Christie Dougherty, a 2011 High School North graduate and West Windsor resident, received a $7,500 accounting scholarship from the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants. The scholarship was presented on April 28 in Iselin.
Diplomacy Awards
Aaraajit Sriram and Avanti Dabholkar, both June graduates of High School North, won the 2011 Doors to Diplomacy award, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and Global SchoolNet. The award recognizes web projects that best teach young people about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy. They each received $2,000. Their coach, Bruce Salmestrelli, their AP European history teacher at North, received $500. Their project is “Cultural Diplomacy with the Muslim World.”
Sriram was born in Bahrain, and lived in Singapore and Mumbai before his family settled in the United States. This summer he is in Turkey to learn Turkish as part of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ NSLI-Y language exchange program. He will attend Brown University in the fall.
When he searched the Internet for interesting competitions to participate in to deepen his understanding of international politics, Sriram discovered Doors-to-Diplomacy. Although he had studied international diplomacy at University of Texas, Austin, in 2010, he approached his web-savvy buddy, Dabholkar, for assistance.
Dabholkar, an aspiring architect, will study at Carnegie Mellon in the fall. The design half of the team, she applied her skills in design and organization to build the educational website.
Their website “seeks to show the ingenious and graceful ways in which culture was harnessed in the past to engage with Muslim publics, and in the process, to show how effective it can be in the Muslim world today,” the pair write in their application. “We chose the Muslim world because of its ever-increasing relevance in the modern international system; it is a place of great unrest, widespread popular anger, and more so than ever before, youth.”
Salmestrelli advised them to use the Internet to find resource material. “Doors to Diplomacy has taught my students what it means to investigate a topic, dive head first into a subject, and contact experts in the field without being shy,” he writes. “The competition has shown them how to synthesize the vast research they have done and how to create a finished, coherent product.”
A name that kept jumping out at them was Richard T. Arndt, author of “The First Resort of Kings,” their single largest source. Much to their surprise they discovered his resume — with a phone number under his name. They were even more surprised when he answered the phone and offered to help them with their project.
The website includes the dance, music, theater, and visual arts relating to the Muslim culture. The pair soon realized the power of the Internet to share culture and came to a better understanding of the meaning of culture.
“The website has changed us: we’ve gotten closer to each other, to the local academic community, to our adviser, and to the local cultural scene,” they write. “We’ve come to work well with each other, and have come to understand the ins and outs of conducting research together.”
North Junior Heads To the U.S. Senate
Chloe Barz, 16, a rising junior at North, is spending the fall semester in Washington, D.C. as a page in the Senate. She leaves on September 7 for the five-month program.
She will attend classes from 6 a.m. to noon and work on the Senate floor every day beginning at 1 p.m. “I became interested in the presidential election while taking American studies in the eighth grade,” she says. “It was the first time we got into how the government worked. I really got into the Obama campaign.” This past year she studied the Constitution in American studies and found it interesting.
Last summer Barz studied “The United States and Public Affairs,” a political science course, at Georgetown, and this summer she is taking a two-week course focusing on the United States and world politics at Brown University.
Her mother, An Barz, an interior designer, works at Anthropologie in North Brunswick. Her father, Michael Barz, is an attorney with an international firm. The family lived in Indonesia for 13 years, and Chloe and her brother were born in Singapore. “Everyone in our house is very open about talking about politics,” says her mother. “We always have the news on and talk about it often.”
“She’s always doing something to give back,” says her mother. “She’s always been about public service.” Chloe has been a member of Kids for Kids and a member of the student council since seventh grade.
Chloe, who had an internship with Congressman Rush Holt, worked at creating signs, distributing literature, and making phone calls. “I am so impressed with him and he is such a great role model,” says Chloe, who worked on his election campaign. “The campaign headquarters was really different than his district office,” she says.
“Rush Holt’s staff members were great and very encouraging,” she says. “They helped out a lot when I was looking for a Senator with an open position for a page.” There are only 30 slots for Senate pages and people apply from all over the country. There were no positions available for the New Jersey Senators. Chloe did a lot of research and called every Senator to see who had a position available.
“We must be non-partisan and can’t talk about politics,” she says. “We cannot have cell phones but there is a pay phone in the dorm.” She will be allowed to bring her laptop and use Facebook and E-mail.
Barz will be in secure housing with a 9 p.m. curfew during the week (unless the Senate runs late), and she will have to leave her cell phone home in West Windsor. She will wear a Senate uniform and eat in the Senate cafeteria with the senators. Page salaries are $23,000 of which she will receive five months worth. “This is her dream come true,” her mother says. “She made it happen herself.”
Her siblings are Alexandra, a graduate of High School North, Class of 2009, a business major at Boston University; Jake, a June graduate of North, headed to Santa Clara University in the fall; and Kai, an eighth grade student at Community Middle School, who heads to North in September.
“Mr. Zapicchi (principal at North) has been great — very understanding and supportive,” she says. “He assured me that it would be a smooth transition back to North in January.”
“I love politics,” she says, looking forward to planning a career in politics. “I can’t be president — because I was born in Singapore — but I can be vice president.”
Science Teachers Do Pharma Research
Teresa Maone from Grover Middle School and Andrea Knorr from High School North are participating the RxeSearch Summer Institute for the first time. The program, coordinated by the National Science Resources Center, Princeton University’s Teacher Preparation Program, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, presented a series of professional workshops designed to make the study of science and mathematics more interesting — and more relevant — for students.
The program uses the pharmaceutical research and development process to teach students about science, mathematics, and societal issues. The reality-based case studies and hands-on learning activities develop skills in problem solving, critical thinking, decision making, and teamwork.
Victory Garden
Village School presented its victory garden to a large audience of teachers, students, parents, and veterans. Five fifth grade classes taught by Marie Bresnahan, Kara Kleckner, Vanessa Clax, Kelley Coyne, Rachel Farrow, Ruthann Butterfield, and Robert Hartley, worked on the project.
The students created art pieces, a garden, and a documentary. The public relations committee searched for veterans. The project was funded with a grant from the West Windsor-Plainsboro Education Foundation, as well as with donations from families of students.
“We mixed all the students up from each class by what their learning styles were, so if one was very artistic, he would be put into the art group,” says Coyne, who began the project with Breshnahan. “The kids in the documentary group created the documentaries and PowerPoint for the presentation to the community.”
“Veterans came from near and far because the public relations group of students wrote to many American Legions and invited them,” says Coyne. “The men said they felt very honored to have the kids learn the importance of their struggles for world freedom.”
On the day of the celebration the fifth grade Village School Jazz Band played as a movie was shown. There were student speakers and tours of the garden. “The teachers had helped, but gave the students the opportunity to make decisions about each step of this enormous task,” says Meghanna Reddy, a student. “In reflection we all learned a lot about working in collaboration and compromising to obtain a goal. This was problem-based learning at its best.”
In College
Boston University: West Windsor residents on the spring dean’s list include Samantha D. Peia and Daniel H. Schloss. Plainsboro students on the dean’s list include James C. Ikeda, Sindhura Polubothu, Emily R. Rudofsky, and John D. Sullivan.
Susquehanna University: Dylan Roth graduated with a degree in creative writing. He was also on the spring dean’s list. Roth graduated from High School North, Class of 2007.
New JFCS Officers
Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Greater Mercer County (JFCS) welcomed new officers during the 74th annual meeting held at Beth Chaim Synagogue. Audrey Wisotsky, a West Windsor resident since 1989, is a new vice president. Active with JFCS for many years, she has been a board member since 2003 and became vice president in 2007.
An attorney at Pepper Hamilton, Wisotsky was formerly with Jamison, Moore, Peskin, and Spicer. Her husband, Marc, is a financial advosor with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Their son Eric, 20, graduated from High School North in 2009, and is a junior in college. Their daughter, Stefanie, 16, is a rising senior at North.
Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Greater Mercer County is a community service agency that empowers people to care for themselves and each other through client-centered behavioral health, advocacy, and support services for individuals and families. For more information visit www.jfcsonline.org.
Gold Award
Krishna Trivedi, 15, received her Girl Scout Gold award at a ceremony on June 5 in Medford. Her project focused on a robotics competition amongst LEGO robotics teams in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. “It introduced more than 300 people to the unique and quickly changing world of robotics,” she says.
She was first introduced to robotics at Grover Middle School when she joined a robotics club — and was one of three girls in a group of 20 students. When she took a computer programming class two years later, she noticed that the number of girls was still drastically less than the number of boys.
In 2010 she was presented with the opportunity to coach an all-girls’ robotics team for ages 9 to 14 and took on the challenge to coach the Green Machine. The team placed highly in the regional competition and advanced to a regional competition among teams from New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. The Green Machine was recognized with the Inspiration award in Delaware.
“I realized the need for the people in the community to be aware of the opportunities available in the fields of science, technology, and specifically robotics,” says Trivedi. She set up a competition between teams that resembles a full-fledged robotics competition. West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hseuh presented trophies and ribbons to team members.
A Girl Scout for nine years, she is a member of Troop 70672 and her leader is Cheryl Rowe-Rendleman. Her project advisor was Helen Rancan.
She earned her Bronze award as a group project by collecting stuffed animals for the fire and police stations to comfort children in difficult situations. For her Silver award, she taught girls about the importance of giving back to the community through time and service. Through a collection of personal care items, canned foods, and other non-perishables, baskets were created for more than 45 families served by HomeFront.
The Gold award may not be done until a girl is at least 14 — and Trivedi was only 14 when she completed the project. She is the first girl in her troop to earn the award.
Trivedi recently became a member of the Girl Scout review committee, which reviews and approves final project proposals and final completed reports for girls working on their silver and gold awards. “The committee also provides guidance to girls and helps them reach their highest potential while working on these projects,” she says. “I look forward to carrying out my responsibilities as a member on the review committee as it is the perfect way for me to give back to the Girl Scout community which has given so much to me.”
Trivedi is also an avid dancer and completed her training in classical Indian dance in 2010. She studied with Jayasree Kotapalli at Kalaprerana School of Music and Dance in West Windsor. She is studying taekwondo at United Black Belt TaeKwonDo School, and is working towards earning her black belt.
She is the daughter of Asit Trivedi, an engineer who works for a software company; and Namita Trivedi, a pharmacist who is currently a homemaker. Her younger brother, Malay Trevedi, 11, is a student at Grover Middle School.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world” is one of Trivedi’s favorite quotes. “I have heard that quote very day since sixth grade and it has left a mark,” says Trivedi. “This whole project started with the simple thought that I can make a change in the lives of students and their futures. I believe that this project has introduced a whole new dimension of education and application to students throughout my community.”
Private School
The Wilberforce School, a Christian school in Princeton founded in 2005, celebrated its first eight grade graduation on June 2. Among the graduates were Emma Chun of West Windsor and Marian Farrell of Plainsboro.
Music of India
Bhuvana Kannan of Plainsboro coordinated VeenAnjali, a musical event, on June 18 at Chinmaya Mission in Cranbury — featuring more than a dozen veena performers. A veena is a seven-string instrument from India that one holds flat on the lap. “It is the earliest string instrument –– more than 2,000 years-old,” says Kannan, who has been playing the instrument since she was a young child. Born in India, she relocated to the United States in 1993. She works in IT at Computer Share in Princeton.
The event was to honor Kalpagam Swaminathan, a beloved veena artist, affectionately known as “Kalpagam Mami,” who died on April 6 in Chennai. The program began with an offering of flowers to her portrait after which performers played items representing a variety of composers. The performers included Kannan’s daughter, Aparna Kannan, a graduate of High School North, Class of 2010, who is studying bioengineering at Rutgers.
Kannan’s son, Bharath Kannan, is a rising junior at North. Her husband, Kannan Varadachari, works in IT at JP Morgan.
The event culminated with a veena concert by Nimala Rajasekhar, a disciple of Swaminathan, accompanied by Gowri Ramakrishnan on the violin, Kumar Kanthan on the mridangam, and Prakash Rao on the moorsing. Before her concert, Rajasekhar said she was moved to tears at seeing the enlarged photo of her guru at the entrance to the hall and expressed gratitude to Kalpagam Mami for teaching her not only how to play the veena but also for the sage advice and life lessons given throughout her formative years.
“The event exceeded all my expectations,” says Kannan. “VeenAnjali was a wonderful experience for me and with everyone’s support — and Kalpagam Mami’s blessings — my dream came true.”
