December School Highlights

MCVTS OUTSTANDING ACTIVITIES – HIGHLIGHTS

The Superintendent is reporting highlights of recent districtwide school/student activities that have occurred since the last Board of Education meeting. These activities involve career, college, community, and business collaboration with various partners to enhance the students' educational programs.

Academy of Allied Health & Biomedical Sciences

The Interact Club supplied 40 wrapped gifts and a sheet cake for the residents of St. Joseph's Nursing Home in Woodbridge. The residents enjoyed a holiday party on December 22nd with all of the collected gifts and decorated items. 

Ms. Wechsler’s 10th grade Spanish classes completed a group assignment where they created a morning show which required students to use all the vocabulary and sentence structures they had been learning in class and then had to put together all the videos into the finalized morning show.

Academy for Science, Mathematics, & Engineering Technologies

United States Air Force Captain Dr. Kelliann (Seaman) Leli who was a 2008 graduate of the Academy died in a non-combat motor vehicle incident in the United Arab Emirates.

On December 5th, the Academic Team competed at the Greater Pennsylvania December Invitational. The team placed 4th out of 24 teams in the varsity division, with an overall record of 9-2.

Isha Shrivastava won 1st place in the youth category in the 1st Virtual Photography Contest, held by the New Brunswick Free Public Library. The selection of winners was made by a panel of professional photographers. Over 100 submissions were received this year.

Ms. Amy Burke has been selected as this year’s Teacher of the Year. Ms. Burke teaches English 9, English 11 and Technical Writing and Senior Seminar for our Seniors. Ms. Burke has transformed the senior Technical Writing course into a college and career readiness workshop. She works closely with our guidance counselor Mr. Fernandez at the end of students’ junior year to provide comprehensive college planning and submission. In our Senior Seminar course, Ms. Burke has added a series of activities centered around Franklin Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Mr. Mark Mastrolia is our Educational Services Professional of the Year. He works with our students in setting up the Mentorship Experience for our Seniors. It began as a pilot program with a limited number of students and expanded to provide all seniors with a 10-day workplace experience. Mr. Mastrolia helps guide students through every stage of the process, beginning with an orientation and OSHA training in 11th grade, where they learn appropriate safety procedures and how to handle emergency situations. After assessing student interests and resources, Mr. Mastrolia helps identify appropriate locations and establishes a connection with each outside mentor.

Edison Academy Science Olympiad participated in the Pearl City Invitational in Hawaii

The Edison Academy's SciOly placed 5th overall out of 31 teams and received 9 medals.

The Interact Club had a first-ever holiday concert on YouTube. Students and Staff viewed the event with positive comments.

East Brunswick Campus

Mrs. Elkins-Solomon, English teacher and STRIPES newsletter advisor, released their

Fall/Winter edition of STRIPES with a theme of “20/20 Vision: A Look Back at the Year 2020.” Our student poets and writers weighed in on a variety of topics, ranging from the Pandemic to Social Movements, Sports, and Online Education. The newsletter will be posted on our campus website.

Marlayna O’Brien, current 11th grader in Digital Film, and Dance Alumni and current Mason Gross Dance Student Kim Reyes, collaborated on a show that was premiered at Rutgers University, Mason Gross Dance Student Films Showcase.

Mr. Mercadante, our Pre-Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing instructor, participated in an online video forum promoting his program during National Apprenticeship Week. This was produced by the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program.

East Brunswick Tech’s boys’ soccer team with their Coach, Mr. Buonaguro, finished the season with a record of 8 wins and 2 losses. They were undefeated in the GMC Silver Division with an 8-0 record.

East Brunswick School of Career Development

In Mr. Gent’s HVAC Class, Patrick Camb, 12th grade, is working at the Air Group Company and is part of the MCVTS PACE program and is doing an excellent job.  The Air Group Company will be donating Shop Banners along with some equipment to our shop.

The 2020-2021 DECA chapter under the leadership of Mrs. Leni Hughes and Mrs. Joan Thomas-Floyd competed in the Central East Regional Competition. This year all events were done virtually.  Some of our students were able to test in school and some via Zoom.  In addition each student had to participate in a job interview which was taped and uploaded to the Judges at NJ DECA. 

Piscataway Campus

Mr. Minnella’s Computer Assisted Drafting and Design students worked on two CADD perspective drawing projects. They built scale models of the Arizona Memorial in honor of Pearl Harbor Day and the Delorean that is featured in the Back to the Future movie.

Mr. Foli’s Welding student’s, Alex Day, Joe Cirillo, and Nick Spratford combined their skills to fabricate and design a decorative Christmas tree ring. The ring stops young children and pets from drinking or playing in the water while creating a more decorative look.

Mr. Diemer’s Supermarket Career students’ are continuing to work on merchandising strategies. We focused on the aisle end caps, discussed the process that goes into planning out an aisle and reorganized the shelves accordingly.