When you text brb to your bff while driving, you might not be right back – because your lack of concentration on the road could put you and other drivers in mortal danger.

That’s the lesson health and wellness organization UNITE attempts to teach with its Arrive Alive tour, a simulated driving program that arrived at Middletown Area High School on Monday, May 13.

It’s drums, not kickball, for these Kunkel students

You can hear some new sounds during recess at Middletown’s Kunkel Elementary School these days.

It’s not sneakers making solid contact with kickballs. It’s not the creaking of swings.  

The sounds are the African tones and rhythms wafting forth from Michael Checco’s music classroom.

What do you want to do when you grow up?

It’s a question every teenager has to consider, but few have dreams of being a classical music composer.
Joseph Harkins, a Middletown Area High School senior, can’t imagine doing anything else.

Listen to Harkins' Variations on Simple Gifts for Orchestra:

“Music is a gateway to the soul,” he said. “There’s no other activity that can properly express how you feel. There’s a common saying: When words stop, music continues.”

Middletown students shadow borough officials in revival of social studies program 

For many years, Middletown Mayor Robert Reid – also a Middletown Area School District social studies teacher – had organized an annual local government day for interested students. The program ended after Reid retired from the district, but it wasn’t forgotten – and on Monday, April 15, borough and school officials brought it back to life.

After an afternoon of shadowing and learning from Middletown officials, nine students got down to business during a mock council meeting on Monday night, taking roles ranging from Borough Council president to borough secretary and solicitor.