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Mr. Kevin Scheetz returns to the place where he found his love for music

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Maria Baker

Junior Editor-In-Chief

In 2017, Mr. Kevin Scheetz graduated from Red Lion Senior High School. He left with many memories, opportunities, and friendships that can never be replaced. In addition to a multitude of awards in music, Scheetz graduated Magna Cum Laude, meaning that he graduated with a GPA higher than 3.75. Now, he is our school’s senior and junior high orchestra teacher. This is his first year of teaching, but there is certainly more to come.

During his time at Red Lion, Scheetz was involved with all things music. He was in almost every ensemble. Scheetz participated in Madrigal Choir, musical (cast), pit orchestra, orchestra, symphonic band, concert band, jazz ensemble, marching band, Concert Choir, and Mixed Choir. The list doesn’t just end there.

“I also auditioned for and participated in PMEA District 7 Band, Choir, and Orchestra, PMEA Region 5 Band and Choir, and PMEA All-State Band, Choir, and Jazz Ensemble,” Scheetz said.

Not only did he participate in many ensembles at school but in 2017, his graduation year, he auditioned and was selected for NAfME All-Eastern Band at Atlantic City, NJ. In 2015, he also was in the NAfME All-National Band in Nashville, TN. 

Scheetz was also involved outside of the music department as well. He was in the TV-Studio and played recreational baseball.

One of his favorite memories was his music trip to Boston, MA. There, he was able to perform the National Anthem at a Boston Red Sox game. 

“[We] stood on the field about ten feet away from the players,” Scheetz said. “As a big-time baseball fan, it was a pretty special memory.”

His achievements didn’t stop after high school. He received his degree in Music Education at West Chester University in 2021, where he also received Magna Cum Laude honors. 

“During my time at West Chester, I participated in numerous ensembles which led me [to] some great traveling opportunities, such as Phoenix, AZ, and Indianapolis, IN,” Scheetz said. “I even performed with the West Chester marching band at a Philadelphia Eagles playoff game in 2019.”

In his college years, he auditioned and received many awards and scholarships to further his education in music. This led him to the opportunity to play a major trombone solo within a top music ensemble at his college. In addition, he played in other high schools’ pit orchestras for musical productions. 

“I have had many opportunities to perform outside of college too,” Scheetz said. “I had the chance to play in the horn section for The Trammps, a 70’s disco music group.” 

After university, Scheetz taught a year of chorus and band in Wilmington, DE at a middle school. 

“Being in Delaware allowed me to perform with the Newark Symphony Orchestra during their 2021-2022 season,” Scheetz said. “Which fulfilled a dream of mine – playing with a real symphony orchestra.”

As far as Red Lion High goes, “The orchestra was only about half its current size when I attended Red Lion,” Scheetz said, “so it is great to see the growth.”

He also mentioned that since he only graduated six years ago, there wasn’t a whole lot of change. However, many of his teachers are still teaching, but some of his mentors have retired.

Mr. Kevin Scheetz (‘17) conducts orchestra rehearsal during the school day of his first year of teaching. Music was his passion at Red Lion and it still is today. Picture By: Maria Baker

Scheetz came back to Red Lion for a couple of reasons. He was looking for a place that was close to home, due to the reason he left home for college. Scheetz was thankful for his opportunities but looked forward to coming back.

“When the opportunity arose to teach at the same place I grew a passion for music, I couldn’t pass on it,” Scheetz said. “I find it so rewarding to be able to provide my musical knowledge with the community that made me love music education.”

Kevin Scheetz, the current junior and senior high orchestra teacher, in the class of 2017, came back to teach at the very high school he found his love for music.

Social studies department member takes on a new course

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Serenity Nace

Staff Writer

The social studies department is coming up with a new elective for the 2023-24 school year. Steven Long, the current Sociology teacher at Red Lion, has decided to teach an Anthropology course next school year. 

Mr. Long is very excited to teach a new class for Red Lion.

Mr. Long has only been teaching for four years; the 2022-23 school year is his first year at Red Lion. He taught for three years in a small town in Colorado. “The high schools in Colorado were a lot smaller,” said Long. “There were around 400 people compared to places like Red Lion.”

Along with Sociology, Mr. Long also teaches US Government/Economics and US History. When asked why he wanted to teach a course of this sort, Mr. Long said, “I took a few courses in high school, and then another few in college.” said Long  “I had good professors so the course was really intriguing to me.”

To get people interested in taking a course, they have to know what the course is about. “Anthropology is essentially the study of cultures and civilizations.” Long said. “That also branches into physical and cultural developments; and physical developments could be broken into forensics based study, too.”

After hearing the basic outline of the course, some students would be more likely to take the course. “I’m in Sociology right now and the two [courses] are very similar,” sophomore Xavier Poulin said when asked how he felt about the class. “It would be really interesting to learn about different societies outside of the one we’re a part of.”

The National Honor Society raises high funds for local families

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Serenity Nace

The participating National Honor Society members bag donated groceries at  Community Reach in Red Lion. The students were proud to have finished all 700 bags in one night, according to member Natalie Rudolph.

Staff Writer

The Red Lion Area Senior High National Honor Society recently held an event to raise money for Thanksgiving food donations for local families. The event held nine teams of teachers who each raised money and Red Lion students who donated to the cause. Their sums were added together at the end of the event. 

“I think it went well considering there was no set goal,” NHS advisor, Cameron Murray said. “The turnout was really good for not having any idea of where we wanted to end up.”

The groups of teachers, determined by the social committee, are also participating in a year-long competition with many events. Team Nine landed in first place having raised $51.37, so the total was bound to be high. Overall, the nine groups raised a grand total of $307.95. Additionally, the students who donated raised another $75.13. This means that the NHS and all other participants raised $383.08 this Thanksgiving season. 

“Student participation could have been better,” said NHS member, Natalie Rudolf about the funds raised, “but the teachers did well.”

On Nov. 8, some of the NHS members volunteered at Community Reach to help bag 700 bags of food for local families. Murray said that while they were originally supposed to bag food on both the eighth and ninth, “the students did so well that they didn’t get asked back the next day.” 

Safe to say that the NHS had a very productive fundraiser to start the year and season.

Free breakfast available for all students in the 22-23 school year

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A state program launched by Governor Tom Wolf will provide free breakfast to Red Lion students and other schools across the state no matter what their income level. The program will go into effect here at school Monday, Oct. 3. 

Breakfast is available daily from 7:15-7:38 am, before the first period. The process for getting breakfast will not change. Students will need to use their ID or lunch number pin so they can keep track of who gets breakfast in the mornings.

Junior Destiny Hildebrand is glad that breakfast is available at school so she can still eat without getting up early.

“My bus comes at 6:35 so I would have to get up at 5:30 if I wanted to eat at home,” Hildebrand said. “It’s nice that it’s free because then I don’t have to pay for it.”

Cafeteria manager Bridgett Shifflet has been preparing her staff for the change but says much will stay the same. 

“Students will still come into the cafeteria serving area through the commons and then they will be able to get a bag,” Shifflet said. “They will be able to fill their bag… to make a complete breakfast.” 

According to the PA Department of Education, a complete breakfast includes five components; one whole grain, one dairy, one or two fruits, and a protein item.

For Red Lion, a variety of fruits, and a grain can be combined with cheese sticks and yogurt to fulfill the protein requirement. A choice of 1%, fat-free,  and dairy-free milk top of the choices.

Breakfast and lunch menus are posted on the SUN site for students. They can be found under “Meal Menus”.

Maria Baker

Junior Editor-in-Chief

Hungry for breakfast? The Red Lion Area High School will be given free breakfast starting on Monday, October 3.

Governor Wolf closes schools as COVID-19 causes major changes in school events

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by Daphne Riddle

Junior Editor-in-Chief

Check out the timeline below.

“We need to understand that we are all in this together and that we all need to support each other.”

Mr. Mark Shue, Principal

In news reports from April 9, Governor Wolf closed all Pennsylvania schools for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. There is no information about where this will lead the district’s academics and scheduled events.

 On Friday, March 13, 2020, students, teachers, and staff at all Red Lion Area schools got the unlucky news that schools would close for at least a two week break out of caution of the virus, COVID-19. Since then, the spreading pandemic has changed life as known, as closures have been extended and other public places have been temporarily closed. 

“During times of great tragedy and unrest, public schools are the glue that hold communities together,” said Principal Mr. Mark Shue. “That is why it is very important that we do what we can to keep our students engaged and connected with the High School.”

Many questions linger regarding end of the year events that could be affected by the quarantine. Seniors in the high school have raised concerns about prom and graduation.

Mr. Shue sent a letter out March 27  saying that the district is planning on keeping these events on the calendar for the students. In the letter, it was said that seniors have worked hard for years, and the school wants to do everything they can to keep these events planned as a reward for the students’ hard work. “We,” said Mr. Shue,  “are going to do everything that we can to hold the end of the year events that Seniors hold dear.”

From a school perspective, classes have been moved to online learning until the unknown time of return to regular schooling. Starting on March 30, teachers gave thirty minutes of work for each period, three days per week. This allows teachers to continue teaching their course’s content, although not to the full extent that could be reached in a classroom. 

Other schools have made the decision to go on a pass or fail basis for the remaining period of the year. Red Lion, however, has chosen to continue with normal grading methods. 

The school may change the amount of work given, however, based on the level course. Red Lion’s main priority the first few weeks was to allow kids to adjust to the new way of learning, but once the change becomes more normal, more work could be distributed depending on the level of the class. 

Many questions linger regarding end of the year events that could be affected by the quarantine. Seniors in the high school have raised concerns about prom and graduation.

Although many events throughout the school have been cancelled due to the pandemic, the Senior High has been working to create new ways to keep students interacting and feeling a part of the school community. 

The Board of School Directors will hold a virtual school board meeting Thursday, April 16 at 7 p.m. Virtual attendees must register with a code and follow the directions for participation outlined on the web page. 

The week of April 6-9, the Student Council held a virtual spirit week. The planners included themes such as extracurricular day, hats off to essential workers day, animal day, and Red Lion Pride day to keep students participating in a school “event”. Kids were asked to take pictures of themselves participating and post them on social media for other students to see. 

Staff from the school also worked together to make a TikTok account for the Senior High as another way of keeping the students and staff involved in a school-like environment. The video featured school faculty and staff smiling and waving, spreading positivity to the students and staff stuck in their homes.  

Through these tough times, it is important for the schools to stay connected with the students. “We need to understand that we are all in this together,” said Mr. Shue, “and that we all need to support each other.”

Virtual reality enhances student learning

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Kaitlyn Resline

Student Life Editor

Jesse Schwartz, right, looks around in the Monroeville County Courthouse, as his partner Nicholas Hinton, left, waits his turn to use the device. The students are using Augmented Reality devices in their English class.

The students of Ms. Stacy Wolfe’s period 6 honors English class explored a courthouse during school. A courthouse located in Monroeville, Alabama. 

On November 5, 2019, the students of Ms. Wolfe’s honors English classes used virtual reality for a lesson. To understand the novel they were reading, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, they virtually toured a courthouse, a setting in the novel. 

While attempting to locate the courthouse, Ms. Wolfe encountered difficulty finding the proper courthouse. Students also experienced faulty internet while trying to use the virtual reality devices. However, they were able to resolve these issues and proceed with the lesson. 

“It was cool to experience the courthouse in a first person perspective,” sophomore Madison Webster said.

Students expressed awe and excitement over seeing the courthouse as they moved their heads around to view different angles. 

“I love to do virtual reality,” sophomore Jesse Schwartz said. “It’s nice to look around at somewhere you can’t be and actually see it.” 

Ms. Wolfe chooses to do virtual reality to help bring more understanding to her students. 

“You can visualize what you are reading about better if you can actually see it,” Ms. Wolfe said. “The courtroom is pivotal in To Kill A Mockingbird so it made sense to try to take students into that room and era.” 

Schwartz and Webster both agreed that the experience helped deepen their understanding of the novel. Webster commented that it helped her to relate to the characters of the novel.  

“It definitely helped me see through the eyes of characters who I wouldn’t think to put myself in their shoes,” Webster said. 

On the other hand, Schwartz said the activity helped him to visualize the novel. These visualizations will help him for later assignments. 

“When reading the book, having a mental picture of where the characters are helps us comprehend the book,” Schwartz said. “We can recreate what we’ve seen for essays.” 

Wolfe plans to use virtual reality again to take her students to Hawaii when they read Lord of the Flies. Even though there are not a lot of English virtual realities, she hopes there will be more soon. 

“Virtual reality is a tool that all teachers should use if they can because it’s engaging and immersive,” Mrs. Wolfe said. “It allows you to go places you might never get to visit, and the more experiences like that, the more well-rounded person you are.”

Madison Webster, right, looks around to see different angles of the Monroeville County Courthouse as her partner Sophia Hynoski, left, watches her explore. 

Classes join competition to stock local food bank

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“Bring in cans because it’s for a good cause!”

Delaney Jess, Student Council Canned Food Drive Chair

By Margaux Rentzel

Multimedia editor

Student council is gearing up for their annual canned food drive November 18-22. It will be another competition between the classes, and the winning class will win $250 and 50 class cup points.

Collected items will go to the Grace Lutheran Food Bank in Red Lion. 

“It is directly affecting our community,” head of the drive committee for student council, Delaney Jess said, “and we try to help them out as much as we can.”

Students in grades 9-12 can bring in canned food items to be a part of the competition as well as give to their community. 

“I hope it has as much momentum behind it as it did last year,” Jess said, “because we collected around 10,000 things to donate.” 

In April of 2019, the student-council-run canned food drive implemented an incentive to get people to participate. “[In previous years] when we didn’t have the competition,” Jess said, “we only had probably a couple of hundred cans.”  

In the Spring 2019 drive, the classes competed against each other for the class that brought in the most cans. The winner would receive $500 toward their graduating class’s executive council. 

According to Student Council, last year the juniors were in the lead during the whole week. Until, on Friday, the seniors and sophomores arose in the competition. The classes started bringing ramen because each ramen packet counted as one “can”. 

The seniors saw their placement on Friday morning and used their class money to leave during the school day and go buy more items for the drive before everything was counted, according to a representative from student council

The controversy caused the seniors to become disqualified and the sophomores ended up winning. Jess was disappointed in the outcome. 

“The idea that it’s going to families in our community was lost in the sense of competition.”

“Now that we know the way that it went and we have the experience,” Jess said. “We just implemented some new rules so that way it’s more fair and a friendlier competition.” 

This November the new rules are gravy packets do not count; ramen packets count as one quarter of a can; and leaving school to go buy cans is prohibited. 

“Bring in cans because it’s going to a good cause.”  Jess said. “May the best class win!” 

The Annual Christmas Magic Returns

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By Alexander Schor

Reporter

York has many places and opportunities for people wanting to have fun as the weather gets colder and the holidays approach.

One such activity is Christmas Magic which is held annually at Rocky Ridge County Park.

Every year the park strings thousands of lights, signs, Santas and train displays. According to yorkcountypa.gov,

“Christmas Magic is a half-mile walking trail accessible to anyone that meanders along a wooded hilltop through nearly 600,000 Christmas lights, holiday scenes and five enclosed heated pavilions. The spirit of the holiday is displayed by using animation, displays, visits by Santa Claus, food, a G-gauge train display and an O-gauge train display.”

Each year over 40,000 people go to Christmas Magic at night to see the lights and scenes that were set up by the York County Department of Parks and Recreation over many weeks.

Admission is not free, however. According to yorkcountypa.gov, it costs adults ten dollars for admission. The YCDPR has made admission much easier this year by opening online ticket sales so that there is less of a crowd at the entrance.

The park is also hosting various charity events. They are encouraging visitors to bring canned foods as well as stuffed animals for the food bank and Toys for Tots respectively.

Christmas Magic will be open from Nov 23 – Dec 31. They will be open from 6-9 pm on weekdays and 5-9 on the weekends.

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