Vol. 122 No. 17
THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
June 30 - July 6, 2013
50¢
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
WWW.MYDALLASPOST.COM
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
Provided photo
Wake Schepman trains on skate ramps in the back yard of his
Hunlock Creek home.
- Novrocki named
Teacher of the Year
Michael Novrocki,
a Lake-Lehman High
School teacher, was
selected as winner of the
National History Day
Patricia Behring Teacher
of the Year in the 2013
senior division.
The Behring Award
recognizes teachers
: for exemplary commit-
£5 ment to helping students
develop their interest in
history through the use
of creative teaching meth-
ods and helping them
make discoveries about
the past.
Novrocki was selected
from a pool of more than |
50 teachers.
Novrocki received the
award before a crowd of
thousands at the Kenneth
E. Behring National
History Day Contest
at the Univesrsity of
Maryland at College Park.
Lake-Lehman High
School has won the
Oustanding School Award
in the Senior Division
for 14 years in a row at
the regional History Day
Contest and this year
received the Outstanding
School position at the
state-level competition.
Misericordia U
teaching program
nationally ranked
The Misericordia
University Teacher
ucation Program is one
.105 teacher prepara-
Won programs in the coun-
try and one of only seven
in Pennsylvania named
to the Honor Roll in the
2013 National Council on
Teacher Quality (NCTQ)
ratings released by U.S.
News & World Report on
June, 18.
Misericordia
University’s undergradu-
ate secondary education
program received three
out of four stars in the
national report, “Teacher
Prep Review: A Review
Playing it
SARAH HITE
Dallas Post Correspondent
Nicole Chipego wants to
play it forward.
When Chipego heard
ut the devastation
¥sed by tornadoes in
klahoma in early June,
she knew she wanted
to help children whose
lives were turned upside
down by the storm. So
she began planning an
adult softball tournament
to benefit the Moore,
|
9815120075 12 soitball on local teams
of the Nation’s Teacher
Preparation Programs
2013.” T
he three-star des-
ignation = means the
Misericordia University
Teacher Education
Program “provides strong
preparation,” according
to the report.
Of the 1,200 elemen-
tary and secondary edu-
cation programs in the
United States that were
assigned an overall pro-
gram rating by NCTQ,
only 9 percent received
the special Honor Roll
designation by earning
three or four stars.
forward on the field for tornado victims
Oklahoma Little League.
The two-day Field of
Dreams Co-Ed Softball
Tournament will be held
Labor Day weekend and
proceeds from the entry
fees and raffle ticket sales
will all benefit the Little
League organization in
Oklahoma.
“It’s important when kids
love something, that they're
able to keep playing, espe-
cially when there is chaos
going on,” she said. “It
gives kids an outlet.”
The 32-year-old mom
and softball enthusiast
of Noxen knows first-
hand the important role
sports can play in the
lives of children. After
all, she’s been playing
SUSAN DENNEY
Dallas Post Correspondent
It’s easy to forget to breathe
when watching Wake Schepman
skate. He defies gravity as he
flies over ramps and twists in
the air. His favorite stunt is a
trick called a flat spin 540. It’s an
unbelievable sideways backflip
with one and a half rotations.
Wake, 16, of Hunlock Creek,
is a phenomenon in the world
of inline skating, also known as
Rollerblading.
He’s a likeable and humble
high school student who enjoys
Boy Scouting and church activi-
ties. He has won many competi-
tions and is the only teen ranked
in the top 10 inline skaters in the
world.
“The biggest accomplish-
ment I have had was this last
February,” he said. “I competed
in the biggest Rollerblading com-
petition in North America called
the Bittercold Showdown. I won
third place. First place went to
a man from Australia and sec-
ond place went to a man from
France.”
The Bittercold Showdown was
held in Royal Oak, Michigan and
drew the best inline skaters from
around the globe.
Wake’s mom, April, said the
family has been in the Back
Mountain area for four years.
Defying gravity: Teen astounds the world
She said the winters here are a
challenge for her son’s skating
because one of his parents must
drive him to the closest indoor
skating park if the weather is
bad.
In good weather, Wake practic-
es on the backyard ramp his dad,
Wes, created for him.
April used to be afraid when
Wake first started skating at age 5.
See GRAVITY | 10
Founders Day celebrated in Tunkhannock
Above, Autumn Barzelowski, 5, of
Tunkhannock, reviews the face-paint-
ing work created by Rozanne Bozek, of
Trading Faces. At left, One momentous
move in Tunkhannock this year was the
relocation of Gay's True Value Store
from Bridge Street to 189 E. Tioga.
Shown is the former Gay’s True Value
located on Bridge Street for 100 years.
Business owners decided to move
after the most recent flood. The build-
ing shown has been demolished and a
CVS pharmacy will be built in its place.
Alice Stuffle | Dallas Post
The 32nd Annual
Founders’ Day
celebration in historic
downtown Tunkhannock
was hosted June 22.
Once again, Peoples
Neighborhood Bank
was the event’s major
sponsor. In addition
to Tioga Street,
vendors exhibited their
merchandise along
Warren and Harding
Streets.
The Tunkhannock
Business and
Professional Association
coordinated the annual
event, including food,
entertainment and
music. A record number
of vendors offered a
variety of metal crafts,
art, fabric crafts,
woodworking, jewelry,
home décor, photography
and other unique trades
and professions.
Festivities began at
10 a.m. and concluded
at 4 p.m. The Wyoming
County United Way held
its annual Duck Derby.
Artists from the Endless
Mountain Council of the
Arts exhibited paintings.
for her high school team,
for more than 20 years.
“I can’t remember not
playing,” said Chipego.
“I've always been good
at it. And my whole fam-
ily played - my mom, my
dad and my three sisters.”
The Lake-Lehman
graduate played softball
winning awards for her
prowess on the field. She
also had an opportunity
to play in the National
Pro Fastpitch Professional
Women’s Softball League
for the New York/
New Jersey Juggernaut
in the early 2000s.
“11 got invited to
a7
play,” said Chipego. “It
was a two-day tryout
with 150 girls playing
each day. They picked 20
girls out of all of them.”
But now Chipego has
traded in her pro status
to play on two local teams
and coach her daugh-
ter, 5-year-old Hannah,
through her first T-Ball
season with the Badgers,
part of the Bob Horlacher
League.
“Hannah also comes
with me to my games, and
I like to keep involved in
the benefit tournaments,”
she said.
The tragedy in
Moore, Oklahoma
hit close to home for
Charlotte Bartizek | Dallas Post
Nicole Chipego, a former softball standout at Lake-Lehman High
School, has more than the game on her mind. Chipego is planning
See FORWARD | 10 a benefit softball game to aid tornado victims in Oklahoma.
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