Students from Carbon County schools have compiled this news under the direction of Sue Ann Gerhard, administrative assistance at Carbon Career & Technical Institute. Schools interested in participating should contact Gerhard.

Carbon Career & Technical Institute

Gracie Heintzelman

Seniors except Precision Machine Technology will need to report to CCTI on April 24 for the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute test. There will be no school on April 24 for all other students.

Applications for the Carbon County Workforce Training Summer Youth Employment Program are available in the guidance office.

The prom is May 10, from 5-10 p.m. at Penn’s Peak. Prom tickets are sold out and there is a waiting list. Please have your permission slips signed and returned to Mrs. Kohutka as soon as possible. If you decide you are not going and have a ticket, please return your ticket to Mrs. Kohutka. All students attending must be dressed appropriately in formal attire.

CCTI will be having a talent show on Thursday, May 9 from 6-8:30 p.m.

Senior Awards are on May 22 in the cafeteria at 6 p.m. If you are receiving an award you will receive a phone call.

The senior class trip is on May 23 to Knoebels.

The last day of classes for seniors is May 29 and there is mandatory graduation practice on May 30 and graduation is May 31.

Lehighton High School

Koy Wentz

Congratulations to Junior Natalie Blair on scoring third place in Healthcare Administration at the Future Business Leaders of America state conference in Hershey. With this score, Natalie has qualified for the National Competition later this year in Orlando, Florida!

The Pennsylvania Air National Guard recently visited the High School. The group brought valuable information and literature and allowed students to engage in physical activities and competitions. Many students and teachers engaged in these activities. This is one of the many groups that visit the high school. The high school offers students the ability to visualize and learn about many different opportunities available post high school.

Congratulations to Coach Erika Pagotto on running the Boston Marathon. Pagotto is a social studies teacher at the Lehighton Middle School and a Lehighton High School cross country coach and track coach. She finished with a time of 3:26:05.

Jim Thorpe High School

Gabriella Cerra

Spring sports are now in full swing, and anyone interested in attending Olympian sporting events is encouraged to do so.

This week, the Lady Olympians will play home on today at 4 p.m., against Blue Mountain High School; away on Wednesday at 4:30, against Our Lourdes Regional School; home on Thursday at 4:30 p.m., against Lourdes Regional School; and home on Saturday at 1 p.m., against Panther Valley High School.

On Tuesday, Track & Field has a 3:45 p.m. meet at Blue Mountain, against Pottsville. Track & Field members will compete again on Friday at 1:30 p.m., for the Cavalier Invite, against East Stroudsburg South. For both teams, off days are spent practicing.

This week, history club will be meeting again in Mr. Ellison’s classroom on Wednesday, from 2:45 p.m. to 4 p.m. History club and the civil war class students will be traveling to Antietam and Harpers Ferry on the morning of May 5, to return the following evening. Any member of either of those groups hoping to join the trip should see Mr. Holub for a permission slip to get signed and returned as soon as possible.

The Jim Thorpe Mock Trial team will be sending their prosecution group to compete against Palmerton’s defense on Law Day, May 2. Members get together during PODS to prepare their case for the ultimate test, which unlike the original Mock Trial competition, will immediately return a verdict.

On the evenings of May 3 and May 4, the theater members will be putting on their production of “The Addams Family” in the auditorium for anyone who may be interested in attending.

Senior and Junior Prom will be on May 10, likely at Kalahari. Junior class officers and advisers are still deciding on the venue.

The Spring Band & Choir concert will be on Thursday, May 16 at 7 p.m. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m. The price of tickets will be $5 for adults, $3 for students, and no charge for children ages 5 and under.

Keystone testing will be coming up in mid-May. The exact testing schedule will be released soon.

Anyone who may be interested in the specific news and events at Jim Thorpe is encouraged to be on the lookout for upcoming articles posted to the Olympian Current, on olympiancurrent.com. Student writers were asked to submit articles on various topics by the past Friday.

The high school’s Future Business Leaders of America chapter will be holding officer elections toward the end of April or the beginning of May. Any student who may be interested in running for a position, with the options being president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, historian, reporter, fundraising official, community service official, and parliamentarian, should start thinking about that soon. The end of the year banquet where the election winners will be announced will be held on Tuesday, May 21.

The compilation of Jim Thorpe’s successes at the PA FBLA 2024 State Leadership Conference is included below. The night of Monday, April 8 was the chapter and middle school awards ceremony. The following night was the Awards of Excellence ceremony, which rewarded individual high school students and their groups that placed in the top ten in their objectives and events. The students who succeeded to make the top four are eligible to attend the National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida sometime this summer.

Congratulations to junior Autumn McKenna for placing in the top four, with her remarkable third place in her objective test category, UX Design.

From Jim Thorpe, the other top ten placement for the Awards of Excellence was earned by the ninth place group in the category of Parliamentary Procedure, consisting of sophomores Logan O’Connor, Tobias Garner, Noah Pastor, Joseph DeMarco, and Jack Decker.

These concluded Jim Thorpe’s representation in the Awards of Excellence.

This fantastic chapter earned seventh place in Largest Local Chapter Membership, fourth in Local Market Share (membership per capita), and fourth in Total Community Service Hours in the Big 33 Community Service Club.

Jim Thorpe Area High School’s chapter was also commended for William H. Selden Outstanding Chapter Criteria; Hollis and Kitty Guy Gold Seal Chapter Award of Merit; and Champion Chapter for Service Season, Shaping Success, Summer Starter, and CTE Celebration.

From Jim Thorpe, the new National Business Honors Society members announced are seniors Maggy Hallihan, Oleska McAndrew, Zak Pompa, Dani Rimsky, and Monica Rizzo, in addition to juniors Bowden Chicarelli, Anna Figura, Natalia Niemirka, and Brianna Snisky. Seniors and JT FBLA officers Mikayla Andreas and Adriana Day are also National Leadership Conference qualifiers due to their excellence in the LifeSmarts competition. Congratulations to our chapter president, Harmony Berk, for placing fourth in Individual Community Service, with over 200 hours.

Palmerton High School

Mrs. K. Baumgardt’s Journalism Class

The Scholastic Scrimmage team recently competed in an academic challenge event at the CLIU 21. Seven of the team members competed and gave it their all. Unfortunately, the team placed 11th out of 13 teams. The Bombers also had a busy week of sports with rain-makeups and tournaments. Track started the week with a rescheduled home meet against Northern Lehigh before competing at home again on Tuesday and heading to Blue Mountain for an invitational on Friday.

Tennis had to fit in multiple doubleheaders this week as they prepared for the Colonial League tournament on Thursday. Seven students will be representing Palmerton at that contest. Varsity baseball also had a few home and away games this week with two of them being made up due to weather. The JV team also took the field twice this week against Wilson and Bangor.

At the beginning of the week, Palmerton FBLA sent 82 people to the state competition. On the first day, students went to Hershey Park. Following that, they spent two days attending workshops and performances. Before returning back to the school, they spent time shopping at outlets. During the awards ceremony, 16 students placed in the top ten, with six qualifying to go to nationals this summer in Orlando, Florida.

Raising the House is holding its 10th annual 5k run/walk and block party. They are looking for Palmerton students to volunteer on Saturday, at the Palmerton Community Park.

Another upcoming event is the college fair on Wednesday. Students of PAHS will have the opportunity to learn more about their future colleges as well as gain financial knowledge. Students are highly encouraged to attend.

Students enrolled in Journalism, Digital Media, and the Avenger Student Newspaper took a field trip to LCCC to interact with professional journalists from across the area.

A core class for sophomores in Palmerton Area High School is American Government, taught by Mr. Gombert. In the class, students are to perform a mock election where students construct political parties with their fellow peers. These parties must consist of a president, vice president, media coordinator, campaign manager, and issue adviser.

Students will formulate their opinions into political statements to gain votes for their mock presidential election throughout the week.