Cranford High School | Special Announcements

Finalists:
Paul Buonaguro, Sarah Clader
Jill Humphries (Corporate)

Commended Students:
Joanna Becker, Lisa Grebenyuk, Jill Humphries, Kate Kuhn, Raimi Marx, Jordan O'Donnell, Lisa Papandrea, D'Arcy Sarnelle, Max Schnur, Mark Stewart

Mrs. Barbara Narus, a member of the Family and Consumer Sciences Deparment, has been named the districts Teacher of the Year. Ms. Narus initiated the high schools Ready-Set-Teach program, which introduces students to skills needed to pursue a career in education; has been a pioneer in involving students in service-learning that meets needs of the Cranford community; and has been active in integrating technology to enhance students? Academic understanding and achievement.

Mrs. Eileen Dachnowicz received three prominent honors. The New Jersey Council of Teachers of English named her 2003 English Educator of the Year. Read what colleagues who nominated her for this prigtious award wrote about this extraordinary educator. She received the 2003 New Jersey Governors Award in Arts Education. She was honored by ABC-7?s "Above and Beyond: Inspiring Students and Teachers" program in a television special recognizing "phenomenal high school students, teachers, and administrators from the tri-state area with a thirst for determination and perseverance."

• Community as a Classroom - an 11th grade math/science service learning initiative
• The Technofilles - an initiative designed to encourage female involvement in math, science and technology
• The Visibile Woman - an initiative which develops female leadership through service
• Diversity - a grade 10 interdisciplinary project

Ms. Biasucci was presented with the the Milken Family Foundation Educator Award by Commissioner of Education, William L. Librera, during a surprise school assembly. Commissioner Librera said, "Today, the state is proud to honor Amy Biasucci with a 2003 Milken National Educator Award. She is precisely the type of teacher Governor McGreevey and I are pleased to recognize. Her dedication and her desire to bring out the best in her students should be shared statewide." Along with other recipients nationwide, Ms. Biasucci will be presented with her $25,000 award check at the Milken Family Foundation National Education Conference, an all-expense paid professional development conference held in Washington, D.C.

• Robert Argen '05, Oral Interpretation of Literature
  
• Amanda Storti '06, Drama
  
• Tara Iauruzio '07, Debater
  
• Amrina Cheema '06, Debater
  

• New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) and Educational Testing Service (ETS) honorees:
  Mike Eisert and Jill Humphries
• Union County Interscholastic Athletic Association honorees:
  Steve Carbone and Mallory Harlin
• New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association honoree:
  Brian Brown
• Watchung Conference honorees:
  Brian Giannecchini and Melissa Montalvo

Sophomore Gregory Braxton and Senior Ciera Hall won second and third place scholarships respectively in the annual, county-wide, African Community Together Essay and Rhetorical Competition. In keeping with this year's theme about African civilization, Gregory wrote about the societal contributions of the Yoruba tribe in Africa, and Ciera detailed the culturally prominent Mali civilization. This is the second year in a row that Cranford students have been awarded scholarships by this organization. Last year, Terence Grier and Elizabeth Bryan achieved such honors.

• Glenn Brown, on the French horn, and Brian Marken, on the viola, were accepted into the Central Jersey Regional Orchestra
• Jim Bell, on trumpet, was accepted into the Central Jersey Region Band
• Katelyn Rasmus and Sophia El-Khory were accepted into the Central Jersey Region Choir
• Natlie Allock, Kevin Balla, Sara Clader, Emily Clader, Art Ernst, Gariele Fazio, Lindsay Fisher, Adam Jenkins, Leigh Johnson, Alana Murphy, Alexandria Moreira, Alex McCoy, Jill McCoy, Brian Niemiec, Stephanie Pearl, Amanda Schlenker, Jonathan Schwartz, Mary Starkey, Laura Wagenblast, Kelly Wegyrn and Todd Wilson were accepted into the Central Jersey Region Chorus
• Elizabeth Simon, Jessica Crane, Dana Dechiaro, Natalie Laucius, Zhenia Bemko, Alexander McCoy, Spencer Brooks, Derek Rocchini and Glen Eisenberg were accepted into the NJ Junior High All State Honors Choir
• The Gold Band and Band Front competed in the Bloomfield International Band Festival and received a rating of excellent for their performance.

COUGAR SPORTS

• The girls varsity gymnastics team is the first gymnastics team in CHS history to sweep at the sectional tournament. The team won the tournament with a season high score of 104.475 and qualified for the state competition. The gymnasts competing all around were Jillian Cathcart, Olivia Cathcart, Rachel Sigmund and Bridget Murphy.
     At the state competition, the Cranford gymnasts were among the ten top ranked teams in the state. Performing her most challenging routine, Bridget Murphy placed 4th in the state; scored a 9.5 on floor, a 9.525 on vault, a 9.2 on bars and a 9.25 on beam.
• The Girls Cross Country team won the State Section Title.
• The Boys Cross Country team became the Watchung Conference Champs and the Union County Champs for the 7th consecutive year, and captured the state sectional title as well.
• The Co-ed Cross Country team was named Watchung Conference Champs, Union County Champs, and State Sectional Champs. The team finished with a final record of 10-0.
• Julia Skwarski was selected for the 2003 Girls' Volleyball All Conference Team; Hayley Robinson and Meg Brady received honorable mention.
• The Girls Varsity Soccer team reached the County Semi-finals and the State Sectional Finals.
• The varsity football team posted a 8-3 record this season and, for the second consecutive year, advanced to the state playoffs.

2nd team All-County..... Jillian Berkowitz
      Girls' Cross Country

3rd team All-County..... Jennifer Hanke
      Boys' Cross Country

2nd team All-County..... Glenn Brown and Nate Thompson

School Leader Awards received for innovative initiatives: Conquest and Technofilles
	Two of Cranford High School's innovative programs, Conquest: A Freshman Quest for a Life of Consequence and Technofilles: Fostering Gender Equity, were selected by the New Jersey School Boards Association as winners in the Annual School Leader Award program.

The Character Education Paratnership (CEP) has named CHS a "National School of Character." One of ten schools nationally so designated!
The National Schools of Character is an awards program that "recognizes schools and districts demonstrating outstanding character education initiatives that yield positive results in student behavior, school climate and academic performance." The 2004 publication, Becoming a School of Character--Practices to Adopt and Adapt will feature the CHS story, illustrating the ways in which we have infused character into all aspects of school culture.

CHS has been awarded four Best Practices-an unprecedented triumph in the years of the NJ Department of Education. Program developers are pictured-left to right: Mr. John Chorazak, Ms. Patricia Palmeri, Ms. Eileen Dachnowicz, Mr. Ryan Thomas, Ms. Barabara Narus, Ms. Joan Puma, Ms. Carol Migliorini and Ms. Anne Walsky.

The programs cited as Best Practices are:

Write on Target     Category:Language Arts

Developer:Eileen Dachnowicz

Scholars' Circle     Category:Character Education & Citizenship

Developer: Eileen Dachnowicz

Hooked on History-Summer Excelsior Project     Category:Social Studies

Developers: Eileen Dachnowicz, Ryan Thomas, Jessica Wang

Cool Teachers' Workshop     Category:Public Engagement

Developers: John Chorazak, Eileen Dachnowicz, Carol Migliorini,

Barbara Narus, Patricia Palmeri, Joan Puma

FOUR JUNIORS WIN ADMISSION TO GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL
......Robert Argen, Alana Buonaguro, Emily Clader, and Ashley Rey
A summer residential program for artistically and academically talented students, the Governor's School awards scholarships to selected applicants statewide. This prestigious program provides students with intensive learning experiences in colleges throughout New Jersey.

Valedictorian and Salutatorians of the Class of 2004 Joanna Becker--Valedictorian Mallory Harlin and Lisa Papandrea--Co-Salutatorians

Science teacher, Ms. Heather Caldwell, received an Earth-watch Education award to study the biodiversity of the Picos de Europa in Spain. As part of her research, she will conduct population surveys of the butterflies and orchids in a region of Spain that is inhabited by a third of Europe's butterflies and supports 550 species of plant life.

CHS Madrigals and Concert Choir performed at ...

Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, St. Patarick's Cathedral and the Virginia Beach Fiesta-Val Music Fesitival.

Moreover, at the Virginia Beach Fiesta-Val Music Fesitival competition, each choir group from CHS won first place and CHS was chosen as the Grand Champions of the entire festival.

At the New Jersey State Poetry Reading Contest, held at Kean University, junior Rob Argen captured the finalist award and sophomore Jonathan Schwartz won second place. This marks the second consecutive year these students have brought finalist honors to CHS. Both students are commended for representing Cranford with such distinction.


The CHS team of Environmental Science students, Alana Buonaguaro, Tom Dobbs, Micelle McKenney, Ashley Rey and Paul Starkey, captured first place in the NJ Envirothon competition held at the School of Conservation at Stokes State Forest.


KEEPING THE FACULTY FIT
CHS student, Sarah Winters, is coordinator of the "Fit Faculty Friday" program, sponsored by McDonalds in Garwood. Participating faculty members received pedometers, encouraging them to walk 10,000 steps each day with the ultimate goal of 15,386,304 steps, the equivalent of walking from Cranford to San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.


ART TEACHER TO BE AN HONORED GUEST OF THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT

Ms. Cortinas was selected from a national pool of over 2,000 applicants by a panel of educators to participate in the Fulbright Memorial Teacher Program. This program allows distinguished primary and secondary school educators in the U.S. to travel to Japan for three weeks in an effort to promote greater intercultural understanding between the two nations. Ms. Cortinas is part of a group of 200 educators to travel to Japan in June. Their itinerary includes a homestay with a Japanese family and visits to primary and secondary schools, a teachers college, cultural sites and local industries. The program, sponsored by the Government of Japan, was launched in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. government Fulbright Program, which has enabled more than 6,000 Japanese citizens to study in the U.S. on Fulbright fellowships for graduate education and research.

Congratulations to Cranford High School's Retirees

Ms. Eileen Dachnowicz-Supervisor of Academic Affairs Ms. Sharon Guthrie-Secretary, Guidance Mr. Charles Kiamie-Special Education Department Ms. Carolyn LaCorte-Special Education Department Ms. Jill Tozier-Mathematics Department You will be missed.