#b#Rising Fashion Designer#/b#
Verity Gordon, a 2014 graduate of High School North, is one of six finalists at the New Jersey Fashion Week’s Young Designers Contest. The competition was open to college fashion students who intend to pursue a career in the fashion industry. She created a four-outfit collection, met with the models, and will compete on Friday, September 25, at 2039 J.F. Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City. Tickets are $20 to $30 to benefit the homeless through Covenant House, Habitat for Humanity, and Hope House.
Gordon, a student in the fashion design program at Mercer Community College, was a part of MCCC’s first college fashion show, where she was awarded the GAP scholarship towards her fashion studies. She has also been selected to be one of the faces of MCCC, representing the fashion/apparel design program in a new advertising campaign to appear on billboards, in brochures, and online. She plans to transfer into a BFA program in fashion design at a fashion college in New York or Philadelphia.
Born in Melbourne, Australia, she moved to West Windsor with her family in July, 2001. Her brother, Andrew, is an actor, who recently performed with the Oxford Shakespeare Company in the UK and Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Castle.” The News first wrote about them in 2004 when they were both students at the Lewis School and performed in several shows at McCarter Theater. She became interested in costumes when she was performing at McCarter.
Their mother, Jill, is the school nurse at St. Ann’s School in Lawrenceville; and their father, Neil, is a project manager at Novartis.
“I found I was more interested in the clothing aspect of plays than the acting, and unlike my brother, who is a classically trained actor now, I couldn’t stand the constant rejection of auditions,” she says. “I’ve always been known for drawing because it was a good outlet for me when I used to struggle with dyslexia and I love the creativity.” During her years at High School North, she attended Fashion Institute of Technology in the summer. “I learned how to better illustrate models, draping, and sewing with industrial machines,” she says.
She has been working at David’s Bridal salon for two years and is now training to become a junior seamstress and get more experience.
“Kate Pinner at Kelsey Theater is also an inspiration and I had a great time learning to construct corsets and Tudor clothing for ‘A Man for all Seasons,’” she says. “It was great to see my work on stage.” Her brother, Andrew, played William Roper, the son-in-law of Sir Thomas Moore, in the production.
“One of my favorite designs is a purple bark-like tweed winter jacket, 1920s-inspired with a faux red fox fur trim and hood,” she says. “When I showed it to prospective colleges more than one professor suggested that I should make it up immediately. My current favorite is a pink fringed sleeveless top and pencil skirt of my own design, which is one of the outfits in my collection debuting this Friday.”
Although she hopes to have her own fashion line, she expects to be working in New York City for a fashion house. “My passion is for couture evening wear and wedding gowns,” says Gordon. “I just have to keep challenging myself, work with the best teachers, and believe.”
Her favorite designers include Zac Posen, Vera Wang, and Pnina Tornai. She watches “Project Runway,” “Love Lust or Run,” and “Say Yes to the Dress” religiously.
“I really want to help real women feel good about themselves even if they are not a model size 2,” she says. “Everyone should have a chance to look and feel pretty.”
#b#Girl Scout Silver Awards#/b#
Several girls from West Windsor and Plainsboro earned their Silver awards this summer. It is the highest achievement for girls in grades 6 to 8 at the Cadette level. Earning the Silver Award is a process in which a girl completes components that help her build skills in leadership, communication, time management, teamwork, dedication, responsibility, goal setting, and commitment. She combines all of the skills that she has gained through this process to create and implement a 50-hour project that makes a difference in her community, locally or globally.
Esha Raman and Nisha Srinivas, both from West Windsor, received Girl Scout Silver Awards. They created an eight-day program called Around the World over Summer at a preschool in Princeton. They taught children from the ages of three to five about various countries. Using games, movies, and crafts they educated the children and raised global awareness.
“Since the kids were so young they were often very hyper — making it hard to teach,” said Srinivas.
“It was difficult at times but at the end the experience was very rewarding,” said Raman. “Overall, this project seemed like a great way to encourage children to gain a conceptual understanding of global awareness and cultural tolerance.”
Katelyn Saldanha of West Windsor also earned her Silver Award. A student at High School South, she created a program called “Speak Up” to build communication skills in children at a young age and address the issue of stage fright. Her program provided opportunities to practice speaking to an audience through activities, discussions, videos, and a skit.
She conducted two workshops for children attending the Extended Day Program at Wicoff Elementary School in Plainsboro. She spent four hours during each workshop with the students, teaching them the importance of speaking loud and clear, being assertive, and saying no to bullies.
“The goal of my project was to encourage quiet kids to speak up, and their friends were amazed to see how well some of them did on stage at the end of the workshop,” she says. “This feedback ensured that I had achieved my goal. Not only did I learn more about my leadership strengths and weaknesses, but I had the opportunity to influence the life of another child and that makes me proud.”
To accomplish her goal she worked ith her mentor, Luanne Sisselman, EDP site supervisor at Wicoff; and Michele Daitz, her Girl Scout advisor and troop leader.
Mullika Sahrawat of West Windsor earned her Silver Award. A ninth grade student at the Lawrenceville School, she is in WW-P Troop 71806. Her leaders are Lynn Mahmood, Latha Chintalapati, and Ellen Clancey. Her mentor is Carmen Williams, a preschool teacher, who helped her with her first presentation. She was also helped by Sefali Shah, principal of a preschool where Sahrawat presented.
A Girl Scout for five years, Sahrawat completed the project “Healthy Eating for Preschoolers.” She researched the issue and identified the importance of the five food groups. She then created a preschooler-friendly presentation focusing on the importance of eating foods from all of the groups.
“I also created a recipe book full of healthy food options for the parents of preschoolers to make as healthy alternative to snacks such as potato chips and cookies,” she says. “I prepared some simple, healthy, and delicious food samples for the kids to try in class.”
#b#New Eagle Scouts#/b#
West Windsor’s Boy Scout Troop 40 recently sent four scouts off to college as Eagle Scouts. Ben Arias, Rohit Krishnakumar, Noah Wolfe, and Will Hesterberg attained scouting’s highest rank. Each developed a project to benefit the area community and led Troop 40 scout volunteers in the construction projects.
Ben Arias designed and constructed four benches for players to use at Conover Park baseball complex. He chose to do this project because he spent countless years playing at the fields and wanted to provide something to assist the next generation of ball payers enjoy playing baseball at Conover as much as he did.
While at High School North, he played baseball for four years and was captain of the varsity baseball team. In addition, he was the stage crew chief for the theater and was a puppeteer in the production of “Shrek.” He volunteered at APAW, the animal shelter in West Windsor. He is majoring in zoology at Miami University in Ohio.
Rohit Krishnakumar designed and built a display unit at Duck Pond Park including seasonal posters about the wildlife at the park. He donated his blueprints so that other scouts could use them to build similar kiosks in other parks in the area. He landscaped the unit with shrubs and flowers. Krishnakumar chose this project because he wanted to increase public awareness of the flora and fauna in the community and also to beautify the area around the Duck Pond Park kiosk.
While attending High School North, he was on the school basketball team for two years, played violin in the North Philharmonic Orchestra, was a Junior Statesmen, and served as treasurer in the debate club. He was inducted into the National Honor Society and selected as a candidate for the 2015 U.S. Presidential Scholar Award. He attends Cornell University’s school of engineering.
Noah Wolfe designed and constructed the “Liberty Corner” at the Ron Rogers Arboretum. The area is meant to be a local meeting place, the concept originating from colonial Boston, where the Sons of Liberty met under the original Liberty Tree. Wolfe led the construction and installation of the four benches in addition to landscaping the area around the tree and planting flowers around the benches. He hopes the “Liberty Corner” will be a meeting place and staging ground for local events for years to come.
At High School South he ran on the cross country and track teams. Outside school he was a three term board member in the Jewish Community Youth Foundation. He also was selected as a ball boy at the 2014 U.S. Open. Wolfe writes for the online publications MetsMerized and Shea Dugout and had the opportunity to interview players from Citi Field. He is majoring in broadcast journalism at Newhouse School at Syracuse.
Will Hesterberg designed and built a speed and agility course for SAVE animal shelter. He chose SAVE because his two dogs were adopted from the shelter and he wanted to give back to the organization. Hesterberg led the construction of jump gates, jump boxes, weave poles, running gates, and a teeter totter. He hopes the equipment will help provide quality care for dogs who are awaiting adoption.
He volunteered with Troop 40 every June with the NJ Special Olympics to help prepare and serve food. While at High School South, he was inducted into the National Honor Society. He sang with the choir for four years and traveled on the concert tour to Germany and Prague his senior year. He earned varsity letters for cross country, winter track, and spring track, and played two years of lacrosse. Hesterberg is enrolled in the Sapphire Leadership Academic program in the Smeal School for Business at Penn State, where he plans to major in supply chain management.
#b#Thinking Outside the Box#/b#
Adhit Menon, a sixth grade student at Community Middle School, created a benefit for earthquake victims in Nepal. The earthquake struck in April and more than 1,200 people died. Small children became orphans and were homeless.
Menon followed the news in print and on television and wanted to contribute by selling origami flowers in school. He bought all the supplies from his own savings, made the flowers, and sold them for $1 each. It was close to Mother’s Day and his classmates gave the flowers to their mothers. His brother, Abhik Menon, helped him advertise and make flyers.
Menon teamed up with Barbara Latady, the senior director at the American Red Cross. He contributed $300. School administrators who helped him include Shauna Carter, Kyle Schimpf, and Guyler Tulp.
Food for All
Snehit Achanta, a seventh grade student at Community Middle School, is trying to get the attention of McDonald’s to introduce vegetarian options in its menu. “I have conducted a pilot campaign covering a 15-mile radius from where I live,” he says. “I have close to 150 signatures from people of different walks of life and ethnicities who agree that McDonald’s should introduce more delicious vegetarian meals in their menu.”
Achanta, a Plainsboro resident for more than a year, is a vegetarian. His goal is to introduce healthy veggie options apart from just salads, especially on the East and West coasts, where there are more visitors from the rest of the world.
“When we were on a vacation this summer in West Virginia and as we were looking for options to eat I realized that most of the fast food centers only offered beef or chicken burgers,” says Achanta. “That reminded me of my recent visit to India, where McDonald’s had delicious veggie burgers such as the McVeggie, McSpicyPaneer, and the McAlooTikki.”
He wrote a letter to Steve Easterbrook, the CEO of McDonald’s, asking for more menu choices. “By making this campaign to involve more people and their voices heard I want to make a difference in the food industry,” says Achanta. “I have seen obesity in the underprivileged section of the society who can afford only McDonald’s since eating healthy is expensive.”
Excerpts of his letter follow:
“With increasing focus on health and physical fitness, as advocated by the first lady, Michelle Obama, many students are looking for healthy eating options. It is now universally accepted that vegetarian food provides one of the best ways to maintain a healthy constitution.
“McDonald’s is one of the most favorite fast food places for millions of Americans. It is also a place that students love to visit. However, with increasing awareness of healthy diet, McDonald’s is losing its place as the go-to fast food place due to its lack of any vegetarian options on the menu.”
“On the other hand, McDonald’s in India has several vegetarian options on its menu and presents itself as a happy and healthy eating place. It baffles me, as a person of Indian origin, as to why McDonald’s cannot bring some of these healthy vegetarian options to its U.S. menu. If there were those options in the United States, I would go to McDonald’s more often and so will many health conscious Americans. McDonald’s will surely regain its place as the go-to place, clocking more sales that result in stock price increase.
“Besides, many people cannot consume any meat products. I believe that introducing vegetarian products to your menu can attract a much larger population. I know many family friends who have dietary restrictions that do not allow them to eat meat. Upon talking to my friends who cannot eat meat, they said that if McDonald’s had some vegetarian options they would definitely go to McDonald’s. Right now they do not visit McDonald’s at all because it offers nothing for them.”
“I urge you to bring the concept of the McVeggie, McSpicy Paneer, McAloo Tikki, etc. to the U.S. You can start by introducing it in New York, New Jersey, and California regions with high Asian population and health-conscious people. The golden arches can regain its No. 1 position and rebrand itself as the healthy food option.”
#b#Umpiring Honor#/b#
Joshua Z. Levy of Plainsboro was recently in Cooperstown, New York, with two teams from Mercer County. “I was an umpire and announcer at Cooperstown Dreams Park, where there were 104 teams from across the country and umpires from across the country, including Canada,” he says. “This was my first time and I had the honor of umpiring the semifinals and doing PA announcing for the semifinals.” Levy graduated from High School North in 2013.
#b#Musical Notes#/b#
Charlie Liu of Plainsboro received four top piano prizes in 2015 and plans to set to up a music foundation to help community and young musicians using his prize money and crowdfunding efforts.
A sophomore at High School South, he has performed on Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey shows, and performed in all three concert halls inside Carnegie Hall at age eight. He became the youngest musician to become Lang Lang International Music Foundation Scholar, and has won top prizes in state competitions, as well as other solo and concerto competitions.
Liu has also given back through free public performances including many solo recitals to school children and communities in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Illinois. He also started the “Young Artists for Haiti — World Piano Collaboration” with the help of family, friends, and other piano prodigy friends all over the world. More recently he gave two solo concerts and raised more than $3,000 for Children’s Hospital and Rescue Squad.
From Liu’s past experiences, he realized that one person’s effort has limited effect. If more young musicians and families take part, it will lead to a much bigger positive effect on the communities. However, not everyone can give a solo concert, and not every family can pay for the costs involved in giving a benefit concert.
Liu wants to create the Rescue Music Foundation to fund and motivate young musicians in New Jersey and elsewhere to give benefit concerts for their own communities. The goal is to give young musicians the funds for a solo concert.
He has donated part of his piano competition winnings, and family and friends donated to the start up. He plans to use crowdfunding to raise additional funds. Donations of any amount are welcome at https://gofund.me/charliemusic.
#b#In College#/b#
Hofstra University: Alli Bacher of Plainsboro is a member of the school’s cross country team. She is a freshman.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Josefine Hansen of West Windsor joined the Class of 2019.
