WHHS students have always found ways to give back to the community. Whether by participating in food drives or joining clubs like the Leo Club, a club that takes trips to places like the Foundation of the Handicapped and Camp Marcella, students are no strangers to generosity.

Some students take it a step further and give back to the community in their free time after school where they have taken on the role of coaches at the Wayne Police Athletic League (PAL). The Wayne PAL is a recreational club for children. The Wayne PAL offers sports like baseball, lacrosse, soccer, indoor soccer, and basketball. All of these sports provide play time for students in grades 1-8 and AAU basketball is only open to grades 9, 10, 11, and 12.

For most of the sports, the coaches who are needed are volunteers. Some are parents,  Wayne PAL trustees or some are just students. These students come from schools like DePaul, Wayne Valley, or our very own Wayne Hills. Seniors James Dianuzzo and Joseph Cunningham both coached the boy’s 7th grade and 8th grade PAL teams. The job of a coach is to teach the kids how to play the game but also to make sure that the kids are having fun while doing so. The season has now ended and when asked about the overall experience of coaching, Dianuzzo stated that “It was really fun to see the kids develop throughout the season and become a team. They all bonded together and made the experience a real enjoyable one. The kids always wanted to have fun while playing the sport they loved and that was accomplished at the end of it all.”

If you are interested in coaching and would like to volunteer at The Wayne PAL, you could always contact them through their website, http://www.waynepal.org/. Every person counts.