Their view: Ode to the unsung professionals

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Boback, Toohil chosen to serve on board of state children’s fund

<p>DENNISON TWP. &#8212; Comments after doing the high ropes course ranged from &#8220;Never again&#8221; to &#8220;light work.&#8221;</p><p>The reactions varied but the T-shirts didn&#8217;t, as 48 Wilkes-Barre Area athletes from all three high schools did a little &#8220;team building&#8221; as part of, well, building a team.</p><p>Students broke up into four groups, with no more than four students from each school in each group, assuring they got to mix much as they will have to when the three &#8212; Coughlin Crusaders, GAR Memorial Grenadiers and Meyers Mohawks &#8212; merge into the one district-wide athletic effort with the Wolfpack mascot name and the new black and Carolina Blue colors.</p><p>If there was any rivalry among the separate schools, it didn&#8217;t manifest. They shouted support and smiled at minor missteps in equal measure. One group, for example, chose a member to don a blindfold, hunt down a foam &#8220;noodle&#8221; usually found in a pool, and then be the first to find and tap the other blindfolded participate, all with teammates shouting animal sounds to guide them.</p><p>Amid the &#8220;meows&#8221; of one team and &#8220;moos&#8221; of the other, the flailing of those who could not see evoked universal laughter.</p><p>This was not, strictly speaking, a district event &#8212; Superintendent Brian Costello said a district-wide pep rally is slated for May 31 for all students to meet for the first time as the Wolfpack. But it did spring from two Meyers High School teachers, Tammy Levandowski and Kelly Keating-Ball, during their participation in a Leadership Wilkes-Barre program launched in 2015 specifically for teachers.</p><p>Dubbed &#8220;IMPACT: Leadership in Education,&#8221; the program is &#8220;designed to empower teachers to be progressive agents of positive change within schools,&#8221; according to the application form. It consists of one day-long session each month September through April.</p><p>Leadership Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Director of Programs Jessica Cronauer said participants &#8212; who must be teachers with at least three years on the job &#8212; must complete a &#8220;School Impact Project&#8221; as part of the program.</p><p>For Levandowski and Keating-Ball &#8212; Impact class of 2019 &#8212; this was it. They managed to get the Wilkes-Barre YMCA to sponsor the event, and to get Lee Electric to sponsor the T-shirts. It was done at no cost to the district, Cronauer said.</p><p>&#8220;With the teams merging, their idea was to apply our (Leadership Wilkes-Barre) team building exercises to the school,&#8221; Cronauer said.</p><p>Keating-Ball said they asked the Athletic Directors to provide a list of students to participate, restricting the list to students from Grades 10 and 11.</p><p>A few coaches also showed up. Field Hockey coach Colleen Wood smiled and sometimes marveled as students worked the triangle of high rope courses (wire, actually, with a safety harness) at either the 20-foot or 30-foot level. She noted the students have already been &#8220;really good&#8221; about the sports merger, pointing out they often communicate via social media anyway, blurring the walls of three physical schools.</p><p>Wood also saw a bigger potential: &#8220;I&#8217;d like to see this for the spring sports teams next,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Sponsorship, anyone?</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Students from Meyers, GAR and Coughlin high schools came together as the Wolfpack to work on team building as part of a Leadership Wilkes-Barre Project at Camp Kresge in White Haven. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL042719wolfpack1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Students from Meyers, GAR and Coughlin high schools came together as the Wolfpack to work on team building as part of a Leadership Wilkes-Barre Project at Camp Kresge in White Haven. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL042719wolfpack2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Carl Johnson, a sophmore at Meyers, comes down from the high ropes course at Camp Kresge during a team building program for the Wolfpack. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL042719wolfpack2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Carl Johnson, a sophmore at Meyers, comes down from the high ropes course at Camp Kresge during a team building program for the Wolfpack. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL042719wolfpack3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Rosy Sosa an 11th grade GAR student, negotiates the high ropes course at Camp Kresge in White Haven. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL042719wolfpack3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Rosy Sosa an 11th grade GAR student, negotiates the high ropes course at Camp Kresge in White Haven. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL042719wolfpack4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Carl Johnson, a Sophmore at Meyers, works the high ropes course at Camp Kresge. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_TTL042719wolfpack4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Carl Johnson, a Sophmore at Meyers, works the high ropes course at Camp Kresge. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>WB Area high school students engage in team building</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

W-B Area Wolfpack members get a morning of team building