Octorara townlively.com
MAY 24, 2023
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXXIII • NO 12
Octorara to host “Literacy Under the Lights” BY FRANCINE FULTON
Fifth-graders were part of the annual cleanup.
Octorara Area School District will host its second annual family literacy event, Literacy Under the Lights, on Wednesday, May 31, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The event will be held outdoors on the Octorara Junior-Senior High School track and field, located at 228 Highland Road, Atglen. The program is open to families with incoming kindergartners through sixth-grade students. During the event, families will travel to different stations around the varsity field to read and do an activity. The stations will be manned by high school students from different athletic teams and clubs. All children must be accompanied by a parent or an adult family member. Participants should bring blankets for seating. “At each station, the adults or high school students will read a book, and there will be a game afterward,” explained Beth Peticca, kindergarten transition coordinator. “There is a big age range, so the books will be short, simple stories - usually funny stories. We will do a lot with animal-themed stories this year, too.” She said that one of the goals of the event is for younger students and incoming kindergartners to become familiar with all the opportunities available to
Seventh- and eighth-graders picked up trash along local roadways.
WFCS students participate in Trash Stash fundraiser BY FRANCINE FULTON
or more than 30 years, students at West Fallowfield Christian School (WFCS) have participated in Trash Stash, an effort to clean up local roadways and parks while also raising money for the school. During this year’s event, held on April 15, approximately 200 students from preschool through eighth grade, along with their parents, participated in the cleanup. The event is held to coincide with Earth Day and the annual “Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful” initiative. All participants wore orange safety vests and gloves provided by the program. Worksites this year included Silver Maple Farms in Cochranville, Salisbury Township Community Park (also known as Gap Park), The
dumpster available at the school from Harris Metals of Coatesville several days prior to the cleanup where school family members and the community could donate recyclable metal. “ We had a list of things you could recycle,” explained Slaughter, noting that electronics were not accepted. “People donated grills and office furniture that was metal. (Proceeds from) all the things that were collected in the dumpster was donated (back) to the school by Harris Metals.” On May 12, the school hosted a Trash Stash celebration, where prizes were awarded to those who raised the most money and who wrote the most letters. All students were provided a treat from Penny’s Ice Cream Truck. Prizes included tickets to the Philadelphia Phillies, Dutch Wonderland, Knoebels Amusement
Resort, Cherry Crest Adventure Farm, Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park in Downingtown, Palace Bowling & Entertainment Center in Downingtown and the Crayola Experience, as well as Chick-fil-A coupons and a week of free summer camp at WFCS. At the celebration, WFCS announced that its students raised more than $30,000 for the school’s operating budget through the 2023 Trash Stash event. This is the 35th year that the school has participated in the program. WFCS, located at 795 Fallowfield Road, Atglen, serves students from the Avon Grove, Coatesville, Octorara, Oxford, Pequea Valley, Solanco and Unionville-Chadds Ford area school districts. Financial aid is available. For more information, visit www.wfcs.org or the school’s social media accounts or call the office at 610-593-5011.
See Literacy Event pg 3
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Parkesburg POINT youth center and Parkesburg’s Minch Park. Some students picked up trash along Route 10 near Hershey’s Farm Market and Walmart, while others stayed at the school to clean up the playground and the surrounding property. “ We also (worked) up and down Fallowfield Road around the school,” said Patricia Slaughter, WFCS director of development. “This year, we had preschool and pre-K students help out on campus.” By the end of the day, students and parent volunteers had collected about 93 bags of trash. To raise money, WFCS students sent donation letters prior to the event. “They wrote letters to family, friends and businesses to raise money to support them in collecting the trash,” Slaughter noted. Additionally, WFCS had a