Tag Archives: Wilkes University

Dunmorean Named Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year

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8-10-15_Martin_announcement

University of Scranton Director of Athletics Dave Martin has been named a 2017-18 recipient of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year Award.

The Under Armour AD of the Year Awards program was created to honor intercollegiate directors of athletics for their commitment and administrative excellence within a campus and/or college community environment over the course of the last year.

“Dave is an outstanding choice for this honor,” said Rev. Herbert B. Keller, S.J., interim president of the University. “His commitment to our mission as a Catholic and Jesuit university is reflected in the transformation of the Athletics Department that he has spearheaded during his tenure. Dave’s tireless work to help our student-athletes be successful in sports and in life has improved both the quality of our athletics teams and the University as a whole.”

Martin, who holds an undergraduate degree from Wilkes University and a master of education degree from Misericordia, and his wife, Jennifer, reside in Dunmore with their three daughters: Samantha, Maddie and Paige.

University_of_Scranton_sealMartin is one of 28 directors from across the country to receive the award for 2017-18, including four at the NCAA Division III level. He is the first recipient of the award from The University of Scranton and the second from the Landmark Conference, joining former Drew University Director of Athletics Jason Fein, who was honored in 2015-16.

“I am extremely honored and humbled to receive this award,” Martin said. “This award is a reflection of the hard work of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and the University community as a whole to improve the student-athlete experience. Our successes both inside and outside the competitive arena wouldn’t be possible without a dedicated team effort. I truly appreciate NACDA’s recognition of the excellent work that has taken place here at the University over the past year.”

Martin became the eighth director of athletics in University of Scranton history in August 2015 after an 11-year tenure as director of athletics at Misericordia University.

Since arriving at Scranton, Martin has overseen many major initiatives within the Athletics Department. He helped to lead the fundraising efforts for and the construction of the Kevin P. Quinn, S.J., Athletics Campus, a $14 million campus that includes synthetic turf baseball and softball stadiums, a multipurpose stadium, and fieldhouse. The campus is set to open this spring.

Since 2015, Martin managed the process of starting women’s golf, as well as men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field. He is the inaugural chair of the Landmark Conference Golf Committee, which is a new sport in the conference. In addition, he is responsible for coordinating the Landmark Championships for both men’s golf and baseball in 2018.

Most importantly during Martin’s tenure at Scranton, he led the development The Royal Way, a mission-based project that aims to ensure that Scranton student-athletes have a championship experience both on and off the playing field. The Royal Way directly supports Scranton’s mission as a Catholic and Jesuit school and it focuses on improving the student-athlete experience through evidence-based programing efforts.

Since Martin’s arrival in 2015, Scranton has had unprecedented success in competition, winning nine conference championships, and earning 10 trips to the NCAA tournament.

Dunmorean of the Month: John Marichak

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marichakJohn Marichak set to begin duties as Dunmore School District Superintendent
By Steve Svetovich

There is a new sheriff in town.

As a student-athlete, football coach, principal and school administrator, John Marichak has always been a leader, so expect nothing different and a smooth transition as he begins his duties next month as Dunmore School District superintendent.

Marichak starts his work in the Dunmore School District this month before officially becoming superintendent of the Dunmore School District in early July.

He served this past school year as the associate superintendent of the Scranton School District. The previous school year he was acting superintendent of the Scranton School District. He replaced Bill King.

Prior to those roles, Marichak served as principal at North Pocono High School for five years.

He graduated from Scranton Technical High School in 1987 where he participated in football, basketball and baseball and was a member of the National Honor Society. He was an all-scholastic football player and an all-star in basketball.

He received an academic scholarship to Villanova University where he graduated in 1990 with a B.S. in Marketing. He went on to receive an MBA from the school in 1992.

Marichak’s career focus then changed as he went on to receive teaching and principal certificates from Wilkes University.

He then began a teaching and coaching career that continued to spiral upward. He taught social studies and was head football coach at Scranton High School for 11 years and Honesdale High School for two years.

Then his career focus changed again as he became principal of North Pocono High School in 2009. With the new demands and responsibilities of a school administrator, he decided to give up coaching football

Marichak is married to the former Kelly Chiaro. The name is no stranger to the Dunmore community. Her parents, Ralph and Charlotte Chiaro are from Dunmore.

The Marichak couple has two children: John, Jr., a senior basketball and football player at Scranton High School who will attend Kings College in Wilkes Barre next year; and Natalie, a junior football cheerleader at Scranton High School.

Marichak said his coaching career and experience as a principal will help him in his new role as Superintendent of Dunmore Schools. “Absolutely, it will help,” he said. “It will help me at all levels. As a coach and as a principal, you are dealing at all levels with multiple people and personalities. You soon find out everyone is different. You put people in the best possible place to succeed. You defer to the greatest good.

“You find out everything is not cookie cutter. What might be the goal for one person just may not be the goal of another person. You learn to deal with all different types of personalities.

“As a principal, you learn how to manage a large school and different student personalities. You manage faculty. You learn how to handle state mandates. It is a lot like coaching, but on a larger basis.

“The same holds true as a school superintendent. You have to multi task and always be prepared for something different going on. And there always is something going on. You need to learn to put problems in their pecking order. It is all a great experience.”

Marichak said he had great preparation for life during his years at Villanova. “Going to Villanova on an academic scholarship was a dream come true for me. The academic and athletic experiences I had there were simply the greatest of my life.”

Marichak talked about his goals in his new role as Superintendent of Dunmore Schools. “Dunmore really exists and thrives as a community based school. It always has. I want to keep the Dunmore traditions going and maybe add something along the way.

“I want to focus on this and the big task. I want to get started on the task at hand.

“I want to continue to capitalize on the success of an always community based school.

“I will only try to make changes to put the Dunmore School District in the best possible position to be successful. I want to help make the Dunmore students career ready or college ready.

“I simply want to help put people in a position to be successful in whatever they do.”

Marichak will be a good role model to follow. He is old school all the way and his track record speaks loudly for itself.

With John Marichak, the Dunmore School District has put itself in its best position to succeed.

“I can’t wait to get started,” Marichak said.

Just a Thought…

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By Maureen Hart

Back when I was 12 years old and in junior high school, I wrote my first-ever article for the school newspaper. They published it—with my byline—even though the paper looked more like a pamphlet than an actual newspaper, I was hooked on writing.

I took three years worth of journalism classes in high school, where I was copy editor for a newspaper printed on glossy white paper—the same shiny paper we used when I became co-editor of The Beacon at Wilkes College (now University). Luckily, we changed to newsprint during my tenure there, and I felt like it was a “real” newspaper.

Out of college, I took a short detour into public relations for the Osterhout Library in Wilkes-Barre where I produced and moderated a book review show called “Between the Lines” for Channel 44. It was interesting but not what I wanted to do.

But when I got an interview with the late Al Williams at the now defunct Scrantonian-Tribune back in 1972, I was back where I belonged. One of my early articles at the Trib, on page one no less, was a first-hand account of my experience during the Agnes Flood. I was supposed to move to Scranton on the same day the flood hit Wilkes-Barre, and instead was stranded in my apartment as the waters rose higher and higher. That article made me a minor celebrity for a day or two, since there was not yet a lot of news coming out of the drowned city.

I began at the Trib when the composing room was filled with hot lead and the type was set by hand, backwards. It was a quintessential newsroom right out of “The Front Page,” filled with lots of crazy characters and cigarette smoke. Dunmoreans like Guy Valvano (our sports editor) and the late Tom Casey (our courthouse reporter) helped make working at the Trib a joy.

In time, we moved on to computers, which would now be so antiquated you would laugh. But we thought we were cutting edge.

When the Trib closed, I joined the quixotic quest to start The Sunday Sun, which struggled along for 13 months before closing. I had learned a lot through that experience, but I thought my newspaper career had reached its end and started doing some substitute teaching. Then, as fate would have it, my future husband John Hart (little did I know) and the late Bob “Moose” McCarthy roped me into helping them with yet another venture called The Scranton Weekly, and after that, I edited The Dunmorean when it was a weekly.

I left the business in 1997, but came back in 2005 and to “help” John with one edition of the monthly version of The Dunmorean, and as fate would have it, I’ve edited every issue for the past 10 years.

We were bobbing along as usual until last month when a bright and energetic journalism student at Ithaca College joined us for a summer internship editing copy. A native of Dunmore, Emily Fedor has proved to be a major asset from day one, but I’m certain her biggest contribution will be her suggestion that we start an online edition of The Dunmorean.

Emily put together a sample of our June newspaper to show us (you can see it at our website) and, when we absolutely loved it, she agreed to join our staff as online editor. Her edition of the July issue of The Dunmorean will be online this Friday, July 3.

The good news for us is that we have entered the 21st century. A large majority of people get their information online nowadays, and it was time for us to get on board. The good news for readers is that, even if you enjoy the printed version (and we hope you do), you can now augment that with extra stories and information featured online.

Since we do not have subscriptions—we are a free newspaper, as will be our online edition—this will make it easier for people who do not have an opportunity to pick up a print version. It will be a way for Dunmoreans who live out-of-town to share the same news as the people back home.

So, I hope you help us spread the news if you have family or friends who are missing Bucktown and its hometown news.

To view our online edition go to: www.DunmoreanNews.wordpress.com. (If you’re reading this online: Congratulations! You’ve found us!) In addition, please look at our new Facebook page, and I humbly ask you to “like” us.

If you do like us, you have Emily Fedor, a rising journalism star from Dunmore, to thank for that. I’m not at all embarrassed to admit that we old fogies have learned a lot from her already!