Principal’s Message: November 2021

I would like to welcome all the students and staff of Washington Park School

to the 2021-2022 school year. It is so exciting to have all the students back

full time and moving from class to class.

The fifth grade was moved in a wing with the fourth grade, but sadly WPS

said good-bye to the third grade class which moved to Memorial School. The

annual student council Breast Cancer Walk was held on October 21, 2021,

and this year students at Washington Park School raised approximately

$6,500 for the American Cancer Society!

Also back this year, the students enjoyed the Halloween celebrations that

included a parade, costume contests, and snacks and prizes provided by our

Parent Teacher Organization. On November 2, 2021, Ms. Mostello held the

Youth Week elections which will culminate with our annual Youth Week

Meetings in May of 2022.

The 2021-2022 school year is off to a sensational start. The boys’ and girls’

basketball season kicks off December 2, followed by the annual Tree Light-

ing Ceremony and Winter Concert. All these great events and opportunities

are made possible with the support of our teachers, students, community, and

the Totowa Board of Education. I wish everyone a great school year!

After a long, excruciating year of half days and plexiglass, we are glad to say that we are finally

back! Washington Park students are back in person, but still following some safety precautions such as wearing masks, assigned seating, and social distancing. Many

students have agreed that they feel much better about school now than they did last year, which was expected. It is a much more comfortable environment where we

can be more flexible than we were the year prior. Students are now allowed to get to their classes instead of their classes coming to them! Even though it

sounds convenient, it was not easy to sit all day and the teachers did not like moving from class to class. While it was a hassle to keep up through those challenging

times, WPS is back and better than ever!

We are also permitted to have lunch and recess with our friends, unlike last year. Although we still have assigned seating when we occasionally eat in-

doors, it’s much better than having to eat our snacks in our classrooms. Along with being able to sit with our friends, we also have the privilege of taking our masks

off when outdoors. This year, we also have full days which start at 9:00 A.M. and last until 3:23 P.M., whereas before we only had half days. Students

were also restricted from using lockers and had to keep their belongings with them in their classroom. However, we are now granted lockers which we can use before

and after certain periods.

Now that mandates are less strict, our activities are coming back as well. Washington Park School is finally offering sports and permitting clubs to take

place again. Students in grades six through eight now have the opportunity to try out for the basketball team, get into our art program

called Stars, join Project Unified, a student run organization, and finally join TBN, where students learn how to work with technology for film mak-

ing. Other programs that have started up again are Acapella, Band, and Glee club which were held last year through zoom meetings but are now in person. The Wash-

ington Park School play is also returning. This year’s production will be Frozen. Finally, bowling was cancelled last year, but students were finally allowed to sign

up again.

Washington Park has come such a long way throughout the rough times of the pandemic. With all this happening, the 2021-2022 school year promises to

be great !!!

The Park Press Volume 16, Issue 1

Washington Park School

Page 1

IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN!

By: Isabella Amendola

Emily Kalafut

Grace Salvador

Gabriella Veneziano

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WASHINGTON PARK HONOR STUDENTS MARKING PERIOD 1

The Park Press

Page 2

GRADE 4

A Honors

Amir Abuoss

Kasper Bajek

Rafael Balaguer

Nathaniel Bladek

James Cabezas

Jayden Castillo

Frank Conca

Caleigh Dalida

Ailani DeLaRosa

Scarlett Fisher

Carmelina Grambone

Valeria Granados

Kenan Gulistan

Ghazelle Huzien

Ava Juliano

Isabella LaRose

Zahra Lions

Liam Marthone

MaKenna Mazur

Morgan Minieri

Luka Mladenovic

Aliyah Morgan

Lyanna Puerta

Ayrton Rodriguez

Joseph Siecieska

Sofia Szydlowski

Olivia Torres

Patrick Verney

B Honors

Natalia Bajek

Marina Barbiere

Rianna Ceka

Sarina Choe

Jake Conde

Raelynn Corentin

Isabella Di Blasio

Aaron Diaz

Amaia Diaz

Kaylee Gallardo

Waleska Gonzalez

Michael Greco

Andy Guilliani

Maddox Heerema

Kadin Karam

Rseel Khatib

Brianna Lezcano

Dominic Lorusso

Giovanni Manggier

Sophia Molina

Hala Morad

Mason Muniz

Stephania Ochoa

Giovanni Padilla

Arjun Panchani

Liliana Perez

Kevin Puglise

John Ralston

Gianni Rodriguez

Kayla Salinas

Ryan Scheck

Kielahyah Torres

Aubrey Vasquez

GRADE 5

A Honors

Carrie Alvarado

Noah Barbosa

Valentina Bergamasco

Michael Castellitto

George Dipsey

Ethan Joseph

Jaylen Lopez

Andrew Massola

Carla Noriega

Michael O'Hare

Richard Petersen

B Honors

Liyana Ali

Abigale Arias

Joshua Bitar

Dahlia Brens

Landon Britting

GRADE 6

A Honors

Kamil Aly

Julian Angione

Azra Cevik

Philip Cheff

George Golcev

Valeria Gomez-Puentes

Sophia Hernandez

Adyan Hossain

Joud Khatib

Mehjabin Rahman

Mark Zalenski

B Honors

Marley Acosta

Majd Adham

Christian Algaba

Sabrina Antonucci

Emily-Faith Asare

Elijah Bitar

Ariana Bullaro

Giovanna Burress

Junnia Conde

Jhonnel DeLaCruz

Giana DiSanti

Jazlynn Edwards

Julian Esa

Connor Carlo

Kailyn Carlo

Sofia Colombo

Maggie Concepcion

Valentina Cordova

Liam Felix

Samuel Ferreira

Alaina Giordano

Jewel Heerema

Emma Henry

Jonathan Huliev

Luca Jurlina

Francesco Maturi

Juliet Mazza

Marcella Micciche

Lindsay Moreno

Aleksander Nozka

James Pasquariello

Francesca Pelosi

Davien Polito

Abigail Ramadan

Jonah Santana

Sofie Stokes

Lindsey Tipiane

Giavanna Torres

Georgina Tulumba

Emma Zhu

The Park Press

Page 3

Luca Grant

Alan Guilliani

Anthony Hall

May Hanini

Brooke Jackson

Faith Kearney

Alyssa Latorre

Sophia Lehr

Maya Lorusso

Mercedes Melia

Jil Modi

Joseph Nieto

Isabella Nunez

Alexander Owens

Valentina Porfido

Yamile Principe-Leyva

Chase Reynolds

Hannah Reynoso

Jordyn Rogin

Daniela Romaniello

Dominic Romayo

Arianna Rossi

Camila Sandoval

Savannah Snell

Mahir Sultan

Olivia Urban

Ariana Zelaya

GRADE 7

A Honors

Obada Arnous

Chase Arrindell

Saul Claudio

Angelo Di Blasio

Jayden Gandhi

Salvatore Gonzalez

Tanjim Kadir

Shakir Khan

Chase Marshall

Ava Molan

Sarah Sefcik-Ma

Magda Wojczak

B Honors

Latifa Baloush

Leah Clarke

Isabella Coppola

Keshav Desai

Aiden Doko

Joshua Falconi

Derek Guess

Jaylanie Guzman

Paige Hasselberger

Francis Juliano

Madison Massicot

Juliana McNerney

Hailey Molan

Shanaya Ortega

Eric Puglise

Kate Reilly

Caylee Reynolds

Carl Ricca

Evan Rivera

Nicole Schaffer

Madelyn Scheck

Laura Schultz

Krishna Thaker

Kush Thaker

Scott Trajkoski

Leila Viera

Marley-Metta West

GRADE 8

A Honors

Rami Attili

Rian Veroniq Babaran

Michael Berman

Evan Errigo

Alexa Gaboda

Sofia Golcev

Ava Guarente

Lilliana Jimenez

Jason Kim

Ioannis Koularmanis

Amy Lara

Kacie Lara

Alif Mahmood

Madison Mazur

Maite Olivera

Savannah Pillsbury

Alyssa Ricca

Adrianna Sabatino

Anthony Sabatino

Aidan Stokes

Gabriella Veneziano

B Honors

Isabella Amendola

Sanad Awad

Mohamed Baloush

Alexis Battagliese

Mia Castellitto

Shakil Choudhury

Luca Del Gaudio

Gabriella DePalma

Daniel Domiciano

Katelynn Dominguez

Julianna Endrikat

Dante Fasoli

Emely Ferreras-

Antigua

Gianna Garofalo

Lilly Grullon

Valentina Herreros

Hayden Jackson

Emily Kalafut

Sara Kozlowski

Kylie Matos

Ja'den McGuire

Jaileen Melendez

Logan Monteyne

Makeilah Montgomery

Emery Morfa

Jean-Georges Nunez

Antonio Padilla

Alexa Pasquariello

Conor Petersen

Sara Rahiman

Gabriella Rivera

Daniela Roberto

Michael Rodriguez

Danielle Sasso

Fiorella Silva

Erina Toska

Jenmig Victoria

The Park Press

Page 4

The winners were as follows:

5th grade winners:

Vampire–Tyler Vargas

Steam Punk-Gianna Dechert

Greek Goddess– Marcella Michiche

Technoblade-AJ King

Skeletons-James Pasquariello and Andrew Kalokitis

7th grade winners:

Snow White-Emily Domingues

Beetlejuice-Evan Rivera

Nintendo Switch-Jayden Gandhi

Chicken– James Bevilacqua

Bob Ross-Flor Acosta

On October 29th, Washington Park School held the annual Halloween Parade. Students dressed up in their costumes and during specials class they went

outside for a parade on the turf. The specials teachers judged the costumes and picked five winners from each class. All winners were gifted with Gelotti's gift

cards. Later, during academic period, students were provided with snacks from the PTO. The snacks were pretzels, Oreo cookies, and a water bottle.

One thing is for sure; this year was much better than last year because students were in person instead of being virtually introduced and / or watching the

video of the Halloween Parade. This year students were also able to take their masks off since they were outside, and they could feel the fresh air while walking on

the turf.

It was a spooky, fun filled day, and, hopefully, as the years go by, the Halloween costumes will get scarier.

THE GHASTLY DAY!

By: Shakil Choudhury

Durim Loga

Jaileen Melendez

Logan Montyne

Conor Petersen

6th grade winners:

Wednesday-Hannah Reynosa

Female Devil-Angelina Sawyer

Broken Doll—Adrianna Rossi

Roman Soldier-Julian Angione

Astronaut-Mark Zalenski

8th grade winners:

Teletubby-Allison Fajardo

Shower Curtain-Landon Taylor

Soldier-Romeo Beco

Fish Tank-Daniela Roberto

Princess and Frog-Makeilah Montgomery

The Park Press

Page 5

YOUTH WEEK GENERAL ELECTION 2021-2022

Mayor– Konstantine Vlahopoulos

Borough Clerk–Maite Olivera

Borough Attorney–Danielle Sasso

Police Chief–Gabriella Veneziano

Fire Chief–Alina Ferguson

Tax Assessor– Anthony Sabatino

Tax Collector– Khloe Franco

Borough Engineer–Rian Veroniq Barbaran

Borough Council:

Vincenza Aliano Kaylee Balaguer

Ionnis Koularmanis Brianna Bellome

Sara Kozlowski Tristian Olivo

Superintendent/Public Works-Alexis Battagliese

Chief School Administrator– Alyssa Ricca

School Board Attorney– Katelynn Dominguez

Business Administrator–Kylie Matos

Building Principals– Sofia Golcev

Emily Sosnovska

Vice Principal-Emely Ferreras-Antigua

Director/Special Services-Lilliana Jimenez

Supervisor/Building/Grounds-Daniel Domiciano

Board of Education:

Mia Castellitto

Julianna Endrikat

Kennadi English

Alexa Gaboda

Ava Guarente

Congratulations to all the winners who will participate in Youth Week in May 2022!

Last year, students at Washington Park School weren’t able to enjoy bowling due to

the pandemic. But, this year, students in grades six through eight were able to sign up and enjoy

the seven weeks of bowling at T-bowl Bowling Alley, Wayne.! Every Friday before the next bowling

day, Tuesday, bowlers had a choice to order a bowling snack with many options. That’s almost the best part of the

activity.

Many times you may see the teachers who chaperoned also bowling, especially Mr. Scully! Additional

chaperones were Ms. Zarek, Ms. Monteyne, and Ms. D’Ambrosio. Bowling is such a nice, social environ-

ment for the students where they could hang out together, and everybody enjoys it. Many sixth grade students

are excited to join again next year.

Bowlers choose their own teams and team names. Here are some humorous team names from this

year:

-Strawberry Cake Pop

-The Giants

-The Gutter Ballers

-The Mighty Mights

WE’RE ON A ROLL WITH BOWLING

By: Vincenza Aliano

Lilly Grullon

Daniel Muniz

Giovanni Porfido

Highest scorers from this year:

1st: Michael Rodriguez

2nd: Joshua Falconi

3rd: Alan Guilliani

Hayden Jackson

Madison Mazur

Giovanni Porfido

Tricia Snell

NEWSPAPER STAFF:

ADVISOR—Ms. Doreen Peranio

This newspaper staff represents the students from period 8 writing class during academic rotation. It reflects the journalism and pro-cess-writing skills that were taught during this time period, ending with this actual newspaper publication. Thank you to all WPS staff members who cooperated with the newspaper staff by giving of their time and interviews. The staff very much enjoyed their introduction to the world of news-paper writing.

Dec. 3– Tree Lighting Ceremony/Municipal Building

Dec. 7– Winter Concert WPS

K-4 Holiday Show A.M.

Dec. 8– Winter Concert MS Grades 1 and 2

Dec. 9– Winter Concert MS Grade 3

Dec. 15– Board of Education Meeting 6 P.M.

Dec. 17– Mid Marking Period Reports (5-8)

Dec. 23– 1:20 P.M. dismissal

Dec. 24-Dec. 31 Schools closed

Jan. 3– Schools reopen

The Park Press

Page 6

Aliano, Vincenza

Amendola, Isabella

Babaran, Rian Veroniq

Balaguer, Kaylee

Choudhury, Shakil

Garofalo, Gianna

Grullon, Lilly

Kalafut, Emily

Loga, Durim

Mahmood, Alif

Melendez, Jaileen

Monteyne, Logan

Muniz, Daniel

Petersen, Conor

Porfido, Giovanni

Sabatino, Adrianna

Sabatino, Anthony

Salvador, Grace

Veneziano, Gabriella

By: Kaylee Balaguer Gianna Garofalo

Alif Mahmood Anthony Sabatino

A CURE WORTH FIGHTING FOR

By: Adrianna Sabatino

Rian Veroniq Barbaran

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again to-

morrow.”- Marry Anne Radmacher

On October 21, 2021, the 21st Annual Breast Cancer Walk took place at Washington Park School. One hundred fifty-

five students as well as staff walked and raised over $6,500. The money donated during the walk is sent to the American Cancer Society.

The weather couldn’t have been any more perfect to walk for a cure. Students marched around and down Union Boulevard, escorted by the Totowa

Police Department. Upon the return to school, marchers were given a bottle of water to take home with them.

The walk was full of positive posters and happy smiles. Due to Covid, last year’s breast cancer walk was a video so this year students were glad to be

donating and participating in person again. This year students and staff tried to make the walk very special because breast cancer is very serious, and it affects

many people’s lives.

After the past year and a half of difficulties, we would say this 2021 Breast Cancer Walk was a success.