MMI News

Three MMI Preparatory School students placed in the top ten during the recent Monroe County Mock Trial Invitational at Pocono Mountain West High School. Junior Andrew Decker topped 78 other individuals to take the title of Best Witness and senior Hunter O’Clair finished among the top 10 witnesses. Senior George Palermo placed in the top 10 for attorneys. A total of 26 MMI students competed in the Mock Trial Invitational, which sees students take on various roles in a fictitious case, including attorney, witness, plaintiff, defendant, and timekeeper.

MMI Preparatory School students Fredrick Mejia, Alexander Sessock, Zachary Young, and Aaron Harman placed fourth as a team in the Brain Teasers event during the annual Bloomsburg University Math Contest. Susan Moyer, MMI math instructor and department chair, was the adviser for the competition. Mejia is the son of Carlos and Esperanza Mejia, West Hazleton. Sessock is the son of Jennifer and James Denion, Freeland, and the late John Sessock. Young is the son of Christian and Nicole Young, Freeland. Harman is the son of Ronald and Yvonne Harman, Drums.

Lauren Talbott, Robert Orbin, and Nathaniel Neidlinger placed in the top three during MMI Preparatory School’s Sixth Grade Science Fair, which was held on December 1 in the MMI Cafeteria. Talbott captured first place for her project entitled “What’s in Your Water?”  Orbin was second for his project called “Veggie Power!” Neidlinger came in third for his project entitled “How Yeast Affects the Size of Bread.”

Senior Julia Snyder and junior Bailey Slusser will represent MMI Preparatory School at the state finals of the Pennsylvania School Press Association’s Student Journalism Competition. The state finals will be held on March 27, 2018, at Penn State University’s University Park campus. Snyder and Slusser tied for first place in the Literary Magazine Artwork category during the regional competition at Penn State’s Berks campus. During the competition, students were given a poem written by a professional poet. After reading the poem, the students were tasked with creating a drawing that was relevant to the poem and would accompany the poem...

Seven MMI athletes received regional recognition for their performance during the 2017 fall sports season. Junior golfer Jessica McClellan was selected as a First Team All-Star by both the Citizen’s Voice and Times Leader newspapers. She is a two-time regional qualifier, finished as the runner-up among District 2 Class AA girls, and advanced to the state tournament this season.

The MMI Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of music instructor Christina Lizbinski, performed at the 25th annual CAN DO Community Christmas on Dec. 6. The ensemble members played three selections to open the 90-minute show that featured other musicians and choral groups from schools through the Hazleton area. An hour-long version of the concert will be rebroadcast on WYLN-TV 35 on the following dates and times: Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 12 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 14 at 3 p.m., Monday, Dec. 18 at 4 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m., Friday, Dec. 22 at 9 a.m., Sunday, Dec. 24 at...

MMI’s German language students, under the guidance of instructor Gabriela Moustardas, recently traveled to the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, where they learned about the history of the Moravian founders of Bethlehem. The Moravians are a German-Protestant sect that dates back to the 15th century. They came to the United States in the 18th century as missionaries. A small group of Moravians founded Bethlehem in 1741 and went on to contribute a great amount to the regional culture of the city.

MMI Preparatory School’s Upper School Drama Club will present three one-act comedies during its annual An Evening of One Act Comedies on December 8 and 9 at 7 p.m. in the MMI cafeteria.  All tickets are general admission only and seating is limited. Tickets are just $5 and are available at the door the night of the show or any time before the performance at the MMI Main Office.

Students at MMI Preparatory School honored their school’s founders, Eckley Brinton Coxe, and his wife, Sophia Georgianna Coxe, during an assembly at the school and graveside service on Wednesday, giving thanks for the Coxes’ contributions to the school and the area. Students were treated to a Thanksgiving lunch, with the Parents Association providing pies and drinks, and an all-school assembly. Senior class officers presented a history of Eckley Coxe’s life, including the mining industry and the beginning days of the Mining and Mechanical Institute, the school he founded that is now known as MMI Preparatory School. They also spoke about...

Nine MMI students attended the Pennsylvania School Press Association’s Regional Student Journalism Competition and seminar. Alyssa Sweda, Lauren Herman, Mahum Ahmed, Julia Snyder, Jaclyn Braunstein, Macy Zenier, Bailey Slusser, Christine Park and Kelisa Hysenbegasi traveled to the Penn State University Berk’s campus and either represented MMI in the yearbook or literary magazine competitions or attended the workshops and seminars that were held in conjunction with the competition. Competition results are expected to be announced soon. The seminars that the students attended included one conducted by a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter and another on how to take the perfect yearbook photo.

MMI Preparatory School crowned James Lambert and Caelyn McGran, pictured at center in the first row, its 2017 Harvest king and queen during the annual Harvest Dance on November 4. Additional court members are: Jaclyn Braunstein (first row far left), Julia Snyder (first row far right), Michael Badamo (second row far left) and Joseph Taylor (second row far right). Also pictured in the second row are MMI Head of School D. Scott Wiggins and MMI Parents Association representative Elizabeth Hreha.

Junior Andrew Decker captured MMI Preparatory School’s Poetry Out Loud competition for the third consecutive year and will once again represent MMI in the televised regional Poetry Out Loud competition on December 13 at the WVIA-TV studios in Pittston. Decker won the regional competition last December and placed among the top five in Pennsylvania during the state competition this past March. He was one of only 15 students who advanced to the state finals out of a total of 7,000 students from across the state who entered the competition starting at the school level.

MMI Preparatory School art instructor Lisa Marie Ferry was honored with the 2017 Pennsylvania Art Education Association Outstanding Non-Public Art Educator Award and delivered a presentation at the 2017 Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA) conference, which was held in October in Pittsburgh. Earlier this year, Ferry was selected to receive the 2017 Pennsylvania Art Education Association Outstanding Non-Public Art Educator Award. The award recognizes exemplary contributions, achievements and service to art education at the state, regional and national levels. It is given on behalf of the PAEA Awards Committee and PAEA Board.  She received the award at the conference. 

Debra Minzola, PhD, MSN, CRNA, program director at the Geisinger Health System/Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Nurse Anesthesia Program, recently visited MMI Preparatory School to provide 10th and 11th grade students with a hands-on information session designed to help them learn about becoming a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). Minzola, along with Assistant Program Director Shannon Slabinski, MSN, CRNA and nine graduate students, set up multiple stations for hands-on experience, including two stations with heads for intubations, a gowning and gloving station, and a station for epidural and spinal puncture. During the program, the students watched a video on what it’s...

MMI Preparatory School students completed community service projects at six locations throughout Greater Hazleton to honor a late MMI alumna for the inaugural Athena S. Ford ’01 Day of Service. Athena S. Ford was a 2001 MMI graduate who passed away on October 23, 2016, as a result of complications sustained in an automobile collision where she was a seat-belted passenger and suffered a traumatic brain injury. The Athena S. Ford ’01 Endowed Fund for Community Service was established in 2017 by members of the MMI Class of 2001 as a way to honor Ford. “Athena was one of the most...

MMI Preparatory School senior Aaron Harman was named as a Semifinalist in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program. Harman, the son of Ronald and Yvonne Harman of Drums, is among a national field of just 16,000 students to be named Semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

MMI Preparatory School’s Interact Club collected much-needed school supplies for Humble Middle School in Humble, Texas, and partnered with the Freeland Fire Department to organize a collection drive of non-perishable food and other supplies for Hurricane Harvey victims in Texas. Interact Club members reached out to MMI students, faculty, staff, and friends of the school to collect 12 boxes, which weighed more than 350 pounds, of school supplies that were shipped to Humble Middle School. New MMI faculty member, Robert Olive, grew up and taught middle school in Humble, which was one of the areas that was most drastically affected...

MMI Preparatory School junior Joel Cruz received the Raymond G. Weber award during the Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week (PFEW) program, which was held in July at Lycoming College in Williamsport. The program is presented by the Foundation for Free Enterprise Education. The Raymond G. Weber award, which is rarely given at PFEW, is the only individual student award ever presented during the program. It is named after one of the founders of PFEW, whose passion and vision made the program what it is today. The award is presented to students who rise above extraordinary challenges, exhibit remarkable courage when faced...