Clockwise from top left: Stephanie Horodeski, Annastacia Jimenez, Roger Kleinmann and Joshua Knowles.
Part 2 of a two-part series.
The teachers, guidance counselors and administrators at Hamilton High School West have selected eight seniors as this year’s Academic Achievers. Each nominating teacher has written a testimonial, as well as each student. The Hamilton Post is proud to recognize four of the students this month. The other four were featured last month.
Stephanie Horodeski, business
Nominating teacher Jay Fishman writes: Stephanie Horodeski has been a student in the business department at Hamilton West for the last three years. She has been an Academic Award recipient all four years at Hamilton West. Horodeski is also a member of the National Honor Society and the National Technical Honor Society. She is a member of the H.E.Y. Club, Student Government and is a very accomplished dancer. She also has played on the varsity field hockey team.
Horodeski has taken nine business courses in her time at Hamilton West. She takes her coursework very seriously, as evidenced by her excellent grades—she has a 3.83 GPA in business class and a 3.96 overall. She plans to pursue a degree in business administration with emphasis in accounting in college.
Horodeski is very involved in the community. She has participated in Relay for Life four years. She bagged lunches for T.A.S.K. with the Spanish Club and participated in a Belmar beach clean-up the last four years. She has an excellent personality. She is respectful, friendly and very knowledgeable regarding business topics. She enjoys learning and is always willing to share her wisdom and guidance with her peers.
As Hamilton High School West Treasurer, I am responsible for monitoring school funds. Currently, Horodeski is one of the student bankers that I selected for the school year. She was chosen for this position because she is detail-oriented and extremely responsible. Her job is to complete deposit slips and bank reconciliations. She also updates the school’s financial records on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. She is very effective and efficient in helping to maintain the accounting records for the school.
I enthusiastically nominate Stephanie Horodeski as an Academic Achiever. She is very deserving of this prestigious award.
Stephanie Horodeski writes: Getting a degree in business can open doors for anyone who decides to major in this field. A person can start their own business one day, work in the entrepreneurial sector, work for a global company or be a CPA. I have had an interest in business for a very long time and plan to go to college to become a CPA.
Throughout my time in high school, I have taken almost every business class Hamilton High West has to offer. Each class I have taken has broadened my knowledge on different aspects of the business field. I find it interesting to know how a business works in order to become successful and generate a decent profit, or how investing in stocks could help or hinder our economy.
In school, I am a member of National Technical Honor Society and DECA. I also was chosen to be a student banker and help our school’s treasurer complete deposit slips, bank reconciliations and update the school’s financial records. This experience has also piqued my interest in the field of business.
Annastacia Jimenez, fine arts
Nominating teacher James Ditmars writes: The Fine Arts Department of Hamilton High West is proud to nominate senior Annastacia Jimenez as an Academic Achiever for 2013-14.
Jimenez has been aggressively pursuing a career in art since her freshman year at Hamilton High West. She has consistently produced a voluminous amount of high quality artwork throughout her three years in various art courses of study, and continues to investigate avenues of expression as she further develops her already impressive portfolio.
Currently enrolled in a college level AP Art: 2D Design course and Ceramics & Sculpture along with five honors courses, Jimenez continues to push her creativity to reach lofty goals of artistic and personal achievement. She is well on her way to attaining such goals as evidenced by her self- motivation, maturity and academic accomplishments.
She has achieved a high GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society, has tutored peers in various subject areas and has unselfishly devoted her time and efforts to care for others less fortunate or with special needs.
Her concern for the environment is evidenced by her participation with Hamilton’s H.E.Y. Club, a recycling group in school. She has also scraped metal for an organization called Speed for Light in order to raise money for missionaries, participated in a walkathon for the American Cancer Society and walked in Relay for Life to raise money for another great cause.
We are honored and proud to nominate Annastacia Jimenez as our Hamilton West fine arts nominee. Her well-rounded approach to life exemplifies academia, creativity and thoughtfulness—all excellent qualities for her “life” portfolio.
Annastacia Jimenez writes: Art has been a major part of my life since I was just a little girl. It became my passion even when I was completely unaware. I always knew I loved art, but it wasn’t until my freshman year in high school where I realized I was serious about it. Day after day, I would sit in that freshman art room and get completely engaged into the art piece that I’d be working on. I grew patience for the tedious work that went into each piece; and I was totally OK with it.
I’ve taken every art class to learn, grow and passionately study more techniques and mediums. Now as a senior in high school, I am taking AP Studio Art and plan on being a digital media major in college; something very creative yet innovative and booming. I believe in expressing yourself. Express your life in your job, family, friends or even hobbies. That is one major aspect of being an artist that I plan on continuing!
Roger Kleinmann, math
Nominating teacher Maryann Kinsley writes: Roger Kleinmann has excelled in the area of mathematics during the past four years at Hamilton High School West. He studied geometry, algebra 2 and precalculus at the honors level, and is currently taking AP calculus.
As a junior, Kleinmann excelled in AP computer science, and received the highest possible score on the AP exam. In addition to AP calculus, his senior year schedule includes AP courses in statistics, physics, government and history. With a weighted grade point average of 4.552, Kleinmann currently ranks second in his class. He is a highly motivated, critical thinker.
In addition to his rigorous schedule, Kleinmann finds time to participate in clubs and various other activities. He is a member of the National Honor Society and the founder of the National Mathematics Honor Society at Hamilton West. He serves as president of the Math Club and captain of design and engineering for the Robotics Team. In addition, he is a member of the Science League and math department student assistant.
Kleinmann enriches his education by taking online courses and summer programs in technology and computer science at Princeton University and Stevens Institute of Technology.
He has always set high standards for himself and demonstrates maturity, responsibility and dependability in all aspects of his high school career. He has natural mathematical ability, curiosity and critical thinking skills that enable him to analyze concepts and make astute connections and conclusions. His future plans include going to college to study computer science.
Roger Kleinmann writes: Mathematics has always been the field of study where I have dedicated most of my time and rigorous activity. Some people cannot stand the countless formulas, postulates and theorems, but I simply cannot get enough. In the same way that a student of biology finds it interesting to study how cells in a living body work together, I find amazement in the way that mathematics intertwines with its children fields, such as algebra and geometry.
With this in mind, I often spend hours of research and experimentation on various topics within the subject. I like to break down the ideas of trigonometry, geometry and similar topics to see exactly why certain rules can be postulated. I find excitement in understanding the origins of such ideas, and I use my acquired knowledge in the applications of computer science, physics and even in areas as simple as our school’s Math Club, where I hold school records.
I plan on taking my knowledge of mathematics further in my studies as I enter college as a computer science major. Through these studies, I wish to develop a greater understanding of artificial intelligence, advance algorithms and mathematics as a whole.
Joshua Knowles, science
Nominating teacher Elizabeth T. Giampiccolo writes: It is my most sincere please to write on behalf of Joshua Knowles, a student in both my AP Level and A Level chemistry classes. As a teacher of both honors and AP students, I am accustomed to instructing the best and brightest of the student body, and Knowles ranks as one of the finest students I have had the pleasure to teach.
He has far too many attributes to enumerate with a single page. He is an extremely intelligent young man, and this coupled with his hard working, diligent personality has produced a most exceptional student. As a junior taking both AP chemistry and AP biology, he showed complete mastery of these challenging curricula, receiving the highest possible score on both exams. Knowles was our highest scoring member of the Science League team representing Hamilton High School West in chemistry, and received the award of AP Scholar with honor in his junior year.
Knowles sets extremely high standards for success, and shows the perseverance to attain and surpass these goals. He continues to pursue academic excellence with a course load of only honors and AP courses, and excels in all curriculum areas, maintaining his well-deserved position as No. 1 in his graduating class.
He is acutely aware of the importance of hard work both in and outside the classroom, and exhibits a level of integrity and responsibility that far exceeds his peers. He is an extremely cooperative student, interacting well with his fellow classmates, willingly offering his time to help others as a student tutor.
The standard of excellence that Knowles shows for his schoolwork is displayed in all activities he engages in at Hamilton High School West, and his accomplishments are as numerous as his attributes. He is a member of several honor societies, including the National Honor Society, serves the student body as a class officer, and is a peer leader. In addition to his scholastic awards, Knowles is a member of the varsity lacrosse and football teams, and he generously serves the community through active participation in local charitable and service projects.
With talents traversing all academic areas, Knowles faces no limit to his success. Using his innate intelligence, responsibility and diligence, I have absolutely no doubt that he will be highly successful in all his academic pursuits. He is the perfect recipient for the science Academic Achiever award, representing the very best of HHW.
Joshua Knowles writes: “What is a scientist after all? It is a curious man looking through a keyhole, the keyhole of nature, trying to know what’s going on.” This quote by Jacques Cousteau, a French oceanographer, truly embodies the amount of scientific knowledge still being sought in the world.
As a student at Hamilton West, I explored all three of the major scientific areas, taking AP chemistry and AP biology my junior year, as well as AP physics my senior year. Through my rigorous schedule, these classes have led me to become the curious man, searching for more. While I have enjoyed all of the science classes I have taken thus far, I have a mathematical mind and have especially enjoyed physics and chemistry.
With my passion for science and math, as well as my interest in aviation, I plan to study aerospace engineering in college. I dream of one day designing advanced aerospace and defense systems, specifically unmanned systems, where my interest is peaked. My love for science has grown over the years I have spent at Hamilton West, and it will continue to grow in the years to come.
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