Awards For Service & Leadership
Jinny Baeckler, Plainsboro Library director, received the first community service award from Plainsboro Business Partnership. Although the first award was decided by the committee members, future awards will require nominations.
The Plainsboro Business Partnership is comprised of business owners, township residents, and community leaders who are dedicated to promoting the spirit of Plainsboro via the patronage of local establishments and community resources. Visit www.myplainsboro.com for more information and updates via twitter and E-mail.
Leslie Burger of West Windsor, director of Princeton Public Library, will receive a Community Leader of the Year award from the Princeton Area Chamber of Commerce at the gala at Jasna Polana on Tuesday, November 30. She also serves as the secretary for the library board of trustees and for the Library Foundation board of directors. She was previously a consultant with Library Development Solutions, a firm she founded in 1991.
Burger is a recognized speaker, writer, and consultant on library issues such as staff development, planning, evaluation, organizational development, pay equity, and the future challenges facing libraries.
Halloween Meals
WW-P Girl Scout Troop 70600 prepared a Halloween meal for 27 preschool students at the Cherry Tree Club preschool in West Windsor in late October. The menu included an orange dip with black chips (Velveeta and salsa dip with blue corn chips) for an appetizer. Brains and eyeballs with blood on the side for main course (spaghetti and meatballs with spaghetti sauce). For dessert the girls made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with Halloween shapes. Participating scouts included Aana Bansal, RaeLynn Chapman, Ashika Ganesh, Dani Henkel, Tasneem Maner, Brielle Robertson, and Rebecca Schwartz.
If you are interested in joining girl scouts as a scout or adult volunteer contact Louisa Ho at 609-371-2119 or send an E-mail to girlscoutswwp@verizon.net.
Coat Drive
Students and staff from Millstone River School and Village School collected more than 300 coats for Martin House in Trenton. The coat drive, held on October 23, was the 15th annual coat drive. Over the years more than 7,000 coats have been donated.
“On this National Make a Difference Day, students and staff made a difference for those less fortunate,” says teacher Joanne DeGoria. The motto for the two schools with students in grades 4 and 5, is “Lend a Hand, Warm a Heart.”
In College
Boston University: Emily Rudofsky of Plainsboro is studying abroad through the school’s international programs office. A theater arts major at the College of Fine Arts, she is in London through the end of the fall semester.
Johns Hopkins
Cites Young Talent
Many students from West Windsor and Plainsboro were recently honored at a statewide awards ceremony for gifted children held by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. Awards were based on an exceptional performance on a rigorous, above-grade-level test given to second through eighth grade talent search participants. Seventh and eighth graders took the SAT or ACT — the same tests used for college admissions. Second through sixth graders took the SCAT, an above-level test scaled for younger students.
“With our annual award ceremonies, we’re committed to giving these exceptional young people a stage on which to recognize their academic achievements, just as we celebrate achievements in athletics or the performing arts,” said CTY executive director, Lea Ybarra. “Their performance places them in the top tier of students taking these tests, and they certainly deserve acclaim. They possess an academic fearlessness and intellectual ability that will benefit their entire generation.”
Since 1979, CTY has sought the most academically able elementary and middle school students each year and encouraged their enrollment in CTY’s annual talent search. Students enrolled go on to test through the fall and spring. The results of these tests give families a better idea of a child’s academic talents, particularly in comparison to the thousands of other academically talented students.
Students can also earn recognition at CTY’s awards ceremonies, and their test scores may qualify them for CTY’s summer programs and distance education courses. New Jersey’s 2010 Awards Ceremonies were held at Rowan University on Sunday, October 10; Seton Hall University on Saturday and Sunday, October 23 and 24; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey on Saturday, October 30; and Drew University on Saturday, November 6.
Top in country award recipients include Steven Pan of Plainsboro, a student at Community Middle School; and Yinan Zheng of West Windsor, a student at Grover Middle School. Both seventh grade students scored high in ACT, SAT, and STB exams.
High honors certificates were received for SCAT exams by many students in WW-P including:
Community Middle School: Vineeth Amba, Jonathan Chen, Vandana Gollarhalli, Aravind Koneru, Eric Lei, Hannah Mitlak, Viren Sawant, Madhusudham Vasudevan, Crystal Wang, and Alan Xu.
Grover Middle School: Eileen Hu, Shivan Patel, Keshav Ramesh, and Phoebe Wang.
Millstone River School: Priyank Deshpande, Angela Huang, Rohan Joshi, Pranav Pannala, Abhinaya Raghunathan, Daniel Wang, Jonathan Wang, Alexander Xue, and Goutam Yalla.
Village School: Ilene E, Nathan Gong, Anshu Jonnalagadda, Vignesh Maddi, Varun Pandian, Savan Patel, Eshita Sangal, Nalanda Sharadjaya, and Matthew Wang.
Dutch Neck School: Dillanie Sumanthiran and Nicole Tong.
Hawk School: Kevin Guo, Daniel Niedfeldt, and Serena Wang.
Town Center: Tanvi Kanchinadam, Saradha Miriyala, and Thomas Wu.
Chapin School: Neha Chintamaneni.
Noor-Ul-Iman School: Hamza Nagarwala.
Scicore Academy: Sam Hauser, Anika Prakash, Rishi Rajendran, Ronit Sethi, and William Tantoy.
“Parents who support and encourage their children, and teachers who inspire through their knowledge and passion for a subject, create engaged young people who are well prepared to lead and shape tomorrow’s world,” says Ybarra.
Art and Music
Winners
Crystal Lee and Phoebe Wang, both West Windsor residents, were winners in the Sinfonietta Nova “Mahler Art” contest in conjunction with the October 30 performance of Gustav Mahler’s music at High School South.
An art contest was held to encourage listening to recordings of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 prior to the concert with an aim at inspiring the creation of visual images, to increase appreciation for the music, and to celebrate the 150th birthdate of the composer.
“The orchestra’s mission is to reach out to our community to inspire and educate with quality performances of great works of orchestral music,” says Gail Lee, the orchestra’s director and also a West Windsor resident.
