SWPB Movie 2017

Friday, October 27 three bus loads filled with LCCTC students with zero referrals and great attendance.

How did we make this happen? The SWPBS team of teachers and administrators worked it out with the managers at Westgate Cinema to help us with our incentive program. Glad to help for a second year in a row, they gave us a great deal: for $7 per student, each paid for their ticket, a drink, and a small popcorn!

"I enjoyed the chance to go to the movies with some of my fellow classmates," states Taylor Lindey, a sophomore studying Health Assistant.  "Both movies we could chose from were good."

Elisabeth Koeliiker, a senior in RT, said, "I I liked how I got to spend time with my friends from the other week. Watching Madea with Tatum was awesome! Just getting out of school for awhile was refreshing."

This year's movies: Jason Blum's Happy Death Day and Boo 2: A Madea Halloween.

The kids had a perfectly spooky time and enjoyed a little reward for being good!

Yum! Thanksgiving Dinner!

Last updated:  11/18/17

What are You Thankful For?

What are you most thankful for?

Skylar Shultz, HA 12 ~ For my Mom

Tara Stanton, Cos 11 ~ That God let me stay alive for another year

Josh Sturgill, MTT 11 ~ For family and for the experiences, good and bad,  that helped me become who I am

Trevor Cunningham, MTT 11 ~ For family and friends

Heather Burns, Cos 11 ~ For the job I have

Kyana Lambright, CA 12 ~ For my family, though I may not always show it.  Whether it’s blood-related family or friends who become close enough to become family, I am truly thankful for them.

Lauren Robison, VA 11 ~ For my mom, sister, and my friends and boyfriend

Bailey Eaton, CR 10 ~ For family, new friends, and teachers at LCCTC -- and for Thanksgiving food, of course!

Emily Barron, HA 11 ~ For family and friends

Brianna McCollums, VA 11 ~ Fo be turning 17, going to basic, and have an amazing sister in my life.

Kelli Heeter, Wel 10 ~ For my family.

Taylor Lindey, HA 10 ~ For being able to be here and be around people I care for.

Max Strobel, AT 11 ~ For family

Elisabeth Koelliker, RT 12 ~ For my family, friends, teachers, and my shop.

Blu Bartle, COT 12 ~ That I was able to find a “home” at school with my shop.  School was never this way for me, but this year, I feel blessed to have friends who are like family.

Rachel Black, COT 11 ~ For my family and friends

Emily Granata, CA 12 ~ For the amazing friends that I have made and the wonderful teachers who have helped me grow into the person I am.

Izzy Polojac, Cos 12 ~ For actually making it this far in life and doing well

Corey Gumpp, Wel 12 ~ To be here for my family and friends and to serve my community as a firefighter.

Favorite Things: Autumn

For some, when the first Canadian breeze blows and the green leaves bow to the golden glow of Autumn, our hearts go pitter-patter.  This is what we love most about Autumn:

Max Strobel, AT 11 ~ The cold weather

Rachel Black, COT 11 ~ Leaves

Emily Barron, HA 11 ~ The chilly weather

Corey Gumpp, Wel 12 ~ Hunting and Thanksgiving

Izzy Polojac, Cos 12 ~ The vibrant colors of the changing trees

Emily Granata, CA 12 ~ The weather and foliage

Blu Bartle, COT 12 ~ I love the colors and the natural beauty of the season.  With the first turn of the leaves, I am excited to enjoy Thanksgiving with family-oriented activities!

Taylor Lindey, HA 10 ~ I like the cool weather and the pretty colors of the leaves

Kelli Heeter, Wel 10, The changing leaves

Brianna McCollums, VA 11, Kids playing in leaves, carving pumpkins at Halloween, and smiling faces

Bailey Eaton, CR 10 ~ Bonfires, watching leaves change, and fall celebrations like Halloween and Thanksgiving

Lauren Robison, VA 11 ~ Anything with apples and pumpkins

Kyana Lambright, CA 12 ~ Pretty much everything!  I love the bright orange and yellow leaves, the cool weather, haunted houses and Halloween, seeing family on Thanksgiving.  I love carving pumpkins and eating pumpkin pie.  Autumn is my favorite time of the year, and it’s filled with my favorite things!

Heather Burns, Cos 11 ~ Smells of the cold air

Josh Sturgill, MTT 11 ~ Hunting season.

Tara Stanton, Cos 11 ~ Pumpkin spice everything!

Skylar Shultz, HA 12 ~ Blankets and movies

LCCTC's Pink Out Day: Breast Cancer Awareness 2017 ~ Suzanna Bowser

What is Breast Cancer? Breast Cancer is cells in the breast that start to abnormally grow out of control; it can be seen in x-rays or felt as a lump. If a tumor is malignant, or cancerous, the cells grow into the surrounding tissues or spread to distant areas of the body.

Most cases occur in women, but did you know that breast cancer can occur in men as well?  This is why we all need to be aware. 

Many have felt the sting in a personal way.  Rachel Black, a junior in the Computer and Office Technology program, tragically never knew her grandmother who died from Breast Cancer when Rachel was only six months old.

Machine Tool Tech junior,Trevor Cunningham found out two years ago that his mother had Breast Cancer. After multiple rounds of chemo and a radical mastectomy, today she is cancer free!

Christian and his mom, Emily, together during
her first Chemo treatment.  They support each
other through this tough time.  

Just recently, Christian Seinecker, Auto Tech junior has felt the sting of this disease; his mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is fighting it right now. She has started chemo and is doing all she can to fight this disease; Christian is doing his part, as well. When he can, he attends the Chemo sessions with his mom, and he's been stepping up his usual responsibilities at home so she need only worry about focusing on her fight. 

"I’m so overwhelmingly happy with all the support I’m getting from my friends," Christian modestly states. "Even people who don't know who I am. All of the thoughts and prayers for us -- LCCTC has been amazing."

His mother, Emily, agrees.  "This fight isn't so horrible when it brings out the best in everyone close to us. The love everyone has shown...is simply humbling."

Unfortunately, this cancerous disease has affected too many in our lives and so by making the awareness known, Peer leadership hopes to make a difference. Once again, they sponsored Pink Out Day and out of the students/staff, their families, and the New Castle Busing Company, they sold 163 shirts of different sizes raising $123 dollars towards Dr. Slamon.  A New Castle High school graduate, funds travel straight to Dr. Slamon for his Breast Cancer Research at UCLA.

The student body at LCCTC supports Breast Cancer Awareness.

The staff gets in on the supporting research, too.

Peer Leaders, Emily Granata and Felicity Weir, work hard to make sure we all have a voice to
support those who currently struggle, and those who have fought the good fight.

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“Life is short.  Spend it with people who make you laugh and feel loved.”  

Suzanna Bowser, a senior Health Assistance student, will attend the University of Pittsburgh main campus for Pre-Med in the fall.  She loves to write, listen to music and help others in need.  A CNA, she participates in Peer leadership, NTHS, Medical Trauma Club, and Journalism.

Merry Mistletoe: Holiday Dance Dec. 8

I was Chosen ~ Summer Pitts

National Adoption Month

Did you know, according to the website AmericanAdoption.com, there are over 400,000 children in foster care? However, more than 60% of children spend two to five years in the foster care system before leaving. 20% of children spend more than five years, and other children never have the chance to make it out of the system before they turn eighteen. Although, on average, about 135,000 children are adopted into the United States every year. 59% of these children are from the system, 26% in which are from other countries, and 15% are relinquished American infants.

According to the website, AmericanAdoption.com, there has been an estimated 1-2 million couples wanting to adopt a child. More than 2% of americans have actually went through with adoption, and more than ⅓ have considered it. Statistics state that 7 million children are adopted by American families. Most children go into foster system from birth; some are fortunate enough to be adopted shortly after. Even though some children get placed so quickly, there are some who aren't so fortunate and spend many years in foster care. Those who spend many years in child services don't get the education they need.

As a result, a program named (YV Life Set) was created. The program was created for those children when they turn eighteen. The program allows them to get the education they deeply need, and they learn skills on how to live in the world on their own.

As the percentage of unwanted pregnancies rise, children are more often abandoned. The high rate of abandonment also increases the costs of the foster systems. There has been an estimation of $4.3 million Foster Care Administrative costs.

My personal experience

I was fortunate enough to begin living with my family when I was very young. I was born in Athens, Alabama but was raised in New Castle, Pennsylvania. When I was young, my mother legally signed over her rights to the state. This meant that she was no longer legally my guardian or my mother. Although she had signed away her rights, I continued with her last name until the spring of 2014. I then went to a courthouse and got my last name legally changed.

Growing up, getting bullied was a common occurrence for me. Bullying occurred because I had an accent and because my foster parents were not my biological parents.

Adoption isn’t always that bad, and knowing I’m not the only adopted child in LCCTC is comforting. I’ve began to realize that being adopted isn’t as bad as what people have made it out to be.

There are thousands of kids around the world that do not have a family, and so I know that I’m lucky that I’m fortunate enough to be around a family that loves, supports, feeds me, buys clothes for me, and puts a roof over my head. Yes -- there is a great majority who are born and live with their birth parents...

...but out of all the children in the world, my parents chose me, and for that, I am blessed.
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“She was wild, she was free. Only a fool wouldn’t love her”

~ The Better Man Project

Summer Pitts, a junior Vet Assistant at LCCTC, plays softball and races. She loves drawing and mudding. She lives in Scott Township and she will graduate in 2019 where she will head to college to further her career in the Vet field.

Shop Wars: Top of the Shop ~ Shelby Leasure

Have you ever been told that hard work pays off? In the case of some LCCTC students, it does!

All year around -- in addition to learning skills and trades, the students of LCCTC prep and study to take the Pennsylvania Keystone State Assessment tests. The administration challenged our students last year to a friendly competition to do their very best on the Keystone tests. This year, the top three shops who successfully took the test have been rewarded for their efforts.

The third place winner was the health assistance shop, with a total of nine students who scored a proficient on their Keystone test. These students include Suzanna Bowser, Earl Gravatt, Kaitlyn Heeter, Heather Jewell, Brittany Krieble, Maggie Richards, Stephanie Sankey, Megan Walters, and Felicity Weir.  For third place, HA was rewarded one-hundred dollars to pay for shop supplies and donuts.

The second place winners for the Top of the Shop competition was the commercial arts program. This program had a total of eleven students who scored a proficient or better. These students include Alyssa Beers, Emily Granata, Bailey Guyer, Tristyn Gravatt, Oonagh Henning, Brandee D’Ambrosia, Kyana Lambright, Jamielyn Liskooka, Kindal Procopio, Randy Robinson, and Brianna Smith.  For the second place winners, CA earned a two-hundred-fifty dollar prize for shop supplies and a pizza party.

Last, but surely not least, the first place winning shop was computer and office technology. The shop had a total of twelve students who scored a proficient or higher on their Keystone exam. These students include Blu Bartle, Makenna Braniff, Peyton Caminiti, Adam Finamore, Jaedon Horchler, Nathan Innocent, Michael McCowin, David McKinstry, Douglas Quimby, Shay Stanley, Carlee Stoner, and Jake Welther.  Lastly, these first-place winners were rewarded with five-hundred dollars for their shop and a special lunch made entirely for their shop.  Their choice:  Breakfast Food!

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“Let your dreams stay big and your worries stay small.”  ~ Rascal Flatts 

Shelby Leasure is currently studying Health Assistance.  She works at the Haven Nursing Home in New Castle.  A member of SkillsUSA and ROVA, she enjoys spending time with her friends and going on as many adventures as possible.  In the fall, she looks forward to attending Pittsburgh Technical College for Nursing, and Pitt for forensics.