Girl Scout Awards
Sixty-five Girl Scouts, all from West Windsor and Plainsboro, earned bronze, silver, and gold awards. They were honored by Girls Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey for their leadership and project management skills.
The Gold Award, the highest award a Girl Scout can earn, represents several years of research, project development, implementation, and the use of leadership skills to enlist the help of others to make the project successful. The award was received by Allison Shook, Troop 71014; Kimberly Clifton, Troop 71018; and Emily Straley, an independent scout.
Shook’s community service project, “Games Galore,” included her creation of a game book reference that is currently being used by the West Windsor-Plainsboro Community Education Extended Day Program. She gathered ideas for indoor and outdoor activities, which targeted both small and large groups of school children. Her troop leaders are Nancy Olsson and Ilene Janofsky.
In Clifton’s community service project, “HomeFront Waiting Room Makeover,” she renovated the family waiting room at HomeFront, a nonprofit agency that provides services for the poor and homeless in Mercer County. She built a child-size table and puppet theater, painted a mural at the HomeFront Family Preservation Center, and organized a toy drive to benefit HomeFront. Her troop leaders are Anne Clifton and Ana Dhulekar. Her advisor was Joan Ruddiman.
Straley’s community service project, “Healthy Eating for a Healthy Heart Health Fair,” focused on school-aged children in West Windsor and Plainsboro. She organized a health fair with the University Medical Center at Princeton, Jazzercise, and the American Heart Association.
Silver Awards were presented to girls from five troops.
Girls from Troop 70677, led by Louisa Ho, Lisa Heyse, Rochelle Stern, and Alka Chodhari, implemented eight projects. The following scouts earned their Silver Awards: Nikita Barde and Abigail Stern for “Foster Kids Holiday Party;” Lauren Kullmann and Rebecca Van Dyke for “Birthday Cakes for the Underprivileged;” Priyanka Chodhari, Nikita Gupta and Shilvi Shah for “Backyard Campouts for Younger Scouts;” Alison Aimers for “Wheelchairs Around the World;” Megan Donnelly and Kimberly Kullmann for “Cool Cupcake Creations for Camp;” Priyanka Nischal for “Looking Your Best Badge;” Amy Laresch for “Angel’s Wings;” and Katie May for “Martin House Summer Soccer Program.”
Troop 71480 Girl Scouts, led by Jan Costantino and Dale L’Insalata, implemented four community service projects. Alexa L’Insalata and Natalie Sarchiapone for “Let Us Entertain You;” Riddhima Kapoor for “Helping Hands;” Halley Costantino and Karin Sugeno for “A Taste of the Eight Basic Skills;” and Lauren Palena from Troop 71836, for “Biscuit Baking for Homeless Pups.”
Two girls from Troop 71490, led by Becky Grant and Diane Hasling, implemented two projects to serve girl scouts at the annual camping event in May. These projects are “Badge Workshops at Service Unit Camping” by Cassandra Perez and “Badge Workshops at Service Unit Camping” by Marlena Bhame.
Leaders Wendy Kramer and Elizabeth Carnevale of Troop 71500 advised five scouts for their Silver Awards. These projects were “History of Girl Scouting” by Rebecca Finnie; “Hunger in Our Community” by Pooja Kondeti and Carly Purus; and “Leading a Brownie Troop” by Emily Carnevale and Emily Kramer.
The Bronze Award is the highest honor awarded to Junior Girl Scouts with a teamwork approach. This season’s recipients represent three troops.
From Troop 70145, led by Shipra Mitra and Catherine Hughes, two projects were completed. “Cherry Tree Club Lunches” by Anushree Ashley Desai, Madison Hughes, Natalie Migliore, Nikita Nangia, and Saloni Sharma; and “Fundraising for Cherry Tree Club Lunches” by Michelle Hughes and Pia Mitra Pal.
Scouts from Troop 70216, led by Kate Henkel and Sandra Madison, earn Bronze Awards for four projects. Chloe Berger, Katrina Beske, Allie Dignan, Anna Henkel, and Aashna Tilve for “Cherry Tree Club Hot Meals;” Kacy Lane, Julia Laresch, Chloe Madison, and Shivani Patel for “TASK Cake Baking;” Radhika Gupta, Kate McManus, Reagan Ritterbush, and Ritu Vyas for “SAVE Toy Creations & Donations;” and “Learn to Scrapbook” by Emma Kothari.
The scouts of Troop 70619, worked as a team on their project titled “Preserving Zaitz Preserve.” Girl Scouts Gillian Adair, Penelope Benkard, Lauren Gronich, Caroline Hoge, Taylor Hoogsteden, Shannon Lerner, Marisa Loury, Erin O’Brien, Taylor Pacelli, and Muskaan Rastogi planted and mulched 11 shade trees and five ornamental bushes at the Zaitz Preserve on Southfield Road. Work was completed with the assistance of Dan Dobromilsky, West Windsor’s landscape architect. This troop’s leaders are Pat Hoge and Teresa Adair.
For more information about joining Girl Scouts in West Windsor and Plainsboro, as a girl or an adult volunteer, E-mail Louisa.ho@verizon.net.
New Pharmacy
The Family Pharmacy has opened up in the Princeton Arms Shopping Center located on Old Trenton Road, and manager Dipak Saraiya is bringing years of experience in the industry with him.
Saraiya, a resident of East Windsor, said he saw a need for a pharmacy in the area, since the nearest pharmacy was 1.7 miles away, and residents in the apartments and Village Grande adult community could benefit from the closer location.
“For those apartments, it’s a walkable distance,” he said, adding that the area has a good community with established needs.
This is the first location Saraiya, who has built a career working in various pharmacies in New York City, has opened. He holds a degree in pharmacy and has previous experience working in the pharmaceutical industry.
“We do free delivery in the local neighborhoods,” he said. “We can arrange for any special medications,” and the store provides an ATM, he added. Store hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The pharmacy is closed Sunday.
Family Pharmacy, 2025 Old Trenton Road. Phone: 609-426-0441. E-mail: familypharmacyofww@gmail.com.
In College:
Bucknell University: Dean’s list includes Hilary R. Freed, West Windsor; High School South, Class of 2008; and Grant D. Weekes, West Windsor; High School South, Class of 2009.
James Madison University: Bilguun Enkhbayar, High School South, Class of 2007, is on the president’s list. He is a senior.
Off to Nationals
Emiko Edwards, 18, a senior at High School North, won the Music Teachers National Association’s (MTNA) Eastern Division Piano Performance Competition (for senior performance), held at Ithaca College on January 9. Edwards will now compete with the other regional winners in the MTNA National Finals in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 21. Her performance program will include works of J.S. Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, and Barber.
Her recent performances include her Juilliard Pre-College senior recital at Juilliard School in December; a solo piano recital in Woodstock, New York; and at the Union League, in Philadelphia, for the benefit of Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Last year she received awards from the Princeton Festival Piano Competition, the Greater Princeton Steinway Society, and the 5 Towns Music & Art Foundation Young Musician Competition.
Edwards, who also plays cello, is a member of the High School North orchestra. She has both organized and performed at numerous concerts for the benefit of senior citizens at managed care facilities in New Jersey and performed at Patriots Theater at the Trenton War Memorial to benefit the Hope for Henry Foundation.
Musical Notes
Gautam Ramesh, 9, recently won second place at the International Golden Key Music Composition competition. The winners’ compositions will be included in the program of the Golden Key of Vienna International Music Festival and performed at the World Young Composers’ recital in Vienna, Austria, in July. His winning piece for the piano is called Tarantella in D Locrian scale.
Ramesh has played the piano since he was three and composed since he was four. He has studied under Julie Reina and Georgiana Rosca, and his composition teacher is Ryan Brechmaker. His recent pieces include as many as five instruments. He composes scores using Finale music software. He also plays the recorder.
Ramesh has won various competitions and played solo at the Kimmel Center at the age of six and more recently at Carnegie Hall, at the age of eight. He has won the three-year achievement awards for winning three years at both the NJMTA music competition and the Golden Key piano competition.
His mother, Pady Ganapathy, works in the pharmaceutical industry. His father, Ramesh Nagarajan, is director of strategy at Alcatel Lucent. The family has lived in West Windsor since 2005.
As a fourth grader at Princeton Day School, he studies seventh grade math and is interested in philosophy and linguistics. He studies Indian phonetics with his mother and can read and write Tamil and Sanskrit. He is also on the Princeton Junior Squash team and the WW-P U9 travel soccer team.
Eric Hsu, a cellist and freshman at High School North, has been selected to perform in the JCC Thurnauer School of Music’s Handler master class on Monday, February 8, at 4 p.m. Hsu will perform for cellist Fred Sherry, faculty member at Juilliard, Mannes, and Manhattan Schools of Music.
Hsu, a student of Kristin Palombit and Jonathan Spitz, is a member of the High School North String Ensemble, Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey’s Symphonic Orchestra, and is in the CJMEA Regional II orchestra.
Business
Snehamay Banerjee of Plainsboro has been elected president of the Decision Sciences Institute’s northeast region. A 3,500-member international professional organization, it is dedicated to advancing knowledge and improving instruction in business disciplines.
A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Banerjee received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1974 and his master’s degree in industrial engineering in 1976. He received his master’s degree in information systems in 1985 and his doctoral degree in information systems and operations research in 1989 from the University of Maryland, College Park. Banerjee teaches database systems, telecommunications, networks, and E-commerce technologies to both undergraduate business and MBA students at Rutgers School of Business, Camden.
Banjeree, who has worked with the U.S. Small Business Administration to help small businesses handle e-comm issues, has worked with several historically black colleges on projects designed to assist minority-owned businesses.
Births
The University Medical Center at Princeton has announced that a daughter was born to Plainsboro residents Jayshree Chaudhari and Ameya Paranjape, January 5.
