December School Highlights

Students from the Health Occupations Society of America (HOSA) visited St. Joseph Nursing Center in Woodbridge on December 9^th.  Students sang holiday carols and interacted with the residents.

The school ethics team, made up of 13 juniors and seniors, traveled to Stevens Institute of Technology on December 10^th.  Six of our students advanced to the final round where they finished second. This year’s topics included “donor babies” and “paid-sick leave.”   

The winter sport season began at the Woodbridge Campus on December 16^th.  The girls’ team played Wardlaw Hartridge School and won 53-27. Congratulations to Coach Modzelewski on his first victory as the new varsity coach. 

Freshman in Ms. Wilhelmy’s Principles of Biomedical Sciences classes have created their “Diabetes” projects. Students created models that showed how glucose interacts with cells for people with Type I and Type II diabetes and those without diabetes. Students walked away with a firm grasp of the biochemistry involved with this common chronic disease. 

The career choices students participated in a Fall Spirit Week competition.  Spirit Week is designed to promote teamwork and respectful behaviors while learning their curriculum. The students created outstanding curriculum projects and decorated their classroom door with curriculum and character education themes. Students from the Academy served as judges and Mr. McGowan’s class was declared the winner for both the morning and after-noon sessions. 

Information sessions were held on December 7^th and 8^th for prospective members of the Class of 2021 and their families.  Over 340 parents and students attended one of the sessions and learned about the Academy and the admissions process. Over 340 eighth grade students from around the county came to take the admissions test on December 10^th. 

The second cycle of the career choices curriculum came to a close at the start of December. Mr. Langan’s construction technology class finished their “sheds.”  Throughout the six weeks in class, students constructed a shed with studded walls, wired the electricity and ran the plumbing as if they were constructing a miniature home.

Academy for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies

The Edison Rotary recognized seniors Sankruth Kota, Anthony Wang, Akshat Gokhale and Vraj Patel as the Academy Students of the Month for December.

The Spanish Honor Society sponsored the 13^th annual “Culture Day” on December 2^nd.  Students and staff prepared and shared ethnic foods representing the cultural diversity of the Academy community.

The Academy Interact Club hosted a student talent show after school on December 2^nd.  The acts showcased the amazing musical and dancing performance abilities of Academy students.  Over $400 was donated to the USMC “Toys for Tots” program.  Following the talent show, the Academy Foundation hosted a buffet dinner for Academy staff, students and parents.

 The Academy’s Red Cross Club held a Blood Drive on December 5^th. The event was sponsored by Community Blood Services of North Jersey.

The Academy’s Red Cross Club also hosted a luncheon raising $400 for Elijah’s Promise.

Information sessions for students and parents interested in becoming members of the Class of 2021 were held this month.  Over three hundred students submitted applications for admissions.

The annual door decorating contest was a big hit again this year.  Prizes were awarded for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners.

For the first time, an Academy team participated in the New Jersey State Ethics Club Competition held at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Our first foray was a great success as the team comprised of juniors Avneet Randhawa, Meghna Mehta, Rohan Agarwal, Akshat Gok-hale, Abinaya Sivakumar and sophomore Abhishek Hariharan won 4^th place.

Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) held its regional competitions the week of December 5^th.  Seventy-four students took the online exams.  Thirty-eight students qualified to compete at the state level in Atlantic City in February. The results are as follows:

Advertising:

Maya Pandurangan            (1^st place)

Shamika Saini                     (4^th place)

Mark Byrnes                         (5^th place)

Business Calculations:

Abhishek Patel                    (4^th place)

Business Communication:

Jessica Hernandez            (5^th place)

Rohan Mehra                      (6^th place)

Khushi Gandhi                    (7^th place)

Business Law:

Priyanka Dangi                     (1^st place)

Ankit Patel                             (4^th place)

Abhishek Hariharan             (7^th place)

Computer Applications:

Lucent Fong                         (3^rd place)

Computer Problem Solving:

Kevin Tang                            (2^nd place)

Rishi Masand                        (3^rd place)

Cyber Security:

Zarir Hamza                        (1^st place)

Matthew Mariner                (8^th place)

Economics:

Abhinav Singh                    (5^th place)

Nirmal Prakash                   (6^th place)

Help Desk:

Kunal Adhia                         (1^st place)

Neehar Peri                         (2^nd place)

Abishek Kannappan           (3^rd place)

Sankruth Kota                      (6^th place)

Insurance & Risk Management:

Shankar Kohli                    (2^nd place)

Anthony Wang                   (3^rd place)

Anjali Gupta                        (7^th place)

Matthew Chou                    (8^th place)

Introduction to Business Communication:

Eesha Sharma                    (8^th place)

Introduction to Business Procedures:

Nikhil Pampati                    (6^th place)

Introduction to Information Technology:

Amey Venkatanarayan       (4^th place)

Marketing:

Shrey Bohra                       (3^rd place, State-wide team event)

Atharva Padhye                 (3^rd place, State-wide team event)

Sagar Vemuri                     (3^rd place, State-wide team event)

Journalism:

Bartosz Skiba                       (2^nd place)

Zachary Acosta                    (3^rd place)

Networking Concepts:

Surya Venkatram                 (4^th place)

Organizational Leadership:

Ryan Shah                           (6^th place)

Word Processing:

Malavika Vivek                    (1^st place)

Jay Rao                                (4^th place)

Amrut Nadgir                       (7^th place)

The Edison Academy competed at the Bergen County History Bowl held in Teaneck, N.J.  on December 17^th. The junior varsity team led by sophomores Jatin Lankada and Akhil Maheshwary became finalists in the JV History Bowl competition. The varsity team led by seniors Anthony Wang, Pratik Mishra, Ayush Parikh, Nirmal Prakash and Abhinav Singh  won the History Bowl Championship. The team captured the regional championship for   the second consecutive year.

Edison Academy won the trophy for Best Small Delegation - Best Small School at the 2016-2017 Rutgers International Model United Nations Conference.  The delegation of 12 students led by Rohan Marwaha won the school's first championship in Model United Nations competition. The students who contributed to this accomplishment were: Akshat Gokhale, Ankit Patel, Avneet Randhawa, Hannah Daniels, Dev Patel, Abhishek Hariharan, Saneel Sreeni, Bartosz Skiba, Surya Venkatram, Eesha Sharma and Nikhil Pampati.

East Brunswick Campus  

Over 50 students, staff and family members attended the annual Big Chill 5K at Rutgers University on December 3^rd. The entrance fee for the race was an unwrapped toy that will go directly to the Rutgers University Toys for Tots program. The East Brunswick Campus raced as a team called EB Tech Tigers.

The East Brunswick Campus had spirit week from December 14^th thru December 21^st. Each day had a different theme and the homeroom with the most school spirit received a prize. In culmination of Spirit Week East Brunswick Campus hosted a pep rally for our cheerleaders and boys and girls basketball teams on December 21^st. The pep rally was a huge success and EB Tech pride was on display throughout the school.

The School of the Arts, dance program presented “Trash” on December 15^th and 16^th. The performance featured a set constructed from clean trash that included a six foot wave made of recycled water bottles. The 75-minute program was created by Ms. Mack and 58 dance students with the assistance of 20 students in the new MCVTS theater technology program, as well as the building trades and digital film shops. The piece opened with a solo dancer and a digital bee, and in the middle, there was a fashion show of gowns made of recycled materials. The message of sustainability was clear throughout the entire performance.

The East Brunswick student council hosted a frosty formal in our cafeteria on December 3^rd. The students enjoyed a night of dancing to help raise money for the student council.

The cosmetology career major teamed up with EB Tech Skills USA to host a “Salon-a-thon” on December 15^th.  The cosmetology students were busy all day working on students and parents in order to raise money for our EB Tech Skills USA program. The event was a huge success with over $800 raised for Skills USA.

Ms. Fitzgerald and her baking students took part in holiday cookie decorating at the Brunswick Square mall on December 19^th. This was the second time working with the mall as part of our community outreach initiative. The students really enjoyed interact-ing with members of the community.

The EB Tech Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) club hosted Pride Week from December 5^th thru 9^th. The students celebrated diversity in our school and helped promote the GSA club. EB Tech students all supported this wonderful endeavor and brought awareness of the LGBTQ community.

Junior Shamel Flores in the School of the Arts, theatre program sang the national anthem at the New Jersey Association of Counties winter meeting at the Trenton County Club on December 9^th. Shamel performed an amazing rendition of the national anthem and was very well received by the audience.

East Brunswick School of Career Development

Four seniors from the culinary arts shop have been accepted to the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York for the fall semester: Tariq Gorrell, Brianna Toro, Effraimor "Chachi" Velez-Gomez, and Salvatore Rapacciuolo. This is a great accom-plishment for these students! 

HOSA sponsored a blood drive in conjunction with the American Red Cross on December 9^th. HOSA co-presidents Diego Alvarez and Jonathan Delarosa coordinated school wide registration efforts under the guidance of club advisor Dr. Eric Menell. In total, 39 units of blood were collected from student and faculty blood donors. These units will be made into three products and will benefit 117 local hospital patients. 

Dr. Menell's World History classes designed and constructed model Christopher Columbus ships as part of the World Exploration unit. Students competed against each another as they "sailed" their ships in a simulated ocean environment. 

Coats for the annual coat drive are currently being collected for cleaning and distribution to those in need in the East Brunswick area.  There are drop off points in different areas including: East Brunswick, South River, and Spotswood. Coats can also be dropped off at the East Brunswick Vocational and Technical High School. This year, our efforts have been combined with the Township of East Brunswick and will be highlighted on the local channel, EBTV.

Students from our culinary arts program were given a tour of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. The tour was conducted by several of our past graduates who are currently students at the Institute.

Members from the Perth Amboy Campus Running Club participated in the Big Chill 5K race at Rutgers University on December 3^rd. The entry fee to participate in the Big Chill was the donation of a gift for underprivileged children. The Perth Amboy Campus had 15 runners participate and donated 30 gifts.

The Perth Amboy Camps participated in the annual Christmas Tree Angel program through the Salvation Army in Perth Amboy. Our staff donated more than 50 gifts for the cause.

The Perth Amboy culinary arts students participated in their annual gingerbread house decorating contest. Students baked their own gingerbread, designed, built and decorated their houses for the contest. This year’s winner was Miranda Nunez with her “Snoopy” doghouse replica.

Students in Mrs. Shaffer’s computer applications for business shop engaged in making holiday cards as a shop project for deployed troops by working with Operation Grati-tude.  The cards are sent to tell our heroes in the armed forces that "We care!" 

During the holiday season Ms. Morrison’s basic business technology shop students created over 100 holiday cards for residents at the JFK Hartwick Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Edison, NJ.  The cards were nicely decorated with ribbon and candy canes.  Students also created handmade coloring books for the children in the pediatric unit at St. Peter’s University Hospital.

Freshmen students in Mrs. Evans computer systems technology shop celebrated Computer Science Education Week with "The Hour of Code." Students joined millions of students and teachers in over 180 countries to complete coding tutorials as an introduction to computer science. Each student received a certificate of completion for demonstrating an understanding of the basic concepts of computer science.

Mrs. Ricciardi’s adult cosmetology class visited Salon Centric in Union for a skin care seminar.  Students loved the demonstration so much they said they can't wait to go back in May for the next session! Students were also able to shop at the salon for products only available to cosmetologists.  In May students will also shop at Salon Centric for supplies required for their State Board examinations. Students received a generous gift bag of different sample products.

Mrs. Shaffer’s computer applications for business shop held a “design a T-shirt” contest. The first place winner was Stephanie Baluena. Her design was selected to be placed on the 11^th grade class T-shirts.  The second place winner was Itzel Hernandez and third place winner was Gabrielle Achazo. A group photo was taken with students wearing their shirts.

Piscataway Campus hosted its third annual blood drive on December 6^th.  Ms. Rogers’ health technology students did a wonderful job assisting the Red Cross personnel. We collected 42 units of blood.

U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Daniel Soto and an assistant presented to fifteen highly interested students in the school media center on December 8^th.  The students left the presentation with a clear perspective on the advantages of entering the U.S. Army after high school. This was Staff Sergeant Soto’s second visit this school year after speaking to 40 students  in September.

The Johnson and Johnson Young Women’s Group met on December 20^th. Students partic-ipated in a workshop where they learned interview skills and practiced mock interviews with one another. Afterwards, the girls enjoyed some holiday treats courtesy of Johnson and Johnson.