The Blue Ridge Pre-K students made their annual field trip to Brant’s Dairy Farm on the morning of March 24, 2016.  The kids came to learn how the farm works and what we do every day.

I am Kendra Brant, a Susquehanna County Dairy Maid and 6th grade Blue Ridge student. I was joined that morning at my family farm with Brooke Marvin, Alternate Susquehanna County Dairy Princess as well as Katrina Vidota, the Dairy Ambassador, and my sister Kaelynn Brant, also a Dairy Maid.  Evie Goff heads up the Susquehanna County Dairy Promotion program and helped get everything organized to go smoothly that morning. My parents Keith and Pam, and brother, Kyle, were also there helping at stations throughout the farm.

I spoke to the students about the baby calves.  We discussed what the calves eat and drink.  We also talked about their ages and how old they have to be to move to a different pen.  Kaelynn and Katrina’s station focused on milking the cows and they showed students how to put the milkers on the cows and how the milk gets transported through the pipeline to the milk house.  Brooke talked with the kids about the milk storage, how it is put in the tank and then leaves the farm and heads to the milk plant.  Our employees Maria Diaz and Lisa Zurn also helped out at the stations. Maria spoke to the children about what the cows get to eat to help them make the most milk and Lisa helped me at the calf station. My brother and father showed students the farm tractors and helped them get up in them to pretend drive. The students were able to play on a large hay fort that my dad had built for the occasion. 

When we finished the stations, everyone had some snacks.  We enjoyed a dairy treat, Gogurt, and the kids were reminded to have 3 servings of dairy per day. At the end, we had a huge Easter egg hunt in the yard.

My family and I plan on continuing to partner with Blue Ridge and give young children the opportunity to visit a working dairy farm. It was a great day and there were many smiling kids who enjoyed it.

Elk Lake would like to congratulate the newest members of the National Junior Honor Society. An induction ceremony was held in February for our 8th-grade students. The following students were inducted into the National Junior Honor Society based on meeting criteria in the the areas of GPA, academic performance, character, citizenship, community service, and teacher references: Felicia Bedford, Megan Bosscher, Sadie Bosscher, Amelia Comly,Kathryn Cusatis, Lauren Herman, Emily Stevens, Megan Tewksbury, and Brandon Way.

These students were inducted into the National Junior Honor Society knowing they are now part of a elite group of students. Congratulation to these students.

Pictured: front - Kathryn Cusatis, Megan Tewksbury, Lauren Herman, Emily Stevens; back - Megan Bosscher, Amelia Comly, Brandon Way, Felicia Bedford, Sadie Bosscher, Kris Morahan.

The Jefferson Club of the Susquehanna County Democratic Party is offering a $500 scholarship to two graduating seniors from a Susquehanna County high school. The student must be accepted for initial enrollment in an accredited post-secondary educational program in the United States for the academic year 2016-2017. Eligible programs include 4-year colleges, community colleges, vocational, technical, trade schools, and union apprenticeships.

Please see your Guidance Counselor for additional information and application. The application packet must be submitted to the scholarship committee by U.S. mail. The submission deadline is April 28, 2016.

Elk Lake High School Principal Brain Mallery has announced the March, 2016 Students of the Month for grades seven through twelve.

Pictured (L-R) are: front - Manuel Larreynaga, Alex Bradish, Kayla Brotzman, Emily Moore, Kobie Garcia, Ariona Richards, Arianna DeGrote, Dakota Herne, Shirley Roe, Regan Saltzer, Brittany Crane; back - Abby Johns, Adam Meaders, Lucy Ives, Cam Welsh, Brandon Gibbons, Isaiah Oakley, Brett Carney, Logan Moon, Jonas Fuller, Gavin Kelly, Brian Webb, Cassandra Noble, Katlynn Pitcher, Caitlin Kojola, High School Principal Mr. Brian Mallery. Absent from photo: Lexxus Crisman, Ryan Tuttle

On Thursday, March 31st, 2016, the Blue Ridge kindergarten students presented our Artist-in-Residence program “Let’s Hear It for Heroes: A Kindergarten Salute” to the elementary students during the day and to families at night. This program is funded in part by NEIU 19, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Kindergarten grade level funding. We were fortunate to have Mr. Theo Lencicki, a Scranton native, as our Artist-in-Residence for his 5th year at Blue Ridge.  Mr. Theo has performed in regional and international performances, including “Hairspray”, “A Chorus Line”, “Young Frankenstein”, and “West Side Story”.

The Artist-in-Residence program took place during the month of March, for 20 school days.  During this time, the kindergarten students learned choreography, singing parts, stage behavior, theatre terminology, and working together to create a performance. They took part in creating the scenery and developing ideas for what a hero looks like.  During the Artist-in-Residence program, the kindergarten students worked on several PA Speaking and Listening standards, as well as music, art, and physical education standards.

Every class learned 3 group songs and 1 individual class song to perform on the stage.  The kindergarten students learned about community heroes, mythological heroes, family heroes, superheroes, American heroes, and that everyone can be a hero to someone.  Eleven students were chosen to share their hero thoughts during the performance.  Other students were chosen by Mr. Theo to perform special parts in their individual class songs, based on their enthusiasm, rhythm, and appropriate behavior during the Artist-in-Residence program.

The Blue Ridge Kindergarten teachers volunteered their time to present the Artist-in-Residence performance during the evening to make the performance more accessible to kindergarten families and community members.  The final production was captured on video and is currently being offered to kindergarten families as a fundraiser to support future Artist-in-Residence performances, as well as upcoming kindergarten events, such as Kinderbop, Field Trip, and Kindergarten Graduation.