 Y years, Marilyn Gregor- ski admits she’ll be back to The Meadows Nursing Cen- ter in Dallas Township. “They’ve asked me to help with the Market on the Pond,” she said of the cen- ter’s largest fundraising event. The 71-year-old doesn’t like the word “retirement” and re- fers to her recent departure from the nursing center as “a leap of faith.” “Ever since my husband passed away 12 years ago, I live by ‘sink or swim,” said Gregorski. “I'm going to start building my new life.” Gregorski left her latest po- sition as director of volun- teers on Jan. 1, and she’s en- joying her newfound free- dom. Sleeping later, enjoying local culture and spending pre time with family and nds are priorities now. “I think of life as a big cir- cle filled with pie pieces; that was just one of my pieces,” she said of her former posi- tion. “I've got this chance to smell the roses.” Gregorski has worked for 30 years in the nursing care field, getting her start at the former Maple Hill nursing home in Lehman Township, an all-female facility with just 24 residents, after raising her two children. “I was in my 40s at the time and I wanted more of a chal- lenge,” she said. She became an activities director after taking classes at the Penn State University Wilkes-Barre campus and found her calling. “I knew right away, it was the right place for me,” she said. “Being with seniors made me so happy. I learned so much. I liked to say I had 24 mothers.” She joined the staff at The Meadows Nursing and Reha- bilitation Center in Dallas Township in 1983 when it first opened. Over the years, she worked as an activities director, resident and com- munity relations coordinator and volunteer director. Gregorski was an active part of helping form The Meadows Auxiliary, which provides additional services to residents. When the auxil- iary formed a few years after the nursing center opened, Gregorski was amazed by the community’s support. “People just came,” she said. “The strength and com- my new life.” Marilyn Gregorski Long-term employee at The Meadows mitment people have to vol- unteering, and their desire to help, makes our community so unique.” Gregorski enjoyed spend- ing time with residents, but she also admired the hun- dreds of volunteers who came through The Meadows’ doors over the years to help. “It wasn’t work to me,” she said of her position. “I had this sense of fulfillment and I knew I was fortunate because not everybody got to work in a position like that.” She said volunteers from all walks of life would per- form tasks that met their skills and enjoyment. For ex- ample, some would help with paperwork, others would en- joy talking to residents and some would utilize their skills such as playing the pi- ano to share with the resi- dents. “It’s like we’re all cogs in a big wheel and we worked to- gether,” said Gregorski. The Meadows saw the de- velopment of different volun- teer programs over the years as well. The teen program formed in 1985 and the pet therapy program started soon after. “The teens brought a spe- cial kind of light to The Meadows,” said Gregorski. “Not all the residents had grandchildren, and it was nice for the teens to be bond- ing with them.” Volunteering is something Gregorski hopes to do as she ventures into a new part of her life as a way to “pay it forward” to all those who helped at The Meadows. “Somebody out there needs you, and there are so many choices you’ll find to give of yourself,” said Gregorski. She said the benefits of vol- unteering, such as improved health, self-satisfaction and stronger friendships, out- weigh the lack of money re- ceived from the work. “Volunteering is giving of the heart,” she said. Cursive writing alive at Ross ES By SARAH HITE shite@mydallaspost.com As schools across the country drop cursive writing from their curriculum, the art of loopy hand- writing is alive and well at Ross Elementary in Sweet Valley, though the debate to keep it in the classroom continues. Eligible students recently partic- ipated in a handwriting contest sponsored by Zaner-Bloser, a na- tional purveyor of educational pro- grams and services. Principal Donald James said Ross Elementary has been in- volved in the national contest for the last four years, with some stu- dents qualifying on the state level in 2009. “We place emphasis on hand- writing,” said James. “We make it a big deal. Not a lot of schools place emphasis on it anymore. We think technology and cursive handwrit- ing can co-exist.” Cursive handwriting is not man- dated to be taught by the state De- partment of Education, and many other states are phasing out the writing style over time. Pennsylvania adopted the Com- mon Core Curriculum initiative in July 2010, and 43 other states have also approved the educational plan. It does not emphasize the teaching of cursive writing to young students, but it does outline standards for the utilization of technology, such as laptops and smart tablets. At Ross Elementary, students begin learning cursive handwrit- ing in second grade and the style of writing becomes mandatory for all assignments in third and fourth grade. By fifth grade, students are allowed to choose whether they “Some of my kids write beautifully, and some of my kids are going to be doctors and | can't read their writing.” Kim Chopyak Fifth-grade teacher want to print or write in cursive in class. Fifth-grade teacher Kim Cho- pyak doesn’t stress the importance of cursive handwriting, but she finds that some students actually prefer it to printing. “Some of my kids write beauti- fully, and some of my kids are go- ing to be doctors and I can’t read their writing,” she said. Chopyak said it’s especially im- portant for students to choose whatever they're comfortable with for the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests (PSSAs) because if a writing response is not legible, students get an automatic score of zero. Sarah Stanski, 10, of Sweet Val- ley, prefers writing in cursive be- cause she feelsit’s easier, but thinks most of her fifth-grade peers like to print. “It’s something we've learned since kindergarten,” she said of printing. Evan Judge, 10, of Sweet Valley, is always “in a rush” when he writes in cursive, and his handwrit- ing tends to look a little messy. “Printing tome is alot easier,” he said. Despite differing opinions, Cho- pyak said cursive writing is still an important style to learn because See CURSIVE, Page 10 BILL TARUTIS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Fifth-grader Sarah Stanski, 10, of Sweet Valley practices her cur- sive writing at Ross Elementary School in Sweet Valley.
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