The Zirngbl family gathered up their bottle caps and
then traveled seven hours to Evansville, Indiana to drop off
the bottle caps and wait for their bench to be made. They
left on a Friday and returned on a Monday and made some
other fun stops along the way like the Mesker Park Zoo,
the Botanic Garden and the Dream Car Museum. This little
vacation was well deserved for The Zirngbl family after all of
their hard work of organizing this project from start to finish.
When asked if she was surprised if her kids wanted to start
and take part in a project like this Mrs. Zirngbl replied “Not
at all. They love to help others. Having a direct experience on
the playground with a lonely friend was definitely a driving
force behind the time and energy that our leadership team
used as a focus. It was our pleasure to take on this project,
but the real credit goes to the students and families at
Wylandville Elementary.”
Mrs. Balch said she can’t thank the Zirngbl family enough
for all of their hard work organizing the project and she felt
that Mother Nature smiled down with a glorious afternoon
to celebrate the work of their team. On Tuesday. October
8th, during Anti-Bullying week, Mrs. Ford (the guidance
counselor at Wylandville) and the core leadership team
presented the bench to Wylandville by preparing a skit that
described how the bench would be used. When asked what
long term goals they hoped would come from the bench,
Mrs. Balch replied, “All district elementary schools have a
School-Wide Positive Behavior Support program in place as
well as utilizing TEAMology curriculum. The Buddy Bench
and the idea of helping students who need a connection
or help finding a group is directly in line with the work we
do to create an inclusive culture where everyone feels like
an important member of the school community. We want
students to truly feel that the work they do can have a
positive impact on the school and the community at large.”
Mrs. Zirngbl also joked that the bench only required 200
of the 700 bottle caps that they collected. The rest of the
bottle caps are still sitting in their garage if any of the other
teachers or parents would like to make the trip to Indiana.
Green Tree Plastics also creates tables, planters and other
custom designs that any school would be lucky to have!
The Canon-McMillan School District is very proud of
the Buddy Bench project and for being the first district
in Pennsylvania to have a recycled bench from Green
Tree Plastics. Thanks again to the Zirngibl family and the
leadership team of Mrs. Jennifer Ford (School Counselor),
Abby Powers (3rd grade), Shane Martin (3rd grade), Mady
Zirngibl (3rd grade), Aurelia Gigliotti (3rd grade), Hadley
Sherman (3rd grade), Nina Stella (5th grade), and Abby
Zirngibl (5th grade), for all of their hard work and continuing
to find creative ways to promote kindness throughout the
district.
Athletic Achievements
Max Thomas, Josiah Wudkwych, Logan Ford, Thomas Zukowski,
Drew McGee, Matt Thomas and (second row) Doron Wudkwych
took first place as a team at Mingo Park on October 7th, 2019
Congratulations to our girls volleyball team - 2019 WPIAL Champions
Abby Glivic , Anna Chaplick, Kayla Sauer, Stephanie Keelon,
Audrey Karwowski took first place at the Washington County
Coaches meet aka- county meet
Congratulations to our boys soccer team – 2019 WPIAL Champions!
CANON-MAC
❘
WINTER 2019
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