Around Town
Art Award
Dan Fernandez of West Windsor entered “Monk Fish,” a mixed media piece of oil and collage, in the Mercer County Artists 2004 exhibit at Mercer College and won the West Windsor Arts Council Award. He received a certificate and a $100 check.
An artist for most of his life, Fernandez grew up in Sussex County, with his father, a fireman, who liked to draw, and his mother, who was a stay-at home mom. He graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from Stocktown State College and works as a creative director of graphic arts at Creative Strategy Group in Philadelphia.
He and his wife, Tina, a former fashion designer, have a nine-month-old son, Luke.
Musical Notes
Members of the Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra String Quartet including Brian Zhao and Jason Hwang, students at High School South, will perform at a special concert for the Sisterhood of Rossmoor Jewish Congregation on Monday, April 19.
Zhao, a violin player, was last year’s New Jersey Performing Arts Center Youth Artist’s Talent Search and GPYO;s Concerto Competition winner. He is a junior at High School South. Hwang, a senior, plays the cello and is the section leader for the GPYO Orchestra.
Bearded Wonder
Charlie Ashton, a math teacher at both High School North and High School South, won the Annual Long Beard Contest held by the Alchemist & Barrister restaurant in Princeton on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. The 24th anniversary of the contest raised money for the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad.
“I have been doing this annually for about 10 years,” says Ashton. “I always shave it off the morning after the judging.”
Participants entered the contest on January 31 and had seven weeks to see how long their beards would grow. The longtime contest has raised more than $100,”000 for area non-profit organizations.
Grand Prize
Christopher Wang of West Windsor is the recipient of $5,”000 as the grand prize winner in the Kravco Simon Company’s Request Mail Program. He was presented with a check at Quaker Bridge Mall on Friday, March 26, by Miss New Jersey, Jennifer Farrell.
A Princeton native, Wang graduated from the Lawrenceville School in 1999, and from Emory University with a degree in business in 2003. He is a business reporter for Courier Times in Bucks County.
After seeing a flyer at Oxford Valley Mall last December, he signed up to receive Request Mail, a program offering consumers the opportunity to E-mails about discounts from department and sporting goods stores of their choice. He forgot all about the contest until he received a message from Kravco two weeks ago. Over 22,”000 people had registered for the service.
