At the May 19 Whitehall-Coplay Communities That Care meeting, committees refined their short-term goals.

During the April meeting, committees started exploring short-term goals to work on, and this month was dedicated to honing and specifying those goals.

Denise Continenza, Penn State Extension educator and CTC moderator, shared goal steps with the group to help refine their plans. The SMART plan encourages participants to specify their plans and ensure the goals are measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

The new refined goal for the mental health and wellness committee is to reduce SAP referrals at the middle school and high school by 20% from the 2022-23 school year to the 2023-24 school year.

The substance use prevention committee wants to see no more than a 2% increase in vaping use and related acts as per the 2023 Pennsylvania Youth Survey.

The committee focused on increasing students’ commitment to school wants to see a decrease in the number of students in grades 6-12 who said they do not participate in social activities by 5%.

At the next meeting, committees will focus on strategies to achieve their goals.

In other business, coalition members thanked the student representatives who shared their insight during the school year. Two of the students - Aubrey Vivian and Giovanni Mazzola - are seniors graduating at the end of the academic year.

Mazzola was absent from the May meeting, but Vivian reported she will be attending cosmetology school. She was gifted a plush blanket from the coalition to help her remember and honor her days in Whitehall-Coplay School District.

Whitehall Mayor Michael Harakal Jr. congratulated the students who took part in the township’s recent student government day. He said the eight students who participated were well educated and prepared for the event.

Whitehall-Coplay School Board President William Fonzone said he recently served as a judge for the Zephyr Elementary School science fair. He said how impressed he was with the students and their projects.

“It’s amazing what the fourth- and fifth-graders come up with,” Fonzone said.

The next Whitehall-Coplay CTC meeting will be June 23 at the LGI room at Whitehall High School.