Staff Report

The Middle School students at The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison presented their winter concert on Dec. 11.

As participants in the Hour of Code for 2014%2C the students at St. Augustine of Canterbury School in Kendall Park programmed the lights on holiday trees in President's Park at the White House.

Level three French students of Linden High School completed a presentational task in which they talked about their childhood memories.

Matthew Roche of East Brunswick was recently inducted into La Salle University's Alpha Epsilon Honor Society.

Military Advanced Education (MAE) has again awarded Middlesex County College the designation of a Top School in its 2015 MAE Guide to Colleges & Universities, measuring best practices in military and veteran education. The Guide was released in the December issue of MAE, and is available online at www.mae-kmi.com.

The Guide presents results of a questionnaire of the military-supportive policies enacted at more than 600 institutions including private, public, for-profit, not-for-profit, four-year, and two-year colleges. From community colleges to state universities, online universities and nationally known centers of higher learning, MAE's 2015 Guide to Colleges & Universities arms students with information about institutions that go out of their way to give back to the men and women in uniform.

Three other New Jersey community colleges made the list, as well as six four-year schools.

Now in its eighth year of publishing the Guide, MAE was the first publication to launch a reference tool of this type. This year, institutes were evaluated on their military culture, financial aid, flexibility, on-campus support and online support services. Each school's performance rating by category is represented by an easy-to-recognize dashboard. This will enable prospective students to quickly target schools that follow best practices in military education, and then put these in context with other academic or career considerations.

"We believe the Guide serves as an invaluable tool for both education services officers and transition officers when advising service members about their educational opportunities," said Kelly Fodel, MAE's editor. "We used strict criteria to individually evaluate the submissions of respondents, and we had a record number of schools participating this year."

This is the second time Military Advanced Education has cited Middlesex as a top school; MCC was also named to Victory Media's list two years in a row, and it was recently named the fifth most veteran-friendly community college in the nation by Military Times, which publishes "Army Times," "Navy Times," "Air Force Times" and "Marine Corps Times" and Military Times "EDGE" magazine.

Kent Place School

The Admission Office at Kent Place School, a Summit-based independent, college-preparatory day school for girls and young women, with a coed Preschool, will conduct a Curriculum Panel on Thursday, Jan. 8, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The panel will feature Kent Place faculty, college advisors, young alumnae and will be moderated by Julie Gentile, Kent Place director of studies.

A range of opportunities for leadership, social development and responsible citizenship are offered in Kent Place's Preschool, Primary, Middle and Upper Schools. Independent thinking and personal development are integral to the learning experience at Kent Place. Kent Place seeks motivated students who are eager to learn and take advantage of the many opportunities the school offers, and the school encourage applications from families of all racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

Applications for the 2015-2016 school year are now being accepted and are due by Jan. 9. For more information about Kent Place or the open house programs, contact the Admission Office at 908-273-0900, ext. 254, or e-mail at admission@kentplace.org. Visit the Kent Place Admission Office online at www.kentplace.org/admission.

LaSalle University

Matthew Roche of East Brunswick was recently inducted into La Salle University's Alpha Epsilon Honor Society, which recognizes high academic achievement and community services. A double major in secondary education and history, Roche was a member of the University's Peer Ministers, a group that works to promote justice on campus and gives students the ability to explore their faith. He also volunteered with Aids Outreach, the Philadelphia Police Athletic League and Pheed Philadelphia.

Lebanon Valley College

Darryl McClish of Middlesex, recently presented research at Lebanon Valley College's Fall 2014 Psychology Poster Session. McClish is pursuing a bachelor of science in psychology at The Valley in Annville, Pennsylvania. McClish was one of 50 students who gathered to present research at the poster session. McClish presented "Procrastination Habits among College Students."

Linden schools

As part of an Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA), Madame Assumpta Foy's level three French students of Linden High School completed a presentational task on Dec. 8 in which they talked about their childhood memories. In order to improve their language skills, the students had to carry on a three minutes conversation with a native French speaker regarding the topic. As a way to prepare, they read and interpreted different French Medias such as blogs, song lyrics and articles. And using their MacBook Air, the students created photo stories of their childhood memories and as an extra credit, some brought in scrapbooks of the project.

ALSO: Linden Engineering Department recently sponsored an assembly for Linden School No. 5 students. The Illusion Maker brought magic to the students while promoting recycling and good citizenship. The school thanks the engineering department for sponsoring this event.

Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child

Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit has begun its inaugural season of girls' ice hockey at the high-school level. Seventeen girls took to the ice for the first time on Dec. 6, for the team's first practice.

Oak Knoll's ice hockey Royals will start off with an independent schedule for the 2014-15 season, facing off with local schools that also offer girls' ice hockey, including Kent Place and Summit High School, among others.

The team's first game is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. on Friday, Jan., 9, against Kent Place at Union Sports Arena.

Oak Knoll Director of Athletics Jerry Butler said he hopes to grow the program and join a league within one season.

"This is just a seed," he said. "I think ice hockey is becoming very popular, even below the high-school level. I think it's going to be a huge addition to our athletic department."

The team will practice at Union Sports Arena, in Union, and Rock Ice Center, in Dunellen. They will be coached by Meghan Cassidy, who played ice hockey at Plymouth State University and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in physical education.

For a complete schedule of upcoming games, visit the Oak Knoll School website, www.oakknoll.org, or call 908-522-8109.

St. Augustine School

As participants in the Hour of Code for 2014, the students at St. Augustine of Canterbury School in Kendall Park joined in Google's Made with Code initiative earlier this month, and programmed the lights on holiday trees in President's Park at the White House. They got to select the shape, size, and color of the lights, and animate different patterns using the introductory Blocky programming language and their designs will appear live on the trees throughout the month of December.

Although Google's Made with Code is a movement launched in June 2014 to inspire millions of girls to learn to code, and to help them see coding as a means to pursue their dream careers, "we decided to open it up to all our students, both boys and girls so that they could be a part of such an historic event, and have it be the kickoff to our Hour of Code week," said Debra Knox, technology teacher at St. Augustine, in a prepared statement.

"This is the second time we are participating in the Hour of Code during Computer Science Week (Dec. 8-14) and we are committed to introducing and promoting these foundational 21st century skills here in our school, and encouraging the students to keep learning how to write code" added Sr. Mary Louise Shulas, the school's principal. "We know that regardless of what our students do when they grow up, whether they go into medicine, business, politics, or the arts, knowing how to build technology will give them the confidence and know-how to succeed."

Once the students master programming their own trees on the Made with Code website, they can use their newfound coding skills to tackle other holiday-themed projects available. Intermediate students can create their own snowflake, choose from different animation schemes and background colors. Each small adjustment helps kids learn more about how coding works, and finished snowflakes can be saved and shared on social media sites.

Stockton College

The William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at the Richard Stockton College in Galloway Township has received a $10,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to train social studies teachers to use web-based tools to increase the civic knowledge of students in grades K-12.

"Our Democracy works best when we have an interested, informed and responsive citizenry," said Ambassador William J. Hughes, the former ambassador to Panama and a 20-year congressman for whom the center is named. "Putting basic civics back into our classrooms and encouraging students to better understand and appreciate the Democratic process is a good start. I want to salute Verizon for its commitment to this worthy goal."

The program is a partnership between the Hughes Center and Stockton College's Southern Regional Institute & Educational Technology Training Center (SRI&ETTC).

The goal of iCivics at Stockton is to provide social studies teachers with training to use the educational activities of iCivics.org in their classrooms. The SRI&ETTC, which offers professional development courses to preK-12 teachers and other education professionals, will organize and conduct training sessions in a fully equipped facility with classrooms and computer labs. The SRI&ETTC has an educational network and a consortium of 80 organizations, of which 68 are school districts throughout southern New Jersey. This encompasses 200 schools, over 7,500 teachers, and more than 100,000 preK-12 pupils.

iCivics.org, a web site founded and led by retired U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, contains lessons and games that teach young people how government works and to encourage them to get involved in the public sector.

The Verizon Foundation grant will help pay for the costs of instruction as well as assessing the results. The training sessions will be free of charge, to encourage wide participation.

"Verizon is helping to transform the way teachers teach by supporting initiatives that use technology to increase student achievement," said Jennifer P. Young, director of External Affairs for Verizon. "This grant will give educators the training they need to make the most of the tools that today's technology can bring to the classroom. In the end, students will reap the benefits of programs like this that expand the educational opportunities available for them."

The Hughes Center will publicize the initiative to the public and to statewide policy makers. Both the Hughes Center and SRI&ETTC will contribute in-kind services to help the program succeed.

"The SRI&ETTC expects to train 200 teachers during a total of six full-day workshops: two each for teachers from high schools, middle schools and elementary schools. Each workshop will begin with training on the use of the iCivics website followed by a session on how to integrate civics and this website into classroom lessons. School districts in the consortium will be notified when registration is open.

"We plan to build a cadre of teachers that will be able to take the information back to their districts and lead efforts to integrate civics into the social studies curriculum," said Patricia Weeks, director of the SRI&ETTC in the School of Education.

ALSO: The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey signed an agreement on Dec. 3 to become a member of the American Honors Transfer Network, which helps academically talented students at select community colleges transition to four-year schools.

American Honors prepares academically talented domestic and international students for success in both their first two years of college, as well as when they transfer from the community college to complete their bachelor's degree. The American Honors program is offered at two schools in New Jersey: Mercer County Community College and Union County College, and is currently available at five other community colleges around the United States.

"This is a very important program for us, which has national significance," said President Herman Saatkamp during signing ceremonies at the Board of Trustees meeting. "Stockton is the only four-year institution in New Jersey to participate in the American Honors Network and that gives the college another distinctive feature."

The American Honors Transfer Network consists of 45 select institutions across the country, such as Lafayette, Middlebury, Swarthmore, and Whittier, and the Universities of Arizona, Ohio State, Rochester, and Georgia, along with UCLA, Purdue, and others.

"We are delighted to have Stockton join the American Honors Network of leading public and private colleges and universities," said David Finegold, Chief Academic Officer, who participated in a signing ceremony at the Board of Trustees meeting. "We have been very impressed by the special courses and programs that Stockton has put in place to help transfer students transition into its honors program, and look forward to having many graduates come to you from American Honors at Mercer, Union, and our other community college programs across the nation."

Qualified American Honors students, including those from Mercer and Union, would be eligible to enroll directly into Stockton's Honors program. Students in the American Honors program enroll in rigorous honors courses that are reviewed and authorized by a cross-section of faculty from participating institutions. Stockton's faculty will be eligible to participate in such reviews and dialogues with faculty across the country.

For details about the American Honors program, visit AmericanHonors.org or email info@americanhonors.org.

Thomas Edison State College

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has awarded more than $194,000 in scholarship funds to Thomas Edison State College in Trenton to benefit students enrolled in undergraduate programs related to the nuclear industry.

"Being awarded the NRC scholarship grant is recognition of the quality of our programs and will remove the barrier of cost for many qualifying students," said Dr. John O. Aje, dean of the School of Applied Science and Technology at the college, in a prepared statement. "This allows the School of Applied Science and Technology to provide affordable educational opportunities that attract and retain students who otherwise might not be able to enroll in our programs."

Students enrolled in the college's undergraduate degree programs in Nuclear Engineering Technology, Nuclear Energy Engineering Technology, Electronic Systems Engineering Technology, Electronic Engineering Technology and Radiation Protection/Health Physics are eligible to apply for the scholarships. In addition, students and graduates of nuclear-related programs at community colleges affiliated with the Nuclear Uniform Curriculum Program who apply to Thomas Edison State College are also eligible for the NRC scholarships.

The college partnered with the NRC to create degree templates aligned with the Nuclear Uniform Curriculum Program, an industry-led partnership involving community colleges designed to prepare students to enter the nuclear workforce. As part of this effort, the college has developed articulation agreements with community colleges throughout the country that are participating in the program.

Under the two-year NRC scholarship program, the college will award 25 $2,000 scholarships and 10 $4,000 scholarships per year, based on need and academic performance, to qualified students. The application period for these scholarships opened on Nov. 1.

Dr. Richard Coe, assistant dean in the School of Applied Science and Technology at the college said the scholarship support will help ensure that the college's nuclear energy-related programs continue to prepare its graduates, a number of which have already advanced to key positions in the industry.

To find out more about the scholarship program, visit www.tesc.edu/NRCScholarship.

Wardlaw-Hartridge School

The Middle School students at The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison presented their winter concert on Dec. 11. Performances by the sixth-grade band and choir, seventh- and eighth-grade band and choir, boys' and girls' choirs, flute ensemble and jazz band thrilled a packed house in the AP Room.

The performance included sixth-grade choir solos by Simone Erachshaw of Iselin, Emma Jacobson of Metuchen, Talia Jacobson of Metuchen, Jason Kisare of Bridgewater, Kyler Montague of West Orange, Nadia Valcourt of South Plainfield, Mikayla Cole of Plainfield, John Papetti of Elizabeth and Giulia Pinelli of Westfield. The seventh- and eighth-grade choir featured solos by Aanandi Murlidharan of Edison, Kallie Schildge of Westfield, Robert Brandl of Plainfield, Svanik Dani of Edison, Lily Helander of Fanwood, Logan Hill of Dayton, Shane Kornecki of Colonia, Anna O'Connell of Plainfield and Sydney Rose of North Plainfield.

Santa Claus made a surprise appearance during the seventh- and eighth-grade choir performance of " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas." The man in the big red suit handed out candy canes to patrons and danced with the choir before returning to the North Pole to finish his holiday work.

The students were guided by band director Rick Fontaine and music director Shannon Caldwell, and accompanied on piano by Laurie Clancy.

Student and School news appears Friday. Email: hntmetro@mycentraljersey.com