Vol.124 No. 31 4
THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
Sunday, October 6-12, 2013 |
The
DALLAS POST .
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
WWW.MYDALLASPOST.COM
AN EDITION OF THE TIMES LEADER
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK
Dallas Post Correspondent
Whoever thought
Jaime Verazin, just Jaime
from Shavertown, who
went to Gate of Heaven
and Bishop O'Reilly High
School, played the piano
and was a cantor at Gate
of Heaven Church, would
end up hanging unhar-
nessed from a chande-
lier by her feet at the
Metropolitan Opera and
competing on national
television for 1 million
dollars on “America’s Got
Talent”?
Verazin was the
Catapult figure who fell
off the mountain peak
in the final dance per-
formance of the popular
televisio nshow.
“It is ironic that my
virst job at 16 was work-
ing for a Kingston dance
store called ‘Broadway
Dreams’ and that here
I am launching my own
theatre show,” Verazin
chatted on her car phone
on the way to the Fulton
Theatre in Lancaster.
“It’s been a very excit-
ing year and a half,
Verazin thinks; but cir-
cumstance have put her
in the fast lane from the
start.
Born in Allentown
to Dr. Gary and Betsy
Verazin, Jaime and
her family spent time
in upstate New York
and landed in the Back
Mountain when she was
in fifth grade.
Her parents never
insisted on a particular
career for her but urged
her to find something she
was passionate about.
The forensic competi-
tions, cantoring and lec-
turing at Gate of Heaven
were “like a mini-theatre
experience,” Verazin
recalls respectfully. “They
all played a part in my
preparation.” But the true
drive to go places started
in the playground when
she was just a child. She
Hanging from a chandelier at the Metropolitan Opera House unharnessed during a production of the
“Tempest” does not seem to bother the unflappable Jaime Verazin, of Shavertown.
would climb on top of the
monkey bars and pretend
to be Ariel then shimmy
down on the trapeze and
jump off the swings.
Trinette Singleton from
Bravo Dance - a legend of
the Joffrey Ballet - was
her mentor, guide and
dance mom who took
Verazin under wing and
taught her how to be dis-
ciplined and build that
snake-skin necessary
to make it through the
toughest parts of being a
dancer.
But nothing changed
her life as much a work-
ing for MOMIX, a dance
troupe touring in Europe
for five years where she
studied aerial dance.
“It is a very prop-based
company of illusion and
dance. I learned how to
dance on ropes and lad-
ders, bungees and on
dollies and poles. It was
a throw yourself into an
experiment type of expe-
rience which became very
valuable to me for future
risk taking endeavors,”
Verazin said.
“It was an amazing first
time job,” she said. “It
was a difficult decision
though” (leaving DeSales
University after only one
year) but the experience
launched her into her
present roles.
“I've been fortunate —
the dance world is still
small enough so that if
you audition your face off
assion, preparation, irony and talent land Jaime Verazin in national dance limelight
you get to know every-
one. In my career, it has
all come together,” she
said.
Only a few weeks
after finishing in the
semi-finals on AGT,
Verazin, still a member
of Catapult (a panto-
mime dance group) and
an “extra dancer” at the
Metropolitan Opera who
specializes in extreme
and aerial performances,
finds herself launching
her own theatre show
with her partner Mark
Stuart, also a dancer.
The pair have produced
a socially-aware, dance/
theatre touring produc-
tion called “Standard
Time” that they can take
to Broadway and present
at the Kirby Center in
Wilkes-Barre.
“Standard Time” fol-
lows three separate, peri-
od-specific love stories.
These stories are
See VERAZIN | 8
Lake-L.ehman 2013
Homecoming Court
RELEASING HOPE
i oT iy
Members of the Lake-Lehman Homecoming Court for 2013-2014 school year
are, from left, Alex Hoyt, Brittany Faux, Adam Dizbon, Brittany Acevedo, Robert
Wright III, Kahli Kotulski, Kaylee Hillard, Dustin Jones, Brinley Williams, Josh
Winters, Anna James and Brady Butler. The Homecoming Queen will be announced
at the Oct. 11 football game against Northwest and the Homecoming King will be
announced at the Homecoming Dance on Oct. 12 at the high school.
Wyecallis named county's
first Blue Ribbon School
53 7
Wycallis Elementary y
School was recently :
honored by the U.S.
Department of Education
when it was announced
that it was among 235
public schools and 50 pri-
vate schools nationwide to
be named a Blue Ribbon
School, making it the first
in Luzerne County to earn
the distinction in the 31
years the program has
existed.
US. Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan
recognized the schools
in one of two categories:
high academic achieve-
ment or big improvements
in academic achievement.
Wycallis was honored as a
high achiever.
Dallas School District
Superintendent Frank
FRED ADAMS|FOR THE DALLAS POST
Students in Mrs. Monahan’s third-grade class do class work at the
Wycallis Elementary School in Dallas which has been named a Blue
Ribbon School.
Galicki said getting a
school on the list “has
been a goal of ours for
about 10 years” and that it
was a group effort.
The school uses a
“Response to Instruction
and Intervention” model
that keeps close tabs on
each student’s progress
and modifies lessons or
interventions until the stu-
dent is up to far. Galicki
said the staff comes up
with a wide range of strat-
egies to help students
learn.
Winners will be honored
during a program Nov.
18-19. School Principal
Paul Reinert said one of
the perks for students
will be a day off as some
staff - and maybe all,
Galicki hinted - travel to
Washington, D.C. for the
ceremony.
FRED ADAMS|FOR THE DALLAS POST
Wycallis Elementary School in Dallas was recently named a Blue
Ribbon School.
BILL TARUTIS|FOR THE DALLAS POST
Deidre Kaminski, of Edwardsville, releases a sky lantern during the ‘Lanterns of Hope’ event benefitting the Hope Center in Trucksville.
For more photos, please turn to page 4.
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