SCVTHS students bring joy to those less fortunate

This holiday season, the students and staff at Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School (SCVTHS) took part in various events with the hopes of bringing joy to those who are less fortunate.

(Left to right) SCVTHS SkillsUSA Advisor Michelle Fresco, SCVTHS SkillsUSA Advisor Sam Inga, SCVTHS students Emily Rosalli of Hillsborough, Grace Chen of Hillsborough, Pranav Potrevu of Basking Ridge, Jiya Mody of Martinsville, Reilly Sibilia of Raritan and SCVTHS SkillsUSA Advisors Karen Morlock and Pratima Patil pose for a photo with some of the “baskets” created from the food drive.

In November, SCVTHS held their 22nd Annual Holiday Food Drive, generating enough food baskets to support 13 local families in need with a complete Thanksgiving meal including a turkey, fresh pie created by the culinary arts students and all the trimmings. In addition to creating the baskets, SCVTHS continued the food drive and all supplementary donations were then given to the Food Bank Network in Bound Brook. Also, as part of the food drive, each class grade had the opportunity to win a free cookie voucher for their efforts. This year, the sophomore class led by Physical Education Instructor Matthew Poznanski won the contest.

Additionally, from Monday, Nov. 1, to Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021, students in the HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) club and Health Occupations program collected a total of 60 winter coats during their Jersey Cares Winter Coat Drive.

(Left to right) TOPS English Instructor Cristina Perrone, TOPS student Richard Primus of Skillman, TOPS Instructional Aide Gayle Behot, TOPS student Kye Taran of Bedminster, and TOPS Student Advocate Aja Palmer take a break from wrapping gifts for their toy drive.

Finally, two groups held toy drives during the month of December. The annual Cosmetology Holiday Toy Drive collected 57 toys for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Pediatric Center and the TOPS (Technical Occupational Preparation for Success) alternative education program at SCVTHS collected 29 toys for the Agapé House in Somerville.

The Agapé House, run by Volunteers of America Delaware Valley, is a 60-bed family shelter which provides temporary housing and case management to homeless families and individuals. TOPS Program Instructional Aide Karen Morlock said, “The TOPS Program would like to thank everyone for their generosity in helping make the children who live at the Agapé House have a special Christmas this year. Together we were able to make twenty-nine children’s wishes come true. We could not have done this without all of you.”

John Hopkins University

Shannon Rose Powelson of Tewksbury was named to the fall 2021 dean’s list at The John Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering in Baltimore, Maryland.

Mount Saint Mary Academy

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, the Mid Atlantic Regional Oireachtas for Irish dancing took place for the first time since the pandemic. Out of 100 girls from all over the region, Hannah Cunniffe of Basking Ridge, a senior at Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung, placed second overall in the competition. She is now qualified to participate in the World Irish Dancing Championships to be held in Belfast in April 2022.

“Since the pandemic, dance classes have been different with social distancing and there are limited local competitions to prepare,” said Cunniffe. “In November I was going to class five days a week to make sure I was in shape after a long hiatus from the rigorous competing schedule I am used to. I am very grateful to have placed so high as well as see all my friends who dance at other schools again.”

Meghan Crowley of Flemington, a junior from the Mount, competed in the same age and category.

“We don’t have any classes together and it was nice to catch up with her too,” said Crowley..

Also: Less than six percent of Girl Scouts earn the distinction of “Ambassador Girl Scout” and Ava Janish of Cranford is one of them. A senior at Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung, she has been involved in scouting since kindergarten where she started as a Daisy in Troop 40534.

“As an Ambassador I get to do a lot of mentoring for younger scouts such as organizing and running events to help girls earn skill badges, and most recently hosting a journey for ninth grade girls which is a prerequisite for a Gold Award,” she said

Janish, who considers the friends she has made and the array of memories and experiences to be irreplaceable, said, “The longer you are involved in Girl Scouts the larger an impact you can have on your community through it. It has opened so many opportunities to service work for me and given me the experience to do it on my own.”

Last summer, Janish and her brother organized a paper product drive for Cranford Family Care, a non-profit organization that supports families facing food insecurity.

“Having done service projects through Girl Scouts gave me the foundation to organizing this drive and bringing about its success,” she said.

Janish’s silver award project has been one of the hallmarks of her scouting career as it focused on educating the public about animal welfare through methods of creating a website and setting up an information booth in our community.

“Through fundraising, collections drop offs, and volunteer work we were able to raise $1000 plus supplies to support Angel Paws, a local non-profit, no kill, animal shelter,” said Janish. “This project gave me the opportunity to organize an initiative and work with a team to beneficially impact my local community. It was unlike anything I had done before, and the fulfilment it gave me only made me want to continue this kind of work.”

Over the summer, Janish also participated in the Johns Hopkins Engineering Innovation course, a four-week pre-college summer program during which she explored a variety of engineering disciplines through lectures, hands-on projects, and labs. Some of these fields included civil, chemical, electrical/computer, mechanical engineering, and materials science.

“I had the opportunity to work with and become friends with people around the world, which was an amazing experience,” said Janish. “Going into the course I had already knew I wanted to study engineering in college, and this course offered me the opportunity for me to figure out which field. It really challenged me to explore and consider new disciplines that I had not considered, and it allowed me to delve beyond the surface of what I thought I knew about some of these disciplines.”

“We also completed a final project which was a group design presentation, in which we were given a situation and we had to design a product to solve it. My group’s project focused designing a medical device that would assist people who often forgot to take prescribed medications. Overall, after completing the course it only solidified my desire to pursue engineering in college and inspired me for the possibilities that lie ahead,” she said.

Janish’s experience as a member of the Society of Women Engineers at Mount Saint Mary Academy has supported her interest in engineering by bringing her together with peers who share her same aspirations and interests.

“I have learned how diverse the profession is and how it can bring people together, despite different interests within engineering because the fields are so vastly different but still very connected,” she said. “One person might want to be a civil engineer, focusing on the construction of bridges and buildings, while another might be a materials engineer looking at different materials for such a building. In the broader scope of things, we are all connected. It shows how the engineering community is united not only within the school but as a profession in general. We also had the opportunity to hear from women in the field, and we learned about their experiences, but more importantly from their unique perspective as women in engineering.”

Janish is also a member of the National Honor Society, the Spanish National Honor Society, and the Varsity Softball team.

Last year, she was also honored to receive the Society of Women Engineers Certificate of Merit.

When she graduates from Mount Saint Mary in June, she plans to further her education at a school that offers a competitive and challenging aerospace engineering program.

“I am very drawn to the idea of space exploration, hence my desire to pursue aerospace, or more specifically astronautical engineering (a concentration within aerospace focused on the space side). I want to make a difference in the world, and this is one of the ways I plan to do it,” said Janish.

As she considered how her success as a Girl Scout has influenced her pursuit of an engineering career, Janish said, “Scouting has taught me lessons of dedication, teamwork, and how to make an impact, all skills that will assist me in my engineering career. Being an engineer is definitely hard work. You have to be able to see a project through and work through difficulty. It is also a highly collaborative profession. Having the ability to effectively communicate with others and work in teams is essential. In most aspects of engineering society is at the forefront, so knowing that your work might directly impact members of society it is important to understand those benefits and consequences.”

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Raritan Valley Community College

The Raritan Valley Community College Institute of Holocaust and Genocide Studies will commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day with two virtual events in January. Both programs are free of charge and open to the public.

The Holocaust Institute will present an International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration, Thursday, Jan. 27, from 1 to 2 p.m. The virtual event will feature a live, opening-day viewing of Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors, a new photography exhibition at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London. The exhibition, which includes photographs taken by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge, a Royal Photographic Society (RPS) patron, features more than 50 contemporary portraits of Holocaust survivors and their families. The display highlights the survivors’ full, vibrant lives, emphasizing everyone’s collective responsibility to cherish their stories.

Created in partnership with RPS, Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors showcases new works from 14 contemporary photographers, all members and Fellows of RPS. Displayed for the first time, these photographs capture the special connections between Holocaust survivors and the younger generations of their families. The majority of the photographs in Generations: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors were taken in spring 2021, offering a new body of work from contemporary photographers. The event is being co-sponsored by 3GNY Descendants of Holocaust Survivors, 3GNJ, and 3GPhilly. To participate, register at bit.ly/3Hfd2mv.

Also on Thursday, Jan. 27, a virtual Community-Wide Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration: Honoring Our Survivors will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. The event, featuring Holocaust survivors Tova Friedman and Maud Dahme, is being co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Somerset, Hunterdon, and Warren Counties; the Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center; the JCC Holocaust Memorial and Education Center; and JEWISH LIFE. The program will honor Tova Friedman and Maud Dahme for their dedication and tireless efforts to further Holocaust education. To participate, register at bit.ly/3mjAyXc.

For information about the Holocaust Remembrance Day programs, email Program Specialist Michelle Edgar at michelle.edgar@raritanval.edu. For additional information, visit www.raritanval.edu/community-resources/holocaust-institute.

Also: Younger children, middle and high school students looking for extra academic challenges and fun courses this winter are invited to register for enrichment and science programs offered by Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg, in partnership with Little Medical School and Black Rocket.

Start dates vary, but many programs begin in late January or February. Classes are being offered in such subject areas as writing, Little Doctors, Little Veterinarian, and Teen Medicine. A four-week SAT Prep class will be offered in February, March and April to prepare for SAT exams on Saturday, March 12, and Saturday, May 7. The college is also offering a “Youth Rembrandts” art course for students ages 6 to 12.

Self-paced, online and interactive, instructor-led courses are being offered. A very limited number of in-person classes may be held, depending on state guidelines due to COVID-19. For a complete list of courses and to register for programs, visit www.raritanval.edu/youth. For information about the programs, email youth@raritanval.edu or sandile.manzini@raritanval.edu.

Also: Members of the public are invited to join the Raritan Valley Community College Chorale, which will begin rehearsing Monday, Jan. 24, for the group’s Spring 2022 Concert. All singers high school age and older are invited to join the Chorale, and no auditions are required. The upcoming concert is scheduled for Sunday, May 1.

The Chorale’s repertoire includes music by Eric Whitacre, Zoltán Kodály, John Sichel and the B-52s.

Rehearsals will be held Monday evenings, from 7:15-10 p.m., in the Arts Building on the college’s Branchburg campus. The RVCC Chorale rehearses wearing face masks. All participants in the Chorale are required to adhere to the college’s vaccine and mask mandates.

The cost to participate in the non-credit program is $50. For additional information, contact John Sichel, RVCC Associate Professor of Music, at john.sichel@raritanval.edu.

Also: Raritan Valley Community College’s Arts & Design department will present “Expanding the View of Photography: from Realism to Abstraction,” an exhibition showcasing the work of 10 photographers, Wednesday, Jan. 19, through Friday, Feb. 18, in the Art Gallery at the college’s Branchburg campus.

The show is being curated by RVCC Adjunct Professors Dot Paolo and Kathleen Schulz. The opening reception will be held Friday, Jan. 21, from 5 to 7 p.m. As a precautionary measure against COVID-19, the reception will not include an artists’ talk or refreshments. The event is free of charge and open to the public. Face masks are required in the Art Gallery and in all college buildings.

The exhibition showcases the signature style of each photographer, creating a visual survey of what contemporary photography offers as an artistic discipline. The work highlights the traditional aspects of two-dimensional design, printmaking, painting, color theory and still life. The connection among the artists is their commitment to the art of photography and their invention of original and memorable images. Subject matter ranges from political issues to the sheer beauty of the world, while processes vary from street photography to work produced in the studio. The result is an exhibition that strikes a balance between experimental and traditional images.

The exhibiting artists include: Donna Bassin of Montclair; Patricia Bender of Somerset; Kevin Hinkle of Asbury Park; Eileen Hohmuth-Lemonick of Princeton; Neil O. Lawner, of New York Donald Lokuta of Pittsboro, North Carolina; Morgan Strus-Allen of Oxford; Annalyse Varlow of South Brunswick; William Vandever of Sayreville; and Jane Waggoner Deschner of Billings, Montana.

Gallery hours for the exhibition are 3 to 8 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays; and 1 to 4 p.m. Fridays. For further information, contact Arts & Design, 908-218-8876.

RVCC is at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg. For additional information, visit www.raritanval.edu/arts or www.raritanval.edu and follow the RVCC Art Gallery Instagram feed at www.instagram.com/rvcc_art_gallery/.

Tewksbury Elementary School

If you a Tewksbury resident and are the parent or guardian of child who will turn 5 before Saturday, Oct. 1, register your child for Kindergarten at Tewksbury Elementary School in Califon.

The Universal Child Health form or a physical form from your child’s doctor is required and should be completed after or as part of the child’s 5-year-old check up with his or her primary care physician.

Any registration questions, contact Eileen Callahan at ecallahan@tewksburyschools.org or 908-832-2594, ext: 2001 or any medical questions, contact Nancy Morogiello at nmorogiello@tewksburyschools.org or 908-832-2594, ext: 2011.

Thomas Edison State University

Thomas Edison State University (TESU) will host a Second Annual Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday, Jan. 18, at 11 a.m.

This virtual discussion will feature Rev. Dr. Charles Boyer, pastor of Greater Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Trenton and the founder of Salvation and Social Justice, a non-partisan Black faith-rooted organization that believes liberation should precede legislation and prophetic vision should precede public policy. The discussion will focus on health equity, DEI issues, the pandemic’s effect on Trenton residents and MLK’s mission as it relates to the Trenton community.

Dr. Merodie A. Hancock, president, TESU, will welcome Boyer to the discussion, which is available to the public. Registration to the free event is available at bit.ly/3I1niiy. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Union Catholic High School

The Union Catholic girls extended their streak to eight titles in a row, and the boys placed second and smashed a record at the Saturday, Jan. 8, Union County Relays at the Jersey City Armory.

UC’s girls left no doubt about its superiority by winning five of the eight events, and running a NJ No. 1 time in the shuttle hurdles on the way to a dominating 74-46 victory over runner-up Rahway.

There were several great performances by the UC boys, highlighted by a meet record 10:44.22 in the distance medley relay, the top time in the state this season and No. 2 in the nation. The former meet record in the DMR of 10:44.52 was set in 2011 by Union Catholic.

Union County College

Union County College has announced the Cranford campus’ One Stop Manager Lisa Ginder has received the American Association for Women in Community Colleges (AAWCC) 40 Under 40 Award. The AAWCC is a national organization that provides education, career development, and advancement to women at community colleges. Ginder has served as president of the college’s AAWCC chapter since Fall 2020 and has been instrumental in the creation of region-wide collaboration.

Ginder is passionate and determined in all that she does, especially when she is coordinating AAWCC events for Union’s 50 members. From leading the AAWCC chapter, to working with other chapters to organize a regional event, Ginder has strived to enhance and strengthen this organization. During the pandemic, Ginder promoted entertaining and educational programming advocating for women’s issues and self-care needs.

Ginder joined Union College in 2016. In her role as a One Stop Manager, she oversees the daily operations of the Student Services Center on the Cranford and Plainfield campuses. She helps ensure that current and prospective students receive excellent service and assistance when they visit either campus for help with an application, advising, financial aid, or any other needs.

“We are proud of Ms. Ginder for receiving this acknowledgement from the AAWCC. The AAWCC chapter was established at Union to help its members grow both personally and professionally. I applaud her efforts in providing our chapter’s members with opportunities for engagement, networking, learning, and leadership. By encouraging our employees to better themselves, we can better assist our students,” said Union’s President Dr. Margaret M. McMenamin.

Westfield High School

The Westfield High School DREAM Team hosted its annual Hot Chocolate Holiday on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021 for students and staff. Members of the DREAM Team serve as peer role models and hold activities focused on making healthy choices. “So many look forward to their complimentary cup of hot chocolate and munchkins right before the holidays,” said DREAM Team advisor Lauren Hauser. “Each student was given a drug or alcohol-related fact in homeroom to read and trade for free treats.”

Student and School news appears on Saturdays. Email: cnmetro@mycentraljersey.com

Carolyn Sampson is Executive Office Assistant for the Courier News, The Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com, and handles the weekly Student News page.

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