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December School Highlights

Academy of Allied Health and Biomedical Sciences

Health and Physical Education teacher Gerri Cuesta-Aviles was chosen as a Toms River School District Athletic Hall of Fame inductee for 2020! Her picture and a plaque detailing her accomplishments as a student athlete and coach will be displayed in perpetuity at the Hall of Fame at RWJ Barnabas Health Arena. She will be inducted formally in May of 2020.

 

Senor Rafael Nava, Spanish teacher and Spanish Honor Society Advisor, was chosen as the Woodbridge Academy Governor’s Educator of the Year for 2020 and Barbara Meene, school nurse and health champion, was selected as Educational Support Professional of the year.

 

On Friday, December 20th, the Woodbridge Academy high school students Career Choices students constructed amazing Gingerbread House designs and landscapes as part of our annual Gingerbread competition. Winners were selected on the basis of most holiday spirit, most school spirit, and most creative design.  Also on Friday, the annual Pep Rally was held. Students from each grade competed in games and activities before holding a ceremony for the Girl’s Basketball teams.

 

Student Council held a spirit week December 16-December 20. The themes were Holiday Hat Day, Ugly Sweater Day, Red for the Blood Drive, Pajama Day and Class Color/School Spirit Day.

 

On Friday, December 13th, our HOSA chapter held a Holiday Movie Night in the Collaboration Center. Over 60 attendees watched Home Alone and snacked on popcorn. We also played holiday trivia and card games.

 

Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Technologies

Five hundred (500) prospective students/family members attended sessions on December 4th and 12th to hear about admissions testing logistics, curriculum, and AP courses/testing.  We answered questions about our school and our admissions process.

 

Four Hundred and forty (440) applicants took the admissions test.  Big thanks to all the teachers from the district for helping the process run so smoothly. Thank you, Juniors and Seniors who volunteered to assist!

 

The Long Island Science Olympiad Invitational was held on Saturday, December 7, 2019.  The Academy's SciOly medals at LISO were: Circuit Lab - 4th place Gil Shteyman and Jason Li Sounds of Music - 6th place Danielle Cui, Dhruv Misra. The team ranked 30th out of 69 teams.

 

Our Interact Club raised over $1,150 for Toys for Tots. Big thanks Ms. Simmons for her guidance, Ryan Shah for being a great Director and Aditya (Vidy) for his technical direction.

 

Our Startups Club held a Local Hack Day from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. at the Academy. This event provided our community of programmers with an opportunity to get first-hand experience bringing their ideas to life. The attendees used hardware and software to build websites and mobile applications (apps) and to program robots.

 

Students participated in Wrapping Contests, where they wrap each other up and proceed down a red carpet to be judged.  They had an engineering challenge to shoot candies the farthest.  They participated in a gingerbread house building contest and several students competed in various Minute-To-Win-It competitions for Battle of the Class points! During this past week students had pajama day, holiday accessory day, white-out day, holiday sweater day and Fuzzy Friday.

 

East Brunswick Campus

Ms. Mack and her Dance students presented their performance “Collaboration” in collaboration with Ms. Anello’s Arts Technology students and Mr. Greatorex’s Music Performance and Technology students.  These performances took place on December 12th and December 13th. They were inspired by the novel “The Parade” which many of the students had read and analyzed during English language arts classes. 

 

Spirit week and the Battle of the Classes culminated during the last week of December with a school-wide pep rally. 

 

The Student Alliance Club and the Interact Club successfully completed their Holiday Food Drive. 

 

Cade Green, a senior in Arts Technology, received a Superior Medal in Costume Design at the New Jersey Thespian Festival and qualified to go to Nationals in June 2020. 

 

East Brunswick School of Career Development

On December 6th, HOSA sponsored a blood drive to benefit patients in the central New Jersey area.  Ms. Zendjebil, the Health Services Teacher, ran the event. In total, 28 pints of blood were collected.

 

The East Brunswick Career Development coat drive, in conjunction with the South River Department of Health was a huge success with the collection of over 200 coats and other garments.  Coats have been distributed to those in need all over Middlesex County.

 

On December 20th, Michael Fowlin gave a presentation to the entire student body on the dangers of drugs and alcohol as well as Character Education.  Mr. Fowlin captivated his audience both with his serious tone as well as his entertainment value.  

 

Mr. Levine's sophomore class just read Moby Dick, The project for the end of their unit gave students the opportunity to craft Moby Dick sequels. This is his third year doing this project and the students seem to get more creative with it every year. In years past, they have done such project as "The Dark Whale Rises" and "Star Whales." This year, they came up with ideas like "The Whaley OddParents" and "WhaleFormers." One student even created his own chef, Gordon Whalesy, who critiqued other fish chefs in the ocean. All the projects were presented and enjoyed by the students.  This particular project gives meaning to a challenging work of fiction.  It is also a creative way to help meet the Literacy standards.

 

Perth Amboy Campus

The Perth Amboy Culinary Arts shop donated Cheesecakes to the Highland Park Community Center for their upcoming Christmas Day feast for member of the community without family or friends on Christmas Day.

 

The ninth grade US History classes enjoyed a day at the Museum of Natural History in New York City.

 

The Perth Amboy Senior Class sponsored a Winter Semi-Formal on December 13th.  One hundred and thirty (130) students attended the event.

 

The Perth Amboy Tech Culinary Arts students competed in the annual Ginger Bread House contest.  First place went to Katelyn Romero with her rendition of Snoopy’s Doghouse.  Second place went to Chelsea Flores with Holiday Penthouse and third place was tied between Francesca Rodriguez with Winter Cabin and Gabrielle Bartlett with Baby Yoda Styles.

 

Piscataway Campus

On December 9th, Ms. Lucas’ Health Careers Junior class successfully completed the training for First Aid certification.

 

On December 4th, Mr. Leahy’s Building Maintenance shop visited Ocean County Utilities Authority OceanGro (TM) production plant at the Bayville Sewage Treatment Plant. Students learned the wide array of jobs and careers available at county and town facilities, from Plant Operators to Lab Technicians. OceanGro produces an environmentally friendly fertilizer that is sold locally. 

 

On December 9th, Mr. Leahy, and students from Building Trades, Welding, Carpentry and Building Maintenance programs took a great trip to Newark Airport's Terminal 1 and the Port Authority. These field trips enabled our students to experience what it is like to be a part of such a massive, organized and professional project which opens many doors for future employment and career opportunities in an array of different skills and trades. Terminal 1 is the $2.1 Billion project to build a brand new airport passenger terminal.  Experts from the Port Authority and Conti Construction spoke to students about job and career opportunities that exist on the site. 

 

Annually, the Piscataway Campus comes together to donate specific items to families for the holidays.  The staff shared their holiday spirit by giving hats, scarves, and socks to a local shelter which were displayed on our Holiday Giving Tree.

 

Mr. Araujo and the Future Business Leaders of America club reached out to our Piscataway Campus Community and distributed Holiday Baskets to ne