Newsletter
July 2019
Watchung Hills Regional
From the Desk of the Superintendent
On September 24, 2019, you will be asked to vote on a referendum to fund necessary electrical upgrades
as well as a 21st Century Media Center. I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with
information on the upcoming referendum, which will have no impact financially on
taxpayers.
The selection of these projects from our long range facilities plan to include in the referendum is not
arbitrary. The Board and administration participated in a thoughtful process to prioritize our list of
projects in terms of safety, educational impact, and affordability. The electrical panel upgrades are
necessary to replace outdated operational systems with upgraded systems for increased safety. The
redesign and renovation of our Media Center is an outgrowth of our 5-Year Strategic Plan through which
we have established a district goal to “Integrate creative, innovative, and interdisciplinary learning
throughout the district to empower and inspire students to succeed in a changing global community.”
The ways in which our students use our Media Center have evolved not only due to the increased access to and integration of
technology in learning, but also due to the expanded opportunities for collaboration with their peers to pursue innovative learning
opportunities beyond the classroom, including such endeavors as TEDx, LaunchX, and virtual learning. The upgrade to the Media
Center will expand and redesign the existing space, incorporating areas for collaboration, independent study, large group
instruction, experiential learning, and enhanced use of technology, including video production and virtual reality.
By passing the referendum for these projects, the State of New Jersey will reimburse the Watchung Hills Regional
High School District up to 40% of the cost of the project. The savings will go back into capital reserve for future projects
without burdening taxpayers in the future.
I would like to reiterate that this bond referendum has no impact financially on taxpayers. An affirmative vote will
save the district up to 40% of the total cost of the project. The Board expects to fund the remaining local share (approximately 60%)
of the project using our own capital reserve funds. Should the referendum not pass, we will look to scale back the Media Center
project to what we are able to fund with our allotted capital reserve without the State of New Jersey’s reimbursement via debt service
aid.
For additional information, please visit our web site at www.whrhs.org. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to
contact our School Business Administrator, Timothy Stys, at 908-647-4800, ext. 4850, or my office at 908-647-4800, ext. 4890.
Thank you for your attention to this significant financial issue impacting the Watchung Hills Regional High School District.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Elizabeth C. Jewett
Superintendent
High School District
Page 2 Newsletter Page 2
From the Desk of the Principal
We had a very successful year in our professional learning communities (PLCs). On May 8 and 15, the faculty
shared their good work, and we celebrated the results with a gallery walk/convention-style fair on each of those
Wednesday afternoons. Topics included augmented reality and instructional technology, coding, writing
instruction, questioning techniques, and participation strategies, among others.
The PLCs are based on research that supports the growth of teacher agency as a powerful tool to improve student
learning. They are intentionally designed to strengthen faculty autonomy and ownership throughout the school.
The focus is on adult learning that advances student learning in a measurable way. To provide time for
professional collaboration, faculty and department meeting time has been restructured, and throughout this past
year, the PLC groups had twelve work sessions, in addition to the two sharing sessions in May.
In September, the faculty formed groups of 3-4 members, defined a problem of practice in teaching or counseling, and set out to
research and explore. They chose topics that were instructionally focused and designed to improve student learning. They conducted
research and shared articles. Then they decided how to measure progress in terms of student learning. With goals set, they began
exploring, experimenting with strategies in the classroom, and taking risks. They used the PLC work sessions to engage in collective
inquiry, review assessment data, analyze results, and reflect. And then in May, they drafted executive summaries and created a visual
display for the gallery walk/fair. The energy created was exceptional, and it gave our PLCs real momentum for the fall.
We’re proud of our faculty’s commitment to learning. They’re modeling inquiry and collaboration for our students and strengthening
our school community in the process.
George Alexis Principal
Page 3 Newsletter
From the Desk of the Director of Curriculum & Instruction
As many of you know,
representatives from
all four k-8 districts
and the high school
meet frequently to
ensure ongoing
cohesion. In addition
to monthly meetings
among the
superintendents'
group, and the
principals' group - the
curriculum directors' meetings focus on
improving instruction and sharing
resources. Under the direction of the
superintendents, the curricular
articulation requires communication,
collaboration, and alignment. This year,
the five supervisors embraced two new
initiatives: universal participation in
departmental learning walks and a pilot to
share online resources/tech possibilities to
improve the Algebra 1 curriculum in all our
schools. The learning walks in each
department offered monthly opportunities
for multiple middle school teachers to
observe diverse instructional activities at the
high school. Every school was represented
for every discipline, and there was a brief
training video shared upon arrival at the
high school. Then, mixed groups of three
and four professionals visited three high
school classrooms before a debriefing period
with the observers and the high school
teachers. Along with the learning walks, the
Algebra 1 teachers focused on integrating
coding/computer science into the core
curriculum at both the high school and
middle school levels. The middle and
high school Algebra 1 teachers and
supervisors, came together multiple
times to discuss the use of technology
to improve student engagement and
foster deeper learning. Many effective
discussions ensued, and high school
Algebra 1 teachers were asked to
incorporate more student-centered
activities as they re-write the Algebra 1
curriculum. With the help of Google
forms, all the teachers of Algebra 1 were
asked to share a best practice or resource
which demonstrated the integration
between purposeful technology and the
NJ Curricular Framework for Algebra 1.
Prendergast Speaks To WHRHS Students
John Prendergast, a human rights and
anti-corruption activist as well as a New
York Times best-selling author who for
35 years has focused on issues about
bringing peace and greater
human understanding to Africa,
spent some five hours at
Watchung Hills Regional High
School on Friday, March 29, the
guest of the student co-curricular
club, the Diversity Club, and
Social Studies Teachers Jamie
Lott-Jones and Mark Sok.
Arriving during the start of
student lunch period, Prendergast
visited first with the Diversity
Club members in Room 116A. He sat in a
student desk that he turned around to
face the students of the Diversity Club
who were eating their lunches, and
shared with them a little bit about his
educational journey.
He had taken a one-of-a-kind type of
academic path that led to successes,
graduating from Georgetown University
in Washington, D.C., and eventually
became the Founding Director of the
“Enough Project,” an initiative to end
genocide and crimes against humanity.
From that curiosity, from that aspiration,
and from a seemingly unquenchable thirst
to learn how to turn his knowledge into a
course of action that would “made a
difference,” he fashioned a career “one step
at a time.” Eventually, his involvement grew
to him being the Co-Founder of “The
Sentry,” an investigative initiative to search
out the assets of African war criminals and
their international collaborators.
Prendergast’s journey brought him to work
in the Clinton White House, the U.S. State
Department, for two members of Congress,
the National Intelligence Council, UNICEF,
Human Rights Watch, the International
Crisis Group, and the U.S. Institute of
Peace, among others.
All his international level, world
changing work was put aside – or
he might say it was further enriched
by – his riveted focus on March 29,
2019 on the students of WHRHS. In
Room 116A and the South
Auditorium, he zoned in on the
students of WHRHS, sharing his
story as a prelude to engaging the
students in conversation on their
level. He persisted the entire time
he was at WHRHS, answering
student questions, and learning
from them .
There were questions during lunch
period. Questions, too, at two assemblies
in the South Auditorium during the two
afternoon classes. Then after the
assemblies, he was back in the Diversity
Club classroom 116A, where he remained
for as long as there were questions to be
answered. He didn’t stop until the school
day was over. In fact, even then, he
continued to receive – and answer--
e-mails rich with questions sent to him
from WHRHS students for days later.
Mary Ellen Phelan Director of
Curriculum & Instruction
Page 4 Newsletter Page 4
2019 Teacher of the Year—Angela DiIorio Bird
Vocal Music Teacher Angela DiIorio
Bird has been named the Watchung
Hills Regional High School Teacher of
the Year for the 2018-2019 School Year.
WHRHS Principal George Alexis
informed DiIorio Bird of her
selection during the week prior to
Easter Weekend.
“Please join me in congratulating
Angela DiIorio Bird, our Teacher
of the Year for 2018-19,” Alexis
said. “Angela has played a
significant role in deepening our
commitment to the arts. Her
passion for music and
performance benefits our students
and our entire school community.
She is a talented teacher who
knows how to differentiate in-
struction and help students of all
abilities reach high expectations. In
addition, she produces beautiful chorus
concerts, serves as vocal coach for the
musical, and mentors students all year
long.”
DiIorio Bird is in her eighth year
teaching at WHRHS, and 10th year
teaching overall. During her first two
years after college, she taught in the
Lambertville Public Schools, a district
she described as among the smallest in
New Jersey.
That stood in stark contrast to the size of
WHRHS. However, DiIorio Bird was
already very familiar with WHRHS,
having graduated from WHRHS in 2005.
She had grown up in Watchung, and
attended Watchung Public Schools.
When was DiIorio Bird first attracted to
music?
“My grandfather gave me my first piano
lesson when I was in 1st grade,” DiIorio
Bird said. “He was an opera singer. He
came from a musical family. I fell in love
with music then.”
She played tenor saxophone in high
school in the WHRHS band program
for all four years, as well as the oboe.
She qualified for All Region Band in
tenor saxophone. She sings in the Alto
section when she sang for three
years in the WHRHS Choir.
“Piano is my primary instrument,”
she said. “My undergraduate
degree at Ithaca College is in
piano performance and music
education.”
Following Ithaca College, in
Ithaca, N.Y., DiIorio Bird earned
her first master’s degree in
Education from The College of
New Jersey (TCNJ), Ewing
Township. She is currently continuing
her studies, pursuing a second master’s
degree, this in Educational Leadership,
at the College of St. Elizabeth in the
Convent Station section of Morris
Township.
She added that she has also completed training for certificates for Principal and Supervisor.
WHRHS Junior Recognized for Extraordinary Work
A high school junior, volunteering her time, has brought creativity, comradery and joy to the
adult residents of Mt. Bethel Village for almost two years in an extraordinary commitment of
service to others.
Niharika (Nina) Iyer, who is finishing up her junior year at Watching Hills Regional High
School, first reached out to Mt. Bethel Executive Director Carolann Garafola in 2017 with a
desire to bring art projects to Mt. Bethel’s developmentally disabled adults. The projects were
designed to be done in two or three hours and could be taken back to each adult’s apartment
to be enjoyed later. They grew beyond day projects and are now part of the fabric of life at
Mt. Bethel Village, located at 130 Mt. Bethel Road in Warren. Ms. Iyer continues visiting MBV,
completing to date more than 22 projects over 66 hours on-site with countless additional hours
of prep time including the purchase of materials. The projects are planned, in writing, and tied
to seasonal events and holidays and are tailored to each individual’s capabilities.
Page 5 Newsletter
World Languages Honor Societies Induction Ceremony
Some 202 Watchung Hills Regional
High School students were inducted into
five World Language Honor Societies at
the 14th Annual Honor Societies
Induction Ceremony, Wednesday, April
24, in the WHRHS Performing Arts
Center.
Parents and
families attended
the ceremony,
where in addition
to induction into
language honor
societies, some 63
seniors were
recognized for
having received
from the New
Jersey DOE the
New Jersey “Seal
of Bilieracy.”
Brad
Commerford, the
WHRHS
Supervisor of
World Languages
and Health/
Physical
Education, explained that students
who qualify for the Seal of Biliteracy
have demonstrated that they were able
to speak, read, listen and write in two or
more languages at a high level of profi-
ciency. They demonstrated a mastery
in English by their passing score in the
PARCC Test in English Language Skills,
and their passing scores in a test from
the American Council on the Teaching
of Foreign Languages.
The Seal of Biliteracy was an initiative
started by “Californians Together” in
2008 to acknowledge and reward
hardworking bilingual and multilingual
students. In 2011, it officially became
legislation in California, and multiple
states have implemented a statewide
Seal of Biliteracy. In 2016, New Jersey
became the 15th state to do so.
The breakdown by language for the 63
students, who were recognized for hav-
ing qualified for a Seal of Biliteracy, is as
follows: Chinese -3; French -14; German-3;
Italian-6; Russian-1; Spanish-35; Polish-2;
and Portuguese-2. Three students were
recognized for having been awarded two
Seals of Biliteracy.
The breakdown of how many students were
inducted into each Language Honor
Societies this year is as follows: Chinese-
40; French-27; German-7; Italian-30; and
Spanish-98. One student, Alia Bu, was
recognized for being inducted into two
world language honor societies: Chinese
and Spanish, Commerford said.
As part of the World Languages Honor
Societies induction ceremony, students
stood at the seats in the middle section of
the PAC’s orchestra seats as their names
were called by their teachers in each of five
languages. Then students representing
each of the languages came forward to the
stage to read the Oath of Induction for and
in each language. The students in unison
responded in that language.
“Every language is a lens through which
we see the world,” Commerford told the
students. “If you were to wear green
colored glasses and never took them off
or exchanged them for another color,
you would have to assume that the
world is green.
You wouldn’t see
green as a
perspective. It
would be your
only reality. If
you only know
one language, it
is difficult to
realize you are
looking through
a particular lens.
You simply
think your world
is as you see it.
Fluency in a
second language
gives you a
chance to see the
world through a
different lens.”
He added: “Inductees, whatever reason
for learning a second language has
brought you here tonight, we hope you
continue to gain proficiency both here
at WHRHS or at the university level
where many of you will be next year.
Consider that learning a language is a
life-long experience. It is fulfilling,
provides you with insight and it
broadens your understanding of other
worlds and cultures. It propels you on a
journey and prepares you to accept the
challenges of global citizenship. The
Administration and World Language
Staff of Watchung Hills congratulate all
of our inductees on taking this critical
step towards fluency in a world
language. Thank you for allowing us to
be part of your success.”
Page 6 Newsletter Page 6
Spring Musical “Fiddler on the Roof” When audiences attended the four
performances of the Watchung Hills
Regional High School Spring Musical,
“Fiddler on the Roof,” from March 21-
23, they were treated to a fetching
performance in which the actors,
actresses, singers and dancers
personified the characters of a poor,
largely Jewish neighborhood of a
farming village
in 1905 Russia.
The student
thespians
seemed to walk
in their
character’s
shoes. They
wore their
clothes. They
identified – and identified with –
their coming-of-age hopes and
dreams, trials and tribulations,
even with the lyrics of one of the
musical’s most poignant song:
“Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset/
Swiftly fly the years/ One season
following another/ Laden with
happiness and tears.”
The Spring Musical brought
together a 39-member on-stage
student cast, a 35 member largely
student orchestra, and a 45-
member behind-the-scenes largely
student production team. They all
seemed to work together as a cohesive
119-member artistic unit. The largely
student team under the direction of
faculty and technical staff, seemed to
pass the first threshold of entertainment,
mastering the skills of music and song,
acting and dancing, spoken word and
literary nuance, not to mention be
supported by professional-quality
lighting and sound, scenery, staging and
prop dressing, among other essential
production tasks.
The performance also fit in with the
third goal of the WHRHS Strategic Plan
Goals 2015-2020: “To Integrate creative,
innovate and interdisciplinary learning
throughout the district to empower and
inspire students to succeed in a changing
global community.”
Audiences were offered historically-
appropriate, meaningfully-rich and
respectfully-appreciated celebrations of
ethnic customs and costuming. The
production even took advantage of the
school’s availability of skilled student
violinists. One student, violinist Emma
Golkin, portrayed the character from which
the title is derived, “The Fiddler.” In the
opening scene and then again, in the
musical’s final scene, Fiddler Golkin was
perched on a rooftop, center-stage, and
nearly-silhouetted. Dressed in a likely
orchestral performer’s black suit and hat
from 1905 Russia, Golkin played the music
of the play’s theme with appropriate
nuance, as the narrator, the play’s
patriarch, or “Poppa,” Tevye, explained the
Fiddler’s significance before summoning
the musical to its rousing opening anthem:
“Tradition.”
She then quietly and unobtrusively left the
stage during the set-change between Scene
1 and 2, to take her place in the orchestra,
there to perform with her fellow orchestra
musicians. She appeared again on stage
and on her perch for the last scene. It was
her nuanced and mournful playing that
was the last sound emanating from the
stage, as Tevye, now a refugee, left the
stage… before the reprise of “Tradition”
accompanied the standing ovations of the
curtain calls and cast bows.
Like the WHRHS Fall Drama earlier this
school year, Arthur Miller’s iconic Tony
Award winning
drama, “The
Crucible,” which
was about the
Salem Witch
Trials in a poor
farming village in
the
Massachusetts
Bay Colony in
1692 and 1693,
the on-stage talent in Fiddler on the Roof
seemed not just to be reciting lines, and
in this case singing songs. They seemed
to be “living” the hopes, dreams,
frustrations and anxieties that their
characters were facing. These were living
-learning roles for the student thespians,
as well as for the members of the
audience.
This was, after-all, a coming-of-age story
about coming-of-age young adult women
and men, and their parents, elders,
neighbors and government officials. They
were being portrayed by young adult
student actresses, actors, singers,
dancers, musicians and supported by
largely student production crews. At the
same time, the audience in the PAC for
each of the performances was largely
young adult women and men, and their
parents, elders, friends and neighbors.
As the saying might go: “Nearly everyone
in the WHRHS PAC could relate to the
musical’s drama.”
The characters, like the actors who
portrayed them and the audiences who
viewed the performances, were
experiencing some of the same array of
issues as the characters on stage: When
to move away from the home nest; who
to marry; whether to follow tradition,
adapt it, or break free from it; whether to
ask their parents for their “permission” to
Page 7 Newsletter
Spring Musical “Fiddler on the Roof” (Cont’d)
marry, as distinct from asking for their
“blessing,” and as dramatically different
from simply following their own
instinct, regardless. Likewise, the
parent characters on stage and the
parents in the audience are likely going
through some of the same sets of
anxieties: The may well have engaged
or will in the future engage, in the
virtual acrobatics of feelings, as the
Poppa on stage, Tevye, goes through
when forced to make a decision. In
their own minds, and more importantly
in their own hearts, they no doubt can
relate to Tevye’s recurring debate
syllogism: Weighing “On the one
hand…” versus “On the other hand…”
In the opening scene, Tevye addresses
the use of the fiddler as metaphor about
personifying “survival in a life of
uncertainty.” The fiddler is perched
somewhat precariously on a roof
"trying to scratch out a pleasant simple
tune without breaking ‘his’ (or in this
case of this production, ‘her’) neck."
Likewise, the fiddler metaphor also
refers to the survival of their beloved
“tradition” in a life of uncertainty. Cue
the opening number, the proud,
rousing, defiant and emotional anthem,
“Tradition.”
In the end, and on top of all the
“coming of age” themes and challenges
to tradition, comes government
decrees. The Jewish families of their
village, named Anatevka, are forced to
become refugees. The good people of
this village, ones that we in the
audience have come to identify with,
must flee their homes and
communities, look for asylum in
suitable alternative communities that
they hope and pray would welcome
refugees. There they will once again live
by what is perhaps their most prized
possession, after love of family: A code
of conduct, honor and discipline that is
baked into their DNA. Cue the curtain
call for the rousing reprise of,
“Tradition.” Audiences are invited to
proudly sing along, with gusto, and
with “happiness and tears.”
Page 8 Newsletter Page 8
of Mathematics and Business Dan
Twisler, and Business Teacher Dianne
Krutz.
Student speakers for this year’s
conference at WHRHS were: Shefali
Sahay, Surya Rai, Ishika Agrawal, Kaitlyn
Roth, Eliana Sussner, Abby and Emma
Kotar, Isha Nagpaul, and Anchal Dhir.
The faculty member who spoke was
Physics Teacher Matthew Dellibovi.
Senior Shefali Sahay, who plans to attend
next year the Mason Gross School for the
Arts at Rutgers University, New
Brunswick, spoke about aspiring to study
graphic design, digital marketing and
communications. She said she loves
watching Netflix and Disney movies, and
enjoys art and fashion. Sahay’s talk was
inspired by how it is important for one to
overcome challenges. She also displayed
some of her own artworks in her
One of the highlights of this second half of
the 2018-2019 School Year at Watchung
Hills Regional High School was Thursday
night, March 28, on the stage of the
school’s Performing Arts Center, when
nine students and a physics teacher shared
stories of their explorations and
challenges, at the 2019 edition of
Tedx Youth@WHRHS.
They speakers also shared
strategies on how to achieve
personal growth, while also
encouraging audience members
to explore and broaden their own
horizons.
The theme for this year’s TEDx
event, the third such event
during the last three years, was
“Aspire.” What is TED?
According to event literature,
“TED is a conference for
dreamers, thinkers, makers, and doers
to help inspire them to make a
difference in the world.”
Past influential speakers at TED events
across the country have included
Microsoft’s Bill and Melinda Gates;
Dame Jane Goodall, the world’s
foremost expert on chimpanzees; and
American educator and entrepreneur
Sal Khan. TEDxYouth is a TED
conference geared towards high school
and middle school students. The
TEDxYouth@WHRHS annual event is
an independently organized event which
tries to bring a TEDYouth-like experience
to Watchung Hills.
The event, which reflected the school-wide
strategy to encourage, recognize and grow
from interdisciplinary approaches to
problem-solving learning and
explorations, was organized by a
collaboration of the Steering Committee,
which included: Students Davin Lui,
Marilyn Du, Nina Iyer, Matt McCracken,
Jordyn Youngelson, and Megan Krutz.
The Faculty Advisers for the event
included: Director of Curriculum and
Instruction Mary Ellen Phelan, Supervisor
TEDx Youth@WHRHS
presentation.
Sophomore Surya Rai, who aspires to be
a lawyer, spoke about anxieties students
face as adolescents and provided
assurance that High school assessments
and experiences may not tell the
“whole” story regarding future
success. He is an active
participant in the Diversity,
Economics, Model UN, and Mock
Trial clubs. Outside of these
clubs, Rai plays three
instruments, including the piano,
drums, and baritone sax, and he
has played basketball since 6th
grade.
Senior Ishika Agrawal, who plans
to attend Cornell University,
Ithaca, N.Y., explained that she
aspires to apply her passion for
music to continue organizing
local volunteer music performances.
She hopes to be actively engaged in
serving the community as a writer, and
advocating for social justice through
the UNICEF Voices of Youth.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Roth has a full
range of interests and skills, including:
Playing Ultimate Frisbee; earning a
second degree Black Belt in
Taikwondo; and working toward her
Gold Award in Girl Scouts, the
equivalent of a Boy Scout Eagle Scout.
She spoke about aspiring to convince
the audience to live up to their own
expectations, rather than to the
expectations of others.
Junior Eliana Sussner said she has a
thirst to read, write and learn new
things, including history and languages.
She shared that she aspires to counsel
students: To find a balance in their
passions; and to discern a career path.
She shared that she would try to be
savvy to the fact that an “ideal” career
path may not necessarily be achieved
along a “linear” path.
Juniors Abby and Emma Kotar are
identical twins and very active in a
variety of co-curricular activities and
Page 9 Newsletter
TEDx Youth@WHRHS (Cont’d)
interests, both in school and out of school.
They shared that they are in both similar
and different school activities, which reflect
their similar and different passions. They
said they aspired to share with the audience
some insights into how to be strong
individuals who create their own destinies,
despite their common interests and
strikingly similar physical appearances.
After all, they hypothesized, even though
their fellow students are not identical twins,
many teens their age and academic class are
in the midst of both similar and different
coming-of-age explorations.
Sophomore Isha Nagpaul, who has rich
co-curricular interests and who plans to
study pre-medicine in college, explored
common high school norms, and shared
how she has learned to navigate them. She
hoped she inspired others to find their own
paths.
WHRHS Senior Anchal Dhir explained she
is also a senior at Vocational and Technical
High School, with a focus on vocal and
acting training. She is president of the
WHRHS chapter of the International
Thespian Honor Society, is a member of the
Tri-M Music Honor Society, and the Script
and Cue Drama Program. She shared what
she has learned about the importance of
seeking spiritual balance in the material
world.
14-year WHRHS Physics Teacher Matthew
Dellibovi explained that he earned his
teaching credentials through New Jersey’s
Alternate Route Program, after having
received his bachelor’s degree from Case
Western Reserve University, Cleveland,
Ohio, and master’s degree in Education
from Saint Peter’s College, Jersey City. He
shared how his failures, as well as his
successes in the classroom over the years,
had shaped him into the teacher he is today.
He suggested that students can learn
valuable lessons for their own personal
journeys through the careers they choose,
and to understand they may find themselves
adapting along the way.
Page 10 Newsletter Page 10
broaden his ever-growing knowledge of
CS, going forward. He said he is so
fascinated by CS because of its possible
applications in other fields.
During the panel discussion that started
the day, each guest described how useful
CS is, how to learn more about it, and
how to get more proficient using it as a
tool in just about everything.
They also fielded questions from the
audience, many of which were posed in
true CS style: By entering the questions
using a CS code on their SmartPhones,
tablets or CS devices. They did so to alert
event Lead Organizers, WHRHS Juniors
Jagdeep Bhatia and Mayur Sharma, who
could screen the questions and organize
them for the purposes of seeing trends
but reducing duplications. Then, they
conveyed them -- again CS-style -- to
Panel Moderator Twisler on stage, who
then asked them of the panel.
Some 60 students, ranging from middle
school through high school, dedicated a
Sunday afternoon to learning more about
computer coding, various computer
languages and the importance of
Computer Science (CS) education, all at
the 2019 HillsHacks Day, Sunday, May
18, at WHRHS.
Among the Middle School students who
attended HillsHacks were those from the
middle schools in Warren Township,
Watchung, Long Hill Township and Green
Brook Township.
To kick off the day, HillsHacks
participants heard from a panel of CS
devotees, including:
• WHRHS Supervisor of Mathematics and
Business Dan Twisler, who also acted as
panel moderator and Faculty
Adviser to HillsHacks;
• WHRHS Special Services
Science Teacher Carl Bird, who
said he has approached his
knowledge of CS as a valuable
tool for his many varied areas of
learning and teaching, including
Science, Special Education,
Education in general, and Music;
• 2012 WHRHS graduate
Matthew Carbone, who is a
graduate of the University of
Rochester, with interests both in
Chemistry and Physics. He now is a
doctoral candidate at Columbia University
in Chemistry Physics. He said he uses daily
the CS knowledge he developed along the
way while in graduate school. CS is now
vitally important as he digs deeper into his
field while pursuing his advanced degrees;
• 2018 WHRHS graduate Jared Pincus,
who has completed his first year as a CS
student at Stevens Institute of Technology,
Hoboken. He said he probably will
concentrate on pursuing advanced degrees
in CS, and then possibly teaching CS; and
• WHRHS Senior Neelay Trivedi, who
helped add leadership to HillsHacks, both
last year and this year, and aspires to
2019 HillsHacks
The question and answer session was
robust, too, with just about every
member of the panel sharing their
perspectives on just about every
question. There appeared to be no end
in sight to the participants’ curiosity
until the 2019 HillsHacks schedule
called for a light lunch.
Some of the biggest take-aways from the
panel discussions and questions were
the ideas that:
• CS students, especially those just
starting out, should aspire to learn more
than one CS language;
• CS students should seek opportunities
to learn with a friend who is interested
in CS or in a group; and CS students
should expect to discover that many CS
projects will require teamwork to solve
problems;
• CS students should try to
use what CS skills or
knowledge they acquire as
they acquire them. Use
them as tools to solve
problems, even if they are
little or seemingly
inconsequential problems
to solve. Experimenting
with finding out how CS
learning can be applied in
small matters, even in
playful matters, could come back to help
some day with trying to hypothesize to
solve big and serious problems.
• CS students should develop a keen
sense of curiosity and learn how to learn
by searching online and with other CS
referenced materials;
• CS students should not be bashful
about asking teachers for help when
needed; and
• CS students should be unsurprised if
they find that CS skills can be helpful in
not just the STEM (Science Technology
Engineering and Mathematics) subjects,
but in the Language Arts, Humanities
and Social Studies subjects – really in
just about every subject.
Page 11 Newsletter
2019 HillsHacks (Cont’d)
Panelist Bird shared that it was CS that
appeared to be a common denominator in
his broad learning/ teaching interests,
from science, to education and special
education, and to music.
“Music may have been the first computer
language,” he observed. “The player
piano’s roll of punched parchment paper
to have a machine strike particular notes
at a particular time
and in concert with
other notes could be
considered an early
form of coding.”
All the panelists also
advised the audience
to expect to keep
learning well after
they leave middle
school, high school,
even college and
graduate school, and
up the ladder of promotions in a career.
One questioner from the audience asked
if learning new CS languages ever
becomes “easy.” Many panelists said not
necessarily, although it may get “easier,”
the more they do it. There are
commonalities across languages or
problem-solving systems that may assist
that.
But CS students shouldn’t shy away from
trying to solve little and then big CS
problems, and discerning what CS
language best applies, they said. It is in
the solving of the problems, and
experimenting with different applications
to find the right problem solvers, that CS
students will learn. It is in tackling the
hard stuff that the real learning takes
place, the agreed.
The light lunch after the panel session
afforded participants an opportunity to
become better acquainted with each other
and the speakers, who were there to
answer more questions.
Immediately following lunch, the
students could choose from a variety of
mini-workshops. The morning speakers
and other guests proficient in the world
of CS led these workshops, each tackling
different computer science topics. Among
the additional HillsHacks volunteers,
were two local Gifted and Talented
program teachers: Elaine Chesebro,
former Gifted and Talented teacher in
grades 5-8 Valley View Middle School in
Watchung; and Regina Nadbielny, who
lives in Watchung and teaches in the
Gifted and Talented STEM program at
the Orange School District. She was
honored this year as New Jersey Gifted
and Talented Teacher of the Year.
Additional WHRHS students who pitched
in to share their knowledge of CS
programs, languages and applications
were Juniors Adnan Contractor and
Calvin Khiddee-Wu.
Among the topics offered in each of the
four classrooms were: Introductions to
Python in all four sessions; Tech Toys
MicroBits, Spheros, Banana Physics, and
Machine Learning for Cats and Mice;
Making Video Games and Nailing The
Hackathon Pitch; and Coding in Space,
Website Design, Why is CS Important,
and LaTeX and Math.
After the workshops, and over a late
afternoon snack/early supper of pizza,
participants organized themselves into
smaller break-out groups, and
brainstormed on how they might apply a
simple CS tool to a likely mild problem
for the purposes of improving a situation.
Many gravitated to issues such as
teachers reporting-out grades, or
students receiving useful systems to
help them outline subjects to improve
studying for tests and doing homework,
or researching a term papers or
answers to likely essay questions.
The teams then decided on who would
be the group spokesperson, or
approach I as a team presentation.
They put together a power point type
presentation, and
once the numerous
groups completed
that task, they would
all head to the South
Auditorium to give
their presentations to
the full group.
The teams competed
for prizes, and were
judged by a subset of
the panelists.
As many as 10 different groups of
students were formed, and the three
winning presentations were: A ”Grade
Genie,” which could help predict future
grades in a subject based on points
assigned to study habits, past
performances and the like; a “Smart
Desk,” which would empower student
desks with abilities similar to the way
Smart Boards beefed up the capabilities
of the age-old classroom blackboard;
and a “Tempest Time management
App,” which would help both students
and teachers keep track of assignments,
estimated time it might take to
research, read, learn and or write about
or absorb, and other such tasks.
Page 12 Newsletter Page 12
Denton, featuring vocalist Summer
Stuart; “Spain,” by Chick Corea,
arrangement Paul Jennings; and “I
Heard it Through the Grapevine,” by
Whitfield and Strong, arrangement Paul
Murtha.
The five numbers performed by the
advanced WHRHS Jazz Band, are:
“Diggin The Dorian,” by Richard Linton;
“So Cry Me A River,” by Arthur
Hamilton, arrangement Victor Lopez,
featuring vocalist Summer Stuart; “Feels
So Good,” by Chuck Mangione,
arrangement Victor Lopez; “The Gospel
Truth,” by Craig Fraedrich; and “Proud
Mary,” by John Fogarty , leader of
Creedence Clearwater Revival,
arrangement Dave Wolpe.
The members of the WHRHS Jazzy Band
are: Alto Sax, Conner Cheng, Alex
Martino, Manthan Naik, and Rahud
Verma; Tenor Sax, John Schmitt; Bari
Sax, Sean Witmaack; Trumpet, Zach
Cashman, Leah Lavender, Sam Jiang,
Lauren McAvoy, Elisabeth Russo;
Trombone, Chris Baker, Chad Huang,
Martina Lavender, and Nicole LoCascio;
Piano, Adrian Jackson and Adam
Moszczynski; Guitar, Alex Azarian and
Parents and fellow students filled the
portable seats of the Performing Arts
Center on-stage “Little Stage”
configuration, with its low lighting tones
and coffee house atmosphere, on Friday
night, April 5, to hear two Watchung Hills
Regional High School student jazz bands
explore the jazz compositions and
arrangements of the works of nine artists.
Conductor for the Jazz Showcase was
WHRHS Instrumental Music Teacher Paul
McCullen. Providing assistance and
playing piano at the concert
was WHRHS Music Teacher
Chris Wyatt.
“The two jazz bands operate
more like our Symphonic
Band and Wind Ensemble,”
McCullen explained. “The
Jazz Band is for more
advanced students that go
to adjudicated events, while
the second band is for
developing jazz skills and
learning to play in the genre. Both
ensembles are mixed grades 9 - 12.”
Both bands explored a mix of the familiar
with the not-so familiar. The Jazzy Band
tackled the familiar “Porgy and Bess”
favorite “Summertime” and Motown
favorite, “I Heard It Through the
Grapevine,” among others, while the
Advanced Jazz Band shared their best on
‘So Cry Me A River,” “Feels So Good,” and
“Proud Mary,” among others.
Senior Choral singer Sumer Stuart was
vocalist for two numbers, one with each
band.
In the process, WHRHS instrumental
music students soaked up a tutorial from
such notable composers as W.C. Handy,
George Gerschwin, Chick Corea, Whitfield
and Strong, Arthur Hamilton, Chuck
Mangione and John Fogarty.
The four numbers performed by the
WHRHS Jazzy Band are: “St. Luis Blues,”
by W.C. Handy, arrangement: Mike
Collins-Dowden; “Summertime,” by
George Gershwin, arrangement John
Jazz Showcase
Andrew Shi; Bass, Anjali Blow; Drum
Set, Anthony Azevedo and Eric
Peterson.
The members of the advanced WHRHS
Jazz Band are: Alto Sax, Timothe
Iroudayassamy and Brandon Tang;
Tenor Sax, Adam Moszczynski and Vijay
Subramanian; Trumpet, Ryan Branco,
Elliot DeGulio; Miah Manning;
Matthew Schaefer; and Kathryn
Sellinger; Trombone, Ryan Britten,
Omar Lateef, and Cristina Sarrico;
Guitar Zachary Goodman and Andrew
Shi; Bass, Kyle Merritts; Piano, WHRHS
Music Teacher Chris Watt; and Drum
Set, Max Schwartz.
Page 13 Newsletter
2019 Unsung Hero Student Recognition Program
Watchung Hills Regional High School
Senior Elizabeth Wood of Gillette was
among nine students from Somerset County
high schools honored by the Somerset
County School Boards Association at the
2019 Unsung Heroes Student Recognition
Program, Tuesday, April 3, in the
Performing Arts Center at WHRHS.
Robert Morrison, who is a longtime member
of the WHRHS Board of Education, hosted
the recognition as president of the SCSBA.
He was joined at the recognition by
numerous members of the SCSBA, as well as
various members of local Somerset County
school districts board members, school
officials from the schools attended by the
honored student unsung heroes, and by
parents and families of the honored
students.
Other students honored along with
Elizabeth Wood are: Abina Nimalashanthan
of Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High
School; Natasha Ishaq of Franklin High
School; Victoria Franco of Hillsborough
High School; Maria Castro of Manville High
School; Chilly Wallace of Montgomery High
School; Jeiner Betancourt Quintanilla of
North Plainfield High School; Grant Hilton
of Bernards High School; and Justin
Krishnamurti of Somerville High School.
When Elizabeth Wood was called up to the
stage as the ninth student recognized, she
was by no means a stranger to calls to the
PAC stage during her academic and
co-curricular career at WHRHS.
Earlier this school year, in October, she was
one of 97 students called to the stage to be
inducted into the National Honor Society.
Likewise in December, Elizabeth Wood was
among the more than 200 choral music
students who responded on cue to the stage
for the annual Winter Choral Concert.
Audiences at the annual Winter and spring
choral concerts are by now familiar seeing
Elizabeth Wood on stage as a member of the
Advanced Choir in the group’s Alto section.
She was among the student singers who
brought to life at this year’s Winter Concert
a broad array of songs in various musical
genres and styles, from tender
remembrances to rock-and-roll anthems
and empowerment statements. Among
them were: A set from the movie,
“Frozen;” the anthem from “The
Greatest Showman,” titled, “This is Me;”
a Tribute to Queen; a medley from
“Disney on Stage;” and John Lennon
and Yoko Ono’s by now annual seasonal
favorite, “Happy Christmas (War Is
Over).”
Elizabeth Wood is also no stranger from
being an empowering inspiration to all
who marveled at her achievement as a
WHRHS Warrior. She was born with
Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a
genetic disease affecting the part of the
nervous system that controls voluntary
muscle movement. Nevertheless,
Elizabeth Wood has shown a lifelong
thirst for knowledge. She has
aspirations, after crossing the
graduation stage in Tozier Stadium this
June, to continue her academic journey,
possibly at The College of New Jersey,
Ewing Township, or Seton Hall
University, South Orange. She hopes to
study pre-law.
In introducing Elizabeth Wood to the
audience at the Unsung Heroes
Recognition Ceremony, WHRHS
Superintendent Elizabeth Jewett cited
the student’s exceptional achievements
in her rigorous course of academic
studies at WHRHS, as well as her active
participation in and contribution to: The
WHRHS Choir; the school’s Mock Trial
team; and Student Government.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to
speak about Elizabeth Wood, Watchung
Hills’ nominee for the Unsung Hero
Award,” said WHRHS Superintendent
Jewett. “Not only has Elizabeth
performed exceptionally well in some of
our high school’s most rigorous courses,
but when the bell rings at the end of the
day, Elizabeth is active in Chorus, Mock
Trial, and Student Government.”
The superintendent continued, “Her
classroom teachers marvel at her
intelligence, wit and engagement. Her
calculus teacher describes her as a ‘student
who works extremely hard, asks
appropriate questions, and cares about
helping fellow students to succeed.’ Her
physics teacher remarked he had never
seen a rising junior as excited to get
started with AP Physics questions.
“Elizabeth is not only a STEAM disciple,
her humanities teachers also marvel at
Elizabeth’s many talents; one of her junior
teachers misses having her in class
because of her intellectual ability, but
more importantly, this teacher recalled the
‘assiduous preparation’ Elizabeth
completed before class. Another social
studies teacher describes Elizabeth as a
‘class leader, team player who is funny and
kind to others.’”
In co-curricular activities, Elizabeth Wood
is also a stand-out, Jewett said.
“The student government advisor
describes Elizabeth as ‘a peer leader who
not only shows up for every commitment
with a positive ‘can do attitude,’’ but one
who is committed to service beyond our
school community- always modeling
appropriate behaviors for our younger
students.” Jewett said. “The Mock Trail
Advisor will remember Elizabeth not only
for being named earlier this year as ‘Best
Witness,’ at the Somerset County Court-
house, but also for her knowledge of each
case file and her insight into planning our
strategy for competition. Elizabeth read
carefully and could recall details precisely,
but she also understood how to synthesize
witness statements to frame a larger
argument.”
Page 14 Newsletter Page 14
Judges for the Talent Show were:
WHRHS English Teachers Heather
Farrington and Amita Lluveres; Science
Teacher Matthew Dellibovi; and students
Taylor Hestvick, Anachal Dhir, Ishika
Agrawal, Ryan Branco, and Ian Donnelly.
Student Vincent DeGeronomo acted as
host for the evening, introducing all the
acts.
The performances were:
“Today,” by Smashing Pumpkins,
performed by the band featuring
students: Kevin Lynch, Jake Dario, Pierre
Tejada and Anthony Russo;
“Frankenstein,” by Edgar Winter,
performed by the band featuring
students: Andrew Caffrey, Zach Good-
man, Sandy Friedman, Altay Kabukan,
and Kyle Merritts;
“Yesterday,” by The Beatles, performed
as an instrumental by the student duo,
Julian Lioanag and Brandon Tang;
“What You Got,” a dance piece performed
by the duo and identical twins, Jenna
Rokosny and Alexis Rokosny;
“A Moonlight Night on the Spring River,”
a traditional Chinese Dance performed
by student Isabella Zhou;
“Magic Act,” performed by student
Kathleen Kalb, with willing volunteers
Thirteen student acts, populated by
aspiring singers, musicians, dancers and/
or entertainers, participated in a friendly
competition at the 2019 ALS Talent Show,
Thursday, Feb. 21, in the Watchung Hills
Regional High School Performing Arts
Center.
The show is part of
a fund raising and
awareness raising
effort, organized by
the WHRH student
ALS club, called the
ALS Alliance.
The student
performers included
no less than:
Numerous student
bands; A solo
guitarist/singer and
a duet of instrumen-
talists performing
as a piano and bass duo; Two solo dance
performers as well as one dance duo
featuring identical twins; A magician
taking full advantage of the available
“jumbo tron” screen above the PAC stage
to give audience members an “up close”
view of her “can’t-figure-out-how-she
did-that” sleight-of-hand; And a crowd
pleasing finale that featured an “all-in”
performance of the iconic “Rocky Horror
Picture Show” classic song, “The Time
Warp.” The performance featured two
WHRHS English teacher singer/musicians
teaming up with two student actress/
singers/dancers, as well as audience
members and fellow talent show
contestants who knew the song by heart –
having grown up with it – and who were
not just invited, but encouraged, to come
up on stage to sing, dance and act as if
they were extras in an all-cast party scene
of the movie.
The annual event was to raise funds and
awareness for the ongoing effort to
research and find a cure and better
treatment protocols for Amyotophic
Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), the debilitating
and fatal illness known to many as “Lou
Gehrig’s Disease.”
ALS Talent Show
from the audience. The act benefited
from a mini-video camera zeroing in on
a deck of cards on a table on stage,
which allowed audience members to
view on the theater’s overhead
jumbo-tron the magician’s skilled
sleight-of-hand;
“The Judge,”
by Twenty
One Pilots,
performed by
student Paul
Riedler;
“Break on
Through to
the Other
side” by The
Doors, and
“Money
(That’s What I
want),” by
Berry Gordy,
Janie Bradford and original singer
Barrett Strong, and covered most
famously by The Beatles, performed by
the student band featuring Thomas
Dardis, Ben Kosakowski, Mike
Kasokowski, Sam Boufford, and William
Broder;
“B.B.H.M.M.,” recorded and performed
by Rihanna, featuring student Hip Hop
dancer Joy Liu;
“All I Ask,” by Adele, featuring student
singer Malvika George;
“Do You Realize,” by The Flaming Lips,
featuring the mixed teacher-student
band, The Bertellicasters, featuring
Supervisor of Arts and Co-Curricular
Activities Dan Bertelli, Ben Kosokowski,
William Broder, and Thomas Dardis;
A Chinese YoYo demonstration,
featuring student Matt Luo;
And the Finale, “The Time Warp,”
featuring the mixed teacher-student
band, English teachers Michael Porter
and Kristin Czajka and student singers/
dancers/entertainers Kayla Martins and
Kyra Anthony, and the Rocky-Horror-
Page 15 Newsletter
ALS Talent Show (Cont’d)
Picture-Show-inspired audience and
fellow Talent Show Performer
enthusiasts, singing, dancing, milling
about as if at a party and laughing.
The Winners Are
The acts judged to be First, Second
and Third in the Talent Show were:
1st Place, “B.B.H.M.M.,” recorded
and performed by Rihanna,
featuring student Hip Hop dancer
Joy Liu; 2nd Place: “Frankenstein,” by
Edgar Winter, performed by the band
featuring students: Andrew Caffrey,
Zach Goodman, Sandy Friedman,
Altay Kabukan, and Kyle Merritts;
and 3rd Place: “Magic Act,”
performed by student Kathleen Kalb.
Page 16 Newsletter Page 16
Also in attendance as guests at the
unveiling ceremony were: Fine Art,
Mural Artist, Community Project Artist
and Community Art Teacher Cindy Klein
of West Orange, who collaborated with
the WHRHS Driver’s Education students
to create the mural; A number of
representatives from State Farm
Insurance Company, which helped fund
the project. Among the guests in
attendance were local agents Jean
DiGrande, of the Gillette Office, and her
husband, George DiGrande, who also is a
State Farm professional. The DiGrandes
are residents of Warren Township; And a
number of employees from the State
Farm Office just over the border of
Warren Township into the Martinsville
section of Bridgewater Township.
Among the WHRHS officials welcoming
the guests were: Superintendent
Elizabeth Jewett, Principal George
Alexis, and Health and Physical
Education and World Languages
Supervisor Brad Commerford.
The Driver Safety Education classes at
WHRHS fall under the purview of the
Health and Physical Education
Curriculum. The four WHRHS Health
and Physical Education Teachers who
teach Driver Safety Education Classes
are: Jill Gleeson, Sabrina Levy, Jennifer
Basini and Joseph Ascolese. The Driver’s
Watchung Hills Regional High School
Sophomores in this year’s Driver’s Safety
Education classes had the added benefit of
having some key messages about the
importance of
continually using
safe driving
habits, reinforced
by powerful
representatives
from the
community during
the unveiling
ceremony of the
“If It Saves Just
One” Driver Safety
Mural on Friday,
Feb. 22, in the
school’s South
Cafeteria.
The messages they
reinforced are:
Form the good habit of always obeying all
traffic signs and laws; always wear seat
belts and insist everyone in the car wear
seat belts; and never fall prey to distracted
driving habits, such as texting while
driving, excessively fiddling with the radio,
and always being alert to road conditions,
road construction detours and unexpected
maneuvers by other drivers.
At the unveiling ceremony, in addition to
hearing from their WHRHS Driver’s Safety
Education teachers – four WRHS Health
and Physical Education Teachers – the
students met and heard from guests from
the community, including: Sangeeta
Badlani, who is president of the Nikhil
Badlani Foundation of West Orange. She
is its founder, along with her husband,
Sunil. They are the parents of the late
Nikhil Badlani, who died at age 11 in 2011
when a driver ran a STOP sign at a busy
intersection on Wyoming Avenue in South
Orange; And four representatives from the
Warren Township Police Department:
Chief William Keane, Administrative
Commander, Lt. Eric Yaccarino; Traffic
Safety Officer, Patrolman Robert Apisa;
and WHRHS School Resource Officer, Det.
Joe Casorio.
‘If It Saves Just One’ Driver Safety Mural
Safety Education classes are taken by
sophomores. This year’s students
worked on their artistic contributions to
the “If It Saves Just One” Driver Safety
Mural project during
December and
January. Artist
Cindy Klein then
assembled the
collective student
artistic contributions
to create the mural
that was unveiled on
Feb. 22.
State Farm
Insurance provided
the grant that
supported the effort
by the Nikhil Badlani
Foundation to
reinforce the good
driving habit
messages taught in the WHRHS Driver
Safety Education classes. For more
information about the WHRHS Driver’s
Education Program, go to: https://
www.whrhs.org/academics/health-pe/
drivers-safety-education.
Sangeeta Badlani said that WHRHS is
the 21st school in New Jersey where the
Badlani Foundation worked with Driver
Education programs under the umbrella
of the Traffic Safety Artwork Project to
create murals to reinforce learning
messages. Among the most important
messages, and ones that were reflected
in the students’ contributions to the
mural, included staying alert, obeying
all traffic signs and laws, always wearing
seat belts, and never driving distracted.
In addition to promoting traffic safety
awareness, the Badlani Foundation also
works to expand and enhance the lives
of underserved children in West Orange
and neighboring communities through
individualized lessons for student
musicians, and college scholarships for
academically achieving seniors,
according to foundation literature.
“Nikhil was passionate about music, a
“straight-A” student, and an avid
Page 17 Newsletter
‘If It Saves Just One’ Driver Safety Mural (Cont’d)
reader,” according to the foundation’s
brochure. “Nikhil’s family has set up a
foundation to honor his memory and
spread the message that ‘STOP means
stop!’”
The Nikhil Badlani
Foundation elected to
immerse participating
students in the project
to spread the message
both to the students
who helped create the
art, and to all who view
the art. The goal was to
immerse the students in
an exercise to learn
about these very serious
messages in an
interactive,
interdisciplinary, living
learning and fun way.
About The Mural
The new “If It Saves Just One Driver”
Safety Mural is comprised of three 5 feet
tall by 3 feet wide panels – so, 5 feet tall
by 9 feet wide in total -- fastened to the
wall opposite to the kitchens in the
WHRHS South Cafeteria.
Mural Artist Klein explained that all the
students were organized into much
smaller groups of students to produce
some 40 drawings that Klein then
gathered together. She then condensed
the images, words, sayings and drawings
into the three panels.
Instead of using paints, ink markers,
colored pencils, crayons or charcoals,
Klein had the students use colored tissue
paper. The students would cut or tear the
tissue paper to fill the spaces they might
otherwise color with paints, ink markers,
pencils or crayons. They were taught how
to use multiple layers of colored tissue
papers to create both multiple
3-dimensional depths and multiple tints
and shades of color. The results were
fascinating, she said.
Klein then added outlining to the image,
using paints, inks, markers, crayons or
pencils. She included various random
images and lettering that were also
selected and worked on by the students.
She outlined these imagers and
letterings, much like what might be seen
in graphic novels, comic books and
crayon coloring books. The technique
helped give various elements “pop,” and
gradations of emphasis.
Finally, the diverse and various elements
were assembled by Klein into a collage or
montage, and adhered by use of an
acrylic gel on three sheets of plexi-glas.
Besides acting as an adhesive, the acrylic
gel also added another “pop,” producing
a clean, clear, crisp appearance. All this
helps to bring out colors, accentuate
outlines, and give it an overall finished
art appearance. The “tissue paper”
properties of the colored tissue paper, for
instance, is ever-so-slightly de-
accentuated in favor of highlighting the
“color and tint” properties. The color
wheel of the finished product seems to
include everything from basic primal
colors such as in a basic crayon box to
infinite gradations of shades and tints.
The
Klein said one of the outcomes she
hoped to achieve by choosing this
medium for the project is to give to all
the participating students, which no
doubt includes both highly-skilled
students who are heavily invested in
making high art and are enrolled in
WHRHS art classes, as well as those who
were not as invested in making high art.
She wanted to give all the students the
living-learning opportunity to be a part of
making something that would be proudly
displayed – a beautiful
work of community art --
at school for possibly
years and decades to
come. In addition, they
had a living-learning
opportunity to be part of
a community project that
stands a good chance of
making a significant
contribution to real life
driver safety in the
greater WHRHS area.
In studying the mural
from a distance, say from
half-way across the
cafeteria, the mural could
be described as a piece of abstract art,
exploring color and shape. It also appears
to fit in naturally with the two other
pieces of student-produced mural art in
the cafeteria: The roughly 31-feet by 2.5
feet Depression Era-influenced depiction
of industrial blue-color labor; and the
roughly 3.5 feet by 2.5 feet Jigsaw Puzzle -
influenced celebration of the broad range
of co-curricular offerings at WHRHS.
Looking closer, and trying to decipher and
discern the overall themes expressed by
the students through the mural, what
pops out are the very same recurring
themes and messages that Sangeeta
Badlani, Chief Keane, the Driver Safety
Teachers, and insurance professionals,
among others – and no doubt parents, as
well – have repeated over and over again:
Guard against distracted driving of all
sorts; be aware of, alert to, and obey all
street signs and laws, particularly, STOP;
exhibit good driving habits as a way to
teach younger siblings through parents
and elders how to drive safely; and stay
alert to driving conditions and the actions
of fellow drivers.
Page 18 Newsletter Page 18
2019 Arts Festival
Hundreds of pieces of art created by student artists were exhibited throughout the main entrance atrium, and up and down the
corridors surrounding the Performing Arts Center. The exhibit of student art featured pieces in a broad array of media generated by
WHRHS Visual Arts students in photography, fine art, painting, mixed art, crafts, weaving, jewelry, sculpting, fine woodworking,
mask decorating, computer generated poster art, ceramics, and music tech lab-computer mixed sound and music .
Page 19 Newsletter
2019 National Art Honor Society Induction
Parents, families, administration officials and teachers gathered in the lobby outside the Performing Arts Center , at Watchung Hills
Regional High School, on Wednesday, May 29, to congratulate 54 students who were inducted into the National Art Honor Society.
There were 20 new members, and 34 returning
members. The event was immediately followed
by the Artists Reception for WHRHS
Visual Arts students, their parents, and
teachers. They were attending the annual
Spring Arts Festival, sponsored by the WHRHS
Arts Department. At the Artists Reception that
followed the induction, the exhibit of student art
featured hundreds of pieces of art in a broad
array of media generated by WHRHS
Visual Arts students. The pieces of art in photography, fine art, painting, mixed art, crafts, weaving, jewelry, sculpting, fine
woodworking, mask decorating, computer generated poster art, ceramics, and music tech lab-computer mixed sound and music
were displayed throughout the school’s front atrium, PAC Lobby area, and up and down the corridors surrounding the PAC.
“Identity Crisis: A Showcase of Great American Scenes,” was presented by the
Watchung Hills Regional High School chapter of the International Thespian Honors
Society as part of the overall Spring Arts Festival, Wednesday, May 29, in the school’s
Theatre Arts Studio. Among some 30 students involved in the production, four were
student directors for the seven Great American scenes that were presented. The
student directors are: Kayla Martins,
Christine Tanko, Jacob Lesser and Anchal
Dhir.
Arts Festival Drama
Arts Festival Dance Ensemble Performance
Some 26 student dancers entertained audiences at two nights of the
2019 Watchung Hills Regional High School Dance Ensemble
Performance, Friday and Saturday nights, May 10 and 11, in the
WHRHS Performing Arts Center. The students performed some 13
pieces of modern dance at the shows. Many of the dances were
choreographed by the students of the ensemble, themselves. The
Dance Ensemble Adviser is Tara Catalina. The Dance Ensemble
Performance is part of a larger Arts Festival that occurs every year
during the Spring semester.
Newsletter Page 20
The audience of parents, relatives, guests, teachers and fellow students rewarded the Watchung Hills Regional High School
Symphonic Band and WHRHS Wind Ensemble with extended ovations, following performances at the 2019 Spring Symphonic Band
and Wind Ensemble Concert, Friday night, May 31, in the school’s Performing Arts Center. The Symphonic Band featured 66
student musicians, including eight seniors, and the Wind Ensemble featured 42 student musicians, including 18 seniors. As the
audience filed into the PAC from
the school’s front lobby, several
members of the two bands
entertained parents and guests
with several light arrangements.
The Symphonic Band performed
during the first half of the concert,
playing four selections and the
Wind Ensemble
performed during the second
half of the concert, playing six
selections. The Instrumental music students this year won several prestigious awards and honors. The Symphonic Band received a
Silver rating and the Wind Ensemble received a Gold rating at the CJMEA Band Festival. Accepted into the CJMEA Region II
Ensembles (including Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Orchestra and Jazz Band) earlier in the school year: Jeremy Cui, Katie Tan,
Alan Wang, Daniel Zeng, Daniel Zhang, James Narayanan, Matthew Schaefer, Ryan Branco, Ben Watkins, Shiv Goel, Cristina Sarrico,
and Andrew Muller. Accepted into the NJMEA All-State Ensembles are: Katie Tan, Daniel Zeng, James Narayanan, Matthew
Schaeffer, Cristina Sarrico, and Andrew Muller.
Spring Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble Concert
Spring Choral Concert
The student singers and instrumentalists of the Watchung Hills Regional High School Advanced Choir and a hybrid mix of WHRHS
Orchestra string musicians and WHRHS Wind Ensemble woodwind, brass and percussion musicians, were treated to the living-
learning experience of performing in a veritable “master class” toward the end of the school’s 2019 Spring Choral Concert on
Wednesday, June 6, in the school’s Performing Arts Center .
WHRHS Choral Music teacher and Choir Maestro
Angela DiIorio Bird, who is the WHRHS 2019
Teacher of the Year, was the architect of a bold
program that joined together the voices of some
165 WHRHS Advanced Choir singers with 55
WHRHS Orchestra and Wind Ensemble
instrumentalists who all welcomed the
accompaniment of four very special WHRHS
singing alum, including a professional opera singer.
The performance also included the participation
of a choir director from a sending district middle school, Green Brook Township, and the collective support of, it seemed, the school’s
entire music community, from the choral, instrumental and music tech programs. The performance seemed to be staged to honor the
singular and thunderous artistic achievement of composer Ludwig Van Beethoven. It was none other than his triumphant
masterpiece, “Symphony No. 9: Ode To Joy.”
As the performance rose to the lofty, full-throated aesthetics of voice and instrument, one might easily be drawn to conclude: The
spirt of Beethoven, himself, had been summoned, channeled, saluted and satisfied.
On top of all that, the Ode To Joy was just one selection among five the Advanced Choir performed at the concert. Immediately
following the Ode To Joy, the WHRHS Combined Choir, some 240 strong-plus, delivered the equally energetic, joyous and
triumphant annual singing of the concert-closing “Hallelujah Chorus” from “The Messiah,” by George Frederic Handel. That number
featured both the 165-member WHRHS Advanced Choir and the 80-member WHRHS Chorus, along with scores of WHRHS choral
alum in the audience who are familiar with the piece.
Page 21 Newsletter
Scores of Watchung Hills Regional High School graduating seniors were congratulated on Tuesday, June 11, in the school’s
Performing Arts Center, at two ceremonies: At a morning Senior Awards Assembly for the Class of 2019; and at an evening Memorial
Scholarship Ceremony.
Awards presented at the morning assembly were presented by WHRHS faculty and administrators. Scholarships presented at the
evening ceremony were presented by representatives of the awarding family, foundations or community organizations, including
parents, family members, organization members, or WHRHS Administrators or faculty.
Both ceremonies were opened with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Class of 2019, with Opening Remarks by
Principal George Alexis. At the morning ceremony, students were also greeted, regaled, and encouraged by Class of 2019 Salutatorian
Jessica Yan.
Salutatorian Remarks
In her remarks acknowledging the completion of high school for her and her fellow graduates -- what she called one of the “most
significant milestones of their lives” -- Yan said she wondered how the Class of 2019 members would describe their last four years.
She said she had a hunch they would include words about the excitement and disappointment, ups and downs, achievement and
stress, and sleep deprivation. There would be descriptive words about both the positive and the negative, their failures and their
achievements.
Yan acknowledged that like when they started at WHRHS four years ago, when she and her classmates thought high school would be
so much better than middle school, now they likely hope that college and their future experiences will be likewise better than past
experiences.
She urged her fellow classmates to remember their last four years buoyed by the irony that: What made high school so special, like
everything else, was that it was also messy, that it was also unpredictable. “That’s what made it so beautiful,” Yan said. “The past four
years have been so imperfectly perfect. Still, we made our impact.”
She wished all her fellow Class of 2019 members: “Good Luck” in their future endeavors.
Senior Awards and Memorial Scholarships Ceremonies
Newsletter Page 22
When Terrance MacConnell started as Vice Principal some 17 ½ years ago, he had already spent 21 years in
education: As a History teacher at Immaculata High School, Somerville, for 3 ½ years; and as History and
Sociology Teacher at North Plainfield High School for 17 ½ years, where he also coached Football and Baseball.
Mr. MacConnell had graduated from Plainfield High School, and earned his undergraduate degree in History
from Kean College (now known as Kean University), Union. He went on at Kean, to earn his master’s degree in
Education. and choose.”
When Catherine Angelastro started at WHRHS 11 years ago, she brought with her some 26 years of experience
as a teacher, educational consultant, guidance counselor, guidance director, and coach. Mrs. Angelastro is a
graduate of Columbia High School, South Orange. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Education from Notre
Dame College, Baltimore, Md., and a master’s degree in Special Education from Loyola College, Baltimore. She
earned an ED.S. degree in Counseling Psychology from Seton Hall University, South Orange. She also earned a
certificate for Director of Pupil Personnel services and she holds New Jersey state licenses as a Marriage and
Family Counselor. For three years, Mrs. Angelastro taught students who are deaf and communication impaired.
For six years, she taught a self-contained Special Education class at New Providence High School, and for three
years, she was an educational consultant for Boonton Township. For 14 years, she served first as a Guidance
Counselor and then as Director of Guidance at Randolph High School. While at Randolph, Mrs. Angelastro was
a Cheerleading coach both at Randolph High School and for Randolph Recreation.
Susan Obuch has been em ployed at W HRHS since August, 2002. Her three children, Jessica,
Justin and Joshua, are all graduates of Watchung Hills. She was born and raised in Westfield. After graduation
from Westfield Senior High School in 1964, she attended Essex College of Business where she earned her
degree as a Certified Court Reporter. She worked in the court system for four years, than as a private secretary
for a large insurance company. Mrs. Obuch said she then moved onto her next and most challenging career
choice as a stay-at-home mom. “Having moved to Warren in 1977, I quickly became involved in volunteering at
the Warren schools as well as PTO, Project Graduation, book fairs, and was President of the Ladies Auxiliary of
the Mount Horeb Fire Department for 19 years.” After her children were grown she was eager to go back to
work and was given the opportunity to take an administrative position at Watchung Hills.
Bonnie Burgdorf began her career at W HRHS as the Assistant W HRHS Marching Band Director
in 1997. She continued her musical expertise as a Marching Band Assistant, began the Brass in Black Ensemble
and occasionally augmented some student performances by adding her talent as an experienced musician on
Trumpet. She supported school musicals and concerts as a musician and role model for student musicians, a
role she continued through to the 2018 Instrumental Music Concert and her retirement at the end of December
2018. She added her expertise in security concerns, and began working as a security aide in 2002, a role she
continued through to her retirement in 2018. Ms. Burgdorf became known to the entire WHRHS community
for her concern for the lives of teenagers, cooperative nature and ready sense of humor, her knowledge of all
students, her willingness to extend a hand to support all in need, and her ability to ensure the safety of all
members of the learning community. She served the students, staff and parents of WHRHS for 21 years.
Chris Beckert (Not Pictured) - Chris Beckert w as first em ployed at W HRHS as a substitute secretary in 2001. She
professionally served the district as the Administrative Assistant to the Director of Guidance until 2010, at which time she advanced
to become the Database Systems Administrator. She broadened her skills and knowledge through many webinars and training to
become a master in the use of the Genesis, the powerful student data tool. She successfully taught staff on all aspects of the Student
Information System. Mrs. Beckert was known for her determination to meet and decipher challenges and puzzles to find solutions to
support students. Likewise, she always remained a professional, and a mentor to all she worked with and for.
Retiring Faculty and Staff
Page 23 Newsletter
Retiring Faculty and Staff (Cont’d)
After graduating from West Essex High School, Brian Brown earned a bachelor’s degree from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree from the University of Santa Barbara, majoring in Materials
Science and Engineering. His teaching career began at Columbia High School, South Orange, and during the
past 27 years he has taught mostly physics at all levels as well as other sciences and math classes. “I’ve been at
Watchung Hills since 2004 and have taught physics, in addition to being the Robotics and Science League
adviser,” he said, as well as coaching the boys and girls tennis teams at the school for many seasons. During the
summers, I taught summer school classes, coached tennis at local clubs and ran my own tennis clinics at the
high school courts.”
Nancy Koppel began her career at WHRHS in September 2001, after having taught in North Plainfield for 10
years. She taught several Social Studies courses over the years, including United States, European and World
History, in addition to numerous elective courses. Koppel remained a lifelong learner, herself, taking online
courses and attending professional conferences to increase her knowledge base and to keep fresh on
methodology and pedagogy. She also kept up with the proliferation of technology-based learning tools, which
she infused into the classroom experiences for her students. Mrs. Koppel also shared her experience and
expertise as a valuable and integral part of the school community by leading new teacher mentoring programs,
participating in the SCIP Committee and being involved in the National Honors Society.
Laura Dunn began w orking at W HRHS in 2005, after having w orked for som e 13 1/2 years in
education as a Special Education Teacher, Learning Disabilities Specialist, Substitute Teacher and Guidance
Counselor. Mrs. Dunn graduated from Highland Park High School in Highland Park, Ill., a suburb north of
Evanston, Ill. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Special Education from Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.,
and her master’s degree in Communication Disorders/Learning Disabilities from Northwestern University,
Evanston. She earned a second master’s degree in Counseling from Montclair State University, Montclair, and
N.J. Certifications for: Teacher of the Handicapped K-12; and Pupil Personnel Services K-12. Mrs. Dunn was a
Special Education teacher for one year at Buffalo Grove High School in Buffalo Grove, Ill., a suburb of Chicago,
Ill. She was a Special Education teacher for seven years at Waukegan East High School in Waukegan, Ill., also
just up the Lake Michigan coast from Chicago and Evanston. While at Waukegan, she served as the
assistant boys' tennis coach and assistant girls' gymnastics coach. She also earned supervisory certifications in
several areas of Special Education. After Waukegan, she was a Learning Disabilities Specialist for two years at a private psychiatric
day school in Chicago. There, she worked with children ages 5 -11 years, in one classroom. Later, she was a Substitute Teacher for two
years in various high schools in the suburbs of Detroit, Mich., before working as a Guidance Counselor for 1 ½ years at Wayne Valley
High School, Wayne, N.J. Mrs. Dunn has been a School Counselor at WHRHS for 14 years. During eight of those years, she was
co-adviser of the National Honor Society.
Shupin Taihsu has been teaching Chinese for seven years at W atchung Hills. She has been an
outstanding World Language educator who has imbued her students with the love of the Chinese Language and
Culture and has successfully led our students to state-wide recognition for their academic abilities in Chinese
studies.
Page 24 Newsletter Page 24
Graduation 2019
Several elements of the Watchung Hills
Regional High School 62nd
Commencement on Friday, June 21, were,
in retrospect, hauntingly, but perhaps
fittingly, foretold by the Class
of 2019 Salutatorian Jessica
Yan, while addressing her
fellow graduates at the Senior
Awards Ceremony, 10 days
before on Tuesday, June 11.
She urged her fellow
classmates to remember their
last four years at WHRHS
fondly, buoyed by the irony
that: What made high school so
special, like everything else,
was that it was also messy, that
it was also unpredictable.
“That’s what made it so
beautiful,” Yan said. “The past
four years have been so imperfectly
perfect. Still, we made our impact.”
Some 498 graduates in the Class of 2019
were greeted on their graduation day
morning knowing that the
commencement’s start time had already
been postponed two hours because of a
forecast from official weather forecasts
that the two-plus days of on-again, off
again rain, sometimes heavy, sometimes
little more than a bothersome but
incessant dripping, was forecasted to
finally clear by 10 or 11 a.m., Friday
morning. That would give grounds crews
enough time to wipe down benches in the
stands and folding chairs on the Tozier
Stadium football field, set up the
appropriate electronics for the sound
system, and get word to the relatives,
faculty, and staff that the time had
arrived. The rain had stopped.
Graduation was about to begin.
The students appeared to be neither
surprised nor bothered by the weather.
The Class of 2019 seemed to have faith
that the break in the weather on their
special day would happen. Sure enough,
just after noon, the perpetually wet
environment seemed to dry, and even
though the sky was still filled non-stop
with massive clouds, some seemingly
stained with various shades of blue ink,
there were also clear signs that the rain had
stopped long enough to proceed with the
outdoor graduation ceremony. For the
Class of 2019, their messy, unpredictable,
uniquely impactful, and dramatically
memorable moment of graduation and
triumph did, indeed, begin. Cue the
WHRHS Band. Let the academic
processional begin.
After the Senior Choral Group sang “the
Star-Spangled Banner,” and All School
Council President Gabriela Santos led the
“Pledge of Allegiance,” she began the
student speaker program of the ceremony
with opening remarks.
Senior Class President Arianna Valenti
spoke next.
Valedictorian Neelay
Trivedi followed with
a message to his
fellow classmates
that also seemed to
be in-keeping with
the personality of the
Class of 2019, but
concluding with an
emphatic marching
order for the
graduates to walk out of WHRHS with a
call to action.
Trivedi acknowledged that the Valedictory
speech is traditionally “academic in tone
and lofty in purpose.” He might be
expected to “dole out wisdom, quote
some famous people, give some life
advice, and leave you with a confident
send-off.”
He quickly dispelled those
expectations, he said, in
order to exceed them.
“Instead, I want to talk about
uncertainty,” he said. He
said some of his classmates
are graduating high school
with a certain amount of
nervousness about leaving.
“In many ways, high school
is one of the most organized,
stable environments you will
ever be a part of. For the
past four years, we’ve
focused our minds and
bodies on a really specific set of tasks
that we repeat over and over and over
again. Much of that ends with high
school graduation. Big picture is going
to come knocking. Hard,” he warned.
“Doubt, confusion and ambiguity are
fundamentally good things,” he said.
”So much of what we love, we don’t
anticipate. The people we meet, the
friends we make, the relationships we
cherish, the ideas we have, these all
start as unexpected things.”
Trivedi encouraged his fellow Class of
2019 members to embrace uncertainty.
“Be skeptical of words like tradition,
safety and security.” There is nothing
wrong with embracing these goals, but
they may not lead you to be
remembered, to be celebrated, to do
what you were meant to do.
He spoke about “We Humans,” and
argued that humans are essentially
animals. In answering the question,
“What is our purpose in this universe?”
Trivedi got to the heart of his bold
message to his fellow graduates.
“I think we were put in this universe to
test its boundaries, to break stuff, and
cause trouble. We’re supposed to be
missionaries in a foreign land,
Page 25 Newsletter
perpetual explorers of the unknown,
hunter-gatherers that should feel the crack of
the wind on our shoulders once in a while.
That’s why my favorite place at Watchung
Hills is the Breezeway and that’s why I think
there is nothing more romantic than dying on
another planet. We are designed to be
curious, restless, and impatient. So, get into
that wild side of things. Don’t be satisfied.
Don’t ever feel like you’re full, and that the
meal is over.”
Or put another way, he urged his fellow
Warriors: “Ask hard questions. Don’t live to
be enjoyed and consumed by others. If you
make enemies, whatever. If you make a
bunch of people angry, that’s OK. Play by
your rules. Be guided by your vision, your
ideas, and your sense of purpose.
Congratulations Class of 2019. You deserve
it. You made it to this point. Now welcome to
the jungle. Face it with courage, compassion
and a whole lot of crazy.”
Principal George Alexis
shared with the graduates
portions of his favorite
poem by the English Poet
John Keats, “On First
Looking Into Chapman’s
Homer.” In particular he
cited the memorable lines of
the poem that might be also uses to describe
the depth and the breadth of learning that
the members of the Class of 2019 have
absorbed during their four years at WHRHS,
“Much have I traveled in the realms of gold/
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen.”
Alexis, who himself once sat where the Class
of 2019 sat, as a member of the WHRHS
Class of 1984, shared some understanding of
what the graduates might be feeling, “This
morning, you might be reaching back for
memories of childhood, not sure where the
time has gone. You might be looking forward
to your plans in the fall, or ten years down
the road. You might be a little nervous and
unsure whether you’re ready to move on. But
perhaps that’s how you felt when you sat
together for the first time in the PAC, the day
before high school officially began.”
Since that time as first year students, the
members of the Class of 2019 have learned so
Graduation 2019 (Cont’d)
much, including being “inspired to be
curious about the world, discover who
you are, and find your path forward.”
“The difference this morning then lies
within you and your growing sense of
self-awareness. As you sit with your
classmates, knowing that your past and
future have come together in this
moment, and that you are part of
something much larger than yourself,
consider how you have contributed to
our tradition of excellence in the
classroom, on the stage, in the gyms,
and on the courts and fields. Consider
how you’ve learned lessons in empathy
and integrity and strengthened our
school’s commitment to service. And
consider the strength of the
relationships you’ve developed during
your time at Watchung Hills.”
WHRHS Board of Education Vice
President Rita Barone said she was
inspired in her choice of message to the
graduates, by the performance at this
year’s WHRHS “Spring Choral Concert.”
It was the song senior soloist Sophia
Perez, sang, “titled, “You Say,” by
songwriter Lauren Daigle.
She said at the time, she was feeling the
weight of the responsibility about
deciding what to say to the Class of 2019
at graduation.
“What could I say that would potentially
resonate with all of you,” Barone said
she asked herself. “ Then I attended the
Spring Chorus Concert and, music often
being a muse, I knew what I was going to
say to you graduates today, and this is it:
This Board of Education, the
administrators, the faculty, staff and
your families strive every day to provide
you support in your academics, athletic
competitions, extra-curricular activities
and wellness initiatives. The reason we
do this is simple. It is so that when you
leave here, you know the single most
important fact about yourselves, and
that is: ‘You Are Enough.’ There is no
better success focus than to know that
you believe in yourselves.”
Superintendent Dr.
Elizabeth Jewett
ushered the members
of the Class of 2019
into their future,
quoting an
inspirational athlete,
adventurer, activist
and motivational speaker, whose inner
strength led him to an extraordinary
achievement:
“Members of the Class of 2019, today
we celebrate the end of one chapter of
your life - in which collectively you
have excelled in the classroom, athletic
venues, fine and performing arts,
community service, and numerous
extra-curricular activities and
programs - and we mark the beginning
of a new and exciting next chapter. As
you embark on this journey through
uncharted territory, I urge you to look
to the way of life of Eric Weihenmayer,
an American athlete, adventurer,
author, activist and motivational
speaker, and the first blind person to
reach the summit of Mount Everest on
May 25, 2001. In 2005, he co-founded
No Barriers, a nonprofit organization
with the tagline, “What’s within you is
stronger than what’s in your way.” This
organization helps people of diverse
backgrounds and abilities develop a
mindset to attack challenges head on,
problem solve, build winning teams,
and serve others. Watchung Hills Class
of 2019- you have demonstrated to all
of us your curiosity, compassion, and
grit. I challenge you to lead a life of No
Barriers as you explore and share your
talents and gifts with the world at large,
and always remember, “What’s within
you is stronger than what’s in your
way.”
“Now I will ask the members of the Class of 2019 to please stand. We have one last task for you before you throw your caps and line up for the recessional: Please move your tassels from right to left. Congratulations, Watchung Hills Regional High School Class of 2019. Let the recessional begin.”
Page 26 Newsletter
Graduation 2019
Newsletter Page 27
Page 28 Newsletter
Athletic Signings
Three Watchung Hills Regional High School
students-athletes who plan to play sports at
Division I colleges and 13 who plan to play
sports at Division III colleges declared their
intentions of where they plan to play on
Wednesday, May 1, at a gathering of the
athletes, their parents and coaches and
WHRHS administrators in the school’s
Media Center. They are: Seated, from left:
Andrew Martins, Lola Constantino, Colleen
Farrell, Shannon Twill, Mary Farrell, and
Nick Ciraulo and standing, from left,
Connor Ashnault, Kevin Badger, James
McKenna, Vincent Mattaliano, Salvatore
Cianfano, Eddie Williams, Michael Salermo,
Brendan Wahlers, and Frank Medina.
Sixteen of the 23 Watchung Hills Regional High
School graduating seniors, who have signed
Letters of Intent to play sports at the colleges they
plan to attend this Fall, gathered for a group
photo in the school’s Media Center on
Wednesday, June 5. They are: Seated, from left:
Madelyn Murphy, Jessica Carrieri, Kaylee
Donnelly, Kelly Fitzgerald, Lindsay Wolf, and
Colleen Farrell; and standing, from left, Frank
Medina, Connor Ashnault, Jamie Tomassetti,
Maggie Farrell, Shray Parimoo, Shannon Twill,
Clement Shao, James McKenna, Kevin Badger,
and Andrew Martins. Not available for the photo:
Lola Constantino, Vincent Mattaliano, Nick
Ciraulo, Salvatore Cianfano, Brendan Wahlers,
Michael Salerno, and Edward Williams.
Division I
Kaylee Donnelly, soccer, at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.; Lindsay Wolf, soccer, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
Mass.; Madelyn Murphy, Lacrosse, Monmouth University, West Long Branch; Kelly Fitzgerald, soccer, University of Rhode Island,
South Kingstown, R.I.; Jamie Tomassetti, Track and Field, Central Florida University, Orlando, Fla.; Jessica Carrieri, Soccer, Elon
University, Elon, N.C.; Lola Constantino, Fencing, Princeton University, Princeton; Vincent Mattaliano, Wrestling, Sacred Heart
University, Fairfield, Conn.; and Kevin Badger, Football, Monmouth University.
Division III
Andrew Martins, Baseball, Nichols College, Dudley, Mass.; Connor Ashnault, Cross Country/Track, Franklin and Marshall University,
Lancaster, Pa.; Shannon Twill, Lacrosse, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa.; Colleen Farrell, Field Hockey, Ramapo College,
Mahwah; Maggie Farrell, Ramapo College; Nick Ciraulo, Wrestling, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken; Salvatore Cianfano,
Soccer, Farleigh Dickinson University, Florham Park; James McKenna, Baseball, The College of New Jersey, Ewing Township;
Brendan Wahlers, Lacrosse, Stockton College, Galloway Township; Frank Medina, Wrestling, Stevens Institute of Technology;
Michael Salerno, Wrestling, Scranton University, Scranton, Pa.; Clement Shao, Golf, Stevens Institute of Technology; Edward
Williams, Wrestling, York College, York, Pa.; and Shray Parimoo, Soccer, Rochester University, Rochester, N.Y.
Newsletter Page 29
Arrowhead editor-in-chief, Adnan Contractor, published a novel this month. It is called Banana Physics.
Approximately 20 students participated in the Junior State of America Winter Congress Conference in Arlington, VA . This JSA Winter Congress brought together Texas and the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as some international schools for a debate competition where students crafted their own bills for passage in the model congress. Co-president Jordan Ginsburg won a best speaker award.
Biology League II Team members, Neelay Trivedi, Vivian Wang, Manthan Naik, Benjamin Binstock, ranked 6th in the state after three rounds of competition. Individually, Neelay Trivedi is ranked in the top 10.
WHRHS Model UN participated in the University of Delaware’s Model UN Conference – “HENMUN.” The conference included hundreds of student-delegates from high schools across the United States who came together to simulate the actions of the United Nations. After three days of debate, numerous midnight crises, and countless hours of research, 4 of our 20 delegates were recognized for their outstanding efforts in their individual committees. HENMUN Honorable Mention Awards went to Enzo Ruta, Mark Elbrecht, and Vansh Harkawat. Outstanding Delegate award went to Marshall White.
Jordyn Youngelson attended the State FBLA conference in Atlantic City on March 21 and qualified for National FBLA conference in San Antonio, Texas in June.
Jagdeep Bhatia received a perfect score on the March 19 NJ Math League Contest. In addition, four of our students qualified for the AIME exam. Congratulations to Jagdeep Bhatia, Mayur Sharma, Daniel Zhang, and Kevin Fu.
WHRHS Boys Golf Team Skyland Conference Delaware Division Champions
The Hills Final Roundup
WHRHS Fencing Team 1st Place—District 3 Sabre Team Champions
WHRHS Girls Track Team North II, Group IV State Sectional Champions
Page 30 Newsletter
The Hills Final Roundup (Cont’d)
“Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a
flame.”
William Butler Yeats
Diversity Club member Senior Aalyiah Bouza was nominated for the Paul Robeson Achievement Award.
WHRHS Jazz Band attended the Elizabeth Jazz Festival held at Elizabeth High School on March 15 and were awarded Silver. They were also awarded Best Trumpet Section at this event. Matthew Schaefer was awarded Featured Soloist (trumpet).
James Narayanan was accepted to the Region II Jazz Band Region auditions.
WHRHS Symphonic Band was awarded Silver and the WHRHS Wind Ensemble was awarded Gold at the CJMEA Band Festival held at Summit High School on March 19. The Wind Ensemble also attended the Metropolitan Wind Band Invitational at Roxbury High School on March 21.
Dave Ki and Tyler Wu were accepted into the NJMEA All-State Orchestra.
John Prendergast, human rights activist and author of The Congo, spoke to students on Friday, March 29, about his experiences in the Congo. He ate lunch with the Diversity Club students and their advisers, before giving two presentations to a group of history students.
Eighteen Watchung Hills students volunteered for the Saturdays in Motion Program at the Somerset Hills YMCA. This program completed its 27th year and is the longest running and largest non-public recreational program for children with autism and their families in the country. The student volunteers are are Elizabeth Askin, Maia Buckwald, Adam Cardoza, Kaitlin Chin, Kristin Chin, Natalie Curtiss, Gavin DeFuria, Justin DeFuria, Kristen Hamilton, Olivia Hayes, Abigail Langer, Emily Hold, Andrew Malfetti, Luke Malfetti, Megan McGee, Nick Miller, Margo Stefurac, and Jonathan Walpow.
WHRHS student Roopa Irakam earned the National Speech and Debate Association’s Academic All American award. This award recognizes academic rigor, competitive speech and debate success, and personal excellence. From more than 141,000 student members of the National Speech and Debate Association, fewer than 1,000 students earn the Academic All American award every year. This prestigious accomplishment places Roopa among the top one percent of all student members across the country.
Seniors Sarah Dang and Jeremy Cui have been offered college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for use at the institution that is financing it. Sarah was offered the National Merit University of Chicago Scholarship sponsored by the University of Chicago, and Jeremy was offered the National Merit Northeastern University Scholarship sponsored by Northeastern University (Massachusetts).
Pursuant to an agreement with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, Senior Isabel Vala has been selected as a winner of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Scholarship. This scholarship award is sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, Inc.
On May 15, approximately 150 students went to Raritan Valley Community College to showcase their work, be adjudicated by
professionals, and take Master classes with music and arts professionals.
The Junior Grade Level Council hosted this year’s Junior Semi-Formal on Friday, April 26 at the Pines Manor in Edison, NJ. It was a wonderful evening full of smiling faces, delicious food and dancing throughout the evening. There were approximately 400 guests in attendance.
On April 29, all eighth-grade students were invited to attend our annual Eighth-Grade Orientation. The evening program took place in the PAC. The leadership team welcomed the students and provided insight into life as a first-year student at Watchung Hills. Our guests then heard from a panel of our current students before attending an athletics and co-curricular fair. Parents of incoming student-athletes were invited to a presentation given by the athletics and health offices, and all parents were invited to the co-curricular fair.
On May 3, our first ever Freshman Band Concert was held in the PAC. The concert featured curricular instrumental offerings from the Freshman Concert Band and Orchestra classes. The Orchestra performed Beethoven's Ode to Joy with the Chorus on May 30th at the Spring Concert.
We are pleased to announce that Amay Mehta is the recipient of the 2019 Allergan Foundation Scholarship, which is given each year to outstanding National Merit students.
Watchung Hills Regional High School
108 Stirling Road Warren, NJ 07059
Phone: 908-627-4800 Fax: 908-647-4853
Top Related