Morgantown/Honey Brook townlively.com
JANUARY 10, 2024
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXXI • NO 49
OJR student installs book-sharing box BY FRANCINE FULTON
A campus book-sharing box has been established at Owen J. Roberts (OJR) High School thanks to the efforts of student Aleksandra Shapovalov, who completed the library as part of
her OJR Middle School Gifted Project. Aleksandra, the daughter of Igor and Tanya Shapovalov, is now a freshman at OJR High School. She built the library with the help of her father, and the box was installed by the OJR See Book-sharing box pg 4
Assistant coach Jamie Payne (back, left) and head coach Jess Hoffman (back, right) and the Twin Valley High School cheerleading squad
Twin Valley cheerleaders headed to national competition BY FRANCINE FULTON
“They are a good group of girls; they have a really good bond.” The girls on the squad represent all TVHS grade levels, nine to 12, and most also cheer for the TVHS basketball and football teams as well. Head coach Jess Hoffman explained that Game Day is a
traditional event that represents what cheerleaders do on the sidelines of games to encourage the crowd. At nationals, the cheerleaders will perform one three-minute routine. “They do a chant and a cheer, and it ends with a fight song. It’s a crowd leading (category),” explained Hoffman, who is assisted by coach Jamie Payne. “It’s very high energy.” After a short break for the holidays, the girls are back practicing and cheering at games. “We are at it five days a week, plus (the girls cheer at) varsity girls’ and boys’ basketball games and (there will be) three additional competitions we will do locally. They will be very busy,” said Hoffman. The girls are also fundraising in order to finance the cost of
Give it to the goats Local farm seeks Christmas tree donations BY FRANCINE FULTON
Instead of throwing out that live Christmas tree after the holidays, consider giving it to a group of goats. Alyssa Palma invites people with trees to bring them to t h e B u l l t o w n B e n d Fa r m , 497 Bulltown Road, Elverson, where they will be eaten by the farm’s three goats, Mary, Jane and June. Palma asks that residents place their trees along the fence line of the farm so as to not block the driveway.
See Cheerleaders pg 3
“If people are strong enough and want to hoist (the tree) over the fence, they can do that,” Palma said. “If the goats and chickens see you at the front fence, they will come to say hello.” Palma made a similar request after Halloween, asking the community for donations of pumpkins. “The little kids liked to chuck the pumpkins over the fence and watch the animals eat them,” she said, noting that pumpkins and gourds are still accepted at the farm to feed the animals. See Goats pg 2
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embers of the Twin Valley High School ( T VHS) cheerleading squad have earned a bid to compete at the Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) National High School Cheerleading Championship to be held in February at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando. To qualify for nationals, the team participated in the UCA Regionals, where it competed in the Small Game Day Non-Tumble Division. Competing against seven teams, the cheerleaders from TVHS placed second at the event and received the highest score of their competition season so far. “They competed in regionals in Wilkes-Barre in December, and they had to place first, second or
third in order to be eligible for a bid to go to Florida,” explained cheer mom Amanda Dominguez. “They placed second and were offered the bid to compete with all different girls from across the country at nationals.”
Aleksandra Shapovalov displays some of the books that are available in the book-sharing box.