Did you see all the beautiful new display boards when you were at Verona High School’s Creative Arts Festival last week? They are the result of a $5,000 grant to the Verona Board of Education by the Investors Foundation.

The annual Creative Arts Festival caps a year of hard work by Verona art, design, music and theater students. The display boards are used in the gym to display dozens of drawings, paintings, photographs, and digital design pieces, as well as CAD, STEM and STEAM projects.

Investors Bank, a full-service community bank headquartered in Short Hills, created the Investors Foundation in 2005 to support the communities Investors Bank serves. Investors Foundation supports initiatives in the arts, youth development, health and human services, education and affordable housing. Investors Foundation works to improve the lives of its customers and neighbors.

There was something extra on the menu today in the Verona High School cafeteria: Peas and kale grown just a mile down the road at Morgan’s Farm in Cedar Grove.

The farm-to-table lunch grew out of a casual conversation last year between Cheryl Nardino, the business administrator of Verona’s public schools, and Pomptonian Food Service, which runs the school lunch programs here. Nardino had been one of the early volunteers at Morgan’s Farm, which was revived by Verona residents John and Julie Ostering in 2013. The farm, which follows organic growing practices, recently opened for its sixth season with an area the size of a football field under cultivation.

The kale in this salad was grown at Morgan’s Farm in Cedar Grove.

Nothing happened last school year between Pomptonian and Morgan’s Farm but Lorraine Mott, Pomptonian’s operations manager, was recently reminded of the conversation and decided to take a closer look at the farm. “I stopped by the first Saturday,” Mott says, “and I thought why not, when we can, use some of the produce because it is so local.”

Today, it did. The kale in the kale Caesar salad came from Morgan’s Farm, as did the snow peas in the honey garlic chicken with snow peas. Pomptonian’s chef at VHS had stopped by the farm stand on Saturday and picked up some of the things that the farm had in abundance.

There many not be many more farm-to-cafeteria-table lunches at VHS this year because next week is the last week with cafeteria service. But Pomptonian has made a commitment to using fresh vegetables, especially local vegetables, in its menus and Mott is already thinking about the fall.

Honey garlic chicken with snow peas from Morgan’s Farm, one of the crops being harvested in abundance right now.

The vocal and instrumental musicians of H.B. Whitehorne Middle School made their annual Music in the Parks competition trip on Friday, June 1, and, as usual, they came away with plenty of awards.

The Jazz Band was given a superior rating, and took first place and best overall middle school jazz band. The Gold Band was also given a superior rating, and took first place in middle school concert band Class A. The Maroon Band earned a rating of excellent, and took second place in middle school concert band Class A. The White Band also earned a rating of excellent, and took first place in elementary concert band.

HB Voices was rated excellent and won first place in middle school treble choir. Acoustics was rated excellent and won fourth place in middle school mixed choir.

Suzie Lippolis knows that she wasn’t always a great student, or even a good one. “I had a hard time learning in the classroom,” she says. “But I learned how to focus. Now I know what I need to do to pay attention in order to do well.”

Has she ever learned: Lippolis, who did elementary and middle school in Verona’s public schools, graduated this week from DePaul Catholic High School. This fall, Lippolis heads to Marist College, where she intends to major in criminal justice, with a minor in Arabic and, for good measure, study abroad in Oman.

In Verona, Lippolis had an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Drawn up after an evaluation of a child’s learning difficulties, these plans map out a way for the child to master the school’s curriculum and can specify accommodations that should be made to help in that. In Lippolis’ case, that included an assistive listening system to help her clearly hear the teacher. But sometimes the system was placed on her desk rather than mounted unobtrusively on a nearby wall, serving only to amplify that Lippolis didn’t learn like the other kids in class.

When Lippolis decided to switch to DePaul, she asked her mom, Lisa Violante, to not disclose that she had an IEP. She wanted to approach learning differently, and do it on her own terms. After finishing her freshman year with a 3.9 GPA, she decided to take harder classes. Lippolis took honors classes in anatomy and French, and two levels of Italian. She learn about psychology and sociology. “They were classes that I never thought I could take because of what my Verona teachers used to tell me,” she says. “They said it would be hard to keep up because I had a learning disability.”

It was, but Lippolis, who was also working 30 hours a week in Montclair’s Bangz salon, worked to make it work. “I went in early all the time, and stayed after school,” she says. “I tried a lot harder because I felt that I had good people around me. The teachers at DePaul never made me feel less than anyone else because I learned differently.”

That changed the way Lippolis thought about herself, and her future. She applied for a pre-college summer program in criminal justice at Marist and, out of a field of 200 applicants, was one of only 20 selected. “They introduced me to every facet of the criminal justice system,” Lippolis says, noting that she also got three college credits for the work.

And even though she continued to do well in her classes at DePail, Lippolis asked for a new IEP evaluation in her junior year. “At first, they looked at us like we had 10 heads,” she recalls with a soft laugh. That evaluation found the same learning issues as Lippolis had had in Verona. But in her new learning environment, she had learned to focus on her strengths and be an advocate for herself.

Lippolis has a message for Verona students who learn differently. “You have to believe in yourself,” she says. “I never did that in middle school. Now I believe in myself a lot more and it helped me to get where I am.”

“Do not lose focus on what you want to achieve,” Lippolis adds. “Keep your goals in mind, whether that is college or work. Don’t,” she repeats for emphasis, “don’t lose focus on what you want to achieve.”

Each year, American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) organizes National French Contest/Le Grand Concours to challenge students in all 50 states to demonstrate their knowledge of French language and culture by taking multiple-choice test that covers listening comprehension, vocabulary and grammar in context, as well as reading. Out of 20 Verona High School students who registered to compete this year, 18 students were recognized by the association and ranked nationally. 

French teachers Emily Podolak and Eugenie Mordkovich would like to congratulate them and say “Bravo!” on the job well done. 

Level 2 
Mariam Girgis – Gold Medal
Audrey Ng – Silver Medal
Cailan Compierchio – Bronze Medal
Rio Gagnon  – Bronze Medal
Kara Johansen – Bronze Medal
Madrid Rodner – Bronze Medal
Lia Gardner – Honorable Mention
Sophia Josephson – Honorable Mention
Emily Wynne – Honorable Mention 

Level 3 
Erin Petrino – Gold Medal
Jessica Sidrak – Gold Medal
Selin Hekimgil – Bronze Medal
Alessandra Newman – Bronze Medal
Max Handler – Honorable Mention
Priya Limbachiya – Honorable Mention
Leah Pandian – Honorable Mention
Michael Sluck – Honorable Mention
Ethan Triggiano – Honorable Mention 

The Verona Board of Education has posted the agenda for its next meeting, which will be held tonight, Tuesday, June 12.

The meeting will open with recognition of two Verona High School students who recently achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, Philip Chivily and Adam Kazanfer, as well as a recap of VHS’ spring sports by Bob Merkler, the director of athletics and special programs.

Many of the resolutions concern salary adjustments that stem from the cuts that the BOE has had to make to keep the budget within the 2% cap.

The meeting, which will be held in the Learning Commons at Verona High School, begins at 7 p.m. It is open to the public. You can read the full agenda here.

The BOE’s website contains information on meeting dates, agendas and resolutions, Board policies, and videos of BOE meetings going back to the 2011-2012 school year.

While BOE meetings are usually two weeks apart on Tuesdays, this month is a bit different. The next scheduled public meeting will be held on Monday, June 18.

Francesca Cortese played volleyball all four years at VHS, but there are no college sports at the University of Bologna in Italy.

Francesca Cortese has been to Italy every summer for her whole life. Her dad has family there, her mom was born there and she speaks the language fluently. So, when she came across the opportunity to study psychology at the University of Bologna, she could not pass it up. “I’ve always wanted to live in Italy, so this seems like the perfect time to test it out” she said.

Getting into an Italian university is very different than applying to college in the United States. Cortese has not even been accepted into the University of Bologna because she had to take an exam on Italian culture, grammar, and history that has not been graded yet. Cortese says “For registering, all I have to do is translate and notarize my high school transcripts and diploma and then register myself online in order get all of my information about my classes and exams.” She did not even apply to any American schools, so, unlike the rest of her class at Verona High School, she never took an SAT or ACT test.

Before Cortese goes to Bologna to study psychology, she will take what she calls an “academic gap year” at the University of Bari where she will settle into Italian life. “I’ll use this next year to acclimate myself to living on my own in Italy,” she says, “and I’ll also be able to understand the Italian school system better, since it’s very different than American schooling.” After her first year in Bari, she will then go to Bologna where she will study for three years. Undergraduate school in Italy is only three years, which is a plus for Cortese because she will graduate college the same year as her high school class.

College in Italy is much more affordable than in the United States. Italian tuition can range from $1,000 to $7,000 a year. As most of you know, college in the United States is much more expensive: The average American college tuition is just over $23,000 a year. Cortese is a dual-citizen of the United States and Italy, so she does not have to pay the tuition of a foreign student, which would be out of the $1,000 to $7,000 range. Cortese is one of three Class of 2018 students who will be doing college out of the United States: Mark Walsh plans on attending McGill University in Canada and Daniel Biimyzraeva will be at Bard College in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia.

Also, since Bologna is a popular Italian college town, Cortese will be able to stay in an apartment with other students and it will only cost her about $200 a month. Italian universities do not offer the traditional on campus dorms that are custom in the United States, but students are able to get an apartment through their university so they do not have to go searching on the private market.

There will be one other big change for Cortese, who played volleyball all four years at VHS. Universities in Italy do not offer any extracurricular activities, which means all sports and clubs are run through private organizations in each city. Universities strictly focus on the academic aspect of life. Cortese does not plan on participating in any clubs or sports, “I’ll most likely just be going to my classes, studying, working, and then going out at night,” she says. “But living in Europe makes travel very easy and cheap so I’ll definitely be traveling whenever I have enough free time.”

“What’s Next” is a series of profiles about what members of each Verona High School class intend to do after graduation. MyVeronaNJ has been publishing the series since 2010 and you can read all of them here.

The University of Vermont has announced that Giuliana Frizzi is the recipient of its June Veinott Award, which is presented to the female student who, at the end of her first year of study, shows the greatest promise of being successful in the engineering profession. Frizzi, a 2017 graduate of Verona High School, is majoring in environmental engineering.

Frizzi was also named to the University of Vermont’s spring Dean’s List. To be named to the dean’s list, students must have a grade-point average of 3.0 or better and rank in the top 20 percent of their class in their respective college or school.

On Sunday, five Verona High School seniors were awarded generous grants from the Montclair College Women’s Club whose twice annual book sales (generally held in October and March) generate the funds for the scholarships.

On Sunday, in the home of one of the College Women’s Club’s members, twenty $2,000 scholarships were awarded to young women from VHS, Glen Ridge High School, Montclair High School, and Cedar Grove High school.

According to Club President Barbara Ann Ellert, the group has awarded over $1.4 million since its inception. Applications for the scholarship are open to young women in the top 15% of their class; applicants are required to write an essay and be interviewed by a Club member.

The awardees, who posed with Ellert, are Isabella Josephson, Grace Gault, Isabella Williams, Gwynneth O’Donnell, and Alexandra Holland.

Caitlin Klose will spend her first three months at Northeastern University studying abroad.

While most students will be packing their bags to get ready to move into their dorms, Verona High School senior Caitlin Klose will have a little more time before loading hers onto an airplane and heading off to Thessaloniki, Greece. This city, which is the second largest in Greece next to Athens, is home to The American College of Thessaloniki (ACT), where Klose will be studying for the first three months of her freshman year as part of Northeastern University’s “NU.in” program. The program costs about the same as a traditional semester, and the travel costs to and from Greece are included.

Klose admits she was initially apprehensive about the idea of immediately going abroad before getting adjusted to life at Northeastern’s campus, but the more she learned about the program the more open to it she became, as she says, “I definitely knew I wanted to study abroad at some point, so I figured why not do it now?” She also felt comfort knowing she would get to know plenty of classmates while there, and that she and the 180 other students going to Greece would all be returning to Boston at the same time.

The NU.in program sends over one third of Northeastern’s freshman class abroad each year, to a variety of countries whose colleges have partnered with the university. Klose had a few locations to pick from, but ultimately chose Greece due the combination of her interest in the country’s culture and location as well as the fact that Thessaloniki offered an engineering program, while some other NU.in partner colleges did not. She plans on getting a dual degree in physics and mechanical engineering, so an engineering program was a must-have at the host institution she chose.

“I’m very interested in space exploration, and physics and mechanical engineering are the first steps into the field,” Klose says. “Northeastern has a degree that combines the two, and it’s great that I’ll be able to start studying right away at ACT”.

There is an undoubtedly rigorous curriculum for this major, but Klose feels the classes she took at VHS have very much prepared her, especially for the math and science classes she will be taking as a freshman. In high school she took many high level math and science classes, including honors and AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, and AP Physics C, which is a calculus-based physics class.

“I feel really prepared knowing that I’ve had a lot of exposure to these subjects already, and know that what I’ve learned in these classes will help me understand new material,” Klose says. “It’s not going to help me with my Greek Language and Culture class, though,” she jokes.

In addition to these classes, she is also required to take a “Global Experience” class, one that she is particularly excited about. Its goal is to teach the students how to be a global citizen and how to make a positive impact while abroad, and part of this will be partaking in community service in the area, through teaching Greek children English at the local kindergarten, and helping clean the Thessaloniki beaches and graffiti.

When she has a break from her studies, Klose is eager to explore the area, which is in the far northeast of Greece on the Aegean Sea. “There is so much to do,” she says. “Thessaloniki is in a great location, and there are going to be a lot of opportunities to travel, both through the university and on my own time with other students.” While there she hopes to visit ruins and museums, travel to neighboring countries, and to just soak up the Greek culture.

Overall, she is thrilled to begin this unique journey in the fall. “It’s honestly going to be a pretty traditional college experience,” she says. “It’s just taking place in a completely different country!”

“What’s Next” is a series of profiles about what members of each Verona High School class intend to do after graduation. MyVeronaNJ has been publishing the series since 2010 and you can read all of them here.

On Tuesday, June 12, representatives from state, county, and local law enforcement agencies participated in this year’s Law Enforcement Appreciation Day at H.B. Whitehorne Middle School.Nicknamed “Police Day”, it marks the end of classroom sessions led by Verona Police officers during fifth grade social studies classes in May. Officer-led instruction includes the dangers of drug, tobacco and alcohol use, social media, peer pressure, decision making, media advertising, and school safety.

Supporting agencies included New Jersey State Police Troop B Totowa Barracks, New Jersey State Police Aviation Unit, Montclair State University Police K9 Unit, Essex County Sheriff’s Office Traffic Division, Essex County Sheriff Office K9 Unit, Newark Police Mounted Unit, Newark Police Motor Unit, and the North Caldwell Police Department.“On behalf of the Verona Police Department,” said Detective Joel A. Martin, the event’s founder and coordinator, “we would like to express our thanks and gratitude to HBW staff for their assistance and participation.”

Photos courtesy P/O Ed Carattini Jr. 

Congratulations to the HBW Class of 2018!

Thank you to Ms. McNeal for inspiring me to write this poem, which she shared at the ceremony today.

Messy in the Middle

It’s messy in the middle.
You’re not grown up but you’re not little.
You’re still a kid, but not a baby.
Life in the middle can feel crazy.

Mom and Dad don’t seem so cool.
The teachers are cringey at your school.
Grownups saying, “When I was a kid…”
Then some long story about what they did.

And sometimes it’s all too much
The projects, the sports, the rush.
And there’s a friend that you’re not sure
Is really your friend any more.

When Mom and Dad ask you all the time
It’s easier to say you’re fine.
It’s so messy in the middle.
You’re not grown up, but you’re not little.

Taking selfies and making silly faces
Trying to smile to hide your braces
Wishing for days when life was simple
And your skin was free of pimples.

The future seems exciting,
All the choices seem inviting.
But there’s so much to decide.
Sometimes you want to hide.

But it’s okay to feel unsure
Of all life has in store.
It’s okay to be afraid
Of life after 8th grade.

It’s so messy in the middle.
You’re not grown up, but you’re not little.

Remember your first day at H.B.?
When you didn’t know where you were supposed to be?
And the school just seemed so huge?
And your locker had you so confused?

You searched for your old friends.
Couldn’t believe how quickly lunch could end.
You joined the band and then the play
And dressed up for spirit days.

You got your first bad grade on a test.
And your parents said, “It’s okay. Just try your best.”
And in sixth grade when you walked the halls,
You thought, “Wow those fifth graders are small.”

It was messy in the middle.
You’re not grown up, but you’re not little.

Think of all the memories you made
Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade
Clubs, sports, and socials, too
All you learned that you never knew.

Some days were good and some were bad
And you needed all the friends you had.
And there are jokes you won’t forget,
Things your parents wouldn’t get.

Summer’s here and it’s time for fun
Because the hard work has all been done.
The future’s yours, so look ahead
With hope and not with dread.

It’s not an end; it’s a new start.
Keep your memories in your heart.
Take this moment, hold it fast.
Hold it tight and make it last.

And it’s okay if you’re sad a little.
It was perfect in the middle.

Jennifer Kleinknecht has been the media specialist at H.B. Whitehorne Middle School since 2007. She writes about life as a school librarian on her blog, “The ‘Yes’ Librarian”. PARCC testing begins at HBW on Monday, April 30.

Photo by Matheus Ferrero on Unsplash

There will be two seats on the Verona Board of Education up for election this November and if you are interested in running, you will need to submit a nominating petition to the Essex County clerk by 4 p.m. on Monday, July 30.

The New Jersey School Boards Association has information on the candidacy process, as well as key election dates, nominating petitions, and the requirements for seeking election to, and serving on, the BOE. You can download its candidate kit here.

To serve on a BOE in New Jersey, you must be able to read and write, and be registered to vote in the district before filing a nominating petition. You also have to be a U.S. citizen and have lived in the school district for at least one year. You can’t be involved in any contracts with the board or have claims against it, and you can’t also be a member of the municipal government. If you have been convicted of certain crimes it will disqualify you from service and, if you are elected, you have to go through a criminal background check within 30 days. During your first year on the BOE, you also have to complete training in being a school board member.

Amy Renzulli has always been interested in music, but at first had a difficult time deciding whether or not to pursue this passion at the difficult professional level. She has been singing for as long as she can remember, beginning with elementary school level chorus. “From there I just kept going, because I really liked singing and it helped me get through a lot,” the Verona High School Class of 2018 graduate recalls.

The type of music she enjoys singing depends on the setting, as she says she doesn’t mind performing classical music when she is in an old-fashioned choral setting, but it isn’t her favorite. “I usually like performing jazz or contemporary, as long as it’s not overdone”, she says. “Otherwise I love simple things like belting rock n’ roll or Broadway show tunes in the car with my friends.” (She performed “You And Me (But Mostly Me)” from The Book Of Mormon at the VHS Creative Arts festival in May, where it was captured for the Verona Music Students’ Facebook page.)

Although she likes performing a variety of music types, Renzulli’s biggest inspiration was the band Nirvana. “I always felt Nirvana was very true to who they were as musicians because they performed songs about the weirdest subjects, not just the same ‘sex, drugs, and money’ kind of thing,” she says.

When the college application process rolled around, Renzulli was still hesitant to dedicate her search to this area, but after gaining her family’s full support she became fully intent on pursuing a musical career, and is now heading to Boston’s Berklee College of Music in the fall.

Throughout high school, Renzulli immersed herself in music by participating in VHS’s marching band and choirs. On top of that, she auditioned for and was accepted into Region Choir and All-State Choir, two New Jersey choirs that are both very prestigious, not to mention very difficult to get into. Renzulli credits Claire Ma, the choir director at VHS, for helping her with this process of auditioning for these elite programs.

Being part of these choirs had a huge impact on Renzulli, and she values the experiences greatly. “They really help you reach out and make connections with all kinds of people who you remain friends with for a long time afterward,” Renzulli says. In school, Renzulli also took AP Music Theory, a class she found extremely important, as she says the skills she gained from it will help her greatly when she takes her music theory placement exam during orientation.

Renzulli began her college search by looking up colleges with strong music programs. She then narrowed her options and applied to The New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, The Hartt School at University of Hartford, Temple University, Drew University, Montclair State University, William Paterson University, Ithaca College, New York University, and of course, Berklee.

What’s different about applying to music schools is that there is another large and quite stressful component to the application process: the audition. “You need to prepare a lot more than kids going to school for something like business, for example,” Renzulli says. For each school she applied to she was required to audition, preparing pieces to sing that ranged from jazz to contemporary, depending on the school. “The audition process is terrible,” she admits. “It was great when it was over.” (Performance auditions are also required of theater majors, as Mia Corbett, VHS ’17, learned.)

Renzulli was accepted into seven out of her nine schools, only being waitlisted at Ithaca and rejected from NYU. While many students struggle with choosing between schools, Renzulli knew right away when she received her acceptance letter from a particular school. “It was an easy decision,” Renzulli says. “Berklee was my dream school.”

Berklee has an acceptance rate of only 34 percent and is one of the more selective music schools in the country, which is why it is fantastic that Renzulli got in, along with her AP Music Theory classmate and guitarist Michael Petillo, who will be attending as well.

One of the things Renzulli is most excited about that Berklee has to offer is their professional music major, a create-your-own major where students are able to choose one to three areas of concentration, giving them the availability to use and combine a multitude of skills such as songwriting and production.

Initially, Renzulli was set on Berklee’s performance major, but quickly realized that it would be an incredibly competitive program. She soon found there were other possibilities and that the professional music major was a great opportunity to combine her interest in performance with the business aspect of the music industry as well. Those will be her two concentrations within the major.

Renzulli’s recommendation for anyone interested in an instrumental or vocal career is to stay involved. “Do band, do choir, and join any music programs outside of school. Be involved and know that there are a ton of opportunities open and available to you.”

Deciding the path of your future is difficult, but Renzulli supports going with your gut. “You don’t ever want to be thinking ‘what if’,” Renzulli says. “Definitely pursue music if your heart is set on it.”

“What’s Next” is a series of profiles about what members of each Verona High School class intend to do after graduation. MyVeronaNJ has been publishing the series since 2010 and you can read all of them here.

The following Verona residents received academic honors at colleges and universities during the spring 2018 semester:

Bloomsburg University: Isabella Vassallo was among more than 1,900 students named to the Spring 2018 Dean’s List. To qualify, students must earn a GPA of 3.5 or higher (based on 4.0) during the semester.

Bucknell University: Heather Smith and Jasmine Spinelli, both Class of 2019, and Jane Szybist, Class of 2018, have been named to the Dean’s List for outstanding academic achievement during the spring semester of the 2017-18 academic year. A student must earn a grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a scale of 4.0 to receive dean’s list recognition.

Clemson University: Olivia M. Newkirk has been named to the Dean’s List for the spring 2018 semester. Newkirk is majoring in Bioengineering. To be named to the Dean’s List, a student achieved a grade-point average between 3.50 and 3.99 on a 4.0 scale.

Coastal Carolina University: Hunter Grasso, a political science major, was among nearly 750 students named to the President’s List for the Spring 2018 semester. Students named to the President’s List achieved a perfect 4.0 grade point average during the semester.

Gettysburg College: Amanda Benfante and Laryssa Horodysky were named to Dean’s Honor List. Students whose semester averages were 3.6 or above are placed on the list.

Hamilton College: Caroline G. Chivily has been named to the Dean’s List for the 2018 spring semester. To be named to the Dean’s List, a student must have carried throughout the semester a course load of four or more graded credits with an average of 3.5 or above. Chivily is a rising senior majoring in biology.

Ithaca College: Miranda Williams was named to the Dean’s List for the spring 2018 semester.

Marist College: Alexandra Luehs, Edward Oser and Elizabeth Oser were named to the Dean’s List for the Spring 2018 semester. All are members of the Class of 2019. Luehs is majoring in business administration. Edward Oser is majoring in bBiology and Elizabeth Oser is majoring in fashion merchandising.

Muhlenberg College: Tabitha Chasse and Molly Nochimson were named to Muhlenberg College’s Dean’s List. Students with a term GPA of 3.50 or higher were recognized for their academic achievement.

Rochester Institute of Technology: Carla Bello, Ethan Connell and Jill Lanese were named to the Dean’s List. Degree-seeking undergraduate students are eligible for the list if their term GPA is greater than or equal to 3.400; they do not have any grades of “Incomplete”, “D” or “F”; and they have registered for, and completed, at least 12 credit hours. Lanese is in the biomedical sciences program; Bello and Connell are in the film and animation program.

Saint Francis University: Taylor Reed and Luke Weiss were among the more than 800 students from Saint Francis University who made one of the Spring 2018 Provost’s or Dean’s list. To achieve either list, students must have full-time status and attain a quality point average of at least 3.8 (Provost’s) or 3.5 (Dean’s) for the given semester.

University of Delaware: Danielle Alfano, Gabrielle Ayala, Kaitlyn Deo, Amanda Flores, Daniel Messineo, Alexa Perzichilli, Alysia Vega and Meghan Yeates have been named to the University of Delaware Dean’s List for the Spring 2018 semester. To meet eligibility requirements for the Dean’s List, a student must be enrolled full-time and earn a GPA of 3.33 or above (on a 4.0 scale) for the semester.

University of Hartford: Joseph Eulie has been named to its Dean’s List for Spring 2018. The University of Hartford, centrally located in Connecticut, provides a distinctive educational experience across seven schools and colleges for one of the most diverse student bodies in New England. Chartered in 1957, Hartford has more than 5,000 undergraduates, 1,600 graduate students, and 75,000 alumni worldwide.

University of Rhode Island: Brendan Carroll was named to the Spring 2018 Dean’s List. To be included on the Dean’s List, full-time students must have completed 12 or more credits for letter grades during a semester and achieved at least a 3.30 quality point average. Part-time students qualify with the accumulation of 12 or more credits for letter grades earning at least a 3.30 quality point average.

University of the Sciences: Nicole Farbaniec has been named to the Spring 2018 Dean’s List. Selection for this award is based on completing and passing all assigned courses with no grade below a “C” and attaining an academic average of at least 3.4 for courses taken in the spring of 2018. Farbaniec is a doctor of occupational therapy student.

University of Scranton: Colleen R. Farrell, Claire M. Fitzpatrick and William A. Giuliano were among the more than 1,650 students named to Dean’s List for the 2018 spring semester. A student must have a grade point average of 3.5 or better with a minimum number of credit hours during the semester to make the Dean’s List. Farrell ia a senior liberal studies major in the University’s Panuska College of Professional Studies. Fitzpatrick is a junior business administration major in the University’s Kania School of Management. Giuliano is a senior political science major in the University’s College of Arts and Sciences.

University of Vermont: Giuliana Frizzi and Anna Wallace named to the University of Vermont Dean’s List. To be named to the dean’s list, students must have a grade-point average of 3.0 or better and rank in the top 20 percent of their class in their respective college or school. Frizzi was also the recipient of the June Veinott Award, which is presented to the female student who, at the end of her first year of study, shows the greatest promise of being successful in the engineering profession.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Madeline Burke, a member of the class of 2019 majoring in computer science, was named to the university’s Dean’s List for academic excellence for the spring 2018 semester.A total of 1,474 undergraduate students achieved the criteria required for WPI’s spring 2018 Dean’s List. The criteria for the WPI Dean’s List differs from that of most other universities as WPI does not compute a grade point average (GPA). Instead, WPI defines the Dean’s List by the amount of work completed at the A level in courses and projects.

If you know of a student who has also been recognized, please send information to news@myveronanj.com.

The Verona High School Class of 1978 will hold its 40-year reunion on Saturday, September 22, at the Verona Park Boathouse, from 5 to 10 p.m. The cost to attend is $65 per person and you have to deliver the cash to Cindy Lombardi, 10 Westbrook Drive, Caldwell, NJ 07006.

The first 50 classmates to register will receive a free Verona T-shirt with the original Hillbilly logo, so organizers are asking attendees to specify their size (S, M, L, XL, 2XL) when they pay. All classmates who have photos from high school (either of themselves or with others) are being asked to email them to VeronaHSClassof78@gmail.com for use in a slideshow.

The reunion committee members are Cindy Caprio Lombardi, Patti Hartke Higgins, Linda Hill Boyd, Deb Hogan Franzone, Nancy Mascera, and Elaine Bongo McPhail.

Organizers are also asking for your help in locating several classmates. If you know how to reach any of the people below, please contact the committee at VeronaHSClassof78@gmail.com:

Nancy Blakney Gravina, Neil Boyle, Nancy Burns, Debbie Brau Goeringer, Kenny Budesa, Anthony Carpinelli, Brenda Cunningham

Michael Dascoli, Andrew DeLuca, Mary Deluca, Kathy Devaney, Bari Dubowsky, Pat Dorchak, Tom Figurelli, Laura Finn, Mathew Fisher

Carol Gaetano, Sue Gallagher, Darren Grebe, Randy Griffiths, Karen Hartwig, Yola Kedzerskii, Sharon Kester, Angela Knapp, John Kugel, Norman Kutcher

David Lambdin, Albert Langen, Amy Liebhauser, Ann Mancini, Gerald Manley, Michael McCormack, Kyle McLeod, James McSpiritt, Maria Mills, Chris Mitrone, Mark Motylewski

Priscilla Oliphant, Joan Pasch, Cara Pedinoff, Beth Ann Prisco, Gloria Jean Ricca, Eddie Rolandelli

Frank Signoretto, Melanie Simon, Mary Ellen Soda, Robert Stivale, John Sullivan, David Syble

Gaye Tancke, Greg Thomas, Jay Whelan, Yvonne Wilson, Debbie Yee, Alicia Zilinsky, Michael Zoschak

By Emma DePaul & Krystal Costa

At H.B.Whitehorne Middle School in Verona, Mrs. Thomas’s fourth marking period oceanography class created a lesson to show to other science classes. The lesson was created to inform the other students about the effect plastic straws and other plastic products have on the environment and the ocean.

In the lesson, some students made music videos to give examples of what the plastic is doing to the ocean and the sea creatures in it. Other students found articles and videos online to help support this topic. The lesson ended by asking the students to take the Last Straw Pledge. The Last Straw Pledge is a pledge to stop using plastic straws or use reusable ones.

Students also created a video to show how many single-use plastic water bottles one student would use in the course of a school year. The Verona Education Association (VEA) has provided each student at H.B.Whitehorne a reusable water bottle, and installed the hydration station pictured above.

About 5 billion plastic water bottles are used each year and 8.5 billion plastic straws are used. These products end up in the ocean and get lodged in sea turtles throats and caught up their nostrils. Birds that mistake plastic pieces for fish end up feeding plastic to their young or end up dead on the beach. About 100,000 marine creates die each year due to the plastic in the ocean, and about 1 million seabirds die from the plastic on land and in the ocean. The record for most plastic pieces within a bird’s stomach is 273 pieces of sharp plastics, big and small.

The students have very strong opinions of the plastic products affecting the environment. The students think it is repulsive that so many creatures die each year from plastic ingestion. They fear the plastic problem will keep accumulating as time goes on, and they want to put a stop to it. A video was shown in the lesson, and in the video a marine biologist found many dead marine creatures on the beaches of Australia. This raised the concern and awareness in the students for the issue.

This issue has brought a strong need to end the horrific issues impacting our oceans today. No matter how isolated an island is or how deep in the ocean, plastic will always find a way to infest it’s coast and creatures. Traces of plastic have been found in the deepest parts of the ocean to the coasts of beautiful beaches. The students encourage as many people as possible to take the last straw pledge and reduce the amount of plastic found in our environment.

Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child held its 90th commencement ceremony on Sunday, June 10, on its 11-acre campus in Summit. The 63 graduates kept with school tradition and donned white gowns and gloves, and carried pink roses.

Oak Knoll School would like to congratulate its Verona graduates Isabel Salas (right) and Annabelle Zebrowski, who will be attending New York University and Georgetown University, respectively, in the fall.

Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child is a Catholic, independent school, coeducational from kindergarten to grade 6 and for girls in grades 7 to 12. Visit www.oakknoll.org to learn more.

Yvette McNeal and David Galbierczyk, principals of H.B. Whitehorne Middle School, are proud to announce the names of those fifth grade students who have earned academic recognition during the fourth marking period of this school year 2017-2018.

These students have qualified for the honors award by attaining all “A” and “B” grades:

Jonah Axelrod, Ariella Balerio, Ella Barchie, Kelly Barrow, Connor Barshay, Sophie Besante, Iyana Best, Ryan Bisaccio, Francesca Bopp, Isabella Bopp, Wesley Brown

Marc-Evans Calixte, Maya Cappello, Kate Carlson, Alison Carvalloza, Owen Chanana, Angelina Cheung, Angelina Codey, Kylie Conklin, Marco Contorno, Camila Cortes

Mairi D’Andrea, Julia Dacey, Lauren DeFabrizio, Luca DeFabrizio, Giada DeLorenzo, Jack DeMars, Andrew DePaul, Kori DePoe, Jordan Dunn

Sydney Ehrich, Ava Evans, Joseph Farmer, Luke Fenton, Daniel Fernandez, Samantha FioRito, Jack Flannery, Sydney Fradette, Daniel Frenklakh, Dylan Frey

Stephen Gaffney, Isabella Garcia, Jonna Garcia, Jacqueline Gardner, Benjamin Garnet, Hayden Garrett, Daria Gebbia, Cali Giacomazza, Chloe Giessen, Eliza Glatter, Joel Gonzalez, Ian Gottstein, Lucia Grant

Jack Harmon, Donya Hashemi Sohi, Molly Hayter, Isabelle Heimerle, Jessica Hernandez, Danielle Imbriano, Vedarth Kallem, Christian Kaulback, Riley Kenrick, Kylie Kiernan, Shaina Kogan

Isabella Lambert, Landon Lareau, Gabrielle Latino, Jack Latson, Julia Lluch, Reece Luftglass, Robert Maher, Zia Mahmood, Aiden Main, Brielle Marchese, Molly McCabe, William McGrath, Sadie McMahan, Matthew McMahon, Isabella Medina, David Megalla

Lily Nachbaur, Maeve Nachbaur, Mia Nicolato, Nia Nikolova, Victoria Niziolek, Charlotte North, Angelina O’Dell, Tyler O’Donnell, Frank Orrei

Camille Pajonas, Vincenza Palma, Lauren Parsons, Victor Paz, Kaitlyn Pietrucha, Jackson Pope, Connor Potts-DeMasi, Sidney Quinn

Matthew Raff, Johnny Ratuis, Samantha Repoli, Aryanna Ricci, William Rice, Dean Rizzi, Ella Romanyshyn, Mason Rossi, Griffin Russo

Michelle Salanon, Luke Sampers, Amy Sandoval, Halle Schulke, Ella Scipione, Christopher Seepaul, Angelie Sin, Gregory Sluk, Kieran Smith, Harrison Sorger, Jane Sorger, Brody Sperling, Augustine Stocker, William Strong

Vicktoria Tropcheva, BrookeLynne Vacca, Krishna Vann, Jesse Wagner, Kaelin Walsh, Camryn Wardrope, Madan Williams, Yianni Yanniotis, Jessica Yu, Nina Zawodny, Lana Zecchino, Miriam Zikry, Nathaniel Zimmer

The names of some students who qualified for the honor roll do not appear on this list because their parents have elected not to release personal information to the media.

On Sunday, five Verona High School seniors were awarded generous grants from the Montclair College Women’s Club whose twice annual book sales (generally held in October and March) generate the funds for the scholarships.

On Sunday, in the home of one of the College Women’s Club’s members, twenty $2,000 scholarships were awarded to young women from VHS, Glen Ridge High School, Montclair High School, and Cedar Grove High school.

According to Club President Barbara Ann Ellert, the group has awarded over $1.4 million since its inception. Applications for the scholarship are open to young women in the top 15% of their class; applicants are required to write an essay and be interviewed by a Club member.

The awardees, who posed with Ellert, are Isabella Josephson, Grace Gault, Isabella Williams, Gwynneth O’Donnell, and Alexandra Holland.