Octorara townlively.com
APRIL 21, 2021
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXXI • NO 9
APL Hosts Scavenger Hunt, Continues Capital Campaign BY FRANCINE FULTON
Octorara Intermediate School fifth-graders Octorara Intermediate School sixth-graders (from (from left) Dallas Kittlitz, Jordyn Nuse, left) Abby Tuel, Saralynn Smucker, Ryan McLoughlin, Thomas Donovan, (not pictured) Sawyer Grocki, Riley Miller and Mary Flowers display Lauren Bierlein, Cheyenne Charlyon, the tote bags they created for the Philadelphia Zoo’s Gwen Clymer and Dorothy Wak designed UNLESS competition. and sold tote bags as part of the fundraiser.
Octorara Students Help The Penguins BY FRANCINE FULTON
hen fifth- and sixth-grade students in Christine Gray’s class at Octorara Intermediate School (OIS) learned that they could help endangered animals as part of the Philadelphia Zoo’s UNLESS competition, they immediately wanted to participate. Now in its ninth year, the contest asks students to create real solutions to current environmental issues. The title, according to Gray, is based on the concept “unless you do something, nothing will change.” The students registered for the competition in early October 2020 and were then provided with six animals to choose from the Atlantic Coast leopard frog, the monarch butterfly, the golden lion tamarin, the Humboldt penguin and the Rodrigues fruit bat. After a school-wide vote, the OIS students selected the Humboldt penguin. “(After registering), we had a series of teleconferences with the zoo. They gave (the students) options for the different animals and different focus areas,” Gray explained. “We surveyed the school to get the (other students) involved in the process.” The student group, known as the Penguineers, then researched Humboldt penguins, a species that is
“Throughout the whole campaign, my students would teach (the student body) different things about penguins, how to help the environment and how little changes can make a big impact.” The students learned that plastics, including plastic bags, are harmful to the population by causing a choking hazard and by polluting the water with chemicals. They came up with a fundraiser to make reusable tote bags and stickers. They designed and sold 50 reusable tote bags and 152 stickers to staff members and students, raising more than $455 in total from the sales and donations. Each blue bag featured the message, “Reach out a hand to a flipper in need.” They also created a website, posters, flyers and video announcements to share with the student body to spread their conservation message. “Throughout the whole campaign, my students would teach
(the student body) different things about penguins, how to help the environment and how little changes can make a big impact,” Gray said. “That’s where they came up with creating the reusable bags.” The money that the students raised will be donated to an organization to help penguins. “The zoo has given us a few places and the kids wrote to each of the organizations to find out how the money would be used,” Gray noted. Gray said that participating in the contest allowed the students to sharpen their communication skills. “They learned how to communicate with adults and also with each other,” she said. Additionally, students had to cope with pandemic restrictions and completing some of the tasks virtually. “Usually when you do a fundraising sale in the school, you set up a table and people see it and stop by,” noted Gray. “(For this sale), they had to do a lot with marketing. They had to create commercials shown during announcements, create an order form and then respond in an email. Communication skills were really utilized.” The students recently submitted their final project to the Philadelphia Zoo. The zoo will select a grand-prize winner, who will receive a banner and a monetary prize for the school.
See Scavenger Hunt pg 4
Maureen Fox (right), known as Ms. Maureen to the children at Atglen Public Library, welcomed visitors to the library’s egg scavenger hunt.
A Timeless Message For Our Times
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Community Calendar . . . .5
Church Community Partners To Create Devotional
Spring Cleanup Held In Parkesburg . . . . . . . . . .5
BY ANN MEAD ASH
In the spring of 2020, after COVID-19 restrictions were in place, a group of pastors from Pequea Valley-area churches began meeting virtually, along with Adam Nagle, director of The Factory Ministries in Paradise. The idea was to share thoughts about what each was doing to help people deal with the uncertainties of the times.
Chester County Launches Teen Talk Line . . . . . . . . . .6 Business Directory . . . . . .7 House Of Worship . . . . . . .8 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . .9
See Timeless Message pg 3
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native to South America and is currently endangered. Roughly 12,000 Humboldts are at risk of losing their habitat because of overfishing, climate change and invasive species.
What will soon be the home of the new Atglen Public Library (APL) was the site of an egg scavenger hunt on April 3, during which participants received 12 clues to locate eggs hidden in Atglen Public Library hosted an egg the borough. The event was based on last scavenger hunt on April 3 outside its November’s history scavenger new facility on Main Street in Atglen. During the most recent event, hunt held to celebrate APL’s 75th anniversary. “The scavenger hunt for- each clue led to a location that was mat has been a hit for us. It checks all marked with a laminated decorative the boxes for a COVID-safe activity, paper egg attached to a stake. Each and we have had an excellent egg had a letter printed on it, and response from the community,” participants kept track of the letters noted Robbyn Kehoe, library director. and then unscrambled them to spell a word. When they were finished, participants received refreshments and bags of candy. Also available were free grab bags of books removed from the library’s permanent collection and several make-and-take crafts.