Pictured are Blue Ridge Elementary Student Standouts for the week Nov. 5-9, 2012: 1st row – James Minton, Matthew Carey, Logan Frantz, Jaden Cokley, Aaron Griemsmann, Madeline Naylor, Kaleb Hinkley, Jozalynn Merritt, Sam Callahan; 2nd row – Danielle Tierney, Gracey Hinkley, Taylor Holtzman, Yesenia Hernandez-Portillo, Natalie Welch, Tara Kauchis; 3rd row – Mr. Button, Sarah Marble, James Coates, Carson Koehler, Evin Davies, Eli Aldrich; Absent from Photo – Gavin Parker, Abigail Bednarchik, Nicholas Little, Derek Kruger.

For the fourth consecutive tournament, the Elk Lake Forensics Team captured a Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate title.

And, for the fourth consecutive tournament Elk Lake senior Austin Cohen was the champion of Varsity LD Debate while teammate Matthew Horvath placed second at a Scranton Catholic Forensics League Tournament held at Elk Lake.

Pictured are the EL Forensics Team Place-winners at Scranton CFL Tournament at Elk Lake: Austin Cohen – 1st Place in Varsity LD Debate; Matthew Horvath – 2nd Place in Varsity LD Debate.

Cohen had no letdown after winning the prestigious Villiger Tournament at St. Joseph’s University two weeks ago as he compiled an undefeated 3 win and 0 loss record during the preliminary rounds and advanced to Finals

EL senior Matthew Horvath compiled a 2 win and 1 loss record and also advanced to Finals.

Based on preliminary round records, Cohen was declared the tournament champion. For the season, Cohen now has a record of 22 wins and 2 losses.

“This was another solid performance by Austin and Matt. They were not looking forward or looking backwards,” commented EL Forensics Director Keith Brosious.

The EL Forensics Team will travel to Philadelphia on December 8 to compete at the prestigious LaSalle Forum Tournament.

Mr. Robert Keyes, Principal of Susquehanna Community Elementary School, announces the “Student of the Month” for November, 2012 for Grades Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth.

Pictured (l-r) are First, Second and Third Graders: Row 1 - Rebecca Haley, Madeline Schell, Cassandra Moser; Row 2 -Dominick Murphy, Lily Hansen, Olivia Orner, Jaydin Orner; Row 3 - Allison Jenkins, Julianna Bradley, Lauren Brown; Row 4 - Carson Williams, Joshua Marco, Elizabeth Weibel; Absent – Justin Sheldon.

Pictured (l-r) are Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Graders: Row 1 - Rachel Ballard, Bethany Burns, Rachel Rockwell, Cheyenne Cude, Cody Orner; Row 2 - James Clark, Kailye Towner, Matthew Phillips, Victoria James; Row 3 - Matthew Baker, Matthew Weibel, Robert Palonis, Chloe Tinklepaugh, Emily Fremberg.

In the next two weeks, Blue Ridge Fifth Grade Art Club will be displaying their Hexagon Donation Containers in local participating businesses. This is the third year that Art Club will be collecting money to donate to Susquehanna County Interfaith to help people heat their homes this winter. Last year, Art Club raised $766.99 and also recieved numerous awards at the Interdependence Day/Hexagon Project Art Exhibit in Scranton.

Pictured (l-r) are: Front - Lisa Cowell, Walter Donahue, Josiah Smalley; middle - Gia Fiore, Lucas DeBella, Dylan Stone, Luis Alvarez, Tori Auckland, Makenzie Cook, Nelly Walters; top - Ashley Torres, Morgan Mansfield, Morgan Leeming, Spencer Renwick, Gabe Waldowski, Nathan Yegar, Rowan Ryan, Raymond Lindquist, Selena Chandler.

The students built and decorated the Hexagon Donation Containers in the after school Art Club program over the last few weeks. We wanted to help our neighbors by keeping them warm.

If you see a container at a business please help by donating a few coins, if you can. Art Club thanks the help of local businesses, Susquehanna County Interfaith, and the community for helping one another and being interdependent! For more information on this project please visit www.interdependencedaynepa.org.

If you would like to make a donation please contact Sarrah Dibble at dibbles@brsd.org or 465-3141, ext. 548.

On a dreary, cold Saturday December 8th, the Elk Lake Forensics Team dominated a field of the top forensics teams in southeastern Pennsylvania and made school history at the LaSalle Forum Tournament.

Led by the region’s most dominant debater, senior Austin Cohen, the team would place 4 of its 6 debaters in the top 5 in their divisions and go on to win not one, but two team sweepstakes awards.

Pictured (l-r) are EL Forensics Team Place-winners and Team Sweepstakes Winners at LaSalle Forum Tournament: front row - Keeley Carney, Haley Skinner – 5th Place in Novice LD Debate, Mika Smith; EL Forensics Director Keith Brosious, back row - Austin Cohen – 1st Place - Varsity LD Debate, Matthew Horvath – 5th Place – Varsity LD Debate, EL Assistant Coach – Dr. Kurt Liebegott; Kenneth Brittingham – 2nd Place – Novice LD Debate.

Austin Cohen kept on winning in Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate. He once again compiled an undefeated 3 win and 0 loss preliminary round record, which advanced him to Quarter-Finals, where he earned a bye into Semi-Finals.

In Semi-Finals, he won a split decision over a debater from Perkiomen Valley HS and advanced to the Final round against Robert Gormisky, one of only two debaters to beat him this year, from LaSalle College HS.

This time, however, Cohen would win a unanimous decision over Gormisky and win the tournament championship in Varsity LD Debate.

In Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate, freshman Kenneth Brittingham advanced to elimination rounds for the second time this weekend by compiling an undefeated record during the preliminary rounds. Brittingham won his Semi-Final round over Barron Williams from Danville HS and advanced to the Final Round.

Brittingham lost a split decision to a debater from The Hill School in Finals and placed second overall in the tournament in Novice LD Debate.

Senior Matthew Horvath also compiled an undefeated record during the preliminary rounds and advanced to Quarter-Finals in Varsity LD Debate. Horvath would unfortunately lose the Quarter-Final and place 5th overall in Varsity LD Debate.

Sophomore Haley Skinner, in only her second tournament in Novice LD Debate, earned a 2 win and 1 loss record during the preliminary rounds and narrowly missed Semi-Finals by placing 5th in Novice LD Debate.

As a result of placing 4 debaters in the top 5 in their divisions, Elk Lake placed 2nd, out of 27 schools, in the Debate Sweepstakes competition.

That was not the end of Elk Lake’s sweepstakes awards for the day. The EL Forensics Team, despite its limited numbers, won the Efficiency Sweepstakes, which uses the records and placement of every team member to determine how much each team member contributed to the team’s overall success. This was the first year this award.

“This was an incredible individual and team accomplishment. Every single team member here today, as the sweepstakes awards signify, contributed to our success. This team continues to amaze me every week,” commented ecstatic EL Forensics Director Keith Brosious.

Austin Cohen has now driven his season record to 28 wins and 2 losses. He will take a one tournament hiatus from competition and come back in January.

The EL Forensics Team will wrap up the first half of the competition season on December 15 at the Comet Classic Tournament at Abington Heights HS.

Elk Lake Junior High School Principal Brain Mallery has announced the November 2012 Students of the Month for grades seven through nine.

Pictured (l-r) are: front - Griffin Arnold, Kaylee Eckert, Hunter Rinkus, Cliffton Steele, Jerry Fassett, Maria Duarte; back - Keryne Brostoski, Shayla Griffiths, Elizabeth Wright, Bailey Tyler, Junior High Principal Brian Mallery, Miranda Decker.

Kenneth Cuomo, Elk Lake High School Principal is pleased to announce the following students who were selected as November 2012 “Student of the Month” for tenth, eleventh and twelth grade.

Pictured (l-r) are: front row - Lindsey Shingler, Devon Greenwood, Debbie Harvey, Karly Booker, Samantha Boner; back row - Kenneth F. Cuomo, Ed.D, High School Principal, John Brown, Antuan Robinson, Zach Moon, Cody Franssen, Ben Kwader, Lukus Keener; Absent - Kyleen Pisaneschi, Tanner Reyan.