Petition Back Story: Park Grad Says Racism Affects All Nora Edinger September 8, 2020 Editor’s note: In an ongoing commitment to discussing race and community, today’s Weelunk post offers the story behind an anti-racism petition drive organized by 2018 Wheeling Park High School grad Hinal Pujara...
Talking With Elders: ‘The Closest Thing to Time Travel’ Phyllis Sigal July 7, 2020 We can learn a lot from our elders; that’s something we’ve always heard. Wheeling Park High School social studies teacher Ryan Stanton decided to put that into practice with his students during the pandemic....
WORKING OUR WAY BACK TO YOU: Jennifer Mathieu on Traveling Home to Help Students Jessica Broverman November 22, 2019 Editor’s note: Our series, Working Our Way Back to You, profiles Ohio Valley natives who have left town but returned to the community that created them. In today’s story, writer Jessica Broverman introduces us ...
Park Players to Present Shakespeare Comedy ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Provided November 16, 2019 An evening of fantasy and whimsy await audience members who witness a classic Shakespeare comedy when the Park Players of Wheeling Park High School present A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the J.B. Chambers Perform...
WHEELING’S (FUL)BRIGHT WOMEN: Jordan Miller’s Love of Language Ryan Norman August 25, 2019 Editor’s note: Three women who hail from Wheeling — Jordan Miller, Karen Laska, Morgan Harris — have been awarded Fulbright scholarships. Weelunk writer Ryan Norman corresponded with them amid their preparation...
Will Charter Schools Land in Ohio County? Nora Edinger July 12, 2019 Editor's note: As this story was in final production, the West Virginia Education Association (teachers union) launched a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the new state law that authorizes chart...
Park Players to Present Classic Gershwin Musical ‘Crazy for You’ Provided April 27, 2019 Witness a classic Gershwin musical production when the Park Players of Wheeling Park High School present its spring musical, Crazy for You, Friday, May 3, through Sunday, May 5, at the high school’s J.B. Chambe...
Park ‘Speechies’ Unite! Remembering 40 Winning Years Phyllis Sigal April 5, 2019 Author's note: As a parent of two "speechies" from 2004-06 when the team won its 25th, 26th and 27th state championships, I surely concur with the praise doled out here for the coaches. And I know that my kids ...
Park Speech and Debate Team Brings Home 40th Win! Provided March 23, 2019 They did it again! Wheeling Park High School’s team won the Overall Sweepstakes Trophy at the 2019 West Virginia Speech and Debate State Tournament — for the 40th year in a row. The tournament took place ...
Wheeling Park Students Bound for Creativity Nora Edinger February 4, 2019 Shadows run in faint diagonal lines across the carpet in one corner of Wheeling Park High School’s sprawling media center. They show where book stacks used to be. Now, work benches with vice clamps located h...
‘Sweat’ Equity Pays Off for Wheeling Native Phyllis Sigal November 23, 2018 Wheeling native Michelle Duffy certainly has invested “sweat equity” into her career, which has thus far spanned close to three decades in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and now, ...
Hollywood Success for ‘Hometown Girl’ Phyllis Sigal September 21, 2018 Editor's note: Wheeling has cultivated a number of men and women who are outstanding in their chosen fields — the arts, science, medicine, etc. Today, Weelunk features Kristin Slaysman, a Wheeling Park High Sch...
Katy Wack Not Immune to Hard Work Laura Lynn Brown August 13, 2018 Katy Wack started to love astronomy and exploration on a grand scale when her dad took her outside in their Springdale yard at night to look at the stars through a telescope and to witness events like meteor sh...
Kellas III Continuing Family Legacy Steve Novotney June 8, 2018 1 It depends on a person's age, really, as far as which "George Kellas" he or she remembers or knows today. And it is the family of young George Kellas that owns a legacy of working to make the Wheeling community...
Chef Shares Recipes for Succcess Steve Novotney May 1, 2018 Chef Chris Kefauver won’t fib. He makes visits to local middle and high schools in order to recruit students to the Culinary Arts Program he chairs at West Virginia Northern Community College’s Wheeling camp...
Park Players ‘On the Town’ Provided April 30, 2018 Experience a classic Broadway production when the Park Players of Wheeling Park High School present the spring musical, On the Town, Friday, May 4, through Sunday, May 6, at the J.B. Chambers Performing Arts Ce...
Miller on ‘Band-Aids and Buckets’ and School Bond Issue Steve Novotney April 18, 2018 1 Ohio County Schools Superintendent Dr. Kim Miller views the proposed 15-year, $42 million bond issue that will appear on the ballot on May 8 as an opportunity, and she’s happy to explain her reasons why. “Wh...
In the Key of Nate Phyllis Sigal April 6, 2018 EDITOR'S NOTE: Sprinkled throughout this story are pieces composed by Nate Strasser when he was in kindergarten through second grade. The full album, "Nate at Eight," can be found at the end of the story. Na...
They Marched Steve Novotney March 28, 2018 4 They didn’t mind the hours of travel or the protesters who were protesting against them. They had something to do, and that was the March for Our Lives event in Washington, D.C., this past Saturday. Two of t...
Gideon and the Governor Steve Novotney February 27, 2018 2 “If you put money in schools, you’re making smart people. And if you have smart people, then you can make more smart investments.” That’s what Gideon Titus-Glover said to Gov. Jim Justice during a town hall ...
Bourbon, Beer, Blues and More on Tap in Ohio Valley Weelunk Staff February 21, 2018 The days are getting longer, the sky is getting brighter, the temperature is rising — all good reasons to get out there and enjoy the entertainment the Ohio Valley has to offer! • Theater fans will have an o...
‘It’s About Opportunity’ Steve Novotney November 27, 2017 This 20-year-old could do this or do that, but there’s also a chance, too, that Andrea Walton could return to her hometown after earning a pair of degrees at Kent State University. “Could” is better than nev...
Miller Tackles Stadium Fix to Begin Year 2 Steve Novotney September 17, 2017 1 It was crooked and it was obvious. Wheeling Island Stadium was broken, and no one knew how much it was going to cost to repair the concrete slab in the southwestern corner of the grandstand that had shifted....
20th Year for Pat Clutter Classic Steve Novotney August 1, 2017 Pat Clutter did not own a smartphone or an iPad, but he had heard of the coming of something called the World Wide Web before his passing in 1997. How he would have reacted to the sweeping changes that have ...
Stahl Enjoys Working for Wheeling Steve Novotney July 25, 2017 1 He’d never done it before, Philip Stahl thought. So why not, he thought. Stahl’s first day allowed him to determine he’d made a good career move, and then his second day arrived. “We had a bomb threat in ...
Communication Key During First Year Steve Novotney June 14, 2017 It is a public school system that begins working with children as early as age 3, and it is a district that educated a little more than 5,300 students during the recently completed academic year. Along with ...
WVU Student Body President Blake Humphrey Eager To Serve Steve Novotney June 3, 2017 In his position as student body president at West Virginia University, Blake Humphrey represents more students than there are people who live in this Friendly City. That’s right. Place that fact into mind...
‘Students First’ Motivates Saunders Steve Novotney May 21, 2017 When he was a kid, he was usually the muddiest ballplayer on the field who couldn’t wait to get back to fishing after the game, and he continued his athletic career at Wheeling Park High School. And then Wal...
Park Players, with Legacy Members, to Present ‘Cinderella’ Steve Novotney April 7, 2017 2 Mom was involved with the Park Players and was a member of the record-setting speech and debate team at Wheeling Park High, and Dad has long been a master musician who now specializes in the bass guitar as a me...
There’s No Debate About 38 Straight Steve Novotney March 12, 2017 It was the l-o-n-g-e-s-t dinner in the history of award dinners, but at least for some the extended wait began with apple pie. And it gave each and every one of the 38 members of Wheeling Park High’s speech ...
Romantic Wheeling Project: Suspended Colin Hlad March 8, 2017 1 It was built to be the longest in its decade, but now as men walk across it, its purpose degrades. Forged by the hands of stone and steel, giving interested eyes a historic appeal. Now gaze upon the bri...
Wheeling Native Finds Happiness In Dubai Steve Novotney March 1, 2017 2 She was raised on South Huron Street on Wheeling Island as a member of the Chaney family, reared as a Roman Catholic, and is a graduate of Blessed Trinity, but she failed to see much to keep her in the Upper Oh...
Romantic Wheeling Project: Big Wheeling Creek Bailey Stephenson February 25, 2017 I existed prior to this place for which I am titled. My role in shaping this town has truly been unrivaled. Some call me “Big”, and they are right in doing so. For my generous girth supplies The Missis...
Aggie Football in Focus for Wheeling’s Elijah Bell Steve Novotney January 30, 2017 He could always catch the ball no matter what uniform he was wearing. Elijah Bell was a Little Patriot, and then a Raider, and finally a Patriot destined to play a key role in recording the high school’s fir...
Nick Nardone Shares Memories of His Father Steve Novotney January 1, 2017 7 No attractive way exists to explain what Lou Gehrig’s Disease does to the afflicted. In the beginning, daily activities like walking and running suddenly become more challenging because of weakness in the le...
High School Voices: Through the Lens Maya Huggins October 31, 2016 1 Editor’s Note: This is a collection of Wheeling Park High School senior voices about art and beauty and how social perceptions affect young people in the 21st Century. Walking through life, I know I wouldn’t...
High School Voices: Frida Kahlo Adam Craig October 26, 2016 Editor’s Note: This is a collection of Wheeling Park High School senior voices about art and beauty and how social perceptions affect young people in the 21st Century. The seventh track on Lana Del Rey’s 201...
High School Voices: Life is a Blank Sheet Allie Rodriguez October 15, 2016 Editor’s Note: This is a collection of Wheeling Park High School senior voices about art and beauty and how social perceptions affect young people in the 21st Century. While nature, architecture, and music a...
High School Voices: Self Perception Samantha Pearl October 9, 2016 Editor's Note: This is a collection of Wheeling Park High School senior voices about art and beauty and how social perceptions affect young people in the 21st Century. Starting in middle school, my...
