Nazareth Students Shine at Special Olympics

Three Nazareth Area students were honored recently for their achievements at Special Olympics competition on May 1.

The students are Caroline Kilareski from the intermediate school and Tori Gerstung and Josh Johnson from the high school.

Kilareski’s achievements were in the turbojav, softball throw and 50-meter dash.

Gerstung’s achievements were in the 25-meter wheelchair competition, softball throw and turbojav.

Johnson’s achievements were in the softball throw, 50-meter dash and 100-meter dash.

The students were honored at the school board’s May 13 meeting. Also honored were intermediate school teacher Megan Williams and hearing support teacher Heather Snyder.

Also involved in honoring the students were Terry Myers, supervisor of special and alternative education, and intermediate school principal Joseph Yanek.

Meanwhile, the school board – at a special meeting Tuesday (May 28) – approved sending four officials to Washington, D.C., next month. They will represent the school district – June 2-4 -- when it receives a National Green Schools Award for the middle school.

The officials are superintendent Dennis Riker; Michael Uelses, assistant director of information technology; middle school principal Robert Kern, and middle school assistant principal Robert Zemanick Jr.

The district announced last month that the middle school was one of four schools in Pennsylvania—and among 78 schools and districts nationwide—selected by the U.S. Department of Education for the national Green awards.

Also selected for an award was Broughal Middle School in Bethlehem.

The Nazareth middle school is already well-known for its use of solar energy. In fact, at the board’s April 22 meeting, Lewis Lengyel, the district’s supervisor of operations and facilities, said the school’s solar energy project “pushed us over the edge” when it came to getting the Green award.

When the middle school was nominated for the award in February, Patch.com reported that the school has an array of solar panels on its roof and that the operation supplies between 60 and 80 percent of the building’s energy needs.

Other “green” features at the middle school, according to the story, include:

• Walking trails and numerous athletic fields.

• An elaborate system of storm water drainage and retention areas, and water-efficient landscaping that requires no irrigation.

• Low-flow plumbing fixtures and faucets.

• During construction, 75 percent of all construction waste was recycled and diverted from disposal.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, board member Darrell Crook endorsed sending the four officials to Washington.

”With all the notoriety that this has brought to the Nazareth School District, I think it’s important that these gentlemen go,” he said.