Schools Days

Bishop McHugh
St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish will present a Bishop McHugh Regional Catholic School night at Church of the Resurrection, 200 W. Tuckahoe Road, Marmora on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. Hosting the event will be the school’s Board of Pastors consisting of Monsignor Peter Joyce, Father Joseph Perreault, Monsignor John Frey, Father John O’Leary and Bishop McHugh’s Principal Laura Tomlin.
The event will consist of a Q&A session, PowerPoint presentation, displays, early registration for the 3-year-old program and a performance by the school’s choir. Light refreshments will be served and everyone in the community is invited to attend.
For more information, call the school at 624-1900, ext. 21 or the parish at 390-0664. For more information regarding the school, visit www.bishopmchugh.com.
Cape Christian Academy
On January 31, Cape Christian Academy’s Marine Biology class received a visit from Ali Trunzo, Environmental Educator of the Wetland’s Institute in Stone Harbor. Along with her came a tank’s worth of various local marine life spider crab, hermit crabs, sea urchins, sea star, whelk, minnows and mussels.
Ms. Trunzo led the class in a lesson about these shallow-coastal, salt marsh ecosystem species. She assisted the students in creating a habitat in a 20-gallon tank provided with shells, coral, rock, and plants. Additionally, she instructed them on how to care for these animals, discussing necessary habitat requirements of space and shelter as well as food and the importance of ensuring water filter system remains operational. Each day a different student will be assigned for feeding. CCA will play host to these new school pets until Easter break. The students are excited about this hands-on opportunity to study and care for these local marine species, going beyond book knowledge to real life.
Cape Trinity Catholic
Recently CTC held a Spelling Bee that included three winners from each classroom, grades 1-8. After many rounds, the school wide winner was 5th grader Corey Krause. His winning word was b-o-y-c-o-t-t. Congratulations Corey!
Cape May Tech
Rachel Koehler of Wildwood, a 2011 graduate in the Food Production technology class at Cape May Tech, received a $675 scholarship and recognition certificate from the New Jersey Association of Counties (NJAC) and Verizon at the December Board of Education meeting.
Cape May County, a member of NJAC, was one of the 21 counties in New Jersey to receive the scholarship for a student from the county.
“We applaud Verizon for its commitment to education and generous donation, and look forward to working with our county vocational schools in rewarding many hard working students dedicated to advancing their education,” said Michael H. Facemyer, NJAC Foundation President.
Koehler is a college freshman attending Rutgers University majoring in Pharmacy. She is on the Dean’s List.
Dennis Township
Throughout the month of January, students in Dennis Township showcased their academic and extracurricular talents. They began with the Geography Bee on January 6th, which included students in grades five through eight. Masters of ceremony and 5th grade teachers, Lori Palumbo and Anthony McCurdy, organized the event in the cafeteria. Eighth graders Dillon Keller (1st place) and Mike DeLuca (2nd place) smiled with pride over their accomplishments in the Geography Bee.
January 20 was a busy night with the middle school dance, the “Snow Ball” and the “Night at the Library”. Members of Student Government decorated the cafeteria as a winter wonderland with blue and white lights and snowflakes and students dressed their wintry best for the dance. Forth graders enjoyed a variety of reading and writing topics like poetry, short stories, and graphic storytelling at the “Night at the Library”, organized by 4th grade teacher Jen Fetsick. Nineteen students and their parents also spent time with our local politician, Michael Donohue, as they discussed the elements of writing a book. The night concluded with reading their work around the “campfire” and computer research races.
And finally, on January 26, members of Student Government were busy once again. In honor of School Board recognition month, Student Government representatives Maddie Justice, Brooke Hippen, Mackenzie Pearce, Honna Hippen, and Sam Lagana presented the BOE with Nicole Seither’s famous peanut-butter brownies and white choc chip cookies and a giant card to thank them for their time, dedication, and support of our schools.
Dennis Township School District is proud to announce the recipients of the Teacher of the Year awards for the 2011-2012 school year: Jeannette Riggitano and Alexis Flack. Candidates must be tenured teachers who have not received the award within the past five years. The Teacher of the Year award is based on ballots cast by the school staff. A final recipient is chosen from the teaching staff of the primary/elementary and middle schools.
Jeannette Riggitano, a graduate of West Chester University, has been teaching at Dennis Township for twenty-two years out of her twenty-five total in teaching. She presently teaches third grade and received the award from her colleagues at the primary and elementary schools. “I was overjoyed to get this award this year because it shows that your colleagues think a lot of you and your dedication. As a parent, I do my best because I know that’s what I would want from my own kid’s teachers, but I also work hard because I love teaching,” Riggitano explains. She laughs and adds, ”It also helps that I have a great group of third graders this year and they make my job easy!” This spring, Riggitano is working with Kristi Brown, a student teacher from Stockton University, and has worked with four student teachers in the past, including two who became teachers at the Dennis Township primary school.
Alexis Flack graduated from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and has been teaching at Dennis Township for five years. She presently teaches seventh grade social studies as well as Gifted & Talented classes for third graders and middle school. The recipient of two Cape Educational Foundation grants, Flack is a self-professed history nerd and enjoys using travel and technology to promote learning in her classroom. Her middle school colleagues voted her Teacher of the Year and Flack is honored by the recognition. “I have two favorite things about teaching. The first is the ‘aha!’ moment, that intangible feeling of accomplishment the student and I share when we realize that the teacher has taught the student enough that the student could now teach someone else how to do something,” she explains. “The second is the hilarity of working with adolescents who say things like, ‘Geeze, Ms. Flack, this history stuff you keep teaching us is everywhere. I’ve seen Julius Caesar in my salad, in Atlantic City and in the month of July. I try and I try, but I just can’t escape it!’ I love hearing that!”
Kim Holman, fourth grade teacher and head of the Teacher of the Year selection committee, states that she and her committee are very pleased with the elections this year. “Both of these teachers demonstrate the qualities we are looking for in our Teacher of the Year recipients,” Holman explains. “Qualities like an absolute dedication to the art and science of teaching, the ability to get students motivated to learn, to develop a passion for a topic – these are all things we look for, and both Jeannette and Alexis have these qualities in spades.” Both teachers will be recognized at the School Board’s awards meeting as well as attending a countywide recognition luncheon.
Dennis Township students squared off on Sunday evening to compete for top honors in the Scripps Spelling Bee. Ranging from third to eighth grade, students conquered stage fright to spell increasingly difficult words as they worked for the win. Twenty-four 3rd and 4th graders battled in their division with 4th grader Shane Libbey edging out 3rd grader Meredith Boal. Fourteen 5th and 6th graders duked it out with 5th grader Emily He taking the honors over runner-up 6th grader Kyle Almand. Nine 7th and 8th graders scrapped and 8th grader Nick Stella won out over 7th grader Kevin Walker. In the final district-level competition, Shane Libbey took the title of Dennis Township Spelling Bee Champion and will represent the district at the regional Spelling Bee in March.
For the second year, the Spelling Bee was held in conjunction with the Home and School Association’s Italian Dinner event, organized by Executive Committee members Catherine Haryslak and Carolyn Seither. About 150 students and family members came to enjoy a wide variety of Italian dishes, salads and desserts, and to socialize with friends. Many thanks to the families and staff who volunteered to provide such a wonderful repast!
Sponsored by the Municipal Alliance Committee and the Dennis Township Education Association, the Spelling Bee champions received trophies in recognition of their achievement. All participating students received a small gift and an opportunity for some wonderful door prizes, such as gift certificates for Gem’s Pizza, Custard King, Fai’s Chinese Restaurant, Sushi Ocean View, Chocolate Face and Wawa.
Many thanks also to the teachers who volunteered to act as announcers, judges and speller-wranglers: Kim Holman, AnneMarie Kirby, Jeff Bingaman, Jen Peabody, Cindy Leatherwood, Kathy Pittaluga, Barb McKeefery, Lori Palombo, Amanda Unkle, Kristin Lagg, Camille Berardis, Lynda Wills, Anthony McCurdy, Dr. Joe LaRosa, Matt Arch, Mike and Monica DiVito, and Betteann Kerr.