#b#Born to Perform#/b#
Ethan Daniel Levy has been a performer since he was cast in his first show as a student at Grover Middle School, and now he can add a few more titles to his resume: writer, director, and producer.
The 2009 graduate of High School South and former Plainsboro resident recently completed his first short film, “October Pain,” for which he was the writer, director, producer, and lead actor. The film was shot in 17 hours on a $3,500 budget. The 10-minute film has the tagline “In life, pain is inevitable. However, we are all given a choice as to how we cope with that pain.”
The film has been selected for the 2016 Online Film Festival and Women’s Only Entertainment Film Festival.
Levy, who graduated from Rider in 2015, was inspired to create his own film after finishing his work as a supporting actor in an independent film. “I simply could not, and did not want to wait for the right role to come my way,” he says. “I chose to take matters into my own hands and create it. You cannot wait around for things to happen, you must be proactive.”
#b#National Merit Scholarships#/b#
Several students from WW-P high schools were recently named recipients of corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarships.
Winners were selected from among 1.5 million students nationwide for the scholarships on the basis of their PSAT scores and detailed applications. Corporate sponsors offer awards to finalists who are children of employees, residents of communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue majors or careers encouraged by the sponsor.
Winners from High School South and their sponsors include William L. Jiao (Dow Jones) of Plainsboro and Yanjie Qiu (Bristol-Myers Squibb) and Chong Xia (Novartis) of West Windsor.
Winners from High School North and their sponsors include Alan Xu (Bristol-Myers Squibb) and Benjamin T. Yang (ADP Henry Taub Memorial) of Plainsboro and Lucy Ye (Bristol-Myers Squibb) of West Windsor.
#b#Young Artists#/b#
Village School students Ronak Shah and Prisha Oza were honored for their entries in the 2015-’16 State PTA Reflections arts in education program. Shah’s artwork, titled “The Dancer,” received an honorable mention in the music category, and Oza’s “Peacock Dance” received a merit award in the dance category. The awards honor imagination, creativity, and interpretation of the theme “Let Your Imagination Fly.”
Shah and Oza presented their works during an awards ceremony on April 16 at the Crowne Plaza in Plainsboro.
#b#In College#/b#
Stephanie Briffa of West Windsor was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society. A 2013 graduate of High School North, she is pursuing a degree in communications at the University of Michigan.
Aditya Parikh, a Plainsboro resident and 2012 graduate of High School North, will pursue a PhD in physics at Harvard University beginning this fall. He is also the recipient of the National Science Foundation Award.
#b#Gold Award#/b#
Shruti Jain, a Plainsboro resident and senior at High School North, recently earned her Girl Scout Gold Award for her project, “Compilation of Directory of Funding Sources for Programs for Special Needs Programs.”
With her project Jain hoped to address the issue of underfunded special needs programs in the community that are typically run by nonprofit organizations and face steep costs for specialized equipment and workers. To assist these groups Jain sought to compile a list of organizations that offer funding, ultimately generating a directory of 30 groups. She noted that community groups have to be creative when applying for funding, since grant money is sometimes categorized under “children” or “community” instead of “special needs.” She also developed a survey for parents to assess the effectiveness of existing programs.
As part of her project Jain also volunteered in the aftercare at Mercer Elementary School, offered by YMCA Hamilton for the children in Mercer County Special School Services District, and organized a craft workshop for children. Jain, who herself has a physical disability, felt a special connection to the children as a former student of a Special Services District preschool.
Jain is a member of Troop 70871, led by Laurie Renz and Tephanie Meiers. Her mentor was Kate Henkel. She also worked closely with LeighAnne Petrangeli and Minal Patel of YMCA Hamilton. Her father is a pharmaceutical scientist at Celgene and her mother is an accounting manager in the grants and contracts department at Rutgers University.
Next year Jain plans to continue her vocational program at Mercer County Community College.
#b#In Business#/b#
Michael T. Pidgeon of the Alexander Road-based law firm Pidegon & Pidgeon has been named to Super Lawyers Magazine’s list of rising stars in estate and trust litigation for the third consecutive year. A graduate of Washington and Lee University, Pidgeon previously clerked for Neil Shuster in state superior court.
