Join us as we chat with Chris Stone, the freshman tennis sensation from Emmaus High School, who recently won the District 11 boys single tennis championship. Chris shares his journey through 9th grade, detailing how his brother’s presence in high school eased his transition. Despite initial challenges with the workload and school size, Chris quickl…

In this episode, we delve into the journey of securing employment as a young individual, exploring the experiences and insights of our guest, Dorney Park Recruitment Manager Katie Knopf. Katie began her work career at Dorney Park during her 9th-grade year as a seasonal employee and has advanced through the years to full-time management positions.Ka…

Damon West, author of "The Coffee Bean," shares his inspiring journey from a 9th grader wanting to make varsity football in Texas to eventually serving a life sentence in a Texas prison and his ultimate transformation into a keynote speaker, best-selling author, philanthropist, college professor, and servant leader. West reflects on his ninth-grade…

In this episode we continue the 9th Grade Experience Through the Decades series in collaboration with the Emmaus Historical Society. Our second episode welcomes Ruth Kemmerer, a graduate of Emmaus High School from the class of 1949, whose freshman year dates back to the 1945-1946 school year.Listeners can expect to hear about the unique challenges,…

One of the fastest growing sports in the Lehigh Valley over the past few seasons has been girls wrestling. Emmaus High School becomes the latest school to add a a team in what the NCAA calls an Emerging Sport as it begins the 2023-2024 campaign. For freshman Petra Perez and Kadence Yannotti it has been a steep learning curve to a brand new sport. H…

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, it's a great time to look back and reflect on the many positives in our lives for the fifth annual Attitude of Gratitude special episode. Over 60 members of the Emmaus High School community took time during this busy period of the school year to share a little bit about what makes them #EastPennProud and tha…

As we prepare to enter the holiday season, our focus in this week’s episode is on three main topics: Remembrance, Gratitude, and Advocacy. RemembranceAt the beginning of the episode, we take time to remember Emmaus High School junior Edwin Cortes, who was killed in a car accident on October 31. Edwin was a student in my 9th grade science class in 2…

“I remember when …” In our modern, technology-driven school world, adults will often get caught up saying that things were much better and different when they were back in school. But for Dorris Schaffer, she truly means. The 99-year old Emmaus resident was a freshman at Emmaus High School during the 1938-1939 school year. There was no fancy techno…

On this episode, we focus on the re-emergence of the Emmaus High School Freshman Mentoring Program. The goal of the group is to establish a sense of community by having upperclassmen mentors meet with and guide the freshmen during monthly meetings. They will have an opportunity to learn about how to become a successful high school student from thei…

It's hard to believe but summer is quickly coming to an end! As you gather up your materials, finish up your last-minute summer must-dos, and attempt to find the charger for your Chromebook, tune into this episode that features students handing out practical, bite-sized information on how to best slay your 9th grade year. We asked students during t…

It has taken over 100 episodes, but finally the tables have turned on me on my own podcast! Usually I am the one asking students, educators, and others about their time in the first year of high school, but on this episode, Emmaus High School student Connor Miller had the opportunity to ask me what it was like to be a 9th grader at Holy Ghost Prep …

It seems the dream for so many high schoolers today is to become social media famous. With over 30 million videos posted daily to TikTok, the odds of more than just your friends seeing your latest creation is fairly slim.But what happens when a post beats the algorithm odds and breaks through? In February 2023, the members of the band visionblur ha…

In this special episode recorded live from the Pennsylvania Convention Center at the end of June 2023, we sat down with 37 attendees of the 2023 ISTE Conference, including educators, industry experts, and students, to gather their best tech tips, time management hacks and other strategies to assist with a successful 9th grade experience. The guests…

It has been almost six months since his last appearance, so we could not close out the 2022-2023 school year without having Cole Stuchko appear one more time on the podcast to reflect on his 9th grade campaign. Cole has been busy since December finishing up the basketball season, taking midterm exams, trying out and making the varsity tennis team a…

Rosemary Lamparella, the current S.T.E.P. teacher at Emmaus High School, sees in her daily work the importance of helping students adapt, grow, and change to build the skills necessary to become members of a school and local community. Even though May was Mental Health Awareness Month, she knows the social and emotional challenges high school stude…

As the Executive Director of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, Ashley Coleman is one of the lead advocates and activists for the LGBTQ+ community in the Lehigh Valley. But the work that has taken her all over the United States began as a member of the Emmaus High School graduating class of 2003. As one of the only black and openly gay me…

In the first of our senior rewind episodes, we catch up with Emmaus High School basketball players Dylan Darville and Chase Muckey, two guests from one of our most popular episodes (Season 2, Episode 16). In February 2020, Darville and Muckey were members of a freshman team that finished with a 25-1 record and promise to restore Emmaus Boys Basketb…

For the first time since 2020, the EHS World Language Department hosted the EPSD International Fair on Saturday, February 25, 2023. A celebration of culture, food, music, and traditions, this event highlighted many of the unique backgrounds of EHS students and community members in a celebration of our school's diverse population. In this episode, w…

Chris Singleton’s personal story has a 9th grade year that isn’t much different than your typical student. He wanted to play varsity sports, found an interest in books, got a low grade in a class for the first time, and had a first relationship. The years that followed sent Chris on many different paths, eventually winding up at Kalahari Resorts on…

This episode is a wrap-up for the 9th Grade Experience Podcast’s appearance at the Pennsylvania Education Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C) Kalahari Resorts in Pocono Mountain, Pennsylvania, on Monday, February 13, 2023. This is the third time the podcast has been invited to present at the conference. The conversation featured on this episode…

Midterms exams can be a stressful time for students. For all Emmaus High School students except for seniors, this year will be the first time they have taken a traditional middle of the year assessment while in high school. In this episode, we hope to ease that anxiety with helpful tips and strategies to overcome the challenge. First, we hear from …

It took until the first snow day of the 2022-2023 school year on December 15, 2022, but we are finally back with the latest edition of the Cole Cast, featuring Cole Stuchko. It has been several months since we last spoke and a lot has happened during that time. Topics we covered in the episode include the need to stay on top of classwork as the aca…

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, it's a great time to look back and reflect on the many positives in our lives for the fourth annual Attitude of Gratitude special episode. Members of the Emmaus High School community took time during this busy period of the school year to share a little bit about what makes them #EastPennProud and thankful. …

When students have been asked what topics they want to hear more about on the 9th Grade Experience, mental-health related conversation is at the top of the list. Zoe Gaumer hopes her story about overcoming her own mental health battles can allow students to feel that they are not alone in dealing with their own struggle. Some of the topics Zoe cove…

As part of their on-going mission as an organization that allows students to facilitate diversity awareness and devise anti-bullying projects that affect the entire student body., the No Place for Hate club welcomed Dr. Mykee Fowlin to EHS on Friday, September 16, to perform his one-man show “You Don't Know Me Until You Know Me.” Dr. Mykee mixes ps…

The first day of school presents challenges to all high school students, but especially to the newest members of the school community. To get the instant reaction to the first day of the 2022-23 school year for the Class of 2026, we catch up with Cole Stuchko for the August edition of the Cole Cast. We spoke about the benefit of walking through his…

New school years often bring change, but the 2022-2023 school year begins with a new principal leading Emmaus High School. Beth Guarriello, previously the principal at Southern Lehigh HS and Saucon Valley HS, will look to create a safe, welcome and challenging environment for all EHS students. She is focused on helping students find their niche, cr…

Welcome to Season 5 of the 9th Grade Experience! In the summer kickoff of new episodes to gear up for the 2022-2023 school year and new season, the podcast is debuting a new feature: a regular interview segment with my son, Cole Stuchko, who will be entering 9th grade. He has agreed to come at least monthly to give us a first-hand account of the wh…

The last day of school always brings mixed emotions. Mostly it is relief, for the students and the teachers, on the completion of another year. There is also opportunity for reflection by the members of the Class of 2025 on the transition from middle to high school. In this episode you will hear from several students who were in person on the final…

As the 9th grade year is quickly coming to an end, it is only natural to think about what is ahead ... A relaxing summer? A first job? A fun vacation? College, trade school, military service, or an apprenticeship program? It's never too early to think about what you might want to do after high school and on this episode, we recap the 2022 Emmaus Hi…

We close out #EHSCareerMonth with a focus on Emmaus High School Class of 2018 graduate Jackie Bassett. She is the Founder and CEO of FD Market, which is a “a sustainable goods shop and zero-waste refillery. We're on a mission to make sustainable living obtainable and beautiful for everyone.” She does not have a linear path to business ownership, ra…

As part of the #EHSCareerMonth series, we talked to Bob Rotruck, the radio announcer for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, a minor league hockey team based in Allentown that plays in the American Hockey League (AHL). In addition to his duties on the microphone, he coordinates media coverage on the Phantoms’ website and does videos for the team’s social m…

As part of the #EHSCareerMonth series, we talked to Amy Keller, who is the Creative Director for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, a minor league hockey team based in Allentown that plays in the American Hockey League (AHL). She coordinates the in-game fan experience for those attending the action at the PPL Center. She provided a glimpse into the behind…

We are privileged to share the story of one of this year’s EHS Shave for the Brave “Honored Kids,” current EHS freshman Sam Mackaravitz. At the time of the recording, Sam is two years cancer free in his battle with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). In this episode, Sam talks about His transition to EHS and participation in the marching band How d…

Where will your path lead? Emmaus High School Counselor Mrs. Grim gives us all the important information to assist students, staff and parents on the road to answering that question as we kick off March Career Month. She assists everyone in where to go to find the calendar of speakers, biographies on each presenter, and how to sign up through Navia…

While many of us hope the pandemic is beginning to finally come toward a resolution, the focus and attention on student mental health will not easily go away, as students will continue to face the challenges of the world around them. On this episode, we preview the 2022 EPSD Mental Health Symposium being held February 21 through March 6 which hopes…

This episode is a wrap-up for the 9th Grade Experience Podcast’s appearance at the Pennsylvania Education Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C) in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Monday, February 7, 2022. Excerpts featured on this episode were take from the session titled “The Future of the 9th Grade Experience” which was held on the first day of the 4…

Special thanks to Pennsylvania Education Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C) Day 1 Keynote Speaker Jimmy Casas for taking time after his sessions on Monday, February 7, 2022, to chat with the 9th Grade Experience Podcast about his own middle/high school time, how to encourage and teach students and educators how to ask for help, and what he wou…

To help promote the upcoming Emmaus High School Night at the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on February 19, 2022, this episode features two members of the team talking about their unique 9th grade experiences while chasing the dream of playing professional hockey. Linus Sandin and Garrett Metcalf have both followed a long path to reach playing in the Ameri…

On this episode we spotlight everyone's favorite Emmaus High School "freshman," Branch, the Therapy Dog. Branch has been present in hallways and classrooms since the beginning of the school year, offering students another layer of support and comfort as they have returned back to the halls of EHS. You will hear from Mr. Mihalik, the coordinator of …

Welcome Emmaus High School Class of 2026! Though we haven’t had our first major snow of the school year, thoughts are slowly beginning to turn to fall and the arrival of the next group of freshmen who will roam the halls of EHS. The first in-person introduction to EHS came on January 11, 2022, at the counseling department’s 8th to 9th grade guidanc…

It’s normal for high school varsity athletes to put pressure on themself. Being a freshman on a varsity team only magnifies that intensity. Now, think about the expectations of being a first-year member of the nationally-ranked, defending state champion EHS field hockey team. Autum Kernechel and Lauren Kushma cracked through and earned a spot on th…

During the course of the fall semester, Kayla Canning, a senior, pre-service teacher from Cedar Crest College, shadowed me in the classroom, which was one of my first experiences with.a pre-service teacher. On today's episode Kayla will give her impressions and thoughts of what it's like as somebody that's learning to become a teacher, especially w…

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, it's a great time to look back and reflect on the many positives in our lives for the third annual Attitude of Gratitude special episode. Over 50 members, and one four-legged friend, of the Emmaus High School community took time during this busy period of the school year to share a little bit about what make…

With over 2,800 students, Emmaus High School is a community of learners from many different cultural backgrounds. The focus of the Global Citizens Club is to assist students in learning about and becoming actively engaged in promoting a globally-minded consciousness and worldview. On this episode we hear from club members Britney Cordero, Cecilia C…

When entering 9th grade, some students choose to ease into this transitional time to get their feet under them by limiting their activities and focusing on school. Will Buck is not one of those students. He is currently participating on two school sports teams during the fall season: varsity football as the kickoff specialist and JV soccer as a goa…

This recording is from a roundtable discussion during a session at the 2021 Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts Conference held October 22, 2021 in Harrisburg, Pa. This was a wide-ranging conversation about the impact that 9th grade English class can have on students during their remaining years of high school and beyond. …

It's time to get ready for Homecoming on this week's episode! It is hard to believe that we have just finished our 6th week of school and reached the halfway point of the first marking period. Listen in for strategies on finishing the grading period strong or even rebounding from a rocky start, the events and themes of homecoming week, and a remind…

It has been a month of great adjustments for the members of Emmaus High School's Class of 2025. In addition to the normal growing pains of entering high school, they have confronted a new block schedule, continued health and safety procedures due to Covid-19 and for many, reacclimating themselves to being in a school building for the first time sin…

For students at Emmaus High School and around the country, the events of September 11, 2001, are history experienced through other's stories and images. Students rely on these recollections to gain perspective to the tragic events that rocked the country on that the day and the weeks after. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9-11 we hear first-…