#b#Blue and Gold#/b#
West Windsor’s Pack 66 Cub Scouts held its annual blue and gold dinner to mark the 103rd anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts. Thirteen pack members participated in the “Arrow of Light” ceremony, marking their graduation from Cub Scouts. All fifth grade students at Village and Millstone River schools, they will bridge from cub scouts to webolos in Boy Scout Troop 40 on Friday, March 15.
The boys include Michael Kong, Maxwell Sperling, Vijay Jayaraman, Andrew Osborne, Samuel Dyal, Benjamin Fanta, Justin Tulloch, Bryan Roy, Jeremy Reguer, Rahul Purohit, Vijay Josephs, Emmanuel Storino, and Nayan Pallothu. They received their Arrow of Light and certificate of recognition for completing all four levels of Cub Scouts.
The dinner held at Community Middle School featured skits performed by each den in each level of scouting. West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh handed each graduating scout a certificate and a personalized arrow, decorated to reflect the specific achievements each boy has accomplished during his years as a Cub Scout. Town council members present included George Borek, Kristina Samonte, Linda Geevers, and Kamal Khanna.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to recognize the accomplishments and commitment of these young men,” said Scoutmaster Sean Sheerin. “We should also recognize the efforts of Lori Perlman and Sue Roy (a reporter for the WW-P News), who have served as den leaders for the last five years, guiding these scouts.”
Pack 66 is always looking for new scouts to join. An open pack meeting will be held on Sunday, May 19, in Mercer County Park. The annual fishing derby, also on May 19, is free and open to all scouts and potential scouts. Visit www.westwindsor66.mypack.us for information.
#b#In College#/b#
Rutgers University: Nikhita Thaper is passionate about empowering and educating youth to make healthy lifestyle choices. A 2009 graduate of High School South, she has been dedicated to public health, volunteerism, and service for the past 10 years. She began volunteering for the March of Dimes in sixth grade by fundraising for WalkAmerica. It led to her service on the Mercer County Chain Reaction council and as communications chair in high school. She is chairing the Middlesex walk on Friday, April 19, in New Brunswick.
As a freshman in college, Thaper was selected to be a part of the March of Dimes National Youth Council, a committee of 19 college students who have been selected because of their demonstrated leadership ability and their potential for service to the March of Dimes Foundation.
As a part of the National Youth Council, Thaper develops and implements programs on a national scale to increase youth volunteerism and awareness of living healthfully. She also leads workshops at various conferences focused on the best practices of fundraising, health education programming, and additional youth market topics. Thaper was recently elected to the position of national chair of the council, a role in which she oversees youth volunteer programs and manages top collegiate volunteers.
Thaper is the founder of the Rutgers University March of Dimes Collegiate Council, a student-run organization with a purpose of improving the health of infants through advocacy, service, fundraising, and education. To date, RUMOD has raised more than $6,000 for the March of Dimes.
Thaper, a senior at Rutgers, is pursuing a degree in public health with plans of attaining a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in health policy and management.
Thaper is also committed to global sustainability and international development. She is a founder and chair of the Global Philanthropic Symposium at Rutgers, an intercollegiate conference rooted in raising awareness and finding sustainable solutions to various socioeconomic political issues, locally and internationally. These issues include global poverty, medical relief, women’s rights, water sanitation, malnutrition, and homelessness. “I aspire to improve health disparities domestically and locally and to make sustainable improvements in the community around her,” she says.
Boston University: Plainsboro students on the dean’s list include Sara J. Lieber, Sindhura Polubothu, Ioan V. Solomon, John D. Sullivan, and David S. Torres. West Windsor students on the dean’s list include Emily R. Espinosa, Shannon M. MacKay, Sridevi Suresh, and Margaret Tang.
Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences: Michelle Rodriguez of Plainsboro was recognized as a graduating senior who has demonstrated exceptional achievement during her college career. She received a New Jersey Educational Opportunity Fund 2013 EOF Graduate Achievement Award Recipients were honored at an awards ceremony on March 8 at Georgian Court University.
Seton Hall University: A management major, Devan Patel of West Windsor is on the dean’s list.
#b#Future Engineer#/b#
Ikshita Singh received a Michael A. Valenti Memorial scholarship award from the Professional Engineers Society of Mercer County. A student at High School South, she is president of the Waksman Club, vice president of the New Jersey Future Problem Solving Club, and a member of the Science Olympiad Team.
She volunteers at New Jersey Audubon Society’s summer camp at Plainsboro Preserve. Singh participated in the New Jersey Governor’s School of Engineering and Technology and submitted her research to the Siemens competition, where she was named a semi-finalist.
Singh, who has achieved a grade of A in every class during her high school years, has a weighted GPA of 4.77. A member of the National Mathematics Honor and National Honor societies, she will attend the University of Pennsylvania to pursue a degree in chemical engineering.
