Super Summers for Super Leaders
Cynthia Westbrook, the vocal music teacher at Millstone River School, has been selected to study at the Arts Education Institute of the Harvard Graduate School of Education this summer. Westbrook was chosen to be a part of “The Arts and Passion-Driven Learning,” a professional development program that will feature the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Music Ensemble.
Through performance, panel discussions, and collaborative small group sessions, teachers will deepen their understanding of how the arts can foster lifelong learning, examine the role of collaborations across subject areas, and how students can become more engaged participants in their communities.
Westbrook plans to utilize resources from the Silk Road Project to teach multicultural music. She earned her master’s degree in choral conducting and music education from Westminster Choir College, and completed the certificate program in spiritual direction at General Theological Seminary.
Westbrook, who has developed music curriculum and choral programs for middle and elementary school levels, was selected for the Teachers as Scholars Program at Princeton University. She has served as assistant director/organist at Trinity Church, Princeton, and director of the Semi-Tones of the Princeton Girlchoir. Westbrook was a recipient of the Princeton YWCA Annual Tribute to Women Award, recognizing outstanding women who work in the greater Princeton area. National PTA
Tenriaji Adam Sjamsu, now a rising junior at High School South, was named 1 of 50 national scholarship recipients to attend the National PTA Youth Leadership Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio. The interactive leadership and advocacy training experience prepares youth leaders to mobilize their peers around specific issues in their school and community, such as ways to address bullying.
The West Windsor resident is an honors student at South, where he serves as president of the Camerata Orchestra, sophomore yearbook editor, member of Future Problem Solvers, and member of the American Cancer Society Organizing Committee. In addition, Sjamsu is a member of the American Diabetes Association Princeton Tour de Cure, a student representative on the West Windsor Bicycle Pedestrian Alliance, and a New Jersey PTA student representative to the NJPTA State Board.
