December board report:

  • On November 30th, Delaware Valley had three students compete at Johnson College in the District 1 Skills USA competition. We also had nine students compete on December 16th at Luzerne County Community College. These students competed in a variety of Career and Technical Education fields. Brandon Minetti brought home a Gold Medal for Motorcycle Technician and Adriana Galeano won Gold for Job Interview Skills. Other medalists included Michael McKinney, with a Silver in Industrial Motor Control, Joe Maffei, a Bronze for Job Skill Demonstration, and Tiffany Martin, who won Bronze in Restaurant Service. Gold Medalists, along with David Schotsch in Marine Mechanics, will be competing at the state level competition held later this year.
  • The High School would like to thank The Atlantic Philanthropies Director/Employee Designated Gift Fund for a generous donation of $7,500. The monies appropriated through this gift will go towards benefiting the scholastic bowl team, the Social Studies Department, and for general support in the building.
  • The 2016 Snow Ball Dance raised $150 plusa bag full of presents for children in our district who are in need this holiday season. Student Council will use thefunds to purchaseadditional toys and gifts from the wish lists ofDDES students to be delivered on December 19.
  • The annual college roundtable held on December 22nd proved to be extremely successful once again this year. Over 20 alumni that graduated in 2016returned to answer questions and discuss their transition from high school to college with our current seniors. Molly Scollo and Matt Cavallaro facilitated this discussion and the topics ranged from study skills and time management to ways to participate in the college community and how to cope with leaving home. It was filled with excellent dialogue and meaningful reflections.
  • On Saturday, December 10th, Hannah Easow, Frani King, Cindy Li, Julia Liskza, Nicole Lissie, and Samantha Platt attended the Women of Science Competition hosted by Bedford Public Schools in Bedford, MA. The girls competed against 40 teams in four different STEM events and represented DV extremely well, placing 2nd and 3rd in the Engineering event!
  • Delaware Valley FBLA attended the Region 22 Conference at the University of Scranton on December 13. Approximately 500 students were in attendance from 10 schools. Students had the opportunity to compete in one of 60+ events ranging from performance, theory and production events. DV FBLA won 1st place for Outstanding Chapter and currentlyhave 29 students qualified for the FBLA State Conference in Hershey this upcoming April.
  • This month, the Rachel’s Challenge Club started "The Message Movement." Four mailboxes were placed at heavily trafficked areas in the high school. Next to the mailboxes are various postcards that students, teachers, staff members, etc. can use to send hand-written messages to others in the building. Rachel's Challenge collects the messages weekly and distributes them to homerooms.In the first day of operation, over 300 messages were collected in the boxes. Big thanks to Mr. Thiele’s classes for constructing the mailboxes, Mrs. Angle’s class for designing the cards, and Mrs. Giordano for organizing this wonderful movement.
  • Members of the Delaware Valley HS FBLA chapter assist at the Milford Food Pantry on a regular basis. Students stock shelves and assist with the distribution of food and other items to members of the community. The members held a toiletry drive during the month of December at school and donated all items to the food pantry on Friday, December 16. Members worked the food pantry on Friday and served hot chocolate and cookies to the community while they were waiting to entry the pantry. The project was organized by Anthony Gosch, Delaware Valley HS FBLA Community Service Director. Members who assisted were: Alyssa Harvey, Vanessa Paolella, Katie Gondolfo, Brianna Rose, Gabriella Cuevas and Krissy Ellis.
  • On December 16th, 2016, Tricia Kaylor’s ceramics students participated in the Delaware Valley’s 6th annual “Empty Bowls” soup luncheon. While learning the art of ceramics, the students work towards aiding local families in the fight against hunger. This international grass-roots effort started with the purpose of helping to shed light on world hunger and our need to give back to our communities. Through the efforts of our students, their families, local businesses, and the generous donations provided by all who attended, the project was able to raise $1,000 to be donated to two of our local food banks.
  • The fire drill was held on December 2nd during fifthperiod and the building was successfully evacuated in under five minutes.

As always, if you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask. Thanks.

Brian