#b#Kids United by a Love for Song#/b#
Kavya Borra, Woori Kogh, and Renuka Ravinder, all fifth grade students at Village School, performed with the Organization of American Kodaly Educators (OAKE) National Children’s Choir. The students auditioned for a place in the choir, endured a four-day intensive rehearsal schedule, and sang at a concert in Connecticut. The choir comprised 160 elementary school students representing 32 states.
“Each choir member had to spend a great deal of time learning the music in preparation for the concert during which the children would rehearse together for the first time and ultimately perform,” said Amy Carter, vocal music teacher at Village School. “The children’s choir also sang at the opening ceremonies for the Hartford Marathon, which benefited the Sandy Hook School Support Fund.”
OAKE is an organization of music educators who promote the philosophy of music education inspired by the Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly, which is based on the belief that everyone is born with musical aptitude that should be developed as early as possible.
“Youth from all corners of the country join together and experience the exhilaration of being an integral part of a highly artistic performance,” said Kelly Foster Griffin, president of OAKE, in a press release. “It is always heartwarming to observe the strong connections that develop — all because of a common appreciation for music and love of singing.”
#b#Film Producer#/b#
Danielle DiGiacomo, a 1994 graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School (South), has produced a documentary about a New Jersey public school high school teacher. The film, “Best Kept Secret,” will be shown at the Montclair Film Festival at Montclair Kimberley Academy, 6 Lloyd Road, Montclair, on Saturday, May 4, at 1:45 p.m. As part of this screening, Senator Robert Menendez will speak on issues raised by the film.
JFK High School, located in a run-down area in Newark, is a public school for all types of students with special education needs, ranging from those on the autism spectrum to those with multiple disabilities. Janet Mino has taught her class of young men with autism for four years. As her students approach graduation in the spring of 2012, Mino prepares them to leave the security of the public school system forever. “Best Kept Secret” follows Mino and her students for the year and a half before graduation. The clock is ticking to find them a place in the adult world — a job or rare placement in a recreational center — so they do not end up where their predecessors have, sitting at home, institutionalized, or on the streets.
The students include Erik, a talkative person with two moms — a biological mother who is too ill to care for him, and a foster mother; Robert, who was home schooled by his father until he died and is now cared for by his aunt, a recovering drug addict; and Quran, the only student who has both of his parents raising him.
DiGiacomo received a bachelor’s degree in film from Wesleyan University in 1999; and a master’s degree in media studies from New School University in 2004. Her focus was on documentary studies and her thesis was on home movies and historical trauma.
She worked as the community manager at IFP, the oldest and largest membership organization for independent filmmakers and as head of documentary acquisitions for IndiePix Films. DiGiacomo also developed and produced the first two annual Cinema Eye Honors for non-fiction film and associate produced two documentary features, Jennifer Venditti’s “Billy the Kid” and Samantha Buck’s “21 Below.”
In 2010 DiGiacomo produced three short films, two of which premiered at Cannes’ Short Film Corner, and associate produced one feature, Andrew Semans’ “Nancy Please,” which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in April, 2012. She also consults as a panel programmer for several international film festivals, is on the board of the New York Film and Video Council, and is the 2011 Mark Silverman Honoree of the Sundance Creative Producers’ Lab.
DiGiacomo is the manager of video distribution at the Orchard, an independent music and video distribution company operating in more than 20 global markets. Visit bestkeptsecretfilm.com for more information.
b#Private Schools#/b#
Atreya Iyer of West Windsor received an Outstanding Achievement award at Mercer County’s Science and Engineering Fair. She is a seventh grade student at Chapin School.
The annual fair gives students in grades 4 through 12 a chance to explain topics in all areas of science, engineering, and mathematics. Students get hands-on experience and develop expertise in the scientific method.
Phillips Exeter Academy announced that Brandon G. Kaplowitz, a senior from West Windsor, earned highest honors for the winter term. Nikhil Raman, a junior from Plainsboro, also earned highest honors.
#b#German Honor Society#/b#
Students from West Windsor-Plainsboro schools were inducted into national honor societies for students studying German on April 2.
South students were inducted into Delta Epsilon Phi for high academic achievement in the study of the German language and culture. They are Ian Altmore, Annaliese Bandy, Sydney Bornstein, Anna Brosowsky, Tascha Chan, Taylor Chan, Brian Gao, Drew Hazen, Sameer Kolluri, Matthew Lichtenstein, Patrick Menninger, John Mezzanotte, Ram Muthukumar, Thomas O’Connor, Keith Ocdinaria, Yun Joo Park, Paul Phalen, Benjamin Pincus, Swapnil Singh, Rohan Vasudevan, and Joseph Wagner.
Students from Community and Grover middle schools were inducted into the Junior Delta Epsilon Phi German Honor Society.
Community Middle School honorees include Kyra Burns, Melina Cahnbley, Chalres Dai, Sameule Golbin, Feruza Norqulova, Alexander Xue, Christopher Xue and Rebecca Yang.
Thomas Grover Middle School honorees include Allison Chen, Timothy Feng, Joshua Forrest, Sophie Kang, Cynthia Lieu, Keely Lyons, Jennifer O’Leary and Jonathan Silvey.
Their teachers are Ute Dine and Ann Marie Waidelich.
#b#CERT Graduate#/b#
Cedric Ashley of West Windsor graduated from Mercer County’s Community Emergency Response Team. The intensive program is designed to teach skills and proficiency with a variety of emergency management and rescue equipments.
