UNION COUNTY LOCALSOURCE LOCALSOURCE.COM THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2011 — PAGE 13

SCHOOL ZONESummitcelebratesdiversityMulticultural Nighthosted at Johnson

A pageant of ethnic food,music, dance, drama, crafts, decorand enthusiasm marked the cele-bration of diversity at Lawton C.Johnson Summit Middle School'sMulticultural Night.

The April event, ir. the school'smain gym, drew between 300 and500 guests throughout the courseof the evening.

The gym was decorated withflags, banners, and balloons, andstudents and their families set uptables of ethnic food samples, pho-tos, crafts and other representationsof their national backgrounds. Thir-ty-six nationalities are representedby the middle school population.

Upon their arrival, guests atMulticultural Night were issued"passports," which would bestamped as they visited each "coun-try." The passports also doubled asthe evening's program schedule.Throughout the event, backgroundmusic was being played with inter-national songs as the selections.

"It's really great to see the stu-dents celebrating their own her-itages," said LCJSMS PrincipalMatt Block. "They are so eager toshare the richness of their cultureswith others."

Entertainment by students

Anne Borzner, Ciara Lawlor and Catherine Lawlor, from left, were part of the enter-tainment at the Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School Multicultural Night. Anneand Catherine are sixth-graders at the middle school; Ciara is a fourth-grader atSummit's Washington School.

included Irish Step Dancing; a dra-matic presentation, coordinated byteacher Jamie Walter; AmericanStep Dancers, advised by teacherSteffany Henion; a performance ofinternational songs by the BelCanto vocal ensemble, directed by-teacher Christopher Wolff; a violinperformance with an international

flair, directed by teacher JoannManhardt; a guitar solo by studentKeenan Buckley; and an AsianIndian dance performed by studentSandhiya Narasimharaj.

Multicultural Night was organ-ized by LCJSMS French teacherMary Lockshin and a planningcommittee comprising guidance

counselors Cristina Martinez andStefanie Jurista and teachersSuanne Benowitz, Theresa Martin,Joelle Minet and Carolyn Mozes.

The Lawton C. Johnson SummitMiddle School PTO, under theleadership of its president MaryMokuvos, contributed $1,000 infunding for Multicultural Night.

Teacherhonoredby NJSBA

Erin Reilly, special educationteacher at Valley Road School inClark, was the recipient of the"Innovations In Special Educa-tion" award through the New Jer-sey School Boards Association.Reilly received the awardthrough her self-esteem building,inclusive and visionary program"Lunch Monitors."

Through this program, stu-dents, both general and specialeducation, assume the role oflunch monitors to assure eachclassmate is included and partic-ipates in both lunchroom andrecess activities. The programwas created by Reilly, who isnow in her third year of teachingat Valley Road School.

She was selected for thisstate-wide recognition from 565Districts in State. A total of 62programs were nominatedthroughout the state, and the NewJersey School Boards Associationselected the ten programs theyviewed as best practices through-out New Jersey Public Schools.

"As a district we are extreme-ly proud of Erin Reilly. She is avery hard working, innovativeand creative teacher who givescountless hours above andbeyond the school day to createprograms for her students,"Superintendent of Schools Ken-neth Knops said.

STUDENT UPDATEBottitta earns spot inJesuit honor society

Lauren A. Bottitta of Rahwajwas among the 58 University ofScranton students inducted intoAlpha Sigma Nu, the nationalhonor society for students in Jesuitcolleges and universities.

Bottitta is a senior majoring inmanagement at University ofScranton, located in northeastPennsylvania.

Clark resident makesEvansvilie dean's list

The University of Evansviliehas announced that Donald Gastonof Clark has achieved a place on thedean's list. Gaston, a political sci-ence major, made the dean's list foracademic achievements during thespring semester 2011.

Linden student set tograduate with honors

Lori Zamanski, a resident ofLinden, was recently inducted intoProvidence College's chapter ofTau Pi Phi, the national honor soci-ety for accounting, business admin-istration and economics.

A member of the class of 2011,Zamanski graduated from Provi-dence College with a degree inmanagement.

Hampton graduatesseveral county locals

Hampton University's 141stAnnual Commencement ceremonywas on May 8 at Armstrong Stadium.

The following local residentsgraduated from Hampton University:

Brittany Kirkland of Union,Zakiya Randolph of Union, BrianaSellers of Union, Amanii Davenportof Hillside, Brittni Williams of Hill-side, LaCarla Donaldson of Lindenand Tamesha Johnson of Rahway.

Honors from MaristThe following students were

named to the Marist College dean'slist for the fall 2010 semester:

Joseph Touloumis of Cranford isa member of the class of 2011;Michael Ozolnieks of Cranford is amember of the class of 2012;Michael Kurtz of Clark is a mem-ber of the class of 2012; AprilBaton of Clark is a member of theclass of 2012.

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