Mini Grants
West Windsor-Plainsboro Education Foundation has awarded $9,”170 in mini-grants for spring 2004.
Recipients include:
Gardens at Dutch Neck, Dori Batavick; Christi Campbell, Mary Jo Gonsiorowski, Jen Houlton, Dutch Neck Elementary School. Third graders will create a butterfly garden to promote learning in the entire school.
Enhancing the Ganske Word Study Program, Ellen Fuller, Dutch Neck Elementary School. Development of a multi-sensory approach to spelling for the benefit of third grade students with learning difficulties.
Enhancing Social Communication Skills in the Classroom, Bonnie Engel Lee, Dutch Neck Elementary School. Dr. Lee, a speech and language specialist, provided social skills training for teachers and instructional assistants to use in the K-3 classrooms.
Learning Science with Tadpoles, Christina Quinn, Maurice Hawk Elementary School. Two hundred first grade students will benefit from a hands-on science experience in which they observe frog eggs from the early stages of life through the complete metamorphosis into a frog.
Exploring Communities in Kenya and Ghana, Ellen Hansen, Town Center Elementary School. This grant will provide 180 second graders with access to Boston Children’s Museum materials that support a hands-on learning experience in a Social Studies unit on African communities.
Facilitating Musicianship & Community through Drumming, Michelle Klink, Town Center Elementary School. This project will allow all students in Grades 1 through 3 at Town Center to become part of a musical ensemble using djembe drums.
Literacy Backpacks, Marcey Mandell, Town Center Elementary School. This grant will enhance the home-school connection and promote literacy for all 55 ESL students by providing a tape player, book, and book-on-tape for use at home.
Millstone River Habitat, Beth Eaves; Sven Strnad, Millstone River School. Centered around a large aquarium displaying representative fish and other aquatic organisms of the Millstone River, this project will utilize student-generated exhibits to educate the school community on the river’s natural history and the various ways that this river ecosystem and WW-P inhabitants have historically impacted one another.
3D Art, Linda Oliver, Millstone River School. This project supports the development of 3D art lessons using clay for the benefit of all 240 fifth grade students at the school.
Resource Library for Special Education Teachers, Debora Ammons, Millstone River School; and Lorell Levy, Town Center Elementary School. This grant, which is a follow-up to a previous award that supported the evaluation of recent research in reaching disabled readers, will support the piloting of new approaches to teaching disabled readers.
Ground Water Quality Survey, Keith Van Doren, Millstone River School. Fourth graders will monitor the effect of Canada geese, fertilizer, and pesticides on the ground water in the community.
Developing Phonological Skills for the At-Risk Preschooler, Karen Dorsey; Holly Gill, Millstone River School. This grant will support the instruction of phonemic awareness to prevent reading failure in at-risk preschool children.
Anatomy in Clay, Virginia Baner, Community Middle School. Approximately 340 seventh grade science students will benefit from this exciting, hands-on approach to learning human anatomy.
The Panther Prowler, Karen Rosnick, Community Middle School. This grant will support the establishment of a student newspaper by the AMIGOS (Addressing Middle School Issues, Giving Options to Students) student group, which provides service, mediation, and assistance within the school and around the community.
Bullying Prevention and Intervention in the Middle School, Ellen Jinks; Jenny Godnick, Grover Middle School. This project is to support initiatives at Grover Middle School to provide a comprehensive bullying prevention and intervention program
The Power of Reflection, Jaymie Reeber Kosa, Grover Middle School. This grant will allow all seventh and eighth grade students to record a performance based on a personal monologue that captures their middle school experiences.
The Building of a Steel Orchestra — Part III, Mark Bencivengo, High School North. The Foundation supported the establishment of the high school’s steel band. This grant will allow more students to participate in its success.
Searching the Web of Life in Plainsboro, NJ, Julie Norato, High School North. Ninth grade science students will form trails and take samplings from the Millstone River in Plainsboro.
Kids Loving Kids, Donna Ritz, Debra Radice; Joseph Cifelli, High School North. High school students will mentor three and four-year-old children who attend the Cherry Tree Program for homeless children.
The West Windsor Plainsboro Education Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the continued excellence of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional Schools. Founded in 1995, the foundation has awarded over $110,”000 in grants for more than 115 innovative projects in the schools. The foundation’s new executive director, Marcia SmithFleres, was profiled in the News, March 5.
Hoagie Day
Students in Team 8D from Grover Middle School made hoagies to include with 100 bagged dinners for HomeFront. The dinners were distributed to needy families in the area.
Student team leaders included Stephanie Bliach, Gary Chung, Liz Downes, Jocelyn Finley, Joe Grossmann, Joe Guan, Haena Lee, Erin McGovern, Pooja Raghavan, DJ Sarkar, Christina Smith, Kristen Stives, Ian Wulf, and Peter Wang.
Students in 8D contributed money to buy the ingredients for the hoagies. They also visited area stores for donations of food items. Sam’s Club donated 100 bags of potato chips and offered reduced prices for the purchase of fruits and juices. McCaffrey’s donated $20 toward the deli supplies. The school’s food services donated sliced tomatoes. Wegmans donated $50 for additional supplies and an area Chinese restaurant donated 100 fortune cookies.
Teacher Tribute
Cynthia Westbrook, choral music teacher at Millstone River School, received a Princeton YWCA Tribute to Women Award at the organization’s annual dinner on Thursday, March 4. Cited for her contributions as president of Princeton Pro Musica’s board of trustees, she has been committed to cultivating new audiences, creating education programs, and developing a fiscal policy for the organization by adding corporate partnerships.
As a music teacher in the district, she has developed a general music curriculum for the middle school and elementary school levels.
At the event, held at the Princeton Hyatt, 15 women from area businesses, organizations, and educational institutions were honored. The program was established nationally by the YWCA to honor women who have made significant contributions in their professions and communities.
Canine Preschoolers
Montessori Corner in Plainsboro celebrates its tenth anniversary with a special visit from a canine companion. When St. Hubert Animal Welfare Center’s humane education specialist visited the campus with a pet therapy dog on Monday, March 15, the canine guest was presented with dog biscuits and cat beds handmade by the students to bring back to shelters in Madison and North Branch. St. Hubert’s cares for close to 4,”500 animals each year. For information about St. Hubert’s, visit www.sthuberts.org.
Governor’s Teacher
West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District’s 2003-2004 Governor’s Teacher Recognition Award Honorees include: Legia Shulan, Dutch Neck Elementary School; Cynthia Jenkins, Maurice Hawk Elementary School; Barbara Larkin, Town Center Elementary School at Plainsboro; Enid Perry, Wicoff Elementary School; Marcia Mears, Millstone River School; Susan Totaro, Village School; Karen Rosnick, Community Middle School; Joan Ruddiman, Thomas R. Grover Middle School; Joseph Cifelli, High School North; and Brian Welsh, High School South.
The Governor’s Teacher Recognition Program was developed in 1985 for the purpose of acknowledging teachers who exhibit outstanding performance.
Musical Notes
Benjamin Sorrell, a senior from High School South, is a member of both the New Jersey All-State Band and the Central Jersey Regional Band. The Central Jersey Regional Band also includes sophomores, Alexa Hoyne and Alan Zhang; and juniors, Derek Sherron, Harrison Ditzion, and Monica Enamandram.
Participants in the senior recital concert, Wednesday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m., at High School South include: Shannon Davis, Erica Tanner, and Derek Sherron, with a mallet piece; Joseph Hunter, Jonathan Lim, Keisuke Yamada, Kevin Koo, Jeffrey Branchek, and Benjamin Sorrell, from the saxophone group; and Ian Jacyszyn on snare solo. Other musicians include Josephine Lee, Lindsay Williamson, Candace Yeh, Gautham Jothi, Elizabeth Heron, Kate Herts, John Degnan, Alan Zhang, Andrew Hoppe, Joseph Yun, and Adam Ferrante.
On Sunday, March 28, the school’s marching band “Bowl-A-Thon” to benefit the band will take place at the Brunswick Zones in East Windsor, from 8 to 10 p.m. Each band member seeks sponsors; donations may be a flat rate or per pin. Call 609-716-5000 for information.
Atkins Research
Jesse de Agustin, an eighth grade student at Grover Middle School, presented research about the controversial Atkins diet at the University Medical Center at Princeton. The audience for his presentation, “The Atkins Diet Is a Safe, Effective Means to Weight Loss and Maintenance,” included Geri Karpiscak, coordinator of cardiac/pulmonary rehabilitation, and her colleagues.
DeAgustin’s research was performed under the supervision of Joan Ruddiman, his research and ROGATE advisor at Grover School. The New Jersey ROGATE program teaches research and critical thinking skills to students in grades 6 to 12 as part of the New Jersey Talent Network.
Cognetics
Hope Jin, a seventh grade student at Community Middle School, is involved in the school’s cognetics program for the second year. Last year her project was “American Handstand” and this year’s project, “‘Tis of Thee,” involves creating a new country. She is working toward her Cognetics Gold Satori Award.
“Doing cognetics requires teamwork and creativity, which will be helpful in the future,” she says. “It also involves discipline, and getting work finished on time is also important.”
A dance student since kindergarten, she will appear in the upcoming production of West Windsor Plainsboro Dance Company’s “The Wizard of Oz” (see story page 34).
Kimberly Li, an eighth grade student at Grover Middle School, is also involved in the cognetics program and is working toward her Gold Award. She recently gave a presentation to the school’s PTSA about the program.
“I explained the importance of the cognetics program to the school and the fundamentals of the program,” says Li. “I also stressed that teamwork and creativity are crucial to succeeding in cognetics and that it motivates students to combine technical research with their own originality and creativity.”
College News
Dean’s List
University of the Arts: Cassandra Hoo of Plainsboro, majoring in scriptwriting for film and television, is on the dean’s list at the College of Media and Communication.
Lehigh University: Adam Perry and Ross Stuart, both of Plainsboro.
Muhlenberg College: Eric Glover, sophomore, majoring in business administration, West Windsor.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Aditya D. Rastogi, senior; Aaron J. Sorrell, sophomore, both of West Windsor.
Saint Joseph’s University: Kristen Charette, West Windsor. She is a junior majoring in elementary education and special education.
Salisbury University: Justin Corrado, West Windsor.
Studying Abroad
Stephanie Dorfman and David Spiegel of Plainsboro and Sarah Burger of West Windsor are spending the spring semester studying in Florence, Italy, through Syracuse University’s Division of International Programs Abroad. Dorfman is a junior in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. Spiegel is a junior in Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. Burger is a junior at Dickinson College.
