The Lawrenceville School is set to host its annual Springfest carnival on Wednesday, May 27 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. The event will take place at The Lawrenceville School’s Circle, 2500 Main Street in Lawrenceville. In the case of rain, the festivities will be relocated to The Lawrenceville School’s Lavino Field House.

Springfest is a yearly outdoor carnival that serves as a year-end celebration for children in Lawrenceville’s community service programs. Children can play games, take part in competitions, run around with friends and earn prizes. Lawrenceville’s student volunteers that have worked with the children throughout the spring term will assist and escort them throughout the day of festivities.

The carnival celebrates everything the children in the school’s community service programs have accomplished. It also serves as a culmination for the relationships that formed during the spring term between the children and Lawrenceville’s student volunteers. It allows other students, faculty and children in the school community to celebrate the end of the year as well.

Springfest is a private event, but the outside media are encouraged to attend.

The Trenton Museum Society continues its exhibition of the soon-to-be-demolished Trenton Central High School through Sunday, April 19.

“Trenton Central High School: A Remembrance” opened several months ago after the Trenton Public Schools Board of Education voted to demolish Trenton Central High School and, through the New Jersey Schools Development Authority (NJSDA), construct a new $130 million building.

The school opened in 1932 and “was an iconic structure that inspired and nurtured thousands of Trenton students over the past 82 years,” note museum materials.

According to Trenton-based writer and historian Glenn R. Modica, writing for the Trenton Historical Society, Trenton Central High School — hailed at the time as “an ornament to the city” and “one of the show places of Trenton” — was “one of the largest and most expensive high schools built in the country. The Chambers Street facade stretches broadly for almost 1,000 feet, nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall. The cost of the building, including land and furniture, totaled $3.3 million. Most firms involved in the construction were based in Trenton, including John A. Roebling’s Sons who provided ‘Jersey’ wire lath to fireproof the ceilings and walls.”

The school’s architect was Ernest K. Sibley, of Palisades, New Jersey. His previous work in Trenton included the Gothic Revival Dunn Middle School on Dayton Street and the Colonial Revival Holland Middle School on West State Street. “For TCHS Sibley adapted his design of the Holland School and magnified it on a much grander scale. Overall, the school’s symmetrical proportions combined red brick and limestone in a monumental Georgian design,” writes Modica.

The exhibition features a variety of saved objects and highlights their significance. “Many of the features that contributed to the unique beauty of the school were made in Trenton. The porcelain shades in the light fixtures in the auditorium were made by Lenox in Trenton. The brown faience tile lining the hallways was made by the Mueller Mosaic Tile Company of Trenton. Even the sanitary ware, such as sinks and toilets, were made by the Trenton-based Maddock pottery company,” says a statement prepared by museum president Richard Willinger and Trenton Historical Society Member and TCHS alumnus Karl Flesch.

The exhibition also hones in on something that is represented only by photo reproduction: a grouping of four murals created and installed in the high school in 1941 by Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Arts Project artist Monty Lewis.

The mosaic-block work, “Youth Carrying the Heritage of Arts from the Past into the Future,” is divided into the following sections: painting and sculpture, architecture and engineering, science and research, and music, theater, and dance.

The Trenton Board of Education has noted that it intends to save the historic works, and a representative of the NJSDA said that a preservation company has been contracted to remove and store mosaics while planners examine ways to incorporate them into the new design. Calls to the Board of Education for more details were not returned.

While the murals are important to the city, they also represent an important part of American arts movement.

Artist Lewis, born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1907, came to New York City as a teenager, studied with several influential American artists at the Arts Students’ League in New York from 1924 to 1928, and then received a 1929 award from the Tiffany Foundation. In 1930 the artist received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship to study traditional arts in Florence, Italy. When he returned to the United States, the nation was in the grip of the Great Depression.

In an Archives of American Art interview recorded in 1964, Lewis talked about the WPA and its importance to American art and mural painting. “By 1934 the Depression had gotten so bad that the government created the first federal project called the Public Works of Art Project, PWAP. Well-known painters were invited to participate,” Lewis said, adding that he was invited to join the original group.

Lewis, who later founded and directed the California-based Coronado School of Fine Arts until retirement in the 1980s, said that the public art of creating murals had become popular, citing Diego Rivera and Ben Shahn.

The interest heated up in 1939 “when the New York World’s Fair came along, we had two mural societies, the National Society of Mural Painters (for which I was on the board of directors at one time) and the Mural Artists’ Guild. We (also) had a group called the Artists, Painters, and Sculptors Collaborators. It was the first group of its kind. It was formed in an attempt to get the New York World’s Fair interested in developing art activity for painting, sculpture, and architecture.”

Lewis added that “the entire period of the projects themselves was unquestionably one of the most stimulating and inventive art movements this country has ever had, before or since. There was a great movement of works done all of the country and they still exist. It gave a tremendous interest to the younger painters, and it gave assistance to so many of the great talents. It preserved the abilities of many of the important people in the arts. No telling what might have happened without it. The stimulation it provided for real talent and real ability was probably greater than any other factor, from the point of view of the value for the country itself and for the artists.”

“The Project sprang up out of nowhere and lasted a comparatively short time. The difference between the Federal Arts Project and the great Renaissance development was of course that the Renaissance was a continuing development from the earliest medieval times all the way through the latter part of the 18th century: a continuity of tradition and background, of development and growth. The Federal Arts Project came entirely out of the blue, you might say, and ended just as quickly. So that continuity has been lost. If the interest nationally developed generation to generation then they might have something like a great Renaissance concept.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Lewis, who became head of the WPA mosaic division and created murals at other schools and libraries, said, “I don’t suppose they had any real mural painting in this country until the Federal Arts Project came along — at least vital mural painting.”

For “Youth Carrying the Heritage of the Arts of the Past into the Future,” Lewis used tiles that came from Perth Amboy to create works that touched both the past and present. And as a WPA pamphlet notes, “In his mosaic work Lewis endeavored to get away from the conventional association of this material with Byzantine Ecclesiastical mosaics. He recognized the visual opportunities in this country with its enormous tile industry and decided to take advantage of this situation. Instead of continuing the old flat, ornamental patterns, he adjusted his design to industrial possibilities and consulted industry to supply the desired material used for commercial bathroom tilting purposes. Lewis combined his search for new principles in design and mural approach with an appreciation of the extraordinary durability, and luminosity of this washable, bather-proof material, excellently fitted for outdoor mural decorations.”

In addition to the historical nature of the work, there is the artistic expression. As a writer for the San Diego Union newspaper noted in the 1960s, “Lewis’ art may be characterized as dynamic power controlled by thought. It had from the beginning a particularly unified character. Earliest sketches were already almost entirely concerned with figures in motion and their grouping. ‘If I had chosen then to become a musician, I would also have been mostly interested in composition,’ he says, thus indicating his distinction between interpretation and building creativeness.”

Lewis died in 1997. Yet like others who struggled through the Great Depression and World War II, he worked to inspire a better future.

Flesch, in a recent Times of Trenton interview, echoed that hope and the need to preserve artifacts important to region, saying, “These items represent the grandness of the past — that you just don’t want to throw away. You can teach the students of the future that there is more to going to school in a white box.”

Trenton Central High School: A Remembrance, Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, Cadwalader Park, Parkside and Stuyvesant avenues, Trenton, Tuesdays through Saturdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sundays 1 to 4 p.m., through Sunday, April 19, Free. 609-989-1191. www.ellarslie.org.

The 1941 WPA Mural, ‘Carrying the Heritage of Arts from the Past into the Future.’ The mural is divided into four sections: architecture and engineering, above left, science and research, and painting and sculpture.

The Trenton Museum Society continues its exhibition of the soon-to-be-demolished Trenton Central High School through Sunday, April 19.

“Trenton Central High School: A Remembrance” opened several months ago after the Trenton Public Schools Board of Education voted to demolish Trenton Central High School and, through the New Jersey Schools Development Authority (NJSDA), construct a new $130 million building.

The school opened in 1932 and “was an iconic structure that inspired and nurtured thousands of Trenton students over the past 82 years,” note museum materials.

According to Trenton-based writer and historian Glenn R. Modica, writing for the Trenton Historical Society, Trenton Central High School — hailed at the time as “an ornament to the city” and “one of the show places of Trenton” — was “one of the largest and most expensive high schools built in the country. The Chambers Street facade stretches broadly for almost 1,000 feet, nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall. The cost of the building, including land and furniture, totaled $3.3 million. Most firms involved in the construction were based in Trenton, including John A. Roebling’s Sons who provided ‘Jersey’ wire lath to fireproof the ceilings and walls.”

The school’s architect was Ernest K. Sibley, of Palisades, New Jersey. His previous work in Trenton included the Gothic Revival Dunn Middle School on Dayton Street and the Colonial Revival Holland Middle School on West State Street. “For TCHS Sibley adapted his design of the Holland School and magnified it on a much grander scale. Overall, the school’s symmetrical proportions combined red brick and limestone in a monumental Georgian design,” writes Modica.

The exhibition features a variety of saved objects and highlights their significance. “Many of the features that contributed to the unique beauty of the school were made in Trenton. The porcelain shades in the light fixtures in the auditorium were made by Lenox in Trenton. The brown faience tile lining the hallways was made by the Mueller Mosaic Tile Company of Trenton. Even the sanitary ware, such as sinks and toilets, were made by the Trenton-based Maddock pottery company,” says a statement prepared by museum president Richard Willinger and Trenton Historical Society Member and TCHS alumnus Karl Flesch.

The exhibition also hones in on something that is represented only by photo reproduction: a grouping of four murals created and installed in the high school in 1941 by Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Arts Project artist Monty Lewis.

The mosaic-block work, “Youth Carrying the Heritage of Arts from the Past into the Future,” is divided into the following sections: painting and sculpture, architecture and engineering, science and research, and music, theater, and dance.

The Trenton Board of Education has noted that it intends to save the historic works, and a representative of the NJSDA said that a preservation company has been contracted to remove and store mosaics while planners examine ways to incorporate them into the new design. Calls to the Board of Education for more details were not returned.

While the murals are important to the city, they also represent an important part of American arts movement.

Artist Lewis, born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1907, came to New York City as a teenager, studied with several influential American artists at the Arts Students’ League in New York from 1924 to 1928, and then received a 1929 award from the Tiffany Foundation. In 1930 the artist received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship to study traditional arts in Florence, Italy. When he returned to the United States, the nation was in the grip of the Great Depression.

In an Archives of American Art interview recorded in 1964, Lewis talked about the WPA and its importance to American art and mural painting. “By 1934 the Depression had gotten so bad that the government created the first federal project called the Public Works of Art Project, PWAP. Well-known painters were invited to participate,” Lewis said, adding that he was invited to join the original group.

Lewis, who later founded and directed the California-based Coronado School of Fine Arts until retirement in the 1980s, said that the public art of creating murals had become popular, citing Diego Rivera and Ben Shahn.

The interest heated up in 1939 “when the New York World’s Fair came along, we had two mural societies, the National Society of Mural Painters (for which I was on the board of directors at one time) and the Mural Artists’ Guild. We (also) had a group called the Artists, Painters, and Sculptors Collaborators. It was the first group of its kind. It was formed in an attempt to get the New York World’s Fair interested in developing art activity for painting, sculpture, and architecture.”

Lewis added that “the entire period of the projects themselves was unquestionably one of the most stimulating and inventive art movements this country has ever had, before or since. There was a great movement of works done all of the country and they still exist. It gave a tremendous interest to the younger painters, and it gave assistance to so many of the great talents. It preserved the abilities of many of the important people in the arts. No telling what might have happened without it. The stimulation it provided for real talent and real ability was probably greater than any other factor, from the point of view of the value for the country itself and for the artists.”

“The Project sprang up out of nowhere and lasted a comparatively short time. The difference between the Federal Arts Project and the great Renaissance development was of course that the Renaissance was a continuing development from the earliest medieval times all the way through the latter part of the 18th century: a continuity of tradition and background, of development and growth. The Federal Arts Project came entirely out of the blue, you might say, and ended just as quickly. So that continuity has been lost. If the interest nationally developed generation to generation then they might have something like a great Renaissance concept.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Lewis, who became head of the WPA mosaic division and created murals at other schools and libraries, said, “I don’t suppose they had any real mural painting in this country until the Federal Arts Project came along — at least vital mural painting.”

For “Youth Carrying the Heritage of the Arts of the Past into the Future,” Lewis used tiles that came from Perth Amboy to create works that touched both the past and present. And as a WPA pamphlet notes, “In his mosaic work Lewis endeavored to get away from the conventional association of this material with Byzantine Ecclesiastical mosaics. He recognized the visual opportunities in this country with its enormous tile industry and decided to take advantage of this situation. Instead of continuing the old flat, ornamental patterns, he adjusted his design to industrial possibilities and consulted industry to supply the desired material used for commercial bathroom tilting purposes. Lewis combined his search for new principles in design and mural approach with an appreciation of the extraordinary durability, and luminosity of this washable, bather-proof material, excellently fitted for outdoor mural decorations.”

In addition to the historical nature of the work, there is the artistic expression. As a writer for the San Diego Union newspaper noted in the 1960s, “Lewis’ art may be characterized as dynamic power controlled by thought. It had from the beginning a particularly unified character. Earliest sketches were already almost entirely concerned with figures in motion and their grouping. ‘If I had chosen then to become a musician, I would also have been mostly interested in composition,’ he says, thus indicating his distinction between interpretation and building creativeness.”

Lewis died in 1997. Yet like others who struggled through the Great Depression and World War II, he worked to inspire a better future.

Flesch, in a recent Times of Trenton interview, echoed that hope and the need to preserve artifacts important to region, saying, “These items represent the grandness of the past — that you just don’t want to throw away. You can teach the students of the future that there is more to going to school in a white box.”

Trenton Central High School: A Remembrance, Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, Cadwalader Park, Parkside and Stuyvesant avenues, Trenton, Tuesdays through Saturdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sundays 1 to 4 p.m., through Sunday, April 19, Free. 609-989-1191. www.ellarslie.org.

From left to right: President of the NJ Association of Conservation Districts Raymond Cywinski, Edison Lee, Raymond Zhang, Shannon Sheu, Allison Wong and Anna Qian.

A team from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North placed third in the New Jersey Envirothon, held on May 2, 2015 at the Cape May County 4-H Fairgrounds in Cape May Court House.

The team consisted of Edison Lee of Plainsboro, Raymond Zhang of West Windsor, Shannon Sheu of Plainsboro, Allison Wong of West Windsor and Anna Qian of Plainsboro.

The students competed against 33 other teams on knowledge of natural resources-related topics, including soils, forestry, aquatics, wildlife ecology and a current environmental issue. This year’s theme was “Urban – Community Forestry.”

The first-place team in this year’s Envirothon was the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Sciences (MATES) Team One and second-place team was MATES Team Two. The school is located in Ocean County.

The Envirothon is sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, State Soil Conservation Committee; New Jersey Association of Conservation Districts; the 15 Soil Conservation Districts; United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service; New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; and Rutgers Cooperative Extension.

The 15 Soil Conservation Districts in New Jersey follow county boundaries and implement the New Jersey Soil and Sediment Control Act, which governs certain aspects of new development. These semi-autonomous bodies are locally governed and play a strong role in the protection of New Jersey’s natural resources.

Marcia Wood, here with Trenton Community Music School students Kiarah Valverde, left, and Zyveonia McClees, says that music is fundamental to all learning.

Editor’s Note: When Trenton Community Music School founder Marcia Wood announced her retirement after 15 years of service, she decided to share the story of a school that started with a hope and now shifts its focus from one-on-one individual instrumental lessons to partnerships with public and private schools.

While Wood calls the piece “Memories,” it is also a story that gives a voice to others who share a similar love of art and community. With their life lessons, her thoughts serve as a primer for making the capital city a better and more caring place.

By Marcia Wood

I remember the afternoon I first thought about creating a community music school for Trenton children and youth. It was 1998 and I was a volunteer driving a rickety church van around the streets of the city, picking up choir members of the Trenton Children’s Chorus (TCC) which I had helped to start eight years previously along with Sue Ellen Page. It was Tuesday and I needed to get them to rehearsal. I became aware of how few children were climbing into my van and how many were on the sidewalks or sitting on doorsteps. I said to myself — and I said over the ensuing years to others who asked me how I had decided to start a music school: “I got tired of driving past 300 children to pick up the 30 in the chorus. Surely I could do something more.”

It seemed to me that the chorus could get along without me, and indeed, the TCC grew and developed in new and wonderful ways which I could not have imagined; it is still growing and thriving today, and celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Lesson No. 1: Retiring and getting out of the way of fresh energy and ideas is a good thing for an organization.

I grew up in Princeton and graduated from Princeton High School in 1961. My dad taught religion at Princeton University; my mother played the piano (she had a masters in music from Yale) and was a homemaker. The older I get the more I realize that I breathed in their influence without really being aware of it, and it made me the person who felt “called” to do something worthwhile for music, kids, and Trenton.

In the 1950s Trenton was an enticing place to a provincial Princeton kid. It was where we shopped at Sears & Roebuck for back-to-school clothes; it was where Randolph Scott westerns played in the movie theaters; it was where we took class trips to the serious State House and the glamorous War Memorial. Anyone who lived through those days has a deep nostalgia for them.

Musical talent I inherited from my mother. My father sang lustily but out of tune. It was my dad’s sense of a purpose-filled life that taught me the rewards of service to others. I was fortunate to sing in the PHS Choir under Thomas Hilbish, which was a life-changing experience.

Later I graduated from Westminster Choir College with a masters of voice pedagogy and performance. The first person I turned to as I began to explore the idea of a music school in Trenton was Scott Hoerl, the director of the Westminster Conservatory. He was so encouraging of the idea, and so dismissive of my reservations, that he should claim part of the credit for the existence of the school.

Lesson No. 2: No, you don’t need a degree in arts administration; no, you don’t need to be a fundraising professional — just do it. And so I did.

I was joined by Ellen Saxon, who overheard me talking about the tantalizing possibility and asked if she could help. We hired teachers of piano, drums, woodwinds, and voice, and in September 1999, TCMS opened its doors with 27 students, eventually offering instrumental lessons in afternoon and evening sessions, in schools during the weekdays and sometimes on Saturdays.

Over the next months, the school quickly grew to 54 students, and then lost its lease (which was in a parochial school that closed its doors). Little did we know at the time, that was only the beginning of a long string of exhausting moves from one location to the next — which led my husband to dub TCMS the “hermit crab music school.”

Settling next into Holland Middle School, the school grew to 200 students, open three days a week and on Saturdays. But in 2004 the number of students plateaued at 200 and did not increase for the first time in our history. This was puzzling. For the next three years, although some students stopped taking lessons and others enrolled for the first time, the actual number of students did not increase.

With a grant from the New Jersey Cultural Trust, TCMS hired a market researcher to determine if the school could grow to be a 600 student school — a number that the experience of other community music schools showed could keep a building, and a teaching staff, and an administrative staff, occupied six days a week. A home of our own was a dream! However, it turned out that the market for individual music lessons in Trenton was not strong enough for TCMS to expect to grow much bigger than the 200 students we had already acquired. This was very hard news to hear.

That’s not all. Once again, the hermit crab had to find a new shell, as Holland Middle School was needed for a branch high school. Relocating across town, to a former parochial school on Grant Street, kept TCMS open for business, but decimated the student population. To our surprise, the majority of students did not re-enroll at our new location.

Meanwhile, after one year, we lost the lease again! and moved to the Emily Fisher Charter School on Chambers Street. Soon afterwards, we were forced to shift to the church basement of Blessed Sacrament Church on Bellevue Avenue, and after several more years to the Ewing Presbyterian Church on Scotch Road, and then finally creeping gratefully into the shell of the Foundation Academy Charter School on West State Street, where the school is currently located.

Lesson No. 3: Nothing goes according to plan! Remain flexible!

Almost from the moment TCMS opened its doors, another opportunity to deliver our mission of “providing high quality, accessible, and affordable music instruction” arrived on our doorstep. Schools contacted us asking “what can you do for us?” As our first community partnership, we provided a classroom music teacher for the Trenton Community Charter School. Next we taught drumming for the Trenton Public Schools in their “21st Century” afterschool program.

Then, when the New Jersey Supreme Court decided in the Abbott case that 31 school districts in the state (including Trenton) must provide preschool education, we were in the right place at the right time to make sure that those preschools included music in their curriculum.

Ronnie Ragen joined the administrative staff of TCMS to oversee all the community partnership programs of the school, and to develop a preschool childhood music program, created in collaboration with Music Together of Hopewell. The “Music for the Very Young: Music, Movement and Literacy”(MVY) program that TCMS has provided for 15 years to preschool children in Trenton and Ewing has been hugely successful, both for the music school and for the families involved.

We like to joke that we can walk up to any high school student in Trenton and start singing the MVY “Hello” song and they will join` in. (This has happened more than once.) To date MVY has educated thousands of 3 and 4-year-olds across the city, and at the Katzenbach School for the Deaf; has provided professional training to over 200 preschool classroom teachers as they learn to incorporate musical activities into their daily routine; and has encouraged parents of preschoolers to get involved in their child’s early education. Our goal for MVY is to build music education into the fabric of Trenton’s pre-schools in order to ensure the district’s youngest children have the social and academic benefits inherent in high quality music education.

TCMS is fortunate that there is funding available for early childhood music education; this is because of the shared conviction, supported by neurological and pedagogical research, that music is fundamental to all learning. Just as we all learned our ABCs to a musical pattern, children learn easily when music and rhythmic movement are part of their daily routine. MVY was funded for three years by a federal research grant from the Department of Education, and continues to be funded in Trenton preschools by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, PNC Bank’s “Grow up Great” initiative, Nordson Inc., the Albin Family Foundation, and private contributions.

Lesson No. 4: Mission stays strong, but visions can and should change.

This seems an appropriate place to pause and reflect, as I have often said in astonishment: “At first, I just thought I was going to teach 8-year-olds to play the piano. Nobody told me I was starting a small business.” It might have been smarter to begin with a business degree! Everything I needed to know about payroll, invoices, bookkeeping, contracts, and so on, I had to learn as the school grew and changed. Importantly, I also discovered that a nonprofit is a different animal. The legal and financial requirements, the state and federal oversight, as well as the constant fundraising, were a revelation, and have only gotten more complex over the past 15 years. Fortunately, nobody told me I was starting a small business, because I might not have pursued my passion.

It seems obvious that the community partnership programs are the core of the music school. Although we continued to offer individual lessons through the years, we were reaching so many more families by teaching classes and by traveling to where the children were, rather than sitting and waiting for them to come to us, one at a time. When we compared the two halves of TCMS — classroom music we could provide free (i.e., grant-funded) on one hand and individual music lessons (which we subsidized to keep tuition costs affordable) on the other — the future direction of TCMS seemed pretty clear. But a focus on preschool alone was too narrow for our mission. What about K-12?

A solution has recently presented itself in the form of a music program that is sweeping the country, known as El Sistema. Created 40 years ago in the barrios of Venezuela, El Sistema is more than music education; simply teaching an instrument to any child of any age without regard to talent or experience, and placing them immediately in an ensemble where they perform with their peers, has proved life-changing. El Sistema now reaches over 400,000 children and youth in Venezuela alone, and millions around the world, as other countries are embracing “the system.”

Arts education in this country is less available to children with the most need. Access to music learning and performance is important for every child, but especially for poor children. El Sistema was born among these children. Its founder knew all about the poverty, the gang influence, the dropout rate, the chaotic lives of the students, but really believed that El Sistema was the solution. He calls it “social justice through music,” not just a music program, but a means of improving school engagement, fostering social bonds, preventing gang involvement, and closing the achievement gap. The most famous graduate of El Sistema — Venezuela is Gustavo Dudamel, currently the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Fortunately, the Trenton Public School District is currently led by a board, a superintendent, Francisco Duran, and a supervisor of fine and performing arts, Norberto Diaz, who agree that arts education is absolutely essential to improve the education they are offering. Working in partnership with the school district, TCMS is currently trying out an El Sistema-Trenton pilot project in one elementary school in Trenton, meeting third and fourth graders afterschool three days a week and teaching them how to play the violin.

Our goal is to spread across the city, growing organically, one grade level, one school, one additional instrument at a time, until we change schools into rich musical environments and change students’ lives.

This is the future which is calling TCMS. And once again, it is time for fresh energy and new ideas to propel the music school forward. As I retire and pass the baton to whoever will be the next CEO, it couldn’t be a more exciting time for the school; and maybe, my successor will have a business degree as well!

As for myself, I anticipate that another challenge will call to me. A recent edition of AARP magazine reports that people working into their 70s, 80s, and beyond are the hottest demographic in the labor market, so I’ll have a lot of company.

Lesson No. 5: You’re never too old to change your tune.

Artworks Hosting Visiting Artists throughout May

The Princeton-area based arts group Movis takes up residence at Artworks in Trenton with a new exhibition running May 6 through June 13.

The show “Maverick Parallels” uses a wide variety of medium including handmade paper, paint, photography, bronze, sound pieces, video, and more.

Movis is a group of well established Central New Jersey artists who began meeting weekly in 2006 to ideas and develop art projects. The core members are John Goodyear, Margaret Kennard Johnson, Susan Hockaday, Berendina Buist, Marsha Levin-Rojer, Eve Ingalls, Frank Magalhaes, and Rita Asch.

The exhibition includes guest artists Dana Stewart, whose carefully positioned animal sculptures create strong visual parallels; Jim Perry, whose tall wood totems gracefully and elegantly carry the parallel concept vertically from floor to ceiling; and Jerry Hirniak, whose photographic assemblages and video presentation offer parallel views of an historic 10 day period involving the civil rights movement.

An opening reception is set for Saturday, May 9, 6 to 8 p.m. Admission is free.

Also on view in the Community Gallery is Art Par Excellence, a statewide touring art exhibition sponsored by Very Special Arts of New Jersey and featuring two dimensional artwork by students through age 21 with disabilities.

Artworks is located at 19 Everett Alley, Trenton, for hours and more information call (609) 394-9436 or visit artworkstrenton.org.

Marcia Wood, here with Trenton Community Music School students Kiarah Valverde, left, and Zyveonia McClees, says that music is fundamental to all learning.

Editor’s Note: When Trenton Community Music School founder Marcia Wood announced her retirement after 15 years of service, she decided to share the story of a school that started with a hope and now shifts its focus from one-on-one individual instrumental lessons to partnerships with public and private schools.

While Wood calls the piece “Memories,” it is also a story that gives a voice to others who share a similar love of art and community. With their life lessons, her thoughts serve as a primer for making the capital city a better and more caring place.

By Marcia Wood

I remember the afternoon I first thought about creating a community music school for Trenton children and youth. It was 1998 and I was a volunteer driving a rickety church van around the streets of the city, picking up choir members of the Trenton Children’s Chorus (TCC) which I had helped to start eight years previously along with Sue Ellen Page. It was Tuesday and I needed to get them to rehearsal. I became aware of how few children were climbing into my van and how many were on the sidewalks or sitting on doorsteps. I said to myself — and I said over the ensuing years to others who asked me how I had decided to start a music school: “I got tired of driving past 300 children to pick up the 30 in the chorus. Surely I could do something more.”

It seemed to me that the chorus could get along without me, and indeed, the TCC grew and developed in new and wonderful ways which I could not have imagined; it is still growing and thriving today, and celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Lesson No. 1: Retiring and getting out of the way of fresh energy and ideas is a good thing for an organization.

I grew up in Princeton and graduated from Princeton High School in 1961. My dad taught religion at Princeton University; my mother played the piano (she had a masters in music from Yale) and was a homemaker. The older I get the more I realize that I breathed in their influence without really being aware of it, and it made me the person who felt “called” to do something worthwhile for music, kids, and Trenton.

In the 1950s Trenton was an enticing place to a provincial Princeton kid. It was where we shopped at Sears & Roebuck for back-to-school clothes; it was where Randolph Scott westerns played in the movie theaters; it was where we took class trips to the serious State House and the glamorous War Memorial. Anyone who lived through those days has a deep nostalgia for them.

Musical talent I inherited from my mother. My father sang lustily but out of tune. It was my dad’s sense of a purpose-filled life that taught me the rewards of service to others. I was fortunate to sing in the PHS Choir under Thomas Hilbish, which was a life-changing experience.

Later I graduated from Westminster Choir College with a masters of voice pedagogy and performance. The first person I turned to as I began to explore the idea of a music school in Trenton was Scott Hoerl, the director of the Westminster Conservatory. He was so encouraging of the idea, and so dismissive of my reservations, that he should claim part of the credit for the existence of the school.

Lesson No. 2: No, you don’t need a degree in arts administration; no, you don’t need to be a fundraising professional — just do it. And so I did.

I was joined by Ellen Saxon, who overheard me talking about the tantalizing possibility and asked if she could help. We hired teachers of piano, drums, woodwinds, and voice, and in September 1999, TCMS opened its doors with 27 students, eventually offering instrumental lessons in afternoon and evening sessions, in schools during the weekdays and sometimes on Saturdays.

Over the next months, the school quickly grew to 54 students, and then lost its lease (which was in a parochial school that closed its doors). Little did we know at the time, that was only the beginning of a long string of exhausting moves from one location to the next — which led my husband to dub TCMS the “hermit crab music school.”

Settling next into Holland Middle School, the school grew to 200 students, open three days a week and on Saturdays. But in 2004 the number of students plateaued at 200 and did not increase for the first time in our history. This was puzzling. For the next three years, although some students stopped taking lessons and others enrolled for the first time, the actual number of students did not increase.

With a grant from the New Jersey Cultural Trust, TCMS hired a market researcher to determine if the school could grow to be a 600 student school — a number that the experience of other community music schools showed could keep a building, and a teaching staff, and an administrative staff, occupied six days a week. A home of our own was a dream! However, it turned out that the market for individual music lessons in Trenton was not strong enough for TCMS to expect to grow much bigger than the 200 students we had already acquired. This was very hard news to hear.

That’s not all. Once again, the hermit crab had to find a new shell, as Holland Middle School was needed for a branch high school. Relocating across town, to a former parochial school on Grant Street, kept TCMS open for business, but decimated the student population. To our surprise, the majority of students did not re-enroll at our new location.

Meanwhile, after one year, we lost the lease again! and moved to the Emily Fisher Charter School on Chambers Street. Soon afterwards, we were forced to shift to the church basement of Blessed Sacrament Church on Bellevue Avenue, and after several more years to the Ewing Presbyterian Church on Scotch Road, and then finally creeping gratefully into the shell of the Foundation Academy Charter School on West State Street, where the school is currently located.

Lesson No. 3: Nothing goes according to plan! Remain flexible!

Almost from the moment TCMS opened its doors, another opportunity to deliver our mission of “providing high quality, accessible, and affordable music instruction” arrived on our doorstep. Schools contacted us asking “what can you do for us?” As our first community partnership, we provided a classroom music teacher for the Trenton Community Charter School. Next we taught drumming for the Trenton Public Schools in their “21st Century” afterschool program.

Then, when the New Jersey Supreme Court decided in the Abbott case that 31 school districts in the state (including Trenton) must provide preschool education, we were in the right place at the right time to make sure that those preschools included music in their curriculum.

Ronnie Ragen joined the administrative staff of TCMS to oversee all the community partnership programs of the school, and to develop a preschool childhood music program, created in collaboration with Music Together of Hopewell. The “Music for the Very Young: Music, Movement and Literacy”(MVY) program that TCMS has provided for 15 years to preschool children in Trenton and Ewing has been hugely successful, both for the music school and for the families involved.

We like to joke that we can walk up to any high school student in Trenton and start singing the MVY “Hello” song and they will join` in. (This has happened more than once.) To date MVY has educated thousands of 3 and 4-year-olds across the city, and at the Katzenbach School for the Deaf; has provided professional training to over 200 preschool classroom teachers as they learn to incorporate musical activities into their daily routine; and has encouraged parents of preschoolers to get involved in their child’s early education. Our goal for MVY is to build music education into the fabric of Trenton’s pre-schools in order to ensure the district’s youngest children have the social and academic benefits inherent in high quality music education.

TCMS is fortunate that there is funding available for early childhood music education; this is because of the shared conviction, supported by neurological and pedagogical research, that music is fundamental to all learning. Just as we all learned our ABCs to a musical pattern, children learn easily when music and rhythmic movement are part of their daily routine. MVY was funded for three years by a federal research grant from the Department of Education, and continues to be funded in Trenton preschools by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, PNC Bank’s “Grow up Great” initiative, Nordson Inc., the Albin Family Foundation, and private contributions.

Lesson No. 4: Mission stays strong, but visions can and should change.

This seems an appropriate place to pause and reflect, as I have often said in astonishment: “At first, I just thought I was going to teach 8-year-olds to play the piano. Nobody told me I was starting a small business.” It might have been smarter to begin with a business degree! Everything I needed to know about payroll, invoices, bookkeeping, contracts, and so on, I had to learn as the school grew and changed. Importantly, I also discovered that a nonprofit is a different animal. The legal and financial requirements, the state and federal oversight, as well as the constant fundraising, were a revelation, and have only gotten more complex over the past 15 years. Fortunately, nobody told me I was starting a small business, because I might not have pursued my passion.

It seems obvious that the community partnership programs are the core of the music school. Although we continued to offer individual lessons through the years, we were reaching so many more families by teaching classes and by traveling to where the children were, rather than sitting and waiting for them to come to us, one at a time. When we compared the two halves of TCMS — classroom music we could provide free (i.e., grant-funded) on one hand and individual music lessons (which we subsidized to keep tuition costs affordable) on the other — the future direction of TCMS seemed pretty clear. But a focus on preschool alone was too narrow for our mission. What about K-12?

A solution has recently presented itself in the form of a music program that is sweeping the country, known as El Sistema. Created 40 years ago in the barrios of Venezuela, El Sistema is more than music education; simply teaching an instrument to any child of any age without regard to talent or experience, and placing them immediately in an ensemble where they perform with their peers, has proved life-changing. El Sistema now reaches over 400,000 children and youth in Venezuela alone, and millions around the world, as other countries are embracing “the system.”

Arts education in this country is less available to children with the most need. Access to music learning and performance is important for every child, but especially for poor children. El Sistema was born among these children. Its founder knew all about the poverty, the gang influence, the dropout rate, the chaotic lives of the students, but really believed that El Sistema was the solution. He calls it “social justice through music,” not just a music program, but a means of improving school engagement, fostering social bonds, preventing gang involvement, and closing the achievement gap. The most famous graduate of El Sistema — Venezuela is Gustavo Dudamel, currently the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Fortunately, the Trenton Public School District is currently led by a board, a superintendent, Francisco Duran, and a supervisor of fine and performing arts, Norberto Diaz, who agree that arts education is absolutely essential to improve the education they are offering. Working in partnership with the school district, TCMS is currently trying out an El Sistema-Trenton pilot project in one elementary school in Trenton, meeting third and fourth graders afterschool three days a week and teaching them how to play the violin.

Our goal is to spread across the city, growing organically, one grade level, one school, one additional instrument at a time, until we change schools into rich musical environments and change students’ lives.

This is the future which is calling TCMS. And once again, it is time for fresh energy and new ideas to propel the music school forward. As I retire and pass the baton to whoever will be the next CEO, it couldn’t be a more exciting time for the school; and maybe, my successor will have a business degree as well!

As for myself, I anticipate that another challenge will call to me. A recent edition of AARP magazine reports that people working into their 70s, 80s, and beyond are the hottest demographic in the labor market, so I’ll have a lot of company.

Lesson No. 5: You’re never too old to change your tune.

Artworks Hosting Visiting Artists throughout May

The Princeton-area based arts group Movis takes up residence at Artworks in Trenton with a new exhibition running May 6 through June 13.

The show “Maverick Parallels” uses a wide variety of medium including handmade paper, paint, photography, bronze, sound pieces, video, and more.

Movis is a group of well established Central New Jersey artists who began meeting weekly in 2006 to ideas and develop art projects. The core members are John Goodyear, Margaret Kennard Johnson, Susan Hockaday, Berendina Buist, Marsha Levin-Rojer, Eve Ingalls, Frank Magalhaes, and Rita Asch.

The exhibition includes guest artists Dana Stewart, whose carefully positioned animal sculptures create strong visual parallels; Jim Perry, whose tall wood totems gracefully and elegantly carry the parallel concept vertically from floor to ceiling; and Jerry Hirniak, whose photographic assemblages and video presentation offer parallel views of an historic 10 day period involving the civil rights movement.

An opening reception is set for Saturday, May 9, 6 to 8 p.m. Admission is free.

Also on view in the Community Gallery is Art Par Excellence, a statewide touring art exhibition sponsored by Very Special Arts of New Jersey and featuring two dimensional artwork by students through age 21 with disabilities.

Artworks is located at 19 Everett Alley, Trenton, for hours and more information call (609) 394-9436 or visit artworkstrenton.org.

Lawrence Elementary School will host Young Composers’ Night on June 11 at 7 p.m. The night will consist of nineteen second grade students showcasing the music they have produced using the GarageBand App on their iPads.

The evening will include a slide show of pictures to accompany their song. Students will also have iPad Band perform their song using iPad instruments including electric guitar, violin and synthesizers.

The program is funded by the Lawrence Township Education Foundation.

For more information about the event, contact LES music teacher Dan Beal at dbeal@ltps.org.

Arts on the Vine is set to take place at Hopewell Valley Vineyard May 31, 2015.

The first ever Arts on the Vine event, sponsored by the PTO, is set to celebrate the Visual Arts at Hopewell Valley Central High School with dinner, wine tasting, musical entertainment and a silent auction at Hopewell Valley Vineyards on May 31, 2015. The event will begin at 6 p.m. at the vineyard, 46 Yard Road, Pennington.

Central High School’s Visual Arts Program is highly competitive and one of the top ten art programs in the country. Learn from Dr. O’Boyle and his colleagues about how they teach students the skills and craftsmanship that has gained recognition from the best Fine Arts colleges in the nation such as RISD, Pratt, and Moore College who recruit students from CHS year after year.

Arts on the Vine will feature dinner and a wine tasting provided by HVV, as well as musical entertainment by students of the Music and Performing Arts program at CHS, featuring performances by pianists Mara Tuffy and vineyard owner Sergio Neri. Supervisor of Arts Peter Griffin will be the gracious MC of the evening.

A silent auction will offer art work created by advanced art students and teachers Doc O ‘Boyle, Caroline Mc Grath, and ceramic artist Patricia Arbitell, as well as local artists.

Arts related services have been donated by Grounds for Sculpture, Princeton Arts Council, Art Sparks and more. Other must-have items include dinners at local restaurants, spa services, golf packages, fitness and wellness, concert tickets w backstage meets and greets, and very exclusive student experiences in the music and film business.

This event is open to the public and has been graciously supported by our corporate sponsors Callaway Henderson Sotheby’s, Buy-Rite of Pennington, Dr. Anish S. Patel of National Spine and Pain Centers, Hopewell Valley Arts Council, Capital Health.

Tickets are $65 per person or $125 per couple. ArtsOnTheVineHV.org. For more information, contact Eva Ries at evaries@verizon.net.

Trenton Catholic Academy high school students pair up with Bank of America volunteers to teach Paul Robeson Elementary students about economics.

Trenton Catholic Academy high school students joined with Bank of America volunteers to empower Kindergarten through 5th grade students in Paul Robeson Elementary School in Trenton. Through the Junior Achievement organization, TCA and Bank of America volunteers presented a powerful financial literacy program that will help the elementary students succeed in a global economy.

TCA students participated in Junior Achievement as part of their continuing outreach to the larger community.

Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise.

“Sharks” Lindsay Jorgensen and Kush Patel decide whether to make an investment at the LHS Shark Tank event May 8, 2015. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)

Suraj and Akash Kura were the winners of the LHS Shark Tank event May 8, 2015 with their invention Compad, a mobile standing desk inspired by their father’s commute to work. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)

By Amy Macintyre

It’s not every Friday night that students at Lawrence High School get to take over the teachers lounge, eat pizza and chat about TV, but at the 2nd annual Cardinal Shark Tank Competition on May 1, LHS Business and International Studies Academy students discussed their favorite “sharks” as they prepared for the night’s upcoming business presentations by their fellow students.

When asked his favorite shark, Kush Petal said enthusiastically, “Mark!” after a dramatic pause as he pointed from head to toe. The 18-year-old senior and B&IS Academy co-president painstakingly styled himself after Mark Cuban, billionaire entrepreneur and cast member of ABC’s “Shark Tank.” The competition was modeled after the hit reality TV show.

“It’s an incredible learning experience and a lot of fun,” said Michael Cimorelli, LHS math teacher, B&IS Academy leader, and creator and organizer of the Shark Tank event.

The competition, which was open to all Lawrence township school district students and teachers, attracted 10 teams of entrepreneurs and 4 teams of investors, otherwise referred to as “sharks.” Five members from the local business community volunteered as judges, and at the end of the presentations, the 100 attendees in the audience were given the chance to cast votes live on their smartphones.

The entrepreneurs each had a chance to introduce their companies with a presentation and offer the sharks a share of their business in exchange for an investment. While the young entrepreneurs vied for offers, the sharks were considering proper valuations, vetting their prospective investments and getting the best value for their money. Unlike Mark Cuban, the LHS shark teams each had a set budget of make-believe money they could invest over the course of the evening.

“They are taking their own ideas for products or companies and trying to convince not just the sharks, but some of the most successful members of the Lawrence Business community that they can be successful with these ideas,” Cimorelli said.

“As an entrepreneur myself, I value not only the quality of the business idea, but what creative ways the entrepreneur thinks about their ideas,” said Elias Jo, Lawrence resident and founder and CEO of Entourage Yearbooks, located in Princeton Junction.

Jo participated as a judge and sponsor. So did local business people Don Addison from Mrs. G Inc., Frank Di Meglio of Northwestern Mutual, Andy Maskell of Santander Bank and Kelly Ford of Edison Ventures.

Cimorelli said the entrepreneurs’ goals were to present the needs of their company and provide financial estimates all while demonstrating the utmost professionalism.

Professionalism was just one of the qualities that caught the attention of the judges when Suraj and Akash Kura presented their winning invention, Compad. Inspired by their father’s commute to work, Suraj, 11, and Akash, 10, set out to make a mobile, standing desk that reduces the risk of broken or damaged laptops dropped by clumsy hands.

“He always takes his laptop to work and back and so if he wants to work while he’s on the train, all he has to do is set up the Compad, put his laptop on it and done,” Suraj said.

The Kura brothers brought their prototype on stage with them, a laptop harness and desk system that can be attached to any backpack made from leather straps, PVC rulers, hinges and a harness.

After premiering their homemade commercial that was perfectly reminiscent of the exaggerated “As Seen On TV” infomercials, Suraj and Akash got down to business with the sharks. In a series of slides, they outlined just what they needed to grow their company from a prototype to supplying big-box retailers. They offered 25 percent equity in their business for $50,000.

“We’ll give you $50,000, but since your invention really hasn’t been tested truly yet, we’d like 30 percent equity,” said Dan Wolf, history teacher at LHS.

The Kura brothers jumped at the first bite. “We’ll take your offer,” they said without a moment’s hesitation and swiftly made their way across the stage to shake hands with their new investor.

“You won’t regret it!” Wolf assured as the audience applauded the swift deal.

Jo said the judges were impressed by the Kura brothers’ presentation because it was thoughtful and distinctive.

“They saw a need, which was how to help their father use the time he takes to commute effectively and created a product and idea out if it. That was thoughtful and creative,” he said. “Pretty advanced thinking for young entrepreneurs.”

Students weren’t just pitching inventions on the stage. The sharks had a chance to invest in a wide variety of creative company ideas from 3D-printed toys to food trucks to even tech start-ups.

LHS junior Szymon Dlugowski received 1st runner up with his company Adboxity. When Dlugowski, 18, isn’t in school, he’s making custom websites, working at a local printing business as a marketing manager, and working on his own start-up. He saw the Shark Tank competition as another way to get the word out about his company.

Wearing a custom Adboxity T-shirt, he asked the audience, “What if you bid on ad space? What if there’s an auction where you know that you are not going to pay more than someone else is going to bid for that same space?”

“When you’re competing with other people you know that someone is going to spend that money to advertise and that way you can know that you are going to get a good price for it because that’s what other businesses are paying,” he said as he explained Adboxity. “It’s always competitive.”

Patel swooped in with the first offer. “When I think about this company, I think of it as the next GoDaddy or Amazon,” he said. “This is something that can definitely expand very quickly.”

There was a short pause before offers started to fly. The $49,000 Dlugowski initially asked for reached $200,000 as the sharks circled him to get in on the ground floor.

“I’d like to be your Sean Parker,” Patel said as a nod to the Facebook investor. That statement, along with an offer of $200,000, bought him 9 percent of Adboxity.

The entrepreneurs may not have been able to take home the hundreds of thousands of dollars offered up by the investors, but they do get to keep the invaluable lessons that will help them succeed in the future.

“I think that the communication and presentation skills developed through this experience are huge,” Cimorelli said. “It’s so important for students to leave high school with confidence in their abilities to speak in front of groups and communicate their ideas effectively.”

However, Suraj and Akash will be leaving this experience with a little more. The brothers will have the opportunity to visit Edison Venture, where they will receive a $500 investment and guidance in moving forward with their company.

“We’re going to keep going; never give up,” Akash said. They plan to keep working on their company and project sales in the “few hundred thousand” in the next few years.

Considering the success of last year’s winners, 11-year-old entrepreneurs Emily and Lyla Allen of the Kitchen Twins, their goal isn’t too far fetched.

The Lawrence twins were just 10 years old when they went to collect their winnings at Edison Venture and impressed the company’s CMO, Kelly Ford. With her help, the Kitchen Twins’ bake-your-own kale chips are now on the shelves of 300 grocery stores.

Cimorelli hopes to continue the annual LHS Shark Tank competition for years to come.

“It ties into the goals of the Business Academy; to provide real world experiences to help prepare our students for their future careers and to build stronger ties with the Lawrence business community,” he said. “We hope we can grow the participation.”

Princeton resident Konstantin von Schroder, who suffers from dyslexia, prefers the less structured environment of the Princeton Learning Cooperative than traditional schooling. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas).

Nathaniel Kruger of Hopewell, left, talks strategy during a game of Magic the Gathering with Isaac Burr of Princeton during a break from his studies at PLC. Burr is a former student of the school. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)

By Michele Alperin

Teachers are idealists, and sometimes when they are steeped for too long in the traditional school system, that idealism seeps away in the face of a system that does not do well for kids with nontraditional needs.

Parented himself by two teachers, Joel Hammon, director of the Princeton Learning Cooperative, or PLC, was one of these idealistic young teachers. “I went into it with very idealistic, positive thoughts about the power of schools to effect change in kids’ lives and improve their lives,” he says.

In his 11 years of teaching he saw the system failing many kids—those who are bright but bored, bullied, have learning differences, have strong passions where school seems to just get in the way, or simply want to be “tromping through the woods and building engines.”

“I worked with these really great kids and saw them shutting down and being less and less interested in life and learning,” he says. “That’s not why I went into teaching. I went into it to inspire kids to get better at the things they love and see more opportunities.”

So he and Paul Scutt decided to create a structure that would allow them to escape an environment where more and more they were teaching to the test and, more important, to offer kids a different path to learning and life.

“It is a matter of what kids are interested in doing and what they need to move forward in their lives,” Hammon says, noting that weekly mentor meetings help them figure out their goals and what kinds of things they need to do to accomplish them.

One of those kids, Konstantin von Schroder, who describes himself as having “massive dyslexia,” moved with his family from Germany to America especially so he could go to the Cambridge School in Pennington to improve his reading and writing.

But although he says he loved the school, which he attended between the 4th and 8th grades, things started to get to him. As he moved into middle school, the Princeton resident found that the hands-on, tactile approach that worked so well for him had diminished, and he was frustrated with not being able to spend as much time outdoors and active.

He also began to find the homework, which took him longer than average because of his dyslexia, was giving him no time to socialize.

He said he felt students were not treated as equals, but as “someone who has to obey rules and do certain things.”

Acknowledging that schools are for learning, von Schroder takes exception to being told how to do things. “Students should learn what they want to learn and how they want to learn,” he says, saying that it’s ironic that teachers who assign a student a subject to write about for a “creative” writing project.

Von Schroder also noted a time when he questioned the purpose of a particular homework assignment, “so when I’m doing the homework I feel like it is something useful to me.” The teacher called him down for “talking back.”

In an environment where he felt he was forced to do things, he believed that his creativity was being squelched. He was given a little more leeway, he says, on a creative writing assignment where he was allowed to make a short film instead of a poster.

During his first year at PLC, which he said Hammon calls “the detox phase,” von Schroder had some problems adjusting. “It was hard to get used to. It was the first time I was not forced by anybody. I didn’t have to do homework if didn’t want to,” he says. “It was me trying to figure out what I wanted to do.”

But the environment at PLC did give him a chance to learn new things. One of his mentors, for example, taught him to play the ukulele, awakening von Schroder to the realization that he was musical, and he went from the ukulele to the guitar and then to the piano.

Although interested in film long before coming to PLC, Schroder notes that he was never treated as a filmmaker, but more like “oh, that’s what you want to be when you grow up.”

But at PLC, he had the opportunity to transition from filmmaker wannabe to the real thing. After brainstorming with his mother about possibly doing some documentaries to broaden his film experience, he approached Hammon about making a documentary about PLC. Hammon was enthusiastic, and von Schroder proceeded to make a schedule of whom he wanted to interview as well as what cutaway footage (the visuals you see while a voice is speaking in the background) he would need.

He took a six month break from any classes and devoted all his time to the documentary, which is posted on the website, princetonlearningcooperative.org.

Hammon then encouraged von Schroder to create a logo and a website. The result? “I started my own production company,” von Schroder says. He has created a tutorial video for an uncle who sells tools for gold refining and has done editing for media companies.

PLC, suggests von Schroder, has enabled him, as a high school student, to develop a film portfolio and experience that should help him when it comes time to apply to film school, which is his goal. The schedule he has mapped out involves completing high school in three years, and he already has started a math class at Mercer County Community College. Next year he plans to take three classes there and use PLC on certain days if he needs math or writing tutoring.

When he made the decision to take these classes in the more traditional learning environment of a community college, von Schroder worried that once again he would hate homework, but he found himself feeling very differently. “If you want to do it, if it is my choice, that frustration that someone forces you goes away,” he says. “When I get home, I do my homework right away. I put on music, and it is good—it is fun and enjoyable.”

After high school von Schroder plans to spend two years at a community college in Los Angeles, either Santa Monica or Santa Barbara community college. This summer he and his father will fly out there to look at the two colleges as well as four-year film schools where he wants to transfer as a junior.

Nathaniel Kruger of Hopewell came to PLC after being homeschooled in his elementary years, then spending a year at the Lewis School in Princeton, where he found himself “completely obsessed about grades.”

“It was a good experience, but it wasn’t the right fit for me,” Kruger says. “What my goal in education turned out to be was to get a perfect score.” When a school system is based largely on tests and grades, he suggested, then that becomes the goal for the students.

Describing how PLC was different from school, Kruger says, “When I was in school, the subjects are forced on you and you don’t have any choice.” At PLC he feels he has many options and is able to pursue his passions, architecture and fitness.

At the same time Kruger has found new interests, like first aid, which he now manages at PLC, and poetry, which he discovered as part of a creative writing group.

Poetry, he says, “was a great new outlet that I found, whereas in school it was more of a chore.”

One thing Kruger especially likes about PLC, he says, is “having freedom, and with that freedom a lot of responsibility.” He has taken a leadership role in the PLC community by heading up the weekly group meeting, called “the Collection,” and by starting a recycling program. “It is great experience; it boosted my confidence; and I’ve gained leadership skills,” he says.

Kruger’s goal is to go into the fitness field. At 18 he plans to get certified as a personal trainer and start looking for jobs. In line with his goal of eventually attending a four-year college, he will be taking community college classes related to health and fitness, and he has finished an EdX online course on the necessity of exercise. Working with his mentor, he is also taking college prereqs, including a lab science, at PLC and at home through tutoring. And at PLC he has led multiple fitness classes.

Kruger also created a four-week program in which he assigned people four workouts a week that he designed. Before the program began, he evaluated everyone’s fitness level, took their vital signs, and talked to them about how they were feeling. He found that everyone’s fitness levels improved.

What eventually led Sara Webber of Westfield to PLC was a public school experience in that town’s school district that went from boredom to anxiety and depression to therapy programs to staying home from school altogether.

Through PLC, Webber has been able to revive her interest in science, which was pretty much quashed as her focus narrowed to getting her grades up and staying in school day to day.

She has also arranged a trip for herself and other interested members of the cooperative to meet with Peter and Rosemary Grant in their office at Princeton University and hear about their work in the Galapagos.

In a class called “Do Something,” where the teens focus on problems in today’s world and what they can do about them, Webber and Kruger together were inspired to start a recycling center at PLC, and this summer she is going to Ecuador to learn about biodiversity and sustainability through a program called Sustainable Summers.

Also passionate about sexuality and gender, Webber was able to share what she knew with others by teaching a class on LBGT issues to other PLC members.

Funded by membership fees (not tuition, because PLC is not a school) and donations, the cooperative is modeled after North Star—Self-Directed Learning for Teens in Hadley, Massachusetts, and part of the Liberated Learners network started by North Star. Although they get no state or federal funds, the founders made a commitment to “never turn anyone away for financial reasons, because we want it to be as available and as economically diverse as possible.”

The cooperative has no required curriculum, but all the kids have a staff mentor whom they meet with individually each week to talk about goals and how kids can get where they want to go. “The big message is you don’t need a high school diploma in order to go to college and do anything else you want with your life,” Hammon says.

But of course if kids do want to go to college, the mentors will help them both plan and track the particulars that colleges are looking for. Noting that in a traditional high school “what the curriculum says they are supposed to learn and what they do learn are often different,” Hammon offers an alternative vision of ninth grade English, which could mean the teens read books that interest them, join the PLC book club, do some creative writing, go to see some plays, or go on a trip and keep a travel journal.

“There are other ways of learning language that can be based on what you love and are interested in,” Hammon says. The kids will also document these activities for later when they may need to describe their education in a college application.

PLC also offers, Hammon says, “a small, caring welcoming community of teens.”

“The social atmosphere here is very different than traditional schools,” he says. “The hierarchies are not there—freshman, sophomore, junior, senior.” Although as in any social environment, kids may like one person more than others, “it tends to be way less cliquey” and “there seems to be a lot less tension between people.”

In addition to three core staff members, PLC has about 30 community volunteers, including Princeton University students.

Isabel Marshall of Highland Park, who came to PLC a few months ago after attending Greater Brunswick Charter School and then a half year of home schooling, was concerned in her charter school about the focus on students doing well on tests.

Although she is still in transition and hasn’t set goals for herself, she really appreciates the reduction of stress, as compared to her school experience. “Here I can really worry about the subject, not the next test,” she says, noting that she is studying physics, math, and writing. “There are no grades, no tests, no report cards, but I feel like I’m learning a lot more here than in school.”

Robbinsville High students Lily Coggins and Sam Karket read their geometry story book to preschool students Andrew Davis, Miles Ruscito, Noah Martin, and Nihal Gurm and teachers Debbie McClain and Kim Robinson at Robbinsville High School May 13, 2015.

By Meagan Douches

Robbinsville High School geometry teacher Yasemin Kinak always assigned a rhyming children’s storybook project for her students to complete. It wasn’t until her own children expressed an interest in the stories that she thought the books may actually be of interest to preschoolers.

“I was grading storybooks one day and my son asked me to read them to him,” Kinak said. “He loved it! He would pick out which ones were his favorites. He wanted me to read them again and again.”

Her children were able to recognize the most creative and well-developed stories. This led Kinak to turn the storybook project into a competition in which her children, Aiden, 6, and Ayla, 4, decide the winners.

For the assignment, students work together to create a rhyming children’s storybook explaining specific geometry concepts in simple terms. The book must be 10 pages long with original artwork and easy to understand for children. Students with the top storybooks presented them to their peers and a group of preschool students.

The storylines for this year’s projects varied widely, though each incorporated aspects of geometry.

The top projects were, “When Triangles Are Sick” by Stephanie Wall and Natalie Lui, the story of a triangle’s trip to the doctor to get his angles examined, “Learning to Love Myself” by Sam Karket and Isabelle Barb, a tale of a quadrilaterals’ journey to self-love, “Trinity the Triangle” by Rachel Sepcic and Lily Coggins, an action story of a triangle named Trinity who uses geometry to develop her gymnastics skills and “The Dent” by Tanvi Gehani, Maria Uccategui and Giorgio Dimeglo, a fairytale romance of Prince Triangle as he seeks his perfect triangle match.

Kinak began assigning the storybook project to her students when she first started teaching at Leonia High School 10 years ago.

“I had an amazing mentor Mr. Klienman and a fantastic principal Mr. Bertolini,” she said. “They both encouraged my growth by allowing me to teach children the philosophy that math is fun, it is applicable and very useful. So that’s how I started giving the assignment to my students.”

On May 13, Kinak’s class welcomed a group of four preschool students from RHS’ in-school program, and they gathered around to read the winning stories together. Led by their two teachers, the preschoolers shyly entered the unfamiliar room. The high school students greeted them with smiles and excitement.

The preschool students were highly engaged in the stories and even asked questions. They were very responsive and seemed to grasp the geometry concepts as one student inquired about the triangle’s angles in “When Triangles Are Sick.”

The children leaned forward from their spots on the floor to get a good look at each picture and giggled as the stories unfolded with rhymes. After the first book was presented, one boy said excitedly, “Another book!”

When it was time for the final story to be presented in Powerpoint, the children requested to move closer to the projection screen for a better view of the presentation. Kinak’s geometry students smiled as they watched the preschoolers’ reactions.

It was the pinnacle of several weeks’ hard work for the high school students. Many said that they enjoyed using their imaginations to come up with unique storylines and rhyming prose.

“I think that coming up with the rhymes was the most enjoyable part,” freshman Sam Karket said.

Three of the four winners made their books by hand with colorful construction paper and original drawings. The fourth group decided to develop a Powerpoint version of their story, “The Dent” and they created images online to accompany their story.

“The best part was seeing the project come together,” freshman Lily Coggins said. “We had an idea of what we wanted to do, but we weren’t sure how it would turn out.”

The students were prompted to use their favorite stories and cartoon characters as inspiration for their projects. After deciding which geometry concept to focus on, partners worked together to brainstorm plot ideas.

For instance, for their story, “Trinity the Triangle,” freshmen Sepcic and Coggins immediately thought of gymnastics to explain flipping and rotations in their story. Others such as Gehani, Uccategui and Giodemeglo based their projects off of classic stories such as Cinderella.

Kinak is always impressed with the ideas that her students come up with and the level of creativity and thought put into the project. She said the storybook assignment has had a big impact on her students over the years.

“I think that they learn more about themselves,” she said. “Sometimes they don’t realize how smart they really are. They are also able to connect to the community which is great.”

Considering that advanced subjects such as geometry can be difficult and dry for many high school students, Kinak said her classes are excited to participate in the creative project. The competition even has helped her students grasp essential geometry concepts and become more interested in the subject matter.

“They have to explain the concept on a basic level so it helps reinforce what they’ve been learning in class,” she said. “The goal is that 10 years from now, they’ll remember it.”

Teachers retire every year. This year, however, we in Robbinsville are losing seven teachers that have served as a hallmark to the very best our schools have to offer.

Recently, a first-year colleague of retiring third grade teacher Debby Muench expressed that she felt cheated to have only one year working alongside Debby. The reason? Even after nearly 40 years in the classroom, Mrs. Muench continues seeking new ways of reaching kids and sharing their excitement when they make key connections. Joining her in retirement are fellow Sharon Elementary School veterans Shirley Little, Betsy Borsuk and Cindy Pivovarnick, Pond Road Middle School counselor Alice Landerkin and Spanish teacher Charlotte Oskin and RHS biology legend Sandy Overton, known throughout the district as Dr. O. These exceptional seven leave behind a legacy of excellence that has come to define our school community.

When interviewing prospective teaching candidates, we look for three important qualities. First, a teacher must be excellent at his/her craft. In other words, he must be enthusiastic about his subject matter and know how to reach students. He must be able to plan lesson experiences that require students to think critically and stretch as they grow academically. He must understand how to make a classroom safe, a place of learning and inspiration, and a place where kids discover important truths about who they are as human beings. These are essential elements of a successful Robbinsville teacher and are attributes that are deeply rooted within the legacy of our seven retirees.

Second, Robbinsville teachers must be learners. A trick question we often ask in interviews is, “When does a teacher reach her full potential?” Of course, the answer we seek is “never,” for we believe that a life well lived is comprised of a series of learning experiences that enable an individual to continually see the world from a fresh perspective. New ways of lesson planning, setting standards or assessing students are not automatically bad things to good teachers. Instead they are opportunities for refinement and self-reflection.

A successful teacher seeks to empower students to a commitment of lifelong learning and must live that commitment herself. If a teacher is to inspire learning, she must model the attributes of learning. One of my favorite things about each of our retirees is their abiding commitment to continue to learn and grow. When the first-year teacher claimed to feel cheated for only having one year with Debby, she was not referring to Debby’s charming personality but to how much she was learning by being near her. The “X Factor” of a good teacher anchors in an attitude about learning and growing. Done well, it inspires the rest of us.

The third attribute we look for in new recruits is a strong commitment to contribute to the health of the school and community. This can mean participating on a curriculum review committee or it can be as simple as sharing lesson plan ideas with a peer. It might mean coaching a sport, helping struggling colleagues or staying after school to help kids understand complex material. Anyone who has been around the high school for any length of time has probably seen one of Dr. O’s crime scenes staged for the forensics class. What the passerby may not realize is Dr. O singlehandedly developed the curriculum and program for this popular elective course. After staging mock trials during which forensic evidence was presented, he even enlisted a real judge to decide the merits of the cases that our students brought forward. This contribution is consistent with the myriad ways our seven retirees have made our school community better because of their influence.

Robbinsville will deeply miss Debby, Charlotte, Alice, Cindy, Betsy, Sandy and Shirley. Our hope for each of them is that they enjoy a healthy and happy retirement with the profound satisfaction of a career lived well. Those familiar with our school community know these educators and are well aware of the scope and power of their influence. Although they will be missed by many, the legacy of excellence they have helped to establish will continue to flourish in the years to come. And for that, we are deeply grateful.

Steve Mayer is superintendent of Robbinsville Schools.

The Titusville United Methodist Church is set to hold its summer Vacation Bible School from July 6 through August 21, 2015. (Photo: Betsy Lee)

The Titusville United Methodist Church (TUMC) plans to hold a Summer 2015 Vacation Bible School (VBS) from Monday, July 6, through Friday, August 21. The church is located at 7 Church Road in Titusville and the VBS will be held in the church’s separate Education Building.

All children from the greater Mercer County area are invited to attend this seven-week, full-day, educational summer-enrichment program.The program is designed for children ages 4 through 12 and will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. The 4- and 5-year-olds will meet separately in their own class. Parents may pick and choose the weeks that best suit the needs of their children’s summer schedules.

The featured daily curriculum will focus upon what it means to be a Christian and serve God in everyday life. Along with the VBS curriculum, children will enjoy crafts, nature walks, water play, scooters, skate boards and bikes. TUMC’s pastor, The Rev. John Wesley Morrison, plans to gather all the children and their teachers and aides for regularly scheduled chapel time.

One highlighted outreach activity will be a weekly Muffin Ministry, where VBS children will make cards and deliver homemade muffins to local community residents or church members within walking distance of the church.

Children are asked to bring their own lunches each weekday. Morning and afternoon snacks will be provided. Children are encouraged to bring their own bikes, scooters, other appropriate fun stuff, helmets and good walking shoes for daily play time and nature walks in the park.

The cost is $135 per child each week. A one-time, non-refundable $25 registration fee will serve as a place-holder for your child’s reservation(s) for as many weeks as desired.

For more information and further details, please contact (609)221-8634 or emmaleemorrison@yahoo.com.

Andrew Rogers performs a medicine ball chest press as part of Anthiel School’s curcuit training exercise program. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)

Maurice Jones works out on the equalizer bars during curcuit training in the Antheil School gym. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)

Walking into the second grade physical education class at Antheil Elementary School at any point during April and May might have felt like “crazy town,” according to Dr. Anne Farrell, Department Chair of the School of Health and Exercise Science at The College of New Jersey. From the outside, it may have looked like students had free reign of the gym, laughing and playing as music blared from a boombox.

But there was a method to the madness.

Farrell, Antheil phys ed teacher Jason Zablow, and a group of TCNJ students in the Nursing and Health and Exercise Science programs led the second graders through FIT training, an eight-week circuit training program created by Dr. Avery Faigenbaum, a professor at the college. The program is designed to teach children foundational movements through kid-friendly circuit exercises, and it’s designed specifically to cater to kids while actually teaching them about fitness. The students also learned about health and nutrition during each session.

“It was done to make sure that [the exercises] were relatively age-appropriate and that we could progress according to what we still think would be appropriate for youth,” Farrell said.

The program, which was also tested at Columbus Elementary School in Trenton, was funded by a $50,000 Smart Nutrition and Conditioning for Kids (SNACK) Grant through Novo Nordisk. SNACK’s goals is to reduce obesity and type two diabetes, specifically in urban populations.

They are both issues that need to be caught early, said Farrell.

“If we don’t do it now, it’s almost impossible to get them,” she said. “An overweight or obese 12-year-old has a 75 percent chance of being an obese adult. Only one in four makes a change? We want to make sure we get them before they get to have these health problems.”

This year was the program’s first year at Antheil, and it also happened to fall during Zablow’s first few weeks as a teacher at the school.

Farrell, though, said you would have never known it.

“This poor guy, new to the school, still a relatively new teacher, was a rock star,” she said. “He stepped in, and I think he was excited, which was good for the students to see. He didn’t come in fearful or saying, ‘Oh, why do I have to do this?’ He made a wonderful presentation of what was going to be the next eight weeks of their lives. He was absolutely clutch.”

And he was immediately successful. If the program’s progression is any indication, changing children’s habits might be easier than Farrell and Zablow thought.

The students underwent fitness testing at the program’s conclusion, and Zablow said that five or six of them maxed out on sit-ups, while every child improved doing the sit-and-reach. Some even doubled or tripled their push-up total from the beginning of the program—others who couldn’t even muster one could do upwards of five during the final fitness testing.

“In the beginning, it was basic things.” Zablow said. “The first four or so classes, we were saying to them, ‘Okay, remember, this is how you do this. Then, by the end, it was, ‘Alright, you guys know the drill.’ We ended up adding in a station, and they got to create their own exercises. They got to promote their own creativity.”

At first, Zablow said the kids were hesistant to stray from their usual curriculum.

“It was a mixture of curiousity and excitement, and they were a little upset because they were missing out on their regular phys ed,” he said. “They didn’t want to miss the fun games that they were used to playing. But they were also curious about the new stuff.”

Stations included sliding around on sled-like scooters, using battling ropes, and tossing medicine balls. They also used equalizer bars for push-ups and balance balls for burpees. All of the equipment was colorful and easily accessible, which provided the “wow factor that kept them engaged,” said Farrell.

They were kid-friendly versions of adult exercise equipment, but it’s necessary, Farrell added, when children are facing adult-like problems such as diabetes and obesity.

Once they got used to the activities, Zablow said the kids looked like pros.

“Certain things were tough, but there were days when they came in, and they looked like they’d been doing it for three years,” he said. “They would do a ton of push-ups and burpees and wall squats. There were parts where you were like, ‘This is amazing,’ but then you still had the second graders in them so you still had to get that happy balance between creativity while still getting the workout in.”

As the program went on, striking that balance became easier and easier. While kids stuck to and perfected the assigned task at each station, many came up with their own workouts, like modifying sit-ups, bench pressing a medicine ball, and crab walking with a balloon.

They made effective adjustments without the help of an adult, Zablow said, which proved that they were thinking about the actual exercises rather than just “messing around.”

“The kids come up with new things that we would have never thought about as adults,” Farrell said. “For us, it’s like, ‘Add that to the bank.’ We can share it at other schools, and this is what we want to present to other professionals. Don’t be afraid to let them be creative. The reality is that they know their bodies pretty well, so they know what their limitations are. That part is quite fun and interesting for us as professionals.”

By the end of the program, they were even engaged with the health and nutrition lessons put together by TCNJ students.

“They had recently been out doing student teaching, so they had a really good idea of what was interesting for the young ones,” Farrell said. “The activities they put together were just spot-on. The kids really liked it.”

The goal was to teach the students the basic principles of what basic nutrition was. Zablow said many students didn’t know what a grain was, or weren’t sure where to classify chicken, but after eight weeks, they were acing quizzes.

The next step is determining how they can make sure the kids hang onto their newfound knowledge into the summer and beyond, and determining how they can get similar results without all the equipment used during the classes.

“Does knowledge equate to behavior change? No, not so much,” Farrell said. “We’re hoping that’s something we can expand on. We can do a true nutrition project with them, comparing tastes and things like that. That’s another big project. It’s really just about going back to addressing health needs at the youngest level possible so that it doesn’t escalate to bigger problems when they get older.”

She also hopes to be able to eventually reach out to parents and find out what kind of limitations they face as far as nutrition and exercise go.

“It’s really a learning process for us, but until we get all those pieces, we can’t give as much as we want to the community,” she said. “We hope to continue these relationships and maybe partner in different, bigger ways in the future.”

Overall, Farrell added, the first year of “crazy town” was a success.

“With second graders, could we keep their attention span? Did it lose appeal after week three or four? This is a spirited group at Antheil,” she said. “If they didn’t like it, they would have told us. As an educator, it was ideal. The best of all worlds. We’re honestly thrilled with the way it all took place.”

The Pennington School graduated 91 seniors representing four states and five countries outside the United States in commencement exercises for the class of 2015 on June 6. Niral Ramesh of Princeton Junction and Nathan Zavanelli of Pennington were valedictorian and salutatorian respectively. Headmaster William S. Hawkey, Ph.D., granted the diplomas and Sintelle Taylor gave the commencement address.

Valedictorian Ramesh received the award for the senior excelling in science and shared the award for the senior excelling in mathematics. He will attend Rice University.

Salutatorian Zavanelli was presented the award for the senior excelling in German and shared the award for excellence in mathematics with Ramesh and Cedric Abano of East Windsor. Zavanelli will attend the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Commencement speaker Sintell Taylor, a Princeton resident, is an educator and diversity and inclusion specialist. In 1990 she co-founded the Steppingstone Foundation in Boston, a nonprofit organization that develops and implements programs to prepare underserved students for educational opportunities that lead to college success. She was the foundation’s executive director for six years before becoming a full-time diversity counselor.

Carla John, College of New Jersey. Nurse.Class rank: 1 GPA: 4.52. Sports: Swimming, spring track. Clubs: Color Guard, Math Club, mock trial. Favorite memory: “My favorite memory was my AP Chemistry class because I love learning high level chemistry from a chemist.”Memorable quote: I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. –William Penn

Rhonda Abouelela, Rutgers University (pharmacy). Class rank: 2 GPA: 4.48. Sports: Swimming, track and field. Clubs: Color Guard, French Club, Key Club, Math Club. Favorite memory: “My favorite memory from my schooling is spending four days in Disney World with the NHS Marching Unit and my best friends.” Memorable quote: If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. –Henry David Thoreau

Matthew Crossey, Mercer County Community College (computer science). Class rank: 3 GPA: 4.39. Clubs: Debate team, Caelestis, Key Club, National Honor Society, World Language Honor Society, Italian Club. Favorite memory: “My favorite memory from my schooling is when I received a 5 on my AP English Language and Composition exam. I have many wonderful experiences, but my exam performance holds a deeper meaning to me. The score was a tangible result of all my dedication to the class I loved. Additionally, because I struggle with a limiting physical condition, I was thrilled I could endure two hours straight of writing and still perform satisfactorily.” Memorable quote: Speak softly, and carry a big stick.

Armonie Pierre-Jacques, College of New Jersey (biology). Healthcare. Class rank: 4 GPA: 4.38. Sports: Soccer, track and field. Clubs: School play, Bible Study Club, Peer Leadership, National Honor Society, World Language Honor Society, Princeton University Preparatory Program. Favorite memory: “My favorite memory was when I broke my own personal record in girls’ track during my sophomore year. I ended up coming in first place in the 800-meter run during that meet.” Memorable quote: Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle. –Wilma Rudolph

Sarah Pierre-Jacques, College of New Jersey (biology). Pediatrician. Class rank: 4 GPA: 4.38. Sports: Field hockey (JV co-captain), track. Clubs: Princeton University Preparatory Program, Bible Study Club, Peer Leadership, National Honor Society, World Language Honor Society, school play. Favorite memory: “My favorite memory was being a part of the cast for Nottingham’s production of ‘Hairspray.’ I met a lot of cool people, and had a great time on the nights of the show.” Memorable quote: Challenges are what make life interesting, and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. –Joshua J. Marine

Samantha Wackerman, Northwestern University. Marketing/advertising. Class rank: 6 GPA: 4.38.Sports: Swimming. Clubs: Peer Leadership, DECA (vice president), Caelestis literary magazine (editor-in-chief), National Honor Society, World Languages Honor Society, National Art Honor Society. Favorite memory: “Creating my studio art portfolio was one of the best parts of my high school career. I loved making 24 projects alongside some of my best friends.” Memorable quote: Some pursue happiness, others create it. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kira Williams, Seton Hall University. Accountant. Class rank: 7 GPA: 4.3. Sports: Track (statistician). Clubs: DECA, orchestra, National Honor Society. Favorite memory: “My prom experience is my most memorable event from my schooling. Prom was fun, but post-prom and spending the weekend at Seaside topped off the fun. I got to spend it with my close friends and boyfriend. It really made me appreciate my friends and the time we have together before graduation.” Memorable quote: Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life. –Eleanor Roosevelt

Christian DeMeo, Towson University (undecided). Class rank: 8 GPA: 4.3. Sports: Football. Clubs: School play, National Honor Society, World Language Honor Society, Peer Leadership. Favorite memory: “I cannot just pick one memory because they are all great in their own way. The good, the bad and everything in between made me who I am today, and I am thankful to have met so many great people who have made my K-12 years the best.” Memorable quote: Everything happens for a reason.

Brian Munnelly, Mercer County Community College. History teacher. Class rank: 9 GPA: 4.2. Sports: Cross country. Clubs: Debate team, Spanish National Honor Society. Favorite memory: “Finding out I was in the top 10 of my class is the most surprising and memorable moment of all my schooling. I never knew how my GPA compared to other students. One day in orchestra class, a teacher walked in, handing envelopes to two of my classmates. I received one, and opened it to see I had been invited to a top 10 dinner to reward those students for their achievements. This was the first time I heard I was in the top 10. The news is still hard to believe.” Memorable quote: Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. –John F. Kennedy

Riley Rue, Mercer County Community College. High school English teacher. Class rank: 10 GPA: 4.19. Clubs: Orchestra. Favorite memory: “I have always been a shy and awkward kid. My physical appearance differs tremendously from that of a stereotypical ‘smart kid’ and because of that, my abilities were always doubted. Teachers would see this quiet girl sulk into class, hiding beneath florescent hair and black eye make-up, and immediately think, ‘Well, here’s another student who isn’t going to try.’ I could see this in their eyes upon my entering class the first time. Despite this, I never failed to prove their judgments wrong. My favorite memory will not be some class trip, it will be my graduation day, when I obtain my diploma as No. 10 in my senior class. At that time, I will prove that I’ve made it. I did well in school for myself, of course, but also to prove that a child’s outer appearance has nothing to do with their drive and intelligence, and making a difference in that realm means the world to me on so many levels. My favorite memory will be graduating, hopefully creating a new path for those who value self-expression along with education.” Memorable quote: The duty of youth is to challenge corruption. –Kurt Cobain

Stephen Huie, Johns Hopkins University (economics). Lawyer. Class rank: 1 GPA: 4.58. Intercollegiate sports: Swimming. Sports: Swimming (co-captain), tennis. Clubs: National Honor Society (secretary), Key Club (treasurer), Science Club (president), Chess Club (founder/president), Science National Honor Society), Math Club, Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society. Favorite memory: “I’m very proud of everything the swim team accomplished, especially advancing to the second round of the state tournament this past season.” Memorable quote: Be true to your work, your word and your friend. –Henry David Thoreau

Wardah Bajwa, College of New Jersey (biology). Pediatrician. Class rank: 2 GPA: 4.49. Clubs: Science Club, Spanish National Honor Society, National Honor Society, Key Club, yearbook committee, Science National Honor Society. Favorite memory: “Senior year in high school was very fun, and I’ll never forget the wonderful friends and teachers I met.” Memorable quote: Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. –Robert Louis Stevenson

Nicholas Swan, Cornell University. Lawyer. Class rank: 3 GPA: 4.46. Clubs: Steinert Marching Unit, Jazz band, school newspaper (editor), French National Honor Society (president), Jazz combo, pit orchestra, Jazz trio, National Honor Society. Favorite memory: “My favorite memories are the Stokes trip in 6th grade, and my years spent performing in the marching unit and Jazz band.” Memorable quote: Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues. –Confucius

Kristi Truong, Temple University (biology). Orthodontist. Class rank: 4 GPA: 4.45. Clubs: National Honor Society, Key Club, Student Government Association, Science Club, school newspaper, yearbook. Favorite memory: “On Sept. 3, 2014, I experienced my last ‘first day of school’ with my friends. At that moment, I realized I had survived those years of schooling, and was closer to graduating. It marked the day of making many more memories with the friends I’ve made throughout K-12.” Memorable quote: The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. –Steve Jobs

Ronald Moreen, U. of Delaware (biochemistry). Pharmaceutrical manufacturing. Class rank: 5 GPA: 4.44. Sports: Swimming, baseball. Clubs: French Club. Favorite memory: “Each year in elementary school, I would attend a field trip to the Bunker Hill Nature Center in Kendall Park. It was the highlight of each school year. These trips didn’t just teach me about different plants and animals. What I really took away is how connected everything is to each other and the sheer complexion that goes into everything that happens, no matter how small.” Memorable quote: I think I’ve gone mad. It’s OK; the best people are.

Riley Zoldi, North Carolina State University. Marine biologist. Class rank: 6 GPA: 4.44. Sports: Track and field, soccer, cross country. Clubs: Science Club, Key Club, Spanish Club, Peer Leadership. Favorite memory: “In December, I went to Key Largo with some students and science teachers from Steinert. It was, so far, the best experience of my life. Every day we went snorkeling in different environments like coral reefs and mangroves. We even saw a manatee!” Memorable quote: Not all those who wander are lost. –J.R.R. Tolkien

Benjamin Espenhorst, Ursinus College (Biology pre-med). Pediatrician. Class rank: 7 GPA: 4.42. Intercollegiate sports: Football. Sports: Football, track and field. Clubs: School musical, Student Government Association, National Honor Society, German National Honor Society, German Club, Ping Pong Club, Science Club. Favorite memory: “By playing football, I have made friendships that will continue past high school. Mentorship under my coaches has shaped me to be a better person and an individual ready for ife past my K-12 education.” Memorable quote: You have brains in your head. You have fee in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go. –Dr. Seuss, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go”

Nicole Migliaccio, Mercer County Community College. Elementary school teacher. Class rank: 8 GPA: 4.41. Sports: Basketball. Clubs: Steinert Marching Unit, Key Club, Student Government Association, National Honor Society (president), Spanish National Honor Society (secretary), Peer Leadership. Favorite memory: “My favorite memory throughout my education is being a member of the Steinert Marching Unit’s Color Guard. The organization has brought me so many amazing opportunities and has helped me grow as a person. I have learned more about myself in the aspects of leadership, character, being a team member and many other areas that help me grow as a person.” Memorable quote: For what it’s worth: It’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over. –F. Scott Fitzgerald

Alexis Bell, College of New Jersey (Journalism). Magazine publishing. Class rank: 9 GPA: 4.41. Clubs: Key Club, yearbook, Student Government Association, National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society. Favorite memory: “My favorite memory is going to the prom. It was memorable to spend it with all of the people I have become friends with over the past 13 years. Realizing it was one of the last times my entire class would be together made me live in the moment and enjoy the time I had left.” Memorable quote: Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground. –Theodore Roosevelt

Tess Dalton, NJIT (biomedical engineering). Tissue engineer. Class rank: 10 GPA: 4.41. Sports: Swimming. Clubs: Science Club, National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society, French National Honor Society, Girls’ Friendly Society. Favorite memory: “Being part of record-breaking relay teams and making it to States were some of my favorite memories, but what I will truly remember for my time on the swim team is the close friendships I’ve made with my teammates and that I was always able to be there to see them succeed.” Memorable quote: I keep my ideals because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. –Anne Frank

Front row (left to right): Matthew Kohnke, Eileen Lin, Michelle Hazlet, Benjamin Rogers-Boehme and Joseph Pavlovsky.
Back row (left to right): Mecara Bruce, Kacie Stettner, Emma Reichard, Lindsay Guzik and Samantha Ryan.

Eileen Lin, Fordham University (marketing, business administration). Business. Class rank: 1 GPA: 106.48. Activities: Debate team, student council, art club, National Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of America, math club, core choir. Favorite memory: “When I was freaking out on Runaway Mine TRain at Six Flags, and my friend recording it. Also the daily discussions in AP English with Mr. Franklin and all of the fun moments I’ve had in my other classes and clubs with my teachers and peers.” Memorable quote: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. -Robert Frost.

Mecara Bruce, St. John’s University (business). Entrepreneur, open own boutique. Class rank: 2 GPA: 106.34. Activities: Varsity soccer (senior captain), student council (senior treasurer), art club, On Point, National Honor Society, math club, school library volunteer. Favorite memory: “Going to the Central Group II Championships for girls’ soccer my sophomore year. It was amazing seeing a sea of white shirts in the stands supporting us. I never felt so honored to play in a game. Although we came in second, it will be a memory that I will never forget.” Memorable quote: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. -Phillippians 4:13.

Emma Reichard, Carnegie Mellon University (stage management). Stage manager. Class rank: 3 GPA: 104.07. Activities: International Thespian Society, theatre club, stage crew, debate team, mock trial team, National Honor Society. Favorite memory: “Walking in the BPAC doors, one week out until Moon Over Buffalo opened, prop posters ful lof inside jokes in my hand. The lights were dim, still being focused. People were working hard but still talking and laughing. I realized this was how theatre was meant to be. People in a room, creating together.” Memorable quote: The universe is vast. You are also vast. So is an ant. There are different sizes of infinity. -Welcome to Nightvale.

Michelle Hazlett, Gettysburg College (health sciences). Orthodontist. Class rank: 4 GPA: 103.32. Activities: Varsity field hockey, National Honor Society, Teens on Fire, student council president, Bordentown is On Point. Favorite memory: “Senior homecoming week.” Memorable quote: You don’t get what you wish for, you get what you work for.

Benjamin Rogers-Boehme, Haverford College (pre-medicine/biology). Class rank: 5 GPA: 102.84. Activities: Biology club, FBLA, National Honor Society, cross country, key club, winter track, debate team, Model UN. Favorite memory: “Doing homework every night… or goofing around on the cross country bus.” Memorable quote: Awakening is natural. Delusion is not.

Joseph Pavlovsky, Gettysburg College (organization and management studies). Forensic accounting. Class rank: 6 GPA: 102.64. Activities: Football team, Interact Club, National Honor Society. Favorite memory: “Blowing up a 6-foot tall inflatable polar bear in Mr. Franklin’s class and watching the reactions of the other teachers who walked into the room.” Memorable quote: You don’t drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.

Matthew Kohnke, Villanova University (accounting). CPA or CFO. Class rank: 7 GPA: 102.51. Activities: Varsity baseball (captain), varsity cross country (captain), winter track (captain), math club (leader), student council, National Honor Society (treasurer/secretary). Favorite memory: “Hitting my first home run while Mr. Glenn cheered me on.” Memorable quote: Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Lindsay Guzik, The College of New Jersey (secondary education in mathematics). High school math teacher. Class rank: 8 GPA: 102.25. Activities: Field hockey, softball, cross country, winter/spring track, basketball, Spanish club. Favorite memory: “In 11th grade, my advanced art class took a trip to Magic Gardens in Philadelphia. I was given the chance to appreciate a different form of art as well as explore the city with my friends.” Memorable quote: Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. – Vincent van Gogh

Kacie Stettner, The College of New Jersey (mathematics/statistics). Actuarial science. Class rank: 9 GPA: 102.06. Activities: Teens on Fire, field hockey, student council, On Point, National Honor Society, track, lacrosse. Favorite memory: “Junior prom and that blissful week after AP exams are over.” Memorable quote: Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly. – John F. Kennedy

Samantha Ryan, The College of New Jersey (criminology). Criminologist. Class rank: 10 GPA: 101.86. Activities: Field hockey, softball, Interact Club, National Honor Society. Favorite memory: “My freshman year homecoming football game where I became close with my best friends.” Memorable quote: Life is short, but so am I.

Nottingham High School alum Patrick Swisher graduated from Monmouth University with the highest GPA in his class on May 20, 2015.

On May 20, 2015 Hamilton resident Patrick Swisher graduated top of his class at Monmouth University with a GPA of 3.979. Swisher earned a Bachelor of the Arts in Communications and now plans to work at ICIMS technology in Matawan. He is an alum of Nottingham High School where he graduated in 2011.