Part II reflects on news at Seneca High School and Tabernacle Elementary School.
Seneca High School named its 2018–2019 Teacher of the Year and Educational Services Professional of the Year
Seneca High School’s 2018–2019 Teacher of the Year is science teacher Dusty Carroll.
After graduating from The College of New Jersey with a bachelor’s of science degree in chemistry, Carroll worked in a physical therapy office before she became a teacher. As a track coach at Cherry Hill High School West, Carroll said, “The student-athletes convinced me of my true calling.”
While teaching, Carroll went on to earn her master’s degree in chemistry education from The University of Pennsylvania.
Carroll worked at Cherry Hill West for five years before joining the Lenape Regional High School District at Seneca in 2004. During her tenure at Seneca, Carroll has taught chemistry, physical science, AP Chemistry, environmental sustainability, and engineering design and development — a capstone course that is part of the Project Lead the Way program.
In addition to teaching, Carroll coached gymnastics both as the head and assistant coach, and spring track. She is also the STEM club advisor. As an active member in several state and national science education organizations, Carroll has been published in “The Science Teacher” and “Chemistry Solutions,” both of which are educator’s journals.
“I have a great relationship with my students and I work very hard to develop new ways of making them think,” Carroll said. “My entire focus is on making sure that the students are constantly challenged and everything that I do relates to that goal. I’ve not really spent any time thinking about awards, so to find out that I was being given the Teacher of the Year award was a total surprise for me.”
Seneca’s 2018–2019 Educational Services Professional of the Year is Media Specialist Amy Rominiecki. After graduating from Temple University with a bachelor’s of science degree in sociology and women’s studies, Rominiecki pursued her master’s degree in library and information science from Drexel University. Her venture into the world of education came from a former teacher who mentioned that she would be a great educator. Rominiecki chose to be a media specialist because she “gets to work with all types of teachers and students in all subjects.”
Before coming to the Lenape Regional High School District at Seneca in 2004, Rominiecki worked at MAST Community Charter School in Philadelphia as the school’s librarian. In addition to her role as a media specialist, Rominiecki is also Seneca’s Literary Magazine advisor, Knowledge Bowl team coach, Amnesty International advisor, and the business manager for the fall drama and spring musical.
When asked about receiving the Educational Services Professional of the Year honor, Rominiecki said, “I was shocked. The outpouring of love and support I’ve received from the staff has been overwhelming. And to be honored alongside Dusty Carroll is special because she’s helped me grow my educational practice.”
Seneca staff honors students for making a positive impact in their lives
Seneca High School held its Fifteenth Annual People’s Choice Awards ceremony on May 17, giving the staff an opportunity to honor students who have had a positive impact on them.
The honorees ranged from freshmen to seniors, and were recognized by the staff for a variety of reasons, whether for a random act of kindness or through years of bonding in the classroom. The staff member remains anonymous to the student until they are called up by them to receive their medal on stage.
The ceremony was coordinated by Seneca’s Renaissance Club, which was created to recognize positive accomplishments by students and faculty throughout the entire high school community.
“From a pool of over 1,100 students, just 44 tonight will receive a medal based on their strength of character,” master of ceremonies Sean Cassel said. “It’s you, the students on stage, and it’s who you are that makes you special. It’s been said that the truth of your character is expressed through the choice of your actions. Tonight your actions have been recognized.”
Students awarded at the People’s Choice Awards ceremony were:
Ninth-grade winners: Sharon Feinlab, Ava Grashorn, Matthew Miller, Kayla Sinclair and Aiden Wells.
Tenth-grade winners: Madison Marshall, Chris Miller, Madison Miller and Karra Wozniak.
Eleventh-grade winners: Tori Bowman, Cody Gordon, Dominic Lubrano, Lola Marian, Abbey Miskiewicz, Claudia Parzyck and Emma Thompson.
Twelfth-grade winners: Marcus Artistone, Evylese Bratten, Shannon Briggs, Tiffany Briscoe, Tyler Brockson, Bronte Castro, Hailey Chapman, Jenna Daunoras, Nicholas Decker, Taylor Fisher, Rachel Green, Madison Groody, Kevin Gsell, Maxwell Heatter, Grayce Heinemann, Luke Hoey, Emma King, Ryan Lopez, Zachary Malcolm, Samantha McCloskey, Natalie Mileszko, Steven Ott, Jake Peters, John Lee-Pesotski, Abigail Regn, Tommy Scarpello, Melanie Weaver and Nick Yannessa.
Seneca High School valedictorian and salutatorian reflect on the past four years
Seneca High School valedictorian Alexis Tierney and salutatorian Kayla Pfeffer reflected on their academic accomplishments and cherished memories as their high school careers came to a close.
The road to success varied slightly for the two. Tierney kept the mindset of consistently trying her best while achieving personal goals as far as academics, which led her to being valedictorian.
Tierney hopes all her classmates can take something positive away from their experiences at Seneca High School as they embark on their individual journeys.
“I hope that, looking back, we can, one, all have positive memories of this place, and, two, be proud that we’re all connected as Seneca grads,” Tierney said.
Pfeffer entered high school determined to rank in the top of her class, and used the competitive nature of her classmates as motivation to excel and eventually secure the honor of salutatorian.
Pfeffer looked back on her time at Seneca and said, “I’m going to remember the friends that I have and the friends that helped me get through everything and the new connections I’ve made with people.”
Tabernacle Elementary School students look to save the planet
With an initiative to save the planet, Tabernacle Elementary School students walk the halls each day with various resources available to help the environment. This green initiative was implemented at the school about four years ago, and has only grown larger since, being led by a Green Team made up of teachers, parents and board members.
The school began with the themes of water and plastic, first looking to reduce the number of water bottles the students use. To do this, refillable water stations were installed throughout the building, with one station outside.
In the spring, students worked together to create a rain garden in the courtyard of the school, taking the steps to first learn about how the flow of water affects the environment, followed by clearing the area of weeds, digging out the space, and adding mulch and native plants. The goal is to control runoff, manage flooding and reduce the amount of pollution in the water, which is done by allowing the runoff to pool, opposed to flowing into other areas. All TES students recently created a mural for the Wyland Foundation for Ocean Conservation as a part of the “Rebuild the Ocean Challenge.” Students are able to submit pieces of artwork to the foundation, where they donate $2 per piece to help keep the oceans clean.
While painting this mural, students learn the importance of keeping the water free of trash — especially plastic straws, which is a part of their initiative as well.
Each day, the students count and record the number of plastic straws they use, including those that come with juice boxes. Once they gather enough information, they will draw out a juice box design that is functional without the use of plastic straws, and they will submit it to popular companies for consideration.
The school has been using a compost throughout the school year for students to discard their leftover fruits and vegetables after lunch. The soil produced can be used for their garden, in which they grow vegetables to donate to local food banks.
“I want to teach the kids now, when they’re young and impressionable, how to take care of our Earth and get them to be our future leaders — they are the future generation and we want them to lead the way and to be green throughout their whole lives,” Green Team member Caryn Smith said.
