WILLIAMSPORT SUN-GAZETTEMonday, October 22, 2007

Page B-8

This page was created by students at

St. John Neumann Regional Academy

Students learnthe meaning

of giving backBy NICOLE DOUGHERTY

and ALECIA THALERSixth Graders

A fun children’s activity – face painting– sparked an idea that would result in do-nations to the James V.Brown Library and to anorganization for home-less children.

We enjoy face paint-ing and thought it wouldbe neat to do this as afundraiser for worthycauses. We had an op-portunity to volunteerour time at the Fall Fo-liage Balloon Festival inMontoursville for thepast two years. Our par-ents took us out to pur-chase the paints andbrushes, and weworked throughout theFestival. We paintedmany children’s faces,and it was fun meetingdifferent children.

Last year, we earned$152 and presented it tothe James V. Brown Library for their newchildren’s wing. We were excited to be in-vited to the groundbreaking ceremony lastmonth.

This year, we raised $130 and are giv-ing it to a charity that will help homelesschildren. It makes us feel good to help oth-ers in our community. We hope to contin-ue this fundraising effort in the years tocome.

Governor’s SchoolBy BARBARA MALEK

Senior

This past summer, I had the privilegeof participating in the Pennsylvania Gov-ernor’s School for Global Entrepreneur-ship at Lehigh University.

This program brought together 75 top-notch students from across the state ofPennsylvania, including 12 internationalstudents. My participation in the five-weekprogram gave me the opportunity to ex-perience a true sense of college life, andform friendships with other students fromdifferent cultures and backgrounds.

I was privileged tohear the inspiring sto-ries of self-made busi-ness moguls, such asSeth Goldman, theCEO of Honest Tea,Donna Griffin, VicePresident of Chubb In-surance, top boardmembers of Just BornCandy, trading special-ists from Morgan Stan-ley, and top government officials, such asPennsylvania’s State Reps. Karen Bayerand Douglas Reichey, Pennsylvania Sen.Pat Browne, and the South African U.S.Ambassador, Ivan Vosloo.

What’s even more exciting are the in-credible U.S. landmarks, which I was ableto privately tour, including the United Na-tions, the Federal Reserve, BloombergCo. and the New York Stock Exchange.

To experience what it’s like in a real-lifebusiness, all of the participants in theGovernor’s School were placed in groupsand became virtual interns for select com-panies in the Lehigh Valley.

I, along with five other superb students,was chosen to work for a nonprofit organ-ization, the Valley Youth House, whichprovides shelter for runaway or neglectedchildren.

My group was assigned the demand-ing but rewarding task of creating a newmarketing strategy for the organization,and developing ways to increase thenumber of donors and monetary contribu-tions. My group gave a donation of $234to the Valley Youth House from fundrais-ing efforts that we undertook during theGovernor’s School program.

Additionally, I took an array of classesrelated to global entrepreneurship, includ-ing: How CEOs Think, Trading and In-vesting, So You Want to Be a Millionaire,Understanding the Marketplace, Ethicsand Values, Creative Outlook, Win-WinNegotiating and European Union.

“Gov School”, as my fellow studentsand I called it, was not just an endless cy-cle of classes and lectures, though. It wasalso five weeks of fun and games.

Almost every night, the Governor’sSchool mentors created a “MandatoryFun”, which ranged from toga parties,karaoke, salsa night, scavenger huntsaround the Lehigh University Campus,swing dancing, and water balloon fights.

To complete the Governor’s Schoolprogram, each student is encouraged tocreate a leadership project for the better-ment of their home community.

For my project, I am currently workingwith my school’s National Honor Societyto create a tutoring center at the St. JohnNeumann High School campus, and es-tablishing reading centers at the Acade-my’s elementary campuses, to assist stu-dents who need extra help with readingcomprehension.

Today, as I look back on my experi-ence at Governor’s School, the most last-ing impressions are the amazing memo-ries and lifelong friendships that I havemade. The Governor’s School has alsogiven me the knowledge and encourage-ment to take the information presented bythe speakers and classes and apply it tomy everyday life.

Students at St. John Neumann’s In-termediate Campus are actively in-volved in the National Catholic Foren-sics League. The Forensics Club is mod-erated by St. John Neumann Englishteacher, Mrs. Myra Kovalak.

Forensics is an oral interpretation ofvarious genres of literature. The goal offorensics is to give students the opportu-nity to gain a better grasp of speech,poise, and personal confidence throughoral presentation, both prepared and ex-temporaneous.

This year the fall competition in-volves an oral interpretative reading ofpoetry. Students are to read one or sev-eral published selections, running 4-7minutes in length.

Their first school competition was onOctober 10. Twelve students in grades4-6 participated and the top three, aswell as an alternate, were chosen to rep-resent St. John Neumann in the West-ern Regional Forensics competition, to

be held on October 26 at EpiphanySchool in Sayre. Those who take 1st,2nd or 3rd place at the regional competi-tion will move on to the final competitionat Holy Cross High School in Dunmorein November.

The winners of the St. John Neu-mann competition and their Forensicsselections are as follows:

1st Place: Anastasia Georges, grade6. She read “Math is Brewing and I’m inTrouble” and “Were You Fat Like Me?”by Kalli Dakos.

2nd Place: Allison Lax, grade 5. Sheread: “Mrs. Stein” by Bill Dodd and“Sick” by Shel Silverstein.

3rd Place: Ray Farr, grade 5. He read:“Casey’s Revenge” by James Wilson.

Runner-Up: Jeremy Hiserman, grade5. He read: “The Dirtiest Man in theWorld”, “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia SnoutWould Not Take the Garbage Out”, “Jim-my Jet and his TV Set”, all by Shel Sil-verstein.

From left are Mr. Stephen Boyce, St. John NeumannElementary Principal, Anastasia Georges, AllisonLax, Ray Farr, Jeremy Hiserman, and Mrs. Myra Ko-valak, St. John Neumann English teacher and Foren-sics moderator.

By RYAN WORKMANJunior

Just a few short months ago, in June, sev-eral students from St. John Neumann Region-al Academy embarked on an adventure of alifetime.

Seven lucky students, their friends, family,and teachers, John and Christy Litchfield,went on an Italian journey. Little did we knowour experiences would influence us for yearsto come.

Does an average vacation begin with aMass? Does an average vacationer travel bylimousine to the airport? Does an average va-cation get delayed for 12 hours, stranding itstravelers in an airport without food or a placeto sleep? No! But that is exactly what hap-pened during the first day of our vacation, andwe hadn’t even left America yet!

When we finally arrived in Rome, Italy, wewere informed that in order to catch the restof our tour group we would have to travel bybus for several hours to Assissi.

Once in Assissi, we unloaded our bags offthe bus we had just arrived on, onto anotherbus to take us back to Rome, where we hadjust come from. We did get to experience a lit-tle of Assissi, a quaint town on a hill overlook-ing the romantic Tuscan wine country.

On our way back to Rome, we spent a fewdays in Florence. Florence was, by far, the bestplace to shop!

Everything you could possibly want to re-member Italy was located at an outdoor mar-ket that covered a never-ending mile, or two,or three! Leather, silk, shoes, hats, hand bags,books, knick-knacks and more were availablefor purchase.

Not to mention the availability of Italianmen willing to pack themselves in a suitcase

to go to America with one of the girls on ourtrip! One of the highlights was a meal weshared with Mr. and Mrs. Litchfield’s nephew,Brian, who is studying opera in Florence.

Dinner was followed by one of Italy’s great-est treasures, gelato. Real Italian gelato isnothing like what you can find in America.Theice cream-like dessert is absolutely delicious.

After Florence, and a stop at the beach, wefinally made it back to Rome for the remain-der of our trip.

The majority of our time in Rome was glad-ly spent in the Vatican City, the capitol of ourCatholic faith. It could be described as a bit ofheaven, or perhaps the most beautiful place

on Earth.It felt amazing to stand on ground where

the likes of saints and popes alike havewalked before us.

We will never be the same.Our Italian journey was a life-changing ex-

perience. Even if the beginning of our trip wasa little hectic, it was worth every minute, be-cause it was the ups and downs that strength-ened our friendship.

On behalf of all those who traveled, I wouldlike to thank Mr. and Mrs. Litchfield and St.John Neumann Regional Academy for bring-ing together a wonderful group of travelers fora memorable, faith-filled vacation.

Forensics League is active at intermediate campus

DOUGHERTY

THALER

MALEK

The Bell Tower of the Duomo, is shownabove. The students climbed more than 900steps to the top, and below, the St. John Neu-mann Regional Academy group poses Italy.

Above, RyanWorkman poses at thetop of theDuomo, overlookingFlorence, and at left,the Ponte Vecchiobridge is seenover the Arno River.

Viaggio Italiano 2007(Italian Journey 2007)