Tag Archives: Emily Fedor

Dunmorean Online Editor travels to SC for NBC News

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Dunmorean Online Editor Emily Fedor recently traveled to South Carolina to cover the state’s Republican primary for NBC News with a group of her classmates and professors from the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College.

The nine journalism students visited  a number of different locations, including the state capital of Columbia as well as a few local colleges and universities, to gage the thoughts and opinions of millennial voters in regard to the current presidential election.

During the course of the trip, Fedor contributed content that was featured in online articles and in posts made on NBC BLK’s Instagram. She additionally took over NBC News’s SnapChat account with one of her classmates on the day of the primary and provided hourly updates on the scene of the campaign trail.

Fedor is currently  a senior journalism major at Ithaca College scheduled to graduate this coming May.

Crimson Company takes a trip to Whoville with spring musical

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Poster design by Meghan McClarey (Credit: Brian and Dawn McGurl)

By Emily Fedor

The spring musical production from the Dunmore High School Crimson Company Drama Club is Seussical, a magical, musical extravaganza. The show will run March 31, April 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9 at the Dunmore High School Auditorium. The curtain will rise at 7 p.m. each evening.

Tony Award winners Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty have lovingly brought to life all of our favorite Dr. Seuss characters, including Horton the Elephant (Mark Nealon), The Cat in the Hat (Nico Summa), Gertrude McFuzz (Cessna Pendon), lazy Mayzie (Marisa Moraski), and a little boy with a big imagination—Jojo (Will Meade). The colorful characters transport us from the Jungle of Nool to the Circus McGurkus to the invisible world of the Whos. Ultimately, the powers of friendship, loyalty, family, and community are challenged and emerge triumphant.

After seeing productions of the show themselves, Crimson Company directors Brian and Dawn McGurl both realized Seussical offers a lot of opportunity for creative expression.

“You can really put your own mark on it. It’s so imaginative, and the music is great,” said Dawn McGurl. “We just felt we could really do something fantastic at Dunmore with it.”

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For this show, the Crimson Company has partnered up with two local groups. The first is the Dunmore Elementary Center group called Pack Them with Love. The organization was founded in 2013 to provide children in the school’s free lunch program with nutritious treat bags to take home with them over the weekend.

The DHS auditorium will be a Pack Them with Love donation site for the run of the show. Additionally, one dollar from every ticket purchase made on Saturday, April 2, will be gifted to the organization. Some Crimson Company members will also trek over to the DEC to help pack up the weekend treat bags.

The drama club has also entered their second year of collaboration with Marywood University’s CMYK Club. Graphic design students submitted show poster concepts for last year’s spring musical South Pacific after Brian McGurl connected with Marywood associate professor John Meza during the recent Scranton Cultural Center production of Happy Elf.

Marywood students showed off their talents again this year with their Dr. Seuss inspired designs. All of the poster sketches submitted for Seussical will be displayed in the auditorium lobby during the show’s run, but junior Meghan McClarey’s design will be featured on the show’s posters, program covers and t-shirts.

“It’s great for Marywood students. They have a real-world project that they have to do for an actual show.” said Dawn. “And we love it, too. We’re definitely going to continue to do it.”

The Crimson Company will also be hosting their “Circus McGurkus” fundraiser from 10 a.m. until noon on Saturday, March 5 in the DHS Cafeteria. A $10 admission fee will provide fun activities and treats that the whole family can enjoy. Each attendee can also have their photo taken with the Seussical characters at the event compliments of Rich Banick Photography.

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Students ranging in years from freshmen to seniors make up this musical’s talented cast:

Kaitlin Ahern,  Allison Aronica, Alexandra Asman, Anthony Behler, Lauren Brown, Barrington Bucknor, Molly Butler, Ryan Carey, Madison Castellano, Lily Conboy, Arianna Costanzi, Tia Coyer, Gabrielle Crawford, Jack Culkin, Madison Eagen, Abby Errico, Joe Ferguson, Tabitha Getz, Luke Gratkowski, Tim Hopkins, Bobby Kersavage, Amanda Lucas, Annabella Massaro, Ariel Matticks, Lydia Meade, Will Meade, Aislinn McDonald, Tessa McDonald, Billy McDonough, Bobby McMynne, Riley McNally, Marisa Moraski, Mark Nealon, Sophia Norvilas, Cessna Pendon, Marchete Pendon, Cori Pietruszkiewicz, Mackenzie Senatore, Aleia Sileo, Emily Stedina, Nico Summa and Ian Wagner.

Dance captains are Alexandra Asman, Lauren Brown and Ashley Fischetti.  Caitlin McCafferty is the show’s production assistant in addition to co-stage manager with Melissa Schneider. Assistant stage managers are Molly Clouse and Molly Romeo.

Crew members include: Patrick Conway, Maeve King, Matt Kosak, Maddie Loftus, Nicole Marzzacco, Korral Mooney, Elizabeth Nolen, Grace Nolen and Michael Terry.

The Crimson Company directors joke that they regret picking the show because of how much work it entails to bring the world of Dr. Seuss to life, but they say the cast and crew are making the process well worth it.

“The kids, especially the leads, are just wonderful,” said Dawn. “Great voices. Great actors. It’s really going to be a great show.”

Dunmorean of the Month: In Memory of Billy Ruddy

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The Ruddy twins—Billy, left, and Bob, right—pose together during their days as football stars for the Dunmore Bucks back in 1985.

By Emily Fedor

On the morning of January 29, Billy Ruddy, a senior a Dunmore High School, came downstairs to see his father, Bob. Billy asked his dad to watch a video that he had made and posted to YouTube. He didn’t say what the video was about or give away any details before heading off to school.

The video Billy created commemorates the days that his dad and uncle had shared as teammates and brothers in addition to old news footage covering the accident that took his uncle’s life.

He had shared the video on Facebook for all of his friends and family to see.

“Everyone that grew up in Dunmore, knew the Ruddy twins,” said Billy. “They were known obviously for their football talents, but the people they were on and off the field made everyone love them.”

January 29, 2016 marked the 30th anniversary of the tragic car accident that involved Bob and his twin brother Billy. The two were football stars for the Dunmore Bucks and helped the team capture the program’s first Eastern Conference Class A crown in 1985.

The sons of Rose and the late James Ruddy, Bob and Billy were the youngest of the 13 children who made up this native Dunmore family. This number includes their brother Mark who passed away after birth.

On January 29, 1986, the twins were on their way to a recruitment visit at Mansfield University. Upon approaching their destination, their car, driven by a family friend and Mansfield assistant football coach Frank Butsko, collided with a tractor trailer.

Billy Ruddy and Frank Butsko were pronounced dead at the scene. Bob Ruddy suffered serious injuries, which caused him to be under hospital care until after his brother’s funeral services, but he managed to make it out of the crash alive.

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(Photo Credit: Paul Nardozzi/Facebook)

As they were not only brothers, but identical twins, the youngest Ruddys had a special bond both on and off the football field. They were competitive but also very protective of each other. Bob remembers his brother taking blocks for him under the Friday night lights during football season.

On the morning of their Mansfield visit, he recalled racing his brother to the car and fighting over the front seat.

After a minute, they realized that their actions may make Butsko question their maturity. Billy ended up taking the passenger seat next to while Bob hopped in the back.

“Looking back on it now, it was really like he took one last block for me.”

During the course of their football careers at Dunmore, the Ruddy family had recorded televised news stories about the twins and their success with the Bucks. Recording these memories became especially important during their senior season, which they played in memory of their father, James, who passed away earlier in 1985.

They also served a purpose during Bob’s stay in the hospital, when he wasn’t conscious for a time after the accident to know what exactly was unfolding.

Billy was able to edit together some of those old videos along with photos of his father and uncle to create his video.

“I usually make a post on Facebook every year,” said Billy, “but with this year being the 30th anniversary, I wanted to do something different.”

Although he never had the pleasure of meeting the uncle after whom he was named, he has heard a lot of stories about him over the years from not only his dad, but from other relatives, family friends and even faculty members at Dunmore High School, too.

“He was the kind of person who would stand up for someone being bullied in school,” said Billy. “He was just a positive person.”

Billy’s father agreed, saying his brother was a person many people, including himself, wanted to emulate. And although his son followed his own path and decided not to become a football star for the Bucks, Bob said he sees many of his late brother’s qualities in Billy, as well as his daughter, Casey, every day.

To say the least, Bob was touched by his son’s surprise on that chilly Friday morning.

“I couldn’t help but get a little emotional,” Bob said. “Doing that just shows the kind of man he is, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

But what Bob was most glad about was the fact that Dunmoreans, his son included, aren’t afraid to talk about his brother and the wonderful life he lived.

It’s never easy to look back on difficult times without having emotions take over, but as Billy so perfectly reminded everyone with his video tribute: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”