By Jo Ann Groeger
Once again, I am in awe of how talented and exceptional the Lawrence Township students and staff are and how diverse are their achievements and accomplishments.
Representing New Jersey in the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Competition, Lawrence High School senior Natasha Vargas claimed third place from the 365,000 students who entered the contest. One of the 53 state and territory winners travelling to Washington D.C., Natasha was one of 9 finalists before finishing third. She is so talented and we couldn’t be more proud of her and her accomplishments!
The Lawrence High girls’ 4×400 meter relay team of Dominique Peters, Sophie Rauschenberger, Renee Fortier and Kelsey Holt left their mark on the 120th Penn Relays, taking third place in their heat at Franklin Field on April 24 with a season-best time of 4:13.85. Not to be outdone, the 4×100 relay (Kelsey Holt, Tatiana Hewitt, Gen Labowicz, Dominique Peters) sprinted to their fastest time of the year finishing in a blazing 51.53!
Lawrence Middle School students grabbed some headlines too, when, in March, the Model United Nations Club competed in the 9th Annual Middle School Model UN Conference, held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. The club competed with over 80 schools from the United States, Canada, Cayman Islands, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Italy, Panama, Taiwan, Turkey, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.
âIt is not only students who excelled, but Lawrence Intermediate 5th grade teacher Joe Jamison represented the district well when he began his Friday morning by tweeting, “It’s odd waking up knowing that today is the biggest day of your career.” It was a great day (and night) in Mr. Jamison’s class when they were visited by Dr. Sugata Mitra, Adam Braun and the entire entourage from TEQ, an educator resource center.
The film crew spent the entire day learning why our students enjoy Self Organized Learning Experience (SOLE) so much. Once Dr. Mitra arrived, the students shifted their conversation to discuss ways they could introduce SOLE to children in Ghana. Thanks for your creativity and thinking outside the box (classroom) Mr. Jamison!
As his term as president of the Lawrence Township Education Foundation comes to an end, we would like to thank Paul Schindel for his dedication and leadership over the last year. We would like to wish Kelly Bidle the best of luck as she begins her term as the new president.
With all the student and staff success, it is only fitting that the Lawrence Township Public School District will receive the formal announcement in the upcoming weeks that we will be recognized as a National School (District) of Character! We will hold this title for three years and are so proud of all the dedication our district has given to developing our students for their role as contributing citizens.
Lawrence High School’s Class of 2014 graduation will be held at 7 p.m. June 18 at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, and parents, family members and friends will witness this year’s graduates move forward towards the next phase in their lives. The members of your Board of Education congratulate you and wish you health and happiness in your future path in life.
Jo Ann Groeger is a member of the Lawrence Township Board of Education. To submit a question or topic to the board, email askaboardmember@ltps.org. Your question may be addressed at the next board meeting.
