Student News: ShopRite opens store in Old Bridge High School

• The store is run by students enrolled in the Supermarket and Careers Work Program, which is part of Transition Planning at the high school
• Middlesex County College and East Brunswick High School sign agreement
• New Brunswick High School counselor recognized by Ramapo College
• Sayreville Middle School's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella" is this weekend

After months of preparation, ShopRite store number 129 officially opened its doors in Old Bridge High School with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Dec. 16. The event was attended by students, staff, family members, administrators, and dignitaries, including Executive County Superintendent of Middlesex and Mercer Yasmin Hernandez and Old Bridge Mayor Owen Henry.

James Tuohy, director of special services, explained that the store is run by students enrolled in the Supermarket and Careers Work Program, which is part of Transition Planning at the high school; it took a year of planning.

The store, which is open during the school day to high school employees and students who are accompanied by teachers, boasts shelves stocked with non-perishable products, including water, paper towels, and coffee. On Jan. 1, the store expanded its operational hours to 3 p.m., four days a week.

Student Vincent Maldonado, 19, who is enrolled in the supermarket program, said he wanted to thank “a lot of people” who made this dream a reality,” including Wakefern Food Corporation, Tuohy, and Schools Superintendent David Cittadino, who initiated the program.

“We have been given the opportunity to feel what work experience is like in the outside world,” Maldonado said.

“This is a wow moment,” Mayor Henry said. “There is a reason why this district is recognized nationally. This is the town I grew up in. These are parents who have invested in their children’s futures.”

Cittadino said the program is another “pathway to student learning” and called the store a “learning lab."

“It is an awesome responsibility to take good care of your children,” Cittadino said. “We send them home to you a little better each day.”

According to Stacy Villa, transition program teacher, she and teacher Jessica DiMino have already seen tremendous growth in the eight students involved with the program.

“The kids are experiencing phenomenal hands-on experience,” said Villa. “This is something you can’t teach out of a book.  Our goal is for these students to gain independent employment.”

She explained the students learn a variety of skills, including taking inventory, stocking shelves, and learning the roles of a cashier — opening a drawer, making sales, and closing out and balancing a drawer on a computer-operated, fully functioning cash register.

Student Nick Thayer, 20, said the best part of the program is that he gets to try something new each week. He said he recently learned how to brew coffee.

School Board President Donna Andriana called the store “such a great place”.

“We have a positive program so the students can move on with the skills they learn; this is a beautiful thing,” she said.

Belmont University

The following Central Jersey residents at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, were named to the fall dean's list: Kylie Craft of Sayreville, Kay Deans of Jamesburg, Denali Dunuwila of Princeton, Kathleen Hoffman of East Brunswick,Christina Nini of Princeton,
Dana Rogers of Old Bridge. Students must achieve a grade-point average of 3.5.

READ: The good things students are doing in Central Jersey and beyond.

READ: Education news from around the region.

COLLEGE CONNECTION: Advice from local expert columnist

Berkeley College

Berkeley College President Michael J. Smith has announced a realignment of operational leadership at the institution. These changes go into effect Jan. 2.

Will Moya, Campus Operating Officer (COO) of Berkeley College in Midtown Manhattan, NY, has been promoted to Vice President of Campus Operations, system-wide. In this role, Moya will oversee the team of Berkeley College COOs, as well as initiatives benefiting students and their paths toward academic success.

Ted Havelka, COO, currently at the campus in White Plains, NY, will serve as COO in Midtown Manhattan; Joel Martinez, COO, currently at the campus in Newark, will transfer in that position to Berkeley College in White Plains; Earl Brown, Business Developer, Career Services, Berkeley College, Newark, has been promoted to COO in Newark; and Michael Russo, Associate Vice President, Enrollment, will become the COO in Woodbridge.

“Positioning our team in this structure will improve the ability of our students to succeed and graduate,” Smith said. “This realignment enhances our institutional approach to provide Berkeley College students with a meaningful education.”

Each COO will handle day-to-day operations, collaborating with all departments to ensure that the policies, procedures and goals of the College and their respected campuses are met. They will also continue to build and strengthen partnerships with businesses in their communities that support the growth of internships for Berkeley College students, leading to permanent career positions.

Berkeley College has three New York campuses — Midtown Manhattan, Brooklyn and White Plains. In New Jersey there are five campuses — Dover, Newark, Paramus, Woodbridge and Woodland Park. Berkeley College Online® serves a global population. In 2016, U.S. News & World Report named Berkeley College among the Best Colleges for Online Bachelor’s Programs and among the Best Online Bachelor’s Programs for Veterans, both for the third consecutive year. Visit www.BerkeleyCollege.edu.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

The following Central Jersey residents at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania were named to the fall dean's list: Elijah Lee Anseaume of Plainsboro, Jenna Angela Diefenbacher, Tyler Sebastian of Middlesex, Allison Frances Sullivan of Monroe. Students must achieve a grade-point average of 3.5.

Kean University

More than 20 Kean University students, faculty, and alumni from the Doctor of Psychology - Combined School and Clinical Psychology program (Psy.D.) presented their original research at the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) 50th Annual Convention, conducted in New York City in late October. The ABCT annual convention brings the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) community together to explore research developments and current issues relevant to the practice of CBT and related interventions.

Two Middlesex County residents who participated were Jackaira Espinal of North Brunswick and Taylor Schnaper of Monroe Township.                    
“We all feel strongly that participation in professional organizations and associated conference attendances are wonderful ways for students to deepen their awareness of important issues within the field,” said Jennifer Block-Lerner, Ph.D., the Psy.D. program coordinator. “It also helps expand their professional networks and develop and nurture friendships that are likely to be lifelong.”

Kean professors Donald R. Marks, Psy.D., Aaron Gubi, Ph.D., Adrienne Garro, Ph.D., and Block-Lerner attended the conference with 19 students and three alumni. Together, they gave multiple presentations, including a symposium on mindfulness-based interventions for college students, a panel discussion and numerous poster presentations.

Third-year Psy.D. student Arielle Bernstein, from Palm Harbor, Florida won a lottery and got the chance to have a cup of coffee with one of the  invited speakers at the convention. She met with Mary Phillips, M.D., the director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Clinical and Translational Affective Neuroscience program, who spoke on the Neuroscience and Psychological Treatment panel at the convention.

ALSO: Kean University in Union will host the "Wandering Spirit: African Wax Prints" exhibition at the Karl and Helen Burger Gallery from Feb. 1 to March 3. In celebration of African History Month, an opening reception will be conducted on Feb. 1, from 3 to 5 p.m. Admission to the reception and the gallery exhibition is free and open to the public.

"The Wandering Spirit exhibition is a great opportunity for visitors of the Burger Gallery to consider the cultural dynamic that drives taste and trends in clothing and fashion,” said Neil Tetkowski, director of Kean University Galleries. “Even today in Harlem, one regularly sees these colorful, typical fabrics mostly worn by first-generation immigrants from West Africa.”

The works in "Wandering Spirit" trace the history of the African wax print and tells how these fabrics reflect the stories, dreams and personalities of the people who wear them. The exhibition is a tribute to the century-old handmade designs and patterns on textiles that originated in Indonesia as a wax-printing technique called batik. The method of creating a pattern with warm liquid wax was copied and industrialized by Europeans, and eventually exported to Africa.

From country to country and region to region, clothing in Africa continues to serve an important means of communication today, sending secret messages and retelling local proverbs. Clothing depicts a person’s social status and position, political convictions, ambition, marital status, ethnicity, age, sex and group affiliation.

"Wandering Spirit: African Wax Prints" is curated by Dr. Gifty Benson and organized by Exhibits USA/Mid-America Arts Alliance, Kansas City, MO. The exhibition at Kean University Galleries is presented in collaboration with Kean's Office of Student Government and Africana Studies program.

The Karl and Helen Burger Gallery is at 1000 Morris Ave. in Union; Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday. For more information, visit www.kean.edu/galleries, email galleries@kean.edu or call 908-737-0392.

Linden: Highland Avenue School No. 10

Allison Smith's first-grade class at Highland Avenue School No. 10 made Christmas cards for Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ)  of Rahway.

George and Rita Ryan from Rahway are volunteers at the RWJ  hospital. They go there weekly to visit the sick. According to a school news release, Ryan asked Allison Smith if there was any way her children could make some cards.

Smith asked the students and without hesitation they came up with ideas on how to make cards with cheerful sayings, according to the news release. They spoke of events that happened to family and friends that were in the hospital, including some of their own experiences. Each student understand the magnitude of receiving a simple gesture of a card. The students worked creatively writing cheerful thoughts and decorated their cards.

Each card was different, just like no two snowflakes are the same, according to the news release.

Linden Public Schools No. 8

In Linden Public Schools, the development and growth of young musicians is fostered in a nurturing environment at a very young age, according to a district news release.

School No. 8 Pre-k hand bell ensemble is one of the many examples of teamwork in music-making at the early childhood level, according to the release.

Each year in December, School Eight first-graders present a holiday music program that features songs that represent the diverse cultures and traditions of the children. This year the concert was conducted on Dec. 23. In preparation for the concert, first-grade teachers Despina Cordeiro and Kim Picciano discussed cultures and traditions around the world through literature study and activities. For the concert, the students sang and danced to songs about Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanza and they sang a Hispanic Christmas song en Espanol.

The Opening Act for this music program is the Pre-Kindergarten Hand bell Choir. Susanna Larmore, a Pre-K teacher at Linden School No. 8, introduces the hand bells to her class and Tracey Merton’s Pre-K class in the beginning of the year. Each hand bell is a different color, which represents a different note of the musical scale. The children learn from their first lesson the name of the note their color represents.

At first, the children learn to follow a color coded poster that shows them when to ring their given color/note. The children progress throughout the year to reading the letters of each note with no color coding, and depending on their progression, they learn how to recognize the notes on a music staff. The children also learn that the musical alphabet only goes to G before it goes back to A again.

Being a part of the hand bell choir also demonstrates the importance of teamwork and working together, as it is important to ring each note and ring it on time.

The hand bells also fits into the philosophy of the program, The Tools of the Mind, which is based on theidea that the goal of early education is to build children’s self-regulation as they build content knowledge.  As recognized by the developers of the Tools of the Mind program, ringing hand bells promote self-regulation, and the activity is an excellent way for children to build the skills they need to succeed in every aspect of their education, according to the news release.

“It’s really exciting to see the expressions on our students’ faces when they know that they can contribute to the school community by providing a program to their parents and peers,” Principal Michelle Rodriguez said.

Metuchen High School

On Jan. 19, a panel at Metuchen High School will feature student mentors from a national advocacy group talking to middle and high schoolers and their parents about succeeding with learning differences.

Known as “Yes! Ambassadors,” the volunteers are part of a growing program currently available in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Utah, and Colorado that’s run by Learning Ally, a national nonprofit aimed at empowering students who read and learn differently so they may thrive. The panel runs from 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. in the library of Metuchen High, 400 Grove Ave., Metuchen.

Learning Ally’s YES! Ambassadors are a group of middle and high school volunteers who mentor students and speak about their learning differences, self-advocacy, and assistive technologies; visit https://1in5.learningally.org/YES-Program for details. They also volunteer at Q&A panels, demonstrate assistive technology, and help host Learning Ally events. According to a news release, the purpose of the program is to train students with learning differences to recognize their strengths and weaknesses to help them build confidence and to provide them the tools to become strong self-advocates

Sponsored by the Metuchen Special Education Parent Advisory Council, this event is being coordinated by SEPAC member Mary Ellen DeMary, who can be reached at 732-585-9093.

Middlesex County College/East Brunswick Public Schools

Middlesex County College and East Brunswick Public Schools signed an agreement officially launching the MCC/East Brunswick High School College Pathways program, according to a news release.

This initiative provides East Brunswick High School students the opportunity to earn an associate degree by taking college courses while still in high school. At present, more than 450 East Brunswick High School students have registered for 40 classes. Courses include mathematics, English, public speaking, accounting, computer science, natural sciences, history, political science and psychology, and world languages.

Middlesex County College

Middlesex County College in Edison will offer a free training program for unemployed and dislocated workers in industrial electro-mechanical technology. The course will teach workers how to operate, troubleshoot, repair and maintain a variety of electro-mechanical systems in a wide variety of machines, including heaters, coolers, furnaces, pumps, compressors, blowers and lathes.

An information session, which provides details, will be conducted Friday, Jan. 20 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.. For more information and to register, call 732-906-4681 or email awalsh@middlesexcc.edu.

The course is run by the New Jersey Talent Development Center for Advanced Manufacturing, which is funded by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools

The baseball field on the East Brunswick Campus of the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools has been named Field of the Year in New Jersey by a field managers’ group.

The field, renamed earlier this year to honor the late MCVTS athletic director Raymond Cipperly, was honored by the Sports Field Managers Association, which also gave honorable mention to the fields on the MCVTS Piscataway and Perth Amboy campuses.

The awards were accepted by MCVTS grounds foreman Ryan Radcliffe Dec. 7 at the New Jersey Turf and Landscape Expo in Atlantic City.

The group praised the East Brunswick field as an “exemplary contribution to improving the safety, playability and appearance of sports fields.”

“All three of our fields are top-notch compared to a lot of high schools and even colleges,” said Radcliffe, a Spotswood resident who has been with the district for three years after working for the Lakewood Blue Claws professional baseball team for 10 years.

“I’d put our field up against Princeton and Rutgers,” Radcliffe added.

“I am extremely privileged to have a grounds crew that is capable of maintaining an award-winning baseball field like Cipperly Field,” said Michael Pede, MCVTS director of athletics, health and physical education. “There is so much behind the scenes work that is involved in a baseball field. Ryan Radcliffe and his crew do an outstanding job.”

Pede pointed out that the Middlesex County baseball championship will be played at Cipperly Field in May.

The fields were constructed during the tenure of Cipperly, a Monroe resident who died in 2015 at the age of 66. He was an MCVTS employee for 45 years, starting as a physical education teacher and varsity baseball coach in East Brunswick and then serving as athletic director for the district for almost 20 years. He also was the head groundskeeper for the Somerset Patriots professional baseball team from 1999 to 2010.
The Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School District, the first full-time county vocational school district in the nation, has seven schools on five campuses, in East Brunswick, Edison, Piscataway, Perth Amboy and Woodbridge.

More information is available at www.mcvts.net.
 

New Brunswick High School

The Office of Admissions at Ramapo College of New Jersey recently named the recipient of the Nancy Jaeger Award for Excellence in Counseling at the annual College Counselor Luncheon held in Friends Hall.

Karen Simmons, a counselor with New Brunswick High School, was chosen for the 2016 award. She was selected from dozens of counselors who have “gone above and beyond to continually connect great students with Ramapo College,” said Director of Admissions Peter Rice.

“We are delighted and proud to honor a wonderful counselor like Karen.  She is wonderful representative of Ramapo and a guiding light to the thousands of students she has counseled throughout her career,” Rice said.

Simmons also is a 1986 graduate of Ramapo College.

Ramapo Admissions Counselor Priyanka Singh is the College’s assigned representative to New Brunswick High School and visited the school earlier this year to meet with interested students.

"When I first spoke with Ms. Simmons, she proudly mentioned she was a fellow alumna of Ramapo College. She was extremely excited to have me meet with her students at New Brunswick High School and talk to them about opportunities they can take advantage of at Ramapo, just as she did during her time here as a student," Singh said. 

This is the third year Ramapo has bestowed the award, which was named for the College’s former Director of Admissions, who fostered close relationships with guidance counselors across the state over her nearly 40-year career at Ramapo College.

More than 100 counselors from high schools in New Jersey, New York and surrounding states joined Ramapo College students and staff from student-based offices for the luncheon.

Sayreville Middle School

Sayreville Middle School will present Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella" at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14.

All performances will take place at the Sayreville War Memorial High School Auditorium 820 Washington Road, Parlin

Ticket prices are $8 for adults and $6 for children ages 10 and under. Children 3 and under get in free. All tickets are general admission.

Questions regarding tickets can be directed to Marie Malara at 732-887-2998 or malara97@aol.com 

Seton Hall University

Amanda Baszak of South River was named to the dean's list for the spring 2016 semester at Seton Hall University of Nursing in South Orange.

Stevenson University

The following Central Jersey residents at Stevenson University in Owings, Mills Maryland, were inducted into the Tri Beta honor society: Jane Donato of Plainsboro and Meghan Fratesi of Piscataway.

St. Joseph's University

Brandon Baszak of South River was named to the dean's list for the spring 2016 semester at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Haub School of Business.

The State University of New York

Sean Kacerosky of Kendall Park was named to the dean's list at The State University of New York at Potsdam. Students must achieve a grade-point average of 3.25 and 3.49.

The Wardlaw-Hartridge School

Edison resident Ray Huang, a sophomore at The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison, and two of his teammates from the New Jersey Table Tennis Club of Westfield captured the U.S. Open Junior Boys Team Table Tennis title in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Starting in 1934, the annual U.S. Open is the longest currently running table tennis tournament in the United States. The event regularly attracts more than 1,000 of the most talented table tennis players from the United States and all around the world and thousands of spectators enjoy watching the games.

The youngest member of the team, Huang has been playing competitively since a young age. He hopes his success will make more of his friends interested in table tennis so he can share the fun and excitement with them, he said in a school news release.

ALSO:  The Upper School at The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison presented its annual Winter Concert and Art Show on Dec. 8. Parents, faculty and friends perused many fine works of art in the hallways before entering the AP Room for an entertaining evening of music.

Students, guided by veteran art teacher Gale Goldman, created their own interpretations of the still life image of a motorcycle. They used different media, colors and motifs to fill the display cases with a fabulous array of visual art.

The concert included performances by the Sax Quartet, MadJazz, Concert Band, MadJazz Men, MadJazz Women, Jazz Band and Concert Choir. The Band and Choir invited guests to participate in the finale, George Frederic Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.

Union County College

The Office of Continuing Education at Union County College has posted the spring 2017 brochure online. Classes are offered for adults and seniors, as well as youth ages 11 to 18.

Programs run from the end of January through May. Online registration is now open for all programs. The Office of Continuing Education offers non-credit classes for professional development, career enhancement, leisure and personal enrichment, English as a Second Language (ESL), and courses in Spanish.

New professional development classes being offered during the spring semester include Career Planning and Exploration; CISCO Introduction to Cyber Security; Data Science Professional Certificate Program; Digital Marketing Essentials; Facility Management Professional (FMP®); Microsoft Windows 10; Microsoft Office Suite including Access, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Project; and PMP Exam Preparation.

New enrichment classes being offered include All-Level Oil/Acrylic Painting; Appliance Repair for Homeowners and Landlords; Chair to Mat Yoga Flow; Cheese 101: Exploring American and European Artisan Cheese; Estate Planning; Gluten Free Living; History of Rock ‘n’ Roll; Making your Education Count: From Debts to Assets; Quilting; and Salsa.

For more information on these classes, view the brochure online at www.ucc.edu/noncredit. To enroll online, go to http://www.ucc.edu/noncredit/instantenrollment.aspx. One can also enroll by calling the Office of Continuing Education at 908-709-7600 or by visiting the office at the College’s Cranford campus, at 1033 Springfield Ave.

Union University

Abigail Comfort Cudjoe of Sayreville received a bachelor's degree in nursing from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, on Dec. 17.

University of the Sciences

The following Central Jersey residents studying to be physician assistants at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, received their white coats on Dec. 16: Yati Patel of Somerset and Mandy Yi of Edison.

Western New England University

New Brunswick resident Blair Cook, a student at Western New England University in Springfield, Massachusetts, presented a new product design at the Western New England University's recent second annual products innovation showcase.The product innovation showcase is the culmination of a co-curricular course where entrepreneurial teams of engineering and business students collaborate for a full semester to turn new product ideas into marketable products, some of which could potentially receive patents.

York College of Pennsylvania

The following Central Jersey residents at York College of Pennsylvania received their degrees on Dec. 21: Kyle Gora of Old Bridge, bachelor's degree in recreation and leisure administration; Margaret Valentinoof South Plainfield, bachelor's degree in public relations; Christopher Miehe of Edison, bachelor's degree in engineering management; and Aimee Wilson of Metuchen, bachelor's degree in biology, cum laude.

Student and School news appears Fridays. Email:hntmetro@mycentraljersey.com