Happy Valentines Day at PHS, Trojan Man Style

Pottstown High School's Trojan Man Heartbreaker debuted for Valentine's Day, and delivered special gifts for special valentines.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottstown School District.

As is so often the case, Pottstown's Trojan mascot (actually several students) decided on his own take for a special occasion, in this case, Valentine's Day.

So the Trojan Man organization debuted "Heart Breaker Trojan Man." 

Trojan Man Jon was busy today spreading love and joy as he delivered 12 chocolate flowers to 12 faculty and staff members, chosen by the Trojan Man. 

Each staff member also received their own copy of "The Adventures of Trojan Man," personalized and autographed by Trojan Man himself.

After delivering his gifts, Trojan Man Jon also spent with the entrepreneurship program who were selling roses and candy in the cafeteria. 

Evidently, Trojan Man can be a great marketing tool.

To end his day, Trojan Man Jon visited his friends in the Pre-K Counts classroom at the high school for a quick hello during their lunch time.

He's "Making the World a Better Place, One Trojan Man at a Time."

These Colors DO Run, For Clean Water in Kenya

Photos by John J. Armato

Trojan runners brave a spray of colored powder as they cross the finish line of the All For Kenya 5-K in Riverfront Park.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottstown School District.

Thanks to Pottstown High School teacher Dave Woodley, Rupert teacher Treena Ferguson and Team Trojan Man, the people of the Pikot Village in Kenya are one step closer to having a well to supply clean drinking water. 

Treena Ferguson and her daughter.

All ran in the recent All For Kenya 5-K Color Run in Riverfront Park. 

Money raised at the event went towards drilling a well that will supply the Pikot Village with clean water. 

The 5-K distance was selected because that is how far students in the Pikot Village walk to school and how far they walk for clean drinking water on a daily basis. 

Running through clouds of colored powder just added to the fun of the event. 

Woodley, Ferguson, along with Trojan Men Jorge Mundo, Jon Jon Ositer and Zack Griffin were all place winners. 

PHS grad, class of 2002, Jared Remigio joined Team Trojan Man to support the World Hope event. 

BEFORE: From left, Zack Griffin, Jorge Mundo as Trojan Man, Jon Oister and Dave Woodley were all clean and cool BEFORE the All for Kenya 5-K.

AFTER: Ummmm, not so clean or cool, but what they did certainly was.

Mundo said "I am not much of a runner but was proud to be part of Team Trojan Man and know that we are helping people thousands of miles away improve their living conditions." 

Trojan Man always finishes what he starts.

Woodley, who is the acknowledged leader of The Trojan Nation said "I am so very proud of these young men to come out on a very hot Saturday morning to run 3.1 miles and have colored powder thrown on them so that they could help people that they will never see, is reason to say Proud to be from Pottstown."

Trojan Man Takes to TV to Fight Cancer Monday AM

Fighting cancer has been one of Trojan Man's major causes for some time now.

Trojan Man, the big-headed Pottstown High School mascot who seems to be everywhere at once, will be on your TV screen Monday morning if you have it tuned to the right channel.

At 9:30 a.m. Feb. 20, the ubiquitous Trojan Man will appear on Good Day Philadelphia on Fox 29. He has been invited to take part in the Lace Up and Twist Away Childhood Cancer national tour by Mascots 4 a Cure, according to a post on Dave Woodley's Facebook page.

Dave Woodley with a photo of the first time Trojan Man

became something more than a mascot.

Many of you will remember that Woodley is the high school's Management Information Systems teacher as well as a 2003 graduate of the school.

As The Mercury reported at the start of this school year, it was Woodley who has led the charge to transform the school mascot from a guy in a dorky costume who does push-ups at football games to a region-wide symbol for community involvement.

Not one to waste an opportunity for doing good in the City of Brotherly Love, Trojan Man will then head over to Rosa's Fresh Pizza with $472 raised in Pottstown where he will buy 472 slices of pizza for the homeless.

Acting Pottstown Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez

got some help from the Color Guard for his video.

After lunch, Woodley posted that Trojan Man will take part in a Lace Up and Twist Away Cancer Rally at the iconic Liberty Bell.

On Feb. 27, TM will participate in his first hospital visit with Mascots 4 a Cure at duPont Hospital as part of the national tour.

Throughout 2016 and into this year, Woodley has affiliated Trojan Man with “Mascots For a Cure,” which has teamed up with the #TwistChallenge to raise money to fight childhood cancer.

Some of you may recall “the ice bucket challenge” of two years ago, a video craze which swept the nation and, in the process, raised more than $42 million for research into ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The “#TwistChallenge” works on the same principle.

A video is taken of a person or group of people dancing to “The Twist” for 36 seconds in recognition of the 36 children who are diagnosed with cancer each day, according to the campaign’s statistics.

(Here is the video made at all four Pottstown Elementary Schools)


That video is posted on social media with challenges being made to another group or individual. Those participating making a donation.

(Here is Acting Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez's video:)



Not to be outdone by Rodriquez, or the elementary schools, or even the Pottstown School Board, which also twisted to fight cancer, all of Pottstown High School undertook the challenge at the Pep Rally in September.


Apparently, all this twisting has not gone unnoticed and now Trojan Man will join other mascots on television tomorrow morning to help raise even more money to fight childhood cancer.

Won't you tune in and watch and perhaps donate?

Well done Trojans.

A Barth First Grader's Giving Spirit at 7 Years Old

Barth Elementary First Grader Ethan Caballero with Trojan Man and elven helpers Anthony Wiggins, left, and Austin Andrews review the toys Ethan collected to deliver to sick children in the hospital who could not be home for Christmas.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by John Armato, avatar of the Pottstown School District.

Barth Elementary School first grader Ethan Caballero may only be seven years old but he has shown that he can work side by side with men like, Trojan Man to help bring joy and cheer to children who have to spend their Holiday in the hospital.

Together they held a toy drive that collected more than 300 toys that will go to Pottstown Memorial Medical Center for children who were not be at home when Santa made his deliveries. 

Ethan has already learned that the true spirit of Christmas is more about giving than receiving and his wish to bring joy to others is one of the many reasons we can say "Proud to be from Pottstown." 

Trojan Man who is the a champion of the community along with his Elves Anthony Wiggins and Austin Andrews were happy to give a helping hand.

A New Board Member and Hidden Raises

Photos by Evan Brandt

Susan Lawrence.

The Pottstown School Board chose life-time Pottstown resident and former high school valedictorian Susan Lawrence as the newest member of the school board last night.

She was chosen over former board member Bonita Barnhill, who earned only vote from from the board.

Lawrence will replace Andrew Kefer, whose resignation from the board became official on Sept. 30.

Lawrence will be sworn in at the next school board meeting.

As Kefer was the board's vice president when he resigned, the board also had to act to elect a new vice president. The unanimous choice was Amy Francis, who was nominated by board member Ron Williams. There were no other nominations.

Mr. Woodley accepts his award from Stephen Rodriquez.

The board also moved ahead, by a split 4-3 vote, to proceed with a design phase and request for bid to improve the over-used fields along North Franklin Street.

And there were more than a few awards handed out.

David Woodley, was given a superintendent's award for his formation of the Management Information Systems team, as well as his work with the Trojan Man mascot and its use in boosting school spirit.

And then, Rupert Elementary School Principal Matt Moyer got up and announced that Preservation Pennsylvania had awarded the "Sustainability and Historic Preservation Award" to the school district for its preservation of the key architectural elements of the district's oldest school, built in 1928.

One of the main reasons for the award was that Rupert has been made energy efficient in its most recent renovation. Rupert also graced the cover of the program for the evening, said Moyer.

Acting Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez and

Rupert Principal Matt Moyer with the preservation award.

Let's see..... was there anything else ...?

Oh yeah, buried in the agenda, which was not available for the public Monday night for inexplicable reasons, was a small item about "approval of salaries."

Not "raises," but "salaries." Really?

If you check out the agenda on the school district web site, and you are willing to dig, you will find the item with three PDF's attached.

It shows new salaries for the support staff, non-union workers and "Act 93" workers, who are the administrators.

But even then, it tells you little.

Because rather than put last year's salary and the new salary, and the increase out there like grown-ups, the administration continues its practice of presenting only the new salary, giving you no fram of reference.

So we'll have to dig and dig and dig. Their reward for playing being less than transparent will be a story on the front page of The Mercury -- a story which might otherwise have been very routine.

This district talks about "transparency" and trying to get people involved, but this school district still makes secrecy its default position, while they spend more than $60 million of your money.

A hat's off to School Board Director Kurt Heidel for at least informing the public that the raise, for one year, represents a 4 percent hike. At least he had enough respect for the public to tell them how much more of their money the district will be spending.

Board members Thomas Hylton and Ron Williams cast the only votes against the raises.

Otherwise, enjoy the Tweets.

A Pep Rally With a Twist(Challenge)

Photos by Evan Brandt

Senior athletes and musicians were recognized Thursday during the Pottstown High School pep rally.

Thursday was not your grandfather's pep rally at Pottstown High School.

Not only was there the usual raft of music, games like musical chairs and tug of war, there was also an effort to help fight childhood cancer.

Both sides of a human Battleship match-up.

Part of the #TwistChallenge being promoted by @MascotsForaCure, the idea is to dance t the Chubby Checker classic for 36 seconds, signifying the number of children who are diagnosed with cancer each day.

You can't have a pep rally without cheerleaders.

This may well be the first time an entire high school has undertaken the challenge. Already in
Pottstown, the school board and acting superintendent Stephen Rodriguez have done it, along with a dozen other staff members and students.

Its a demonstration of the Trojan spirit that even in the midst of celebrating themselves, they can take the time to recognize and address the troubles of others.

Well done Trojans.

Don't forget to come to homecoming versus Pottsgrove on Saturday, at 2:30 p.m. at Grigg Memorial Stadium.

Here is a little video sampling of what went on:



For even more, check out the Tweets below: