Time for Kids
Reporter Finalist
Caroline Palmer, a third grade student at Maurice Hawk Elementary School, earned one of 22 finalist spots in the TIME for Kids Reporter contest for her story, “Super Massive Black Holes and the Red Shift.”
Palmer, 8, of West Windsor was one of 400 children nationwide who entered the contest.
“Caroline is a huge fan of space,” says her mother, Victoria, who saves newspaper articles about things she thinks would be interesting to her daughter.
Last spring she noticed that Dr. Neta Bahcall, the professor of astronomy at Princeton University, was talking about “Dark Energy” to the Junior Astronomer’s Club of Princeton and told her daughter about it.
“At the same time, I pulled out Caroline’s homework folder from her backpack, and saw a copy of TIME For Kids,” she says. “In the upper right-hand corner there was an ad that said, ‘You can be a TIME For Kids Reporter, too! Just send us your story!’ I asked Caroline if she wanted to do a story. She said she wanted to do a story on the scientist at Princeton.
Caroline interviewed Bahcall and wrote a 300-word essay: “Super Massive Black Holes and the Red Shift”
Caroline is involved in many activities. She will start her second year as a Brownie Girl Scout has been taking lessons at the American Repertory Ballet’s Princeton’s Ballet School since she was four years old, is a Green Belt in Taekwondo, plays softball, and loves to write and draw.
A big-time reader, she is fanatical about Harry Potter and is reading the series for the third time. This summer she took a class in writing and drawing for cartoons at Princeton Day School. She wrote her own comic book with the Harry Potter characters in it.
She is also interested in interviewing people and about journalism. Her brothers are Benjamin, 6, a first grade student at Hawk; and Aaron, 2.
Eagle Scout Project
Alex Rohrbach, a junior at High School South, recently completed his Eagle Scout Project focusing on planning and constructing a gaga court, Israeli dodge ball, at Community Middle School. Scouts from Troop 40, friends, and family members all contributed to this project. His advisor is Wayne Monsees, an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 40.
Rohrbach, 16, has been a scout since first grade. Arthur Downs, the principal at Community expressed interest in the course when he noticed that his students enjoyed playing it at outdoor education in sixth grade.
Successful Benefit
Zahid Syed, 15, a sophomore at High School North, recently organized a benefit evening for Trenton Area Soup Kitchen through the Community Alliance for Peace. The event, held at Passage to India restaurant, was attended by several TASK board members and prominent Muslims from the Mercer County area.
The program began with a moment of silence and a short prayer by Syed, who made the invitations, handled the RSVPs, coordinated the food services at the restaurant, greeted the guests, and handed out flyers at his local mosque to encourage guests to attend the event.
“I have been volunteering at TASK for the last two years and have seen the important role the soup kitchen serves in people’s lives,” Syed says. “In the last 12 months, the number of people coming for meals has grown tremendously and I really wanted to do something to help. With Ramadan approaching, we wanted to help out our neighbors, who are less fortunate”
Syed’s past community activities include Pennies for Peace, a Central Asia Institute program to raise funds for the education of girls in Afghanistan, and Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. He is also involved in an annual Thanksgiving Interfaith dinner at the Islamic Center of Central Jersey. This summer he volunteered at a community hospital on Long Island, New York. At North he is involved in Model Congress, and is a member of the track team.
“We coordinated the event to coincide with the start of Ramadan, which is the Muslim month of fasting as it is the duty of Muslims to take care of our neighbors,” says his mother, Simin, who has her own law practice in Manhattan. His father, Sajid Syed, is president of Acro Pharmaceuticals, a biotech distributor in Philadelphia.
“This event was important because many people in our community do not realize that there are so many hungry people living so close to us,” he says. “Usually, when we think of hunger, we think of places far away, but I wanted our community to know that we have people living so close to us that need our help.”
“Charity is one of the important pillars of Islam and it is incumbent on every Muslim to take care of their neighbors.” said Dr. Abdul Mughal, chairman of the Community Alliance for Peace. TASK is a charitable, non-profit organization whose mission is to provide meals to all those who are hungry, providing services to encourage self-sufficiency and improve quality of life, informing the wider community of the needs of the hungry, and advocating for resources to meet these needs. The benefit raised $30,000.
Honor Cadet
Alex Galkowski of West Windsor, a rising junior at Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville and a cadet in the John T. Dempster Jr. Division in Lawrenceville, was named the 2009 Battalion Honor Cadet for the U.S. Navy Sea Cadet Corps Region One recruit training at a graduation ceremony on July 29.
The designation is the highest honor awarded to a recruit at boot camp, an event that took place over 10 days at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. The battalion included 125 recruits, who were trained in basic seamanship, fire fighting, military courtesy, and first aid; and field exercises in water survival and obstacle course. They were tested in each area and also had to pass a physical training test.
In College
Rutgers University: Neeraj Venkatesan of Plainsboro and Christopher Bergman of West Windsor are presidential scholars. Both June graduates of High School North, they were selected for the scholarship through an essay to demonstrate potential contribution to Rutgers’ diverse community through a record of specialized talents, leadership, community service, and work experience.
“The largest group of Presidential Scholars to date reflects the growing number of high-achieving New Jersey students who are applying to and enrolling at Rutgers,” said Courtney McAnuff, vice president for enrollment management. “The profile of our first-year students continues to rise as these students and their families consider the benefits, both economic and academic, of staying in New Jersey and attending their state university.”
Engagement
Keri Zoog and David Hammer are planning a September, 2010, wedding on Long Beach Island.
The bride-to-be is the daughter of Rick and Irene Zoog of Plainsboro. A graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, Class of 1997; and Penn State University, she is an advertising sales manager covering the New York City/Boston area with Inc Magazine.
The prospective bridegroom is the son of Nancy Hammer and the late Steve Hammer of Maplewood. A graduate of Columbia High School and Syracuse University, he is a vice president and fixed income trader at Morgan Stanley in New York City.
Births
The University Medical Center at Princeton has announced the following births:
A son was born to West Windsor residents Jessica and David Munro, August 25.
Daughters were born to West Windsor residents Nicole and William Dunigan, August 26; Mary and Norihzro Kondo, August 26; and Lauren B. and David D. Sgro, August 27.
Deaths
Mary Rivero Conlon, 87, of Monroe Township died August 23, at the Elms of Cranbury. Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, Joseph E. and Susan Conlon III of West Windsor. Donations may be made to Catholic Relief Charities, www.CRS.org.
Catherine Mary Dalcourt, 82, died August 28, at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. Survivors include son and daughter-in-law, Albert and Kathy, and their children, Victoria, Paige, and Richard of Plainsboro.
Bartholomew Patrick Kelleher, 77, of Concord, North Carolina died August 28, at the Levine & Dickson Hospice house. Survivors include a son, Dennis Kelleher of Plainsboro. Donations may be made to the Levine & Dickson Hospice House, 11900 Vanstory Drive, Huntersville, NC 28078.
Catherine Marie Wilson, 46, of Plainsboro, died August 28, due to injuries received in an automobile accident in Neptune. Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, she was a longtime career employee of Finast and Stop and Shop supermarkets.
Survivors include her son, Christopher Michael Wilson of Plainsboro; sisters, Beverly Bowen of Clinton, Connecticut, and Donna Melcher of Branford, Connecticut; brother, John Wilson of Nantucket, Massachusetts; and her parents, George and Patricia Wilson of Dunnellon, Florida.
Mary Jeanette (Suttmeier) O’Reilly, 85, of Hightstown died August 29. Born in Richmond Hill, New York, she was raised in West Windsor, and lived in Hightstown for more than 60 years. She was employed by Central Jersey Farmers Cooperative in Hightstown and retired from McGraw-Hill in 1991.
Survivors include her sister and brother-in-law, June and Jack Stives of Pennsylvania, and her sister, Louise Fackas of Lawrenceville; her sons and daughters-in-law, Thomas J. and Jane A. O’Reilly of Mercerville, and Lawrence M. and Cynthia M. O’Reilly of Hamilton Square; her daughter and son-in-law, Mari O. and Gary R. Vance of East Windsor; and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Donations may be made to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), 28 Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 180, East Brunswick 08816.
John Fountain “Jack” Hundley, 86, of Joplin, Missouri, died August. Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, John W. and Roseann Hundley of Plainsboro; and grandchildren Evan P. Hundley and Kathryn E. Hundley, both of Plainsboro.
Nancy Joan Ramage, 57, of Fort Worth, Texas died September 1. Survivors include a sister, Kathy Farrell of West Windsor.
Elizabeth V. O’Neill Wagner, 93, died on September 5. Born in Bordentown, she grew up in Burlington before moving to the Yardville area in 1946. Wagner enjoyed traveling and was an avid dancer.
She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Ferdinand Wagner Sr.; four sons and daughters-in-law, Fred Wagner Jr., and John Wagner with whom she resided, Bill and Judy Wagner of Hamilton, and David and Karen Wagner of West Windsor; one daughter and son-in-law, Anne Marie and Bob Giangrasso of Hopewell; and seven grandchildren.
Richard J. Samuels, 81, of Berkeley, died September 1. Samuels was born in Jersey City and lived in Howell for 20 years before moving to Berkeley in 1995.
He was a foreman and carpenter for Blackstone Manufacturing, East Brunswick from 1964 to 1990. He was a member of the Fritz Reuter German Club of North Bergen.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Doris (nee Deeley); a son, Richard W. of Plainsboro; a daughter, Mary E. Costa and her husband Richard of Eatontown; and four grandchildren, Randall and Ryan Costa and Krista and Autumn Samuels.
In lieu of flowers, make donations to Ocean County Hunger Relief, 917-5 N. Main St., Toms River, NJ 08753.
Cecelia M. Starzynski, 94, of West Windsor died Tuesday, September 1, at Compassionate Care St. Francis Hospital, Trenton.
Born in Perth Amboy, she was a lifelong resident until moving to West Windsor nine years ago. Cecelia was employed in the Sportsman Trophy factory and had previously worked as an embroiderer at the Handkerchief Company. She was a member of St. Stephens Church, Perth Amboy. She was an avid gardener.
Predeceased by her husband, Stanley; her four brothers, and one sister. She is survived by her son, Jerry Starzynski and his wife,Marion; and several nieces and nephews.
Nicholas Trani Jr., 61, of Hamilton Township, died on September 1, at Capital Health Systemat Fuld, Trenton. Born in Trenton, he resided in Princeton for 12 years, West Windsor for 10 years, and for the past 30 years in Hamilton Township.
Nicholas retired in 2005 after 40 years as a construction laborer foreman for the Princeton Laborers Local 50.He was the owner/operator of Trani Construction Co., Hamilton, for the past 20 years.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his name to American Cancer Society, Mercer County Chapter, 3076 Princeton Pike, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648.
