Sayre Area School District celebrated the retirement of SRO Officer Burlingame while welcoming our new student resource officer, Officer Spencer.

Officer Spencer may be seen during arrival and dismissal times welcoming students and assisting in assuring the safety of our school and students.

“When I was younger I always wanted to become a police officer,” said Officer Spencer.

Officer Spencer became on officer about 10 years ago and has been with Sayre Police Department since 2018. 

“I enjoy interacting with kids and creating a safe place for them to come everyday,” said Officer Spencer.

Officer Spencer loves his job and also enjoys riding motorcycles, hiking, and playing video games in his free time.

“He's such a nice officer,” said third-grader A'zaliah Powell.

Sayre had four teams represent our school this year at the Regional Odyssey of the Mind competition. Two of those teams advanced to the State Competition in April. 

Mrs. Lezak, the elementary Odyssey of the Mind coach and instructor, noted her favorite part of coaching Odyssey is, “watching the long-term problem solutions from the start to finish. I like watching the thought process while they come together.”

On February 22nd, the teams traveled to the Poconos to present their problems at the Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Odyssey of the Mind Tournament. Although neither elementary school team made it to the state-level competition, both teams grew and learned valuable life skills while finding a solution to proposed problems.

“My favorite part of the competition is where we performed our long-term problem solution and solved the spontaneous problem,” said third-grader Norah Hadlock.

Norah and her team members were on the Mech-Animal Sidekick team. They were required to build a robotic animal that does three tricks and cheers two characters up throughout a skit. Norah’s team made a robotic lion named Simba that completed his tricks in a circus themed setting.

“Helping other teammates and working together is my favorite part of Odyssey of the Mind, because when we do, we get a lot more done,” said Norah. 

Fifth-grader Maci Wells and her team members were completing a long-term problem in which they had to build a vehicle. Maci’s team built a vehicle that completed obstacles such as mud, water, and being driven down a winding road. Maci noted her team “used an 80’s concert theme for the skit.”

In Odyssey of the Mind, students learn creativity and teamwork, while they design a functional device and write and perform a short skit around that device. All the team members this year learned teamwork, engineering, and many other valuable skills for later life.

Snyder Elementary’s annual Polar Pop kicked off this winter with a lot of excited students. Many students have come to look forward to this event each year.

“I love how funny it is and seeing who gets a balloon popped on their head,” said Grace Casselbury.

The Polar Pop is an even help to raise money for the Bradford/Sullivan County Special Olympics. The school raises money in each homeroom and for every $50.00 raised, a staff member was picked to get a cold water balloon over their head. The students’ names picked to pop those balloon over their teachers heads, were students that have shown RISE behavior throughout the school. RISE stands for Respect, Integrity, Self-Control, and Empathy. 

“Students show RISE by listening to the teacher,” said Josia Powell.

This year, Snyder raised $1,310.00 for Bradford/Sullivan County. Autistic Support Teacher, Mrs. Schwenk puts a lot of time into making this fundraiser successful and a fun transition to look forward to fo students and staff. Each year, a school dance is also held to raise money for this cause. This has become another event students look forward to in grades 5 and 6. 

“I like that everyone gets to dress up and take pictures for the Polar Pop Dance,” said Zoey Wheeler.