The Haddonfield Board of Education meeting was all about honoring the district’s students last week.
The BOE meeting commended more than 50 students for their success in foreign language, the arts, district projects and more. Students were given certificates as well as big rounds of applause.
“We’re very proud of all of the accomplishments of many of our students and each year it is just phenomenal in terms of what they achieve,” Superintendent Richard Perry said.
Haddonfield Memorial High School senior Madison Rosandich was honored for receiving the 2016 Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey Scholarship for German. In German, Madison wrote a timed response essay, had a 30-minute phone interview and an oral proficiency interview in her second language to ultimately earn her the scholarship. She is the only recipient for German in New Jersey this year, according to Perry.
In Spanish, many students were honored for their scores on the National Spanish Exam. Silver Awards were earned by Carly Griffin and Andrew Pasco; a Bronze Award was earned by Michael Carey; and Honorable Mentions were given to seventh and eighth graders Suzanne Veasey, Sofia Hoz de Vila, Julian George, Katia Hehn and Sebastian Guzman. According to Spanish teacher Dana Pilla, 135,000 students took the exam and it was extremely competitive, so it was a great accomplishment for these students to receive these awards.
More than 20 elementary school students were honored for participating in the 2016 PTA Reflections program.
This year the program asked students to “let their imaginations fly,” using their innovative minds to create something in the arts for that theme. From Elizabeth Haddon Elementary School, Katarin Kuball, Raffaele Rogers and Rafael Lytle received commendations. From Tatem Elementary School, Pilar Caruso, Audrey DeCristofaro, Audrey Kelly, Rebeeca Li and Connor Paoli received commendations. From Central Elementary School, Margaret Dunne, Graham Brock, Lucia Marone, Sophie Rowell, Lily Rowell, Grace Farrell, Caroline Asselin, Emma Cheatham, Mary Bentley, Katherine Schaffer, Joey Cittadini, Ave Ippolito, Nelson Thayer, Clementine Thayer, Maeve DiMarino and Mia Bompensa received commendations.
“The three elementary school principals, we are so proud of our students, not just for the academic accomplishments, they are smart, kind and creative,” Tatem principal Karen Schultz said.
“What I love about this program is that the ways students interpret this theme at every different grade level is very different… Each year we are so proud of the number of participants we get in each school,” Central Principal Shannon Simkus said.
Five elementary school students were commended for being a part of the 2016 All South Jersey Elementary Honors Band; they were Juliana Dellorco and Lilliana Kuball from Lizzie Haddon, Caroline Potts from Central, and Julian Durkin and Henry George from Tatem.
The final group honored included students who helped to write the “Samuel N. Rhoads of Haddonfield, NJ: Birds, Books and Big Adventures” book which was published earlier this year.
In January 2014, the Haddonfield Middle School Nature Club began putting together a children’s textbook biography of Rhoads, a well-traveled naturalist from Haddonfield.
Students honored for helping to write the book were Patrick Ainsworth, Julia Chin, Helen Chung, Claire Custer, Philip Edmonston, Rachel D’Emelia, Chloe Lin, Zoe Murray, Natalie Naticchia, Sarah Naticchia, Banks Sapnar, Miles Schroeder, Evelyn Sky, Nina Tan, Mark Vaughn and Claudia Watson.
“It is an amazing book. We worked very hard to create a book that would actually be read so I’m proud to announce that the third grade is adding it to their curriculum next year… We’re very proud of have our students recognized here tonight,” teacher’s aid and Historical Society of Haddonfield member Kim Custer said.
All of the students were met with a resounding round of applause at the end of the commendations.
In other news:
• John J. Deserable was named interim business administrator/board secretary for the HPS starting on or after July 1. Perry spoke of his expertise at the meeting.
• The next BOE meeting will be June 23 at the Central/Middle School Library at 7 p.m.
