#b#Comedy Festival#/b#
Jon Plester of Plainsboro was invited to perform at the annual Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. He and a Temple University classmate will appear Thursday, March 10, at 7 p.m.; and Friday, March 11, at 9 p.m. with their act, “Jon and Ian Have Something to Tell You.”
Plester was born in northern New Jersey and moved to Plainsboro when he was very young. His father, Ian, is managing director of corporate banking at Bank of Montreal. His mother, Diane, is a homemaker. His older brother, Jed, graduated from High School South in 2010, earned a degree from the College of New Jersey, and works at Trilogy in Cranbury.
Jon, a 2012 graduate of High School South, played lacrosse and hockey during high school. He entered Temple to major in film and media production. “I learned about a sketch show at Temple and wanted to shoot digital sketches,” says Plester. “I submitted a pile of sketches to become a writer on the show.”
Comedy may be in his blood. “I grew up on Saturday Night Live,” he says. “My mother was always watching re-runs.” He was soon performing on Philly Improv Theater’s Saturday Night House Team, hosting a variety show, and writing monologues for a late night show. He has also performed at Pittsburgh Improv Festival, as well as studying and workshopping comedy. Plester also interned at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City.
Plester is graduating from Temple in May. “I will not stop doing comedy and I will actively work towards doing it as a professional career,” he says.
In Toronto, he says, “We will be doing a tight 25 minute set of a show we performed in Philadelphia plus our older favorite sketches,” says Plester. “We want to bring our best to Toronto.”
Visit www.torontosketchfest.com for more information.
#b#Awards for Art#/b#
A colorful and creative feast for the eyes greeted more than 100 artists, their supporters, students, and county officials who turned out for the opening reception and awards ceremony for “Mercer County Artists 2016” on February 24. The show features 69 works by 55 artists in a variety of media including oil, acrylic, and watercolor paintings, as well as mixed media collages and 18 sculptures.
Tricia Fagan of West Windsor , the former gallery director at Mercer County Community College, represented the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission.
Aylin Green, executive director of the West Windsor Arts Council, presented awards to West Windsor residents Allison Singer for “Deep in the Park” and Andrew Werth for “Sierpinski.”
The exhibit is on display through Thursday, March 24, at the Gallery at Mercer County Community College on the second floor of the Communications Building on the college’s West Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. Note that the gallery will be closed March 14 to 18. Visit www.mccc.edu/gallery for information.
#b#Seeing Clearly Now#/b#
Rishab Bhandari, a junior at High School South, is passionate about serving his community. On top of maintaining an almost perfect GPA, he founded 20/20 for All, a non-profit organization with the goal of providing gently used eyeglasses to those in need.
“The idea for 20/20 for All started when I went on to the beach, while enjoying some fun in the sun and my glasses broke,” Bhandari writes on his website, www.2020forall.com. “For the next few days, I could not see anything. My life was shaken by the incident and realized the importance of glasses and how privileged I am. After doing some research I realized that thousands of kids are never able to see clearly, while millions of Americans throw away thousands of pairs of perfectly good eyeglasses every year. Our mission is to provide access to used eyeglasses/sunglasses to underprivileged children and adults in developing countries.”
He placed collection boxes at the Princeton Eye Group, Meadow Opticians, Shoprite, and Hightstown Library. After collecting the glasses, he inspects them to ensure they are clean and usable and then measures power. Met with the challenge of having to measure the prescription of each pair of glasses, Bhandari was trained on how to use a lens meter (a device used to measure lens power) from Princeton Eye Group’s optical shop. After prescription measurement, the clean glasses are then photographed and cataloged on his website.
He then contacted needy eye care centers around the world to see if they could use his glasses. His first project was in Rajasthan, India. Bhandari used his allowance to host an event that brought a professional doctor to treat basic eye problems through a joint partnership with Tara Bai Desai Eye Hospital, giving the gift of sight to farmers who needed cataract surgery. This basic surgery has allowed more than 50 people to regain their vision.
#b#Philanthropy of Books#/b#
‘What I Learned Through Donating K-12 Books To Schools In Sri Lanka” is written by Arnal Dayaratna and was recently published by the Huffington Post. Raised in West Windsor, he attended WW-P schools for grades 7 to 10, and graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut. He received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton and a Ph.D. in literature from Duke. He has tutored math and English in the West Windsor and Plainsboro communities.
Dayaratna is now a resident of Mount Laurel. His parents, Esme and Lama Dayaratna, live in West Windsor. Books were donated by Plainsboro Public Library, West Windsor Public Library, Friends of Princeton Public Library, Friends of the Hickory Corner Library, the South Brunswick Public Library, and the Mercer County Library.
“When I decided to donate some books to schools and libraries in Sri Lanka, the country where I was born, as part of a trip from December 2015 to January 2016, I figured I would donate books from my own personal collection and carry them in my suitcase,” he says.
While Sri Lanka is a tourist mecca bursting with five-star hotels, Dayaratna notes, the island nation has relatively few English books for students.
“I began to assemble a modest collection of K-6 books from my childhood that were tucked away in my parents’ basement. On a whim, I called my local public library in Mount Laurel, mentioned that I was traveling to Sri Lanka, and requested a modest donation of books for schools and orphanages in Sri Lanka. The librarian cheerfully and immediately said yes!
“Bolstered in confidence by the initial donation, I called more and more local libraries and collectively received a total of approximately 2,000 books. Now the challenge was how to transport the books to Sri Lanka within a reasonable budget.”
Among the insights Dayaratna gained:
Books are heavy. “Transportation via air can be quick but expensive. Conversely, transportation via a shipping vendor is more economical but takes time and meticulous planning regarding the receipt and handling of the merchandise soon after its arrival.”
Customs is a major hurdle. “Clearing merchandise at customs requires a person with patience, all relevant documentation, political savvy, and the ability to negotiate skillfully with customs officers. Fees can be expensive and need to be managed carefully, particularly given that this merchandise is not for commercial use.”
“The larger point here is that a philanthropy based on transportation of plentiful resources in the United States to a country such as Sri Lanka, which is still in the midst of rebuilding its economy and political stability after nearly three decades of civil war, is complex.
“On the other hand, the project I led, based on a modest budget and time spent on weekends and evenings, was a smashing success. The schools to which I delivered books often had collections of English books that numbered between 25 and 300, which meant that my contributions of 300 to 500 books per school amounted to a substantial influx of educational resources.
“As I was repeatedly told by principals, librarians, and students that I encountered, the book donations represented an invaluable infusion of resources to their library and school. Admittedly, executing the transportation and distribution of the books required extensive reliance on my network of connections in Sri Lanka, without whom I would not have been able to orchestrate such an intelligent and efficient distribution of books.
“Now my next task is to scale this project such that it has the capability to democratize access to books and educational materials to students on a broader scale, and not only to Sri Lanka but also to readers and students all over the world.”
#b#Girl Scouts Host Thinking Day#/b#
WW-P Girl Scouts celebrated Thinking Day on February 21 at High School South. A celebration of international friendship, troops choose a country, dress in costume, and sell food, present a craft, or run a game associated with that country. More than 1,000 adults and girls toured 46 country booths, where they could taste German spaetzle, Spanish paella, Greek spanakopita, Russian tea cakes, English tea, Mexican churros, Italian pizza, or dates from Bahrain.
At the Brazil booth, girls made carnival masks. At the Hong Kong booth, they made paper lanterns. In Argentina, they played futbol. In India, they got henna tattoos. Girls could also test drive mini-robots at the booth run by WAGS, the WW-P Girl Scout high school robotics team.
“I am always amazed by the creativity and commitment on display on Thinking Day,” says Louisa Ho, a troop leader. “ It’s great when the WW-P troops come together and create this wonderful event. This is one case where the sum is definitely greater than the parts.”
“It was really fun traveling around and getting foods from different places,” says Zofia Bath, a fourth grade student at Village School.
E-mail girlscoutswwp@verizon.net for information about joining Girls Scouts as a girl or an adult volunteer.
#b#Eagle Award#/b#
Mihir Punji of Plainsboro’s Troop 759 recently completed a kiosk for his Eagle project. The kiosk, built for Middlesex County Office of Parks and Recreation, serves as a notice board as well as a trail head to the Ireland Brook Trail. It stands eight feet tall and is used to communicate, educate, and serve the public who visit this trail. Located behind 99 Parkview Court, South Brunswick, the kiosk required more than 220 man hours to plan and build with Punji himself contributing 52 hours. A total of 31 volunteers dedicated their time to help plan and build the kiosk.
Punji held many leadership positions within the troop. He was a member of the Order of Arrow, scouting’s honor society. During his scouting years, he undertook two high adventure scouting trips. He went on a back packing trip to Philmont Scout Reservation in New Mexico, where he hiked 81 miles in 12 days in 2013. His second trip was Florida Sea Base, a scuba diving trip where he spent seven days on a boat off the Florida Keys, making a total of 11 dives, for which he underwent scuba certification. He camped 71 nights during his scouting journey.
Punji was a member of High School North’s orchestra, played Frisbee, and was a member of the National Honor Society. A 2015 graduate of North, he is majoring in math at New York University.
#b#Cheerleading#/b#
High School North’s cheer competition team was invited to compete at the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship at Disney in Orlando, Florida, in early February. They were selected among many teams competing at regionals in Toms River in November. The team members include Maggie Abitanto, Jihong Lee, Sarah Gillars, Deanna Wishnia, Victoria Mak, Dominique Harris, Elena Arma, Madison Mastellone, Amanda Musmanno, Taylor Pacelli, Julia Redavid, Samantha Hurley, Karlie Lombardi, and Emy Strober. Their coaches are Mary Beth Kitson and Jennifer Davis.
“The girls have worked tirelessly through hours of practices, pushed through physical challenges and obstacles, yet remained steadfast in achieving their goal and dream of attending nationals,” says Mary Abitanto, cheer mom. “It is the first time in the history of our school and the WW-P School District that the cheer team has achieved an honor of this caliber.”
Donations were received by area businesses including Brown & Brown Benefit Advisors, AmeriHealth, Bass Cleaners, and Dr. Jays.com, to help defray the cost of the trip to Disney. McCaffrey’s in West Windsor and ShopRite in East Windsor allowed the girls to ask for donations at their stores.
“Cheerleading is a physically demanding sport requiring athletes to be in great shape, work seamlessly with partners — and as a team, to achieve maximum results,” says Abitanto. In addition, all the parents work cohesively to help the team any way possible like hosting dinners, posting signs, baking goods, selling pizzas, and many other hours of volunteer work. Judi Strober served as the booster club chair.
#b#Science Honors#/b#
High School South’s Science Bowl team is going to Washington, D.C., for the second consecutive year after emerging undefeated in 12 rounds of science and mathematics questions at the New Jersey Regional Science Bowl at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory on February 20. Team members Jamie You, Tanishq Aggarwal, Dhruva Byrapatna, William Jiao, and Eric Mischell were coached by Sunila Sharma.
“I have to tell you how amazing it is to see 16 teams come from all over the state to compete,” said Andrew Zwicker, head of science education at PPPL.
Deedee Ortiz, the program administrator of PPPL’s Science Education Department, said the competitors make the event a success. “They come in excited, focused and ready to win,” said Ortiz. “They keep that great energy buzzing and I think that we all feed off of that energy and enjoy the day as much as they do.”
The winning team gets an all-expenses paid trip to the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl from April 28 to May 2 in Washington, D.C. They will compete with other high school regional teams.
“I’m really in shock,” says You, a senior on the team. “It hasn’t hit me yet that we’re going to nationals.”
#b#In College#/b#
Bates College: Harry Meadows of West Windsor is on the dean’s list. He is a 2015 graduate of High School South.
University of Central Missouri: Plainsboro residents Pratyusha Peethani, Ranjith Reddy Anugu, and Ratna Kumar Nanduri, graduated with master of science degrees.
Clemson University: West Windsor residents on the dean’s list include Alexander Howard James, who is majoring in economics; and Samantha Blaire Phelan, who is majoring in architecture. Amy Victoria Lee of West Windsor is on the president’s list. She is a marketing major.
Fairleigh Dickinson University: Matthew McCann of West Windsor, a student at the Teaneck campus, is on the dean’s list. West Windsor residents on the dean’s list at the Florham campus include Daniel Pungello and Colleen McCabe. West Windsor residents on the honors list include Mariane Herte and Christopher Orsini.
Loyola University Maryland: West Windsor residents on the dean’s list include Shannon O’Connor, a member of the class of 2016; and Kathleen Stimmel, a member of the class of 2019. Plainsboro resident Rae Correne Reyes, a member of the class of 2017, is also on the dean’s list.
Montclair State University: Timothy J. Hitchings, a freshman majoring in television and digital media with a concentration in sports media and journalism, is on the dean’s list.
Rochester Institute of Technology: Students on the dean’s list include Plainsboro residents Emma Fleming, who is studying in the graphic design program; and Veronica Santoso, who is studying in the industrial design program.
Rowan University: West Windsor residents on the dean’s list include Emily Carnevale, a junior majoring in elementary education; and Anna Perna, a junior majoring in early childhood education. Plainsboro residents on the dean’s list include Angelo Lopez, a sophomore majoring in marketing; Joseph Williamson, a sophomore majoring in elementary education; and Yang Zhong, a freshman majoring in philosophy and religion.
University of the Sciences: Plainsboro residents on the dean’s list include Vinita Yadav, biomedical sciences; Victoria Lee, doctor of occupational therapy; Rasagnya Kota, Grant Lee, and Neil Shah, doctor of pharmacy. West Windsor residents include Erica Simi, doctor of occupational therapy; Bijan Matthews, doctor of physical therapy; and Alyssa Bangel, master of occupational therapy.
#b#Art Award#/b#
Arya Sasne, a seventh grade student at Grover Middle School took part in the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children Art Contest 2016. She was selected as the first place winner in the grade 6 to 8 division.
She has received awards for art and writing from NJAGC in the past. She will attend the award ceremony in April.
#b#Writing Awards#/b#
Scholastic art and writing awards have been received by Chole Berger and Nicholas Day of West Windsor, and Victor Gan of Plainsboro. They are students at Princeton Day School.
