Also For Japan
The India Foundation of Metropolitan Princeton, based in West Windsor, donated $10,000 to the Japan Society of New York to support the disaster recovery effort in Japan. Rajeshree Kulkarni, Rajesh Kulkarni, Mie Igarashi, Alk Satupute, Anand Mohan Sothi, Joel Anderson, and Prakash Satpute delivered the check to the Japan Society Building in April.
Congressional Art Award Winners
Emma Windslow Funaki, a senior at High School South, received the grand prize in the 2011 Congressional Art competition in the 12th district of New Jersey for her mixed media artwork titled “Other.” Her teacher is Jane Craven. Funaki’s artwork will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol alongside work by high school artists from across the country, and she will be invited to join Rep. Rush Holt in Washington, D.C., for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, June 25.
“I congratulate Emma and all of the winners in this year’s Congressional Art Competition,” says Holt. “Their work demonstrates great creativity, talent, and originality, and I am honored to showcase their efforts. Emma’s work in particular is skillful and brave, and I look forward to seeing her future art in the years to come.”
High School South winners include Raisha Friedman, a junior, who received first place for her painting “Trilogy.” Loretta Liu, a freshman, received third place for her drawing “Room Interior.” Their art teacher is Mary Atlas. Kevin Welsh, a senior, received third place for his mixed media piece, “Energy.” His teacher is Nathan Leventhal.
High School North winners include Lucy Davis, a junior, who received third place for her painting “Interior.” Elizabeth Palena, a junior, received third place for her print “Waterlilies.” Isha Singh, a freshman, received second place for her print “The Colors of Time.” Their teacher is Joyce Haut.
The art competition was judged by an independent panel of New Jersey artists including Jeff Nathanson, executive director of the Arts Council of Princeton and a West Windsor resident; Andrea Honore, the director of fund development for the Arts Council of Princeton; and Merle Citron, an artist from Lambertville.
Since 1982, the annual Congressional Art Competition has showcased art pieces by high school students from many of the nation’s 435 Congressional districts. Artworks selected by each member of Congress are displayed for one year in a gallery in the Cannon Tunnel, the passage that connects the U.S. Capitol with the House office buildings. The tunnel is traveled by members of Congress, staff, and visitors on a daily basis, and the gallery is a prominent attraction on Capitol tours.
500 Words, $1,000
Ingrid Ma, a student at High School North and West Windsor resident, was one of the three statewide winners in the annual New Jersey State League of Municipalities’ Future Municipal Leaders Scholarship competition. She was presented with a certificate and a $1,000 check by West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hseuh at the West Windsor council meeting on May 9.
Participants wrote a 500-word essay on “What My Mayor and Governing Body Do Best” with a focus on their perceptions and experiences with their municipality’s government and the public contributions of their mayor and governing body. Sari Frankel, Jeffrey Yu, Jesse Yu, Laura Bortnick, and Christian Balevski received participant certificates.
“A simple indication of the success of a municipal governing body can be seen in the satisfaction and pleasure of its residents. In observing statistics and daily activity in the town, West Windsor is a stellar model of a mayoral and town management triumph,” Ma wrote in her essay.
“Time and time again, Ingrid has already proven, in various ways how involved she is with what’s going on in the West Windsor community,” says Hsueh. “I’m thrilled that she is once again receiving recognition for her hard work.” Ma has also created a video focusing on West Windsor’s history, activities, events, and people. It can be seen at www.westwindsornj.org.
USA Biology Olympiad
Rebecca Shi, a student at High School South, is one of the 20 national finalists who will attend the USA Biology Olympiad National Finals at Purdue University. The finalists were selected based on their high scores from two challenging exams, the USABO open and semifinal exams. Nearly 10,500 students registered for the open exam this year.
The finalists will gather at Purdue to compete for U.S. medals and the four places on Team USA. The program includes two weeks of intensive theoretical and practical tutorials where students study with experts in the fields of cellular biology, microbiology, biotechnology, plant anatomy and physiology, animal anatomy and physiology, ethology, genetics and evolution, ecology, and biosystematics.
At the conclusion of the two weeks, the students take two exams, a practical and theoretical. The four highest scoring students will be named Team USA 2011 and will represent the U.S. in July at the International Biology Olympiad in Taiwan, Chinese Taipei.
Musical Notes
Hannah Lohr-Pearson, a sophomore at High School North, is a recent winner in the composition contest held at the New School for Music Study in Kingston. She has studied piano with Margaret Nelson at the New School since she was six. She also studies piano with Marvin Blickenstaff as a student in the New School’s Program for Excellence in Piano Study (PEPS).
In addition to piano, Lohr-Pearson studies cello with David Szepessy and plays in several ensembles including the High School North Philharmonic Orchestra and the High School North Nonet. The trio she performs with through Westminster Conservatory’s Young Artist Program played in Carnegie Hall this May as winners of the American Fine Arts Festival. Lohr-Pearson lives in Plainsboro with her parents, Jane Lohr and Tom Pearson, and her brother Adam.
Dance Honor
Rosetta Isnardi of Plainsboro was honored as a graduating senior by Princeton Ballet School at a performance of “Coppelia” at the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton. She will attend Adelphia University in the fall to major in psychology and music and hopes to keep dancing. Isnardi, a student at the school for only two years, progressed quickly and performed in “Coppelia.”
Civic Awards
Princeton Chamber of Commerce Foundation presented Kristin Appelget Civic Engagement Student awards to Sahana Jayaraman, Kaustav Shah, and Kunal Nischal, juniors at High School South, on May 5, at the Marriott in Plainsboro. Appelget, a graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, served as CEO and president of the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce and its Foundation from 2003 to 2006. The organization “seeks to reinforce the goals of civic engagement and civic participation by acknowledging the contributions of young people.”
Presidential Service Awards Winners
David Van Dyke and Nikhil Shah, both eighth grade students at Grover Middle School, recently earned the Presidential Volunteer Service Award. Van Dyke earned the gold presidential service award with more than 100 hours of service in 12 months. Last year he earned the silver award. Shah earned the bronze presidential service award with more than 50 hours of service.
To earn the award, the boys did an assortment of service activities including volunteering at local rowing events, helping with Girl Scout science activities, constructing and running a game at Plainsboro’s Founders’ Day, designing and constructing a ball toy to entertain children at venues including Founders’ day, a school for disabled children, and a technology fair.
They also helped run a back-to-school backpack drive for El Centro in Trenton, baked cookies and cakes for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, helped at a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby, and served dinner at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.
Van Dyke also volunteered at the Crisis Ministry food store, made cat beds for SAVE from PVC pipe, planned and ran science workshops at the West Windsor library last summer, and planned and ran a science workshop for a Trenton after-school enrichment program this spring. He was inspired to do these activities by his older sister Rebecca, who has earned the Presidential Volunteer Service Award four times.
Both boys are planning to work towards earning the award again. They have already designed and built a new game for this year’s Founders’ Day event and are planning to make videos for the Crisis Ministry and run science workshops this summer.
Happy Feet
Dancers from the Dance Corner of West Windsor took home 20 gold and high gold awards at the regional competition of StarQuest International. The competition featured dancers from 19 dance schools throughout New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
West Windsor dancers include Sydney Abitanto, Alexa Bornstein, Madison Briffa, Sarah Chairnoff, Callia Cordasco, Nicholas Cushman, Isabella Epstein, Faith Falkowitz, Mia Ferri, Rebecca Ho Van Dyke, Courtney Kobus, Jamie Kobus, Kelsey Kobus, Katherine LiPuma, Casey McElroy, Kelly McElroy, Femia Tonelli, Rea Tonelli, Anika Vartym, and Alexandra Vogel.
Plainsboro dancers include Katherine Antos, Elise Burton, Juliana Isnardi, Amanda Kowalski, Carly Kowalski, Jessica Polin, Ominay Robertson, Alexa Rubin, Lindsay Rubin, and Sarah Siskind.
Soloists Julia Patella and Katherine Antos received top scores among all dancers in the petite age category. Patella, who performed a lyrical dance to “When You Wish upon a Star,” placed second with a high gold award and “Best Costume” award. Antos’ jazz dance “Footloose” earned a gold award and fifth place. Both dances were choreographed by the Dance Corner’s Kristin Schreyer.
Other soloists were Ominay Robertson (high gold), who won a special “Expressive Eyes” award; Carly Kowalski (high gold), who won a “Genuine Joy” award; Taylor Britt (gold); Alexa Bornstein (gold); Elise Burton (gold); Jordan Polefka (high gold); Amanda Kowalski (gold); Sam Katz (high gold); Sam Koch (gold); and Katherine LiPuma (gold), who received a “Beauty and Grace” award.
In the team category, the Dance Corner received second place with the jazz dance “The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room,” third place for the tap dance “5, 6, 7, 8” for petite small group, and fifth place for petite lyrical “Remember When.”
The junior team won three gold awards for “The Real Wild Child” (jazz), “Once Upon a December” (lyrical), and “Dancin’ Fool” (jazz). The senior team took gold awards for the jazz dance “Funhouse” and the tap dance “This Joint is Jumpin’.”
The Dance Corner’s Elite Teams are intended to give its dedicated dancers more opportunities to perform and compete on stage. Elite Team auditions for children age 6 and up for the 2011-’12 year will be held on Sunday, September 18, at the Dance Corner in West Windsor. For more information, call 609-799-9677, E-mail dance@thedancecorner.org, or visit www.thedancecorner.org.
Pet Rescue
Girl Scout Troop 70964 of West Windsor-Plainsboro donated a portion of the proceeds from the annual cookie sale to Pet Rescue of Mercer to help buy medicine and food for the animals. The scouts, all third grade students at Hawk School, include Cynthia Hansen, Smirti Srikanth, Aleia Zitani, Savera Hunsberger, Amanda Guest, Cara Barkenbush, Kaylin Ku, Kimi Kobayashi, Drishti Devnani, Rosie Pipada, Harriet Stutt, Elsa Moroney, Annika Baldwin, and Danielle Loverro. Their leaders are Rose Barkenbush and Denise Guest.
National Honor
Society Inductees
High School South’s National Honor Society inducted new members on Thursday, May 26. Officers include Sergio Ingato, president; May Chang, chair of tutoring; Jessica Lee, chair of fundraising; Sarah Peck, prom fashion show chair; and Satyajeet Pal, secretary. Jose Rodrigo is the faculty advisor.
Seniors include Ashwin Amurthur, Anne Balicusto, Kory Beach, Juliet Brooks, Lauren Goldfinger, Ankita Gore, Harrison Liew, Connor McElwee, Ante Qu, Sacha Ramjit, Kathryn Rose, Michael Schenk, Divita Singh, Harshita Sinha, Jennifer Yoon, and Jared Ziment.
Juniors include Laura Bortnick, Katherine Bromberg, Victoria Campbell, Emily Carlson, Karthik Chandrasekaran, Yvette Chen, Anna Chicco, Brandon Chu, Kevin Cloyes, Joshua Cohen, Kelsey Daniels, Kavita Dave, Joshua Dean, Rachel Epstein, Nicole Giambagno, Kyoung Won Han, Sahana Jayaraman, Stacey Jou, Ethan Julius, Lauren Kullmann, Akhil Lakhwani, Jennifer Litzinger, and Shreya Luthra.
Also, Cameron MacArthur, Shannon MacKay, Irina Matos, Andrew Merves, David Miller, Christina Paek, Lucy Pei, Jennifer Rabbino, Grace Ro, Joshua Rose, Nechama Ross, Ben Ruta, Brianne Sabino, Alexander Sandberg, Nikki Senopoulos, Kaustav Shah, Mihir Sheth, Emma Sivertsen, Tenri Arianna Sjamsu, and Amy Slothower.
Also, Gabriela Vasquez, Paul Von Autenried, Victoria Wang, Kathryn Wembacher, Ariel Wu, Chao Xu, Jerry Xu, Anna Yang, Irene Yang, Elizabeth Yang, Julia Yang, Jeffrey Yu, Jesse Yu, Ronald Yu, Sylvan Zheng, and Charles Zhou.
In College
Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University: Monisha Motiwala, a graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, Class of 2000, received a doctorate in clinical psychology. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rutgers University in 2004. After receiving a master’s degree in psychology from Columbia in 2005, she received a second master’s degree in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University in 2006. A Jersey City resident, she is an intern at Trinitas Medical Center in Elizabeth.
Pennsylvania State University: Alicia Rowland of West Windsor received a scholarship from the Central New Jersey Alumnae Panhellenic Association. She is a junior.
New Jersey City University: Angeline Quinto Pacifico of Plainsboro was recognized as a distinguished alumnus at the graduation ceremonies at the Izod Center. As a member of the Class of 1940 she was one of the oldest alumni at the ceremony. She graduated with a bachelor of science degree in education and had a 40-year teaching career in Jersey City. Her daughter and son-in-law, Diane and Richard Smutek and her grandchildren Patricia, Joseph, and Victoria live in West Windsor.
Stanford University: David Hoyt of West Windsor has been named Stanford University 2011-2012 Presidential Fellow to the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress in Washington, D.C. This program offers a year-long opportunity to study the U.S. presidency, the public policymaking process, and the chief executive’s relations with Congress, allies, the media, and the American public. Fellows attend conferences, workshops, meet with mentors, and prepare and share their research.
Hoyt transferred to Stanford last fall after graduating from Mercer County Community College as valedictorian, commencement speaker, and as a Jack Kent Cooke Transfer Undergraduate Student Scholar. He had left High School North due to illness and earned his GED. His parents are Charles and Irene Hoyt, president of the Friends of the West Windsor Libray. (The News, May 10, 2010).
Currently a member of Stanford’s Traveling Model UN Team, he received an Outstanding Delegate Award at Yale’s Model UN Conference. He is also a Constitutional Judge for Stanford Student Government; and an editor of the Stanford Journal of International Relations. Hoyt, who is spending the spring semester in China at Beijing University, will attend the Fund for American Studies – Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems at Georgetown University this summer.
In addition to academic and cultural programs, Hoyt will intern with the Department of Commerce, Office of Technology and Electronic Commence in the International Trade Administration.
Scholarship Awarded
Nomin Ujiyedinn, a senior at High School North, received the Friends of the West Windsor Library’s Jan Trenholm Memorial Scholarship of $1,000 at the Friends’ 30th annual meeting held on May 9. Ujiyedinn participates in the library’s teen volunteer program. Her supervisor, Margit Chelluri, described the scholarship winner as “conscientious, enthusiastic, and diligent” — all attributes that are important in maintaining an orderly library. Ujiyedinn volunteered more than 100 hours during her senior year.
The annual scholarship was established by the Friends using donations received in memory of Jan Trenholm, who was a member of the Friends of the Library for many years. The scholarship is awarded to a high school senior who is a member of the Mercer County Library System, volunteers more than 25 hours during the school year at West Windsor Library, plans post high school education, and files a completed application.
This is the 30th anniversary year for the Friends of the West Windsor Library. The 501(c)3 nonprofit, volunteer organization supports children’s, teen, and adult programming; community events held at the library, such as the Diwali festival and the Chinese New Year celebration; the summer reading program; and other library enhancements including furniture, laptop computers, seating, landscaping, and additions to the library’s periodical and book collections.
Emmy Award
Derek Callahan, a graduate of High School South, Class of 2005, is an associate producer on MLB Tonight, a nightly studio show, which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Studio Show: Daily. He has worked at MLB Network, a television destination for baseball fans, since 2010, and was a production coordinator for MLB Advanced Media in 2009 and 2010.
He graduated from Ithaca College in 2009 with a degree in television and radio with a minor in legal studies. At Ithaca, he was a producer on Ithaca College TV, where he produced features on news and public affairs. In the past he worked for NBC TV Olympics, ESPN, Fox Sports Net, Sports Net New York, and CN8 Sports.
“MLB Tonight has been the core of MLB Network since we came on the air in 2009. It represents our goal to bring fans the most comprehensive baseball coverage every day, and we are honored to be recognized by our peers in the industry with this award,” says Tony Petitti, MLB Network President and CEO.
Feeding the Hungry
More than 120 individual dinners are cooked and assembled by members of Congregation Beth Chaim’s Tikkum Olam committee to be delivered to homeless people living in welfare motels in Lawrenceville and Trenton. The long-standing program of providing family-size, home-cooked frozen meals that need reheating was converted into a single serving program to reflect the explosion of families with young children without any access to cooking facilities. Holly Singer-Eland of West Windsor has organized the HomeFront meals program on behalf of Beth Chaim’s Tikkun Olam committee for the past few years.
“Beth Chaim congregants came through well beyond our objective of providing 100 dinners,” says Singer-Eland. “The recipients were extremely appreciative, including some who mentioned that they had not eaten in over a day, in which case we handed out an extra meal, more beverages or cookies since we had surplus with us.” She delivered meals to three hotels with her husband, Richard Eland, and their son, Jeremy, 9.
Participants from Beth Chaim include Max Tootleman, Amy Tootleman, Laura Schwartz, Ana Martin, Betsy Ie, Elizabeth Hamblet, Laura Nash, Karen Hochran, and Rabbi Carolyn Bricklin. Congregants also donate large quantities of cooked food, beverages, and desserts for the program.
“Our Tikkun Olam Committee is committed to meeting the needs of the community around us,” says Rabbi Bricklin, staff advisor. “As Beth Chaim is confronted with a drastic shift in how HomeFront is feeding their clientele due to dire economic conditions, our congregants have adjusted in response to this new environment.”
HomeFront requested that the program be scheduled during the last week of the month, when most homeless families have run out of food stamps and many of the parents are fasting so that their children will have something to eat. Beth Chaim has agreed to participate on a bimonthly basis with the next delivery date scheduled for Wednesday, June 29. Other houses of worship or community groups are welcome to offer assistance as volunteers and participate on different dates. Visit www.homefrontnj.org for more information.
