Eagle Scout Repays
Soccer Program
Daniel H. Schloss of West Windsor has been awarded the rank of Eagle Scout. A member of Troop 88 in Princeton, his leadership service project benefited the West Windsor community with a public bulletin board at Duck Pond Park, a recently constructed park that will be used by the West Windsor-Plainsboro Soccer Association as well as the rest of the township. Schloss was a part of the soccer program for 11 years.
He began his scouting adventures as a cub scout in West Windsor’s Pack 48 and then joined Troop 88 in Princeton in 2004. Schloss was elected the senior patrol leader in his junior year of high school and was then awarded the rank of junior assistant scout master during his senior year. His eagle advisor was Charles Stecher.
A June graduate of High School South, Schloss is studying physical therapy at Boston University. At South he was involved in the soccer program all four years, and played percussion in the wind symphony and the philharmonic orchestra.
“I decided on my project because I wanted to give back to the WWPSA, as they were such an integral part of my childhood,” he says. “I have fond memories of playing soccer and have made great friends through the WWPSA. When I heard about WWPSA’s new complex at Duck Pond Park, I knew that building an information kiosk for them would be a great way to show my gratitude.”
Welsh Scholarship
Three High School South graduates have raised close to $1,000 for the scholarship fund set up for Brian Welsh’s children. Welsh, who taught social studies and coached the boys’ varsity soccer team at High School South for many years, died on August 29. Donations may be made to the Kendall, Shannon, and Mollie Welsh College Fund, c/o Wachovia Bank, 1177 Route 33, Hamilton Square 08690.
“The three of us all came up with a T-shirt idea together,” says Sara Landau, a 2005 graduate of High School. “I actually didn’t have him as a coach or teacher, but I occasionally ran into him from time to time, even after I graduated in 2005, and he would always ask how I was doing,” says Sara. “Even though I wasn’t close to him like a lot of people were, I knew a lot of other people would benefit from doing something like this and all the feedback on the shirts has been extremely positive.”
Landau graduated from College of New Jersey in 2008 with a degree in health and exercise science. She began teaching health and physical education at Trenton Community Charter School in Trenton for grades K-8. It was there that she met Libby Swanke Vinson, a WW-P High School graduate, Class of 1993, and one of Welsh’s former students, who also teaches health and physical education.
Landau’s brother Jake, a Class of 2009 graduate, also worked on the project. “I worked on the project to support his kids,” he says. “Mr. Welsh was the only reason I happily got up in the morning and went to school. Anything I can do to help his family out is the least I could do for a man who’s given me so much.” He attends Mercer College.
Their father, Henry Landau, is co-owner of Landau’s on Nassau Street in Princeton. “They now have a T-shirt printer, which allows you to custom make any design and print it out very quickly,” Sara says. “We spent more than 20 hours printing out all the shirts and most of them have been sold.”
“Hopefully more people contact me about the shirts and we can sell the remaining 60 or so that we have left,” says Sara. For information about purchasing a shirt E-mail landonious66@hotmail.com.
Plainsboro Man In CNN Documentary
Carl Fields of Plainsboro is featured in CNN’s Black in America documentary “Almighty Debt,” the third installment of the series. An advanced screening was held on October 15 at First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset. Senior Pastor Dr. DeForest B. Soaries Jr. selected Fields as one of the three congregants to feature in the episode about helping people find jobs. The show will air on Saturday and Sunday, October 23 and 24, at 9 p.m. on CNN. www.cnn.com.
Fields has a degree in business education from University of Maryland. He taught economics and business in high school for nine years before entering the insurance industry. He worked his way up to vice president of Marsh and McLennan Companies but after 25 years he was laid off in February, 2009.
He has since applied for close to 500 jobs — most of which he is overqualified for. Looking for a job is a full-time job and he spends daytime hours at Plainsboro Public Library in his quest. He also works with employment specialists at the Central Jersey Community Development Corporation. CNN cameras followed Fields on job interviews, to job fairs, to the library, and to meetings with people about jobs.
“I’ve done all the right things and still am not able to earn a job,” says Fields. “It was indeed an honor to be chosen from more than 7,000 congregants.”
Fields began working in the field when he was just five years old. “I’m not above any kind of work. It is even hard to find a part-time job.” At the screening Fields says he was teary-eyed. “I saw that what I was representing is what I am. I still believe that good things will happen.” After the screening people approached him to tell them that they were determined to make an effort to help him find a job. Several told him to call them.
The family has lived in Plainsboro for seven years. His wife Lynette is an administrative assistant. Their seven children are all adults now with the youngest a student at Mercer Community College.
“If what I showcase as a person helps one person it is worth it,” he says.
Homeland Security Award to Gentile
Charles A. Gentile, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, received the 2010 Homeland Security Award sponsored by the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and Agusta Westland North America. Gentile, a Plainsboro resident, was among four honored during an October 5 ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., for their “cutting edge technology in the diverse arena of homeland security.”
Gentile received the $25,000 award in the field of Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Chemical and Explosive Attacks for his work in the development of the Miniature Integrated Nuclear Detection System (MINDS), which can rapidly identify radioactive materials that could be used in a radiological dispersion device commonly known as a dirty bomb.
“Post 9/11, I realized that my previous work, performed in the fusion energy research environment, could have application in homeland security venues. Thus began a journey that has resulted in the issuance of two U.S. patents, the successful licensing of MINDS technology to the private sector and deployment at locations throughout the U.S., and the receipt of this award,” Gentile said. “I am thankful to the foundation for bestowing this prestigious award in acknowledgement of the work performed in making MINDS an effective tool in defense of our county.”
“Charlie Gentile is an enormously creative engineer who is able to see links between fields that the rest of us would miss,” said PPPL Director Stewart Prager. “His development of a system to identify radioactive materials is a wonderful spinoff of his work in fusion energy research. We are delighted that he is being recognized for this very substantive achievement.”
Gentile’s career spans more than 30 years in the field of nuclear research, fission power production, magnetic fusion energy research, and inertial fusion energy research. He is a graduate of the University of Buffalo, where he studied the effects of ionizing radiation on complex biological and chemical systems. He joined PPPL in 1984.
