Bear Hugs Spread Love
Nicole Caricato, a senior at High School South, has set up “Bear Hugs,” a self-supporting non-profit organization, as her Girl Scout Gold Award project.
She has been selling personalized, hand-decorated bears to friends, family, and neighbors for $10 — with half going toward the cost of a second bear designed for someone in need of a little love and attention.
Recipients of the bears have been Cherry Tree Club, Bear Creek Assisted Living, the Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Trenton, and area hospitals. More than 600 bears have been distributed.
“This idea started out as a mere requirement that had to be complete in order to receive my Gold Award, but has blossomed into an important aspect of my life,” she says. “I love decorating the bears, and find so much joy in giving them away. You should see the smiles on the faces of both children and senior citizens when I show up with my bears. It’s truly magical.”
Born in New York City, Caricato has lived in Plainsboro for close to 17 years. Her Girl Scout years began in kindergarten in Troop 71885. Her mother, Natalie Caricato, a professional photographer (www.nataliecaricatophotograpy.com), has been the leader of the troop for 13 years. Her father, Nick, is an investor. Her sister, Jessica, a graduate of South, Class of 2009, is a student at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.
A travel soccer player for 10 years, she also played with the school team. She currently has a role in the school’s fall drama, “Lend Me a Tenor,” as an Italian woman with an accent. Her previous performances have included roles in “And Then There Were None,” “South Pacific,” and “Gypsy.” Her classmates have recently voted her “most likely to become a movie star.”
“Bear Hugs has been a heart warming experience thus far,” she says. “The looks on the faces of the recipients of my bears makes all the hours I’ve put into this project worth it.”
For information about purchasing a bear E-mail Natcato@comcast.net.
Clean Air
Liam Knox, an eighth grade student at Community Middle School, joined with a group of prestigious policy makers in Washington, D.C., to mark the 40th anniversary of the Clean Air Act in a conference sponsored by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Bipartisan Policy Center. Knox presented a documentary he produced for the 2009 National History Day competition.
His 10-minute documentary focuses on his great-uncle, New Jersey native John J. Mooney, the co-inventor of the three-way catalytic converter and a pioneer in the worldwide efforts to remove lead from gasoline. The film, “John J. Mooney, Environmental Pioneer: A Catalyst for Change,” examines the historical context that made Mooney’s invention a global success, especially the beginning of the environmental movement and the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970.
As part of his research, Knox interviewed national leaders at the American Lung Association; Leon Billings, former chief of staff to Senator Edmund Muskie, a primary shaper of the 1970 Clean Air Act; and former EPA administrator/New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman.
With his project Knox rose through the southern regional competition at Rider University, state competition at William Paterson University, and represented New Jersey at the University of Maryland — where he competed against students from all 50 states and captured the national bronze medal in Junior Individual Documentary. Knox earned another bronze-medal win at the 2010 National History Day competition with his documentary “CNN 24/7: Launching a Brave News World.”
The commemorative conference brought together leaders, past and present, who helped to shape the act over the past 40 years. Conference attendees included Senator John Warner, Representative Henry Waxman, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and William Ruckelshaus, who served as the first administrator of the EPA. The conference examined the successes and challenges of the Clean Air Act over the past four decades and explored the future of air quality, energy, and climate change. Mooney, also a guest at the event, is a member of the New Jersey Inventor’s Hall of Fame and a recipient of the President’s National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
Arts Award
Jeff Nathanson of West Windsor was named the recipient of the John J Pappas Recognition for 2010 by the Art Educators of New Jersey (AENJ). Executive director of the Arts Council of Princeton since 2005, Nathanson has helped the council more than double its programming and operations in the past four years.
Nathanson’s name was submitted for consideration by Jan Wilson, an art teacher from Nottingham High School, who was recognized as the 2002-’03 New Jersey Teacher of the Year. The award was established to honor former AENJ president John J. Pappas, who was dedicated to the idea that arts education is universal and inclusive, involving those who support arts experiences from a wider perspective. The award was presented on October 4 in Somerset.
Community Leader
Leslie Burger of West Windsor has been named the Princeton Chamber of Commerce Community Leader of the Year award. Director of the Princeton Public Library since 1999, she is also secretary for the library board of trustees and the library foundation board of directors.
In 1991 she founded Library Development Solutions, and is often consulted on library issues as a speaker, writer, and consultant. Burger began in career at the Bridgeport, Connecticut, Library and has since worked at the New Jersey State Library and the Connecticut State Library in the areas of planning and library development.
Burger has served as president of the Connecticut Library Association (1982-83), president of the New Jersey Library Association (2001-2002), president of American Library Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, and became president of the American Library Association in 2005.
Scholarship
Elaine Liu from West Windsor is one of 25 area students in the greater Philadelphia area to receive a scholarship from Dunkin’ Donuts. A June graduate of High School South, she is majoring in biology at University of Pennsylvania. The 2010 recipients were selected by Scholarship America from thousands of applications submitted online. For information visit www.dunkindonuts.com/scholarship.
Eagle Scouts
Paul Lavadera and Thomas Provine, both members of Troop 40, received Eagle Scout awards. Both combined community service with gardening skills in their projects.
Lavadera, a June graduate of High School North, is at Boston College where he plans to major in biology. He is the son of Frank and Eileen Lavadera. His brother, Andrew, previously received his Eagle Scout award as a member of Troop 40.
Lavadera joined Cub Scout Pack 40 as a Tiger Scout in first grade, earned the Arrow of Light award, and joined Troop 40 in 2003. He enjoyed skills learned from Youth Leadership Training, acted as both instructor and patrol leader, and was elected as an Ordeal member of Scouting’s honor society, the Order of the Arrow. Lavadera credits his most memorable moments from the six years at summer camp NoBeBoSco, where he earned most of his 41 merit badges, and the 2005 National Jamboree in Virginia in Troop 2048.
Lavadera’s project was to beautify the flagpole circle outside the West Windsor municipal building. “As a central location in town, the flagpole is seen by people going to the municipal center, police station, post office, and senior center buildings,” he says. “Laying down stepping stones was a great way to learn a new skill and make my project unique.” He led 32 volunteers in a fundraising car wash and in the building of the garden filled with more than 100 perennial flowers.
During his high school years Lavadera was president of the North co-ed a capella group, vice president of the Improv club, vice president of the concert choir, and director of “Bang, Bang You’re Dead,” a violence awareness play. He also participated in five fall dramas and four spring musicals while at North, including playing the part of Joseph in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
Provine, a June graduate of the Pennington School, is a freshman at Hofstra University. He is the son of Michael and Maggie Provine.
He bridged to Troop 40 after earning Cub Scout’s Arrow of Light. During his years with Troop 40, Provine earned 26 merit badges while serving as a patrol leader and scout trainer. He also enjoyed many camping trips with Troop 40, especially sailing in the Florida Keys at Sea Base High Adventure program. Provine joined Troop 40 in volunteering with the Special Olympics, and attended summer camps at NoBeBosCo, Hawk, and Rodney.
For his Eagle Scout Project, he led a team of 36 volunteers in building a garden featuring two refinished picnic tables on a grassy patch surrounded by perennial plants. Using the school’s commitment to sustainability and environmental awareness, he used only natural materials and no weed killers.
His high school years included serving as vice president of the school’s student government, managing the boys’ varsity basketball team for three years, and participating in the school’s Dramatic Society. He also worked with the Pennington Sports Network, a student-run sporting news program that provides news and information to the community while teaching participants video, camera, lighting, and sound production. In 2009 a panel of the school’s teachers and administrators elected him “Mr. Pennington.” Says Povine: “The Pennington School has given me so much over the years that I’m happy to be able to give something back.”
Politics
Russell Wojtenko Jr., a West Windsor resident, is seeking election to a position of Mercer County Freeholder (Republican). A resident of central New Jersey most of his life, he moved to West Windsor in 2003 to take advantage of the WW-P school system.
A graduate of Rutgers College, Class of 1991 and Fordham University School of Law, Class of 1994, he owns Wojtenko & Wojtenko law firm in North Brunswick. His father and business partner (for 16 years) is Russell Wojtenko Sr., an attorney; and his mother, Elena, the office manager in the family law practice. “The only choices I had while growing up were to be a doctor or a lawyer,” he says. “My grandfather was a doctor.” His sister, also a lawyer, works at Rutgers.
He currently serves as the municipal prosecutor in Ewing Township, is a trustee of the New Jersey State Municipal Prosecutors’ Association, and a member o the New Jersey State Bar Association, Mercer County Bar Association, and Middlesex County Bar Association.
The director of the board of directors at St. Vladimir’s Russian Orthodox Catholic Society of America, Wojtenko also served as vice chairperson of the board of trustees of the Ann Klein Forensic Center in West Trenton, a state psychiatric hospital for individuals within the legal system who also have mental illness. He is also a member of West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance and Friends of West Windsor Open Space.
He lives in West Windsor with his wife, Helen, a CPA and now full-time mother; and their three children; Larissa, a sixth grade student at Community Middle School; Juliana, a fourth grade student at Village School; and Michael, a first grade student at Dutch Neck School.
“I have been interested in politics since my days at Rutgers Prep,” he says. As a student he was active in Model UN and went to Washington, DC, on several trips with the organization.
His entrance into the political arena began close to home. “One day I decided to walk to the train station — not knowing that I was taking my life in my hands walking on the poor sidewalks,” he says. “I reached out to Charlie Morgan (West Windsor councilmember) and learned that nearly every road in West Windsor is a county road. I would like to be able to walk to McCaffrey’s with continuous sidewalks.”
Morgan told him that they were looking for someone to run for freeholder and Wojtenko ran an unsuccessful bid for Mercer County freeholder in November, 2009.
Honor Society
Thomas Edison State College: Teresa Herrero-Taylor of West Windsor celebrated induction into Alpha Zeta Epsilon, the college’s chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, the International Honor Society in Education, during a ceremony at the college on September 24. She is the chapter vice president.
Herrero-Taylor, who earned her post-master’s certificate in educational leadership this year at Thomas Edison State College, has a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, and masters degrees in community and clinical child psychology; education, and multi-cultural counseling from Columbia University. She also has a post-masters certificate in educational leadership from Thomas Edison State College and a graduate certificate in applied behavior analysis from Penn State.
Alpha Zeta Epsilon is open to students in either the master of arts in educational leadership program or the post-master’s graduate certificate in educational leadership program who have maintained a GPA of 3.5 or better.
“The students inducted represent a distinctive segment of professional educators who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship and leadership,” says Adrian Zappala, assistant dean of educational leadership programs in the Heavin School of Arts and Sciences at the college. “Many are already significant contributors to educational leadership in their own communities,”
Herrero-Taylor has been with Monroe Township schools for the past six years as a school psychologist running the district K-6 social skills program. She also has a private practice as a board certified behavior analyst.
Mission to India
Abhinav Saikia, a sophomore at High School North, was on a mission to India this summer. During an earlier visit he found that bullying at schools and incidents of cyber bullying were common. When a 14-year-old boy was shot five times in the forehead by classmates in a school in Delhi, “They wanted to teach the class bully a lesson,” he says. “All three students were victims. This incident could have been easily prevented if the students were taught about bullying and how to stop it, like the schools here in the U.S.”
He wanted to make a difference and spread awareness about the issue and make schools bully free zones. “As a middle school students I was taught to stand up to bullies and be an up stander and not a by stander,”he says. “I learned that 90 percent of bullying incidents stop within 10 seconds if other children intervene.”
He presented “Bullying in Schools” and “Youth Mentoring” at schools in India, including a number of schools for under-privileged children. More than 800 students signed his pledge to make schools bully-free zones and spread knowledge on simple ways to prevent different forms of bullying, including cyber and school bullying.
“The benefit of youth mentoring is an excellent way to connect young people to positive roles and make them better members in their communities.” He also talked to the students about drugs, alcohol, and addition and how it affects not only the addict but the entire family.
“I found that these problems were common in schools in India yet these issues were hardly discussed and there were no programs of education or awareness,” says Saikia. “I plan to make presentations on schools in New Jersey so that other students can carry the same message and spread awareness whenever they visit their own countries and make all schools bully and drug and alcohol free zones.”
