Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it’s proven to be a great asset to Julie McEldoon, a freshman at Livingston High. Her inquisitiveness, plus intelligence, hard work, and perseverance has paid off. After participating in NJIT’s summer FEMME program, Julie is this year’s recipient of the LJ LaBeur Memorial Scholarship at the NJIT Center for Pre-College Programs. Her interest in science began when she was 4 and the family was living in California. Julie’s mother, Wendy Lan, is a chemist who works on developing bioanalytical instrumentation. Wendy took Julie to work at Biomolecular …
This article was submitted by Livingston Public Schools. Six Livingston High School seniors have been named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists and may apply to become National Merit Scholarship Finalists. The six students were recognized by Livingston High School Principal Mark Stern at a special ceremony last week in the LHS media center. Stern congratulated the students and encouraged the students to apply to become finalists in the program. The six semifinalists are: Daniel Chi, Arianna Gorkowitz, Zachary Lustbader, Si Ming Shang, Kevin Sun and Jenny Yeung. The students are among the…
Divyaansh Raj, known as Divi, an eighth grader at Heritage Middle School, participated this summer in the Hindu American Sava Charities (HASC) conference “Impacting Change in America and Abroad" in Washington DC. About 200 Hindu Americans including youth, military and community leaders of many faiths, participated in the event. Divi was recognized for his winning essay about the role the Hindu faith plays in service. Divi and other winners were given a tour of the White House and received a medal at the White House briefing. The following was written by Divyaansh Raj. The only way to change…
This is Michael Sun’s year, and the rising tennis star from Livingston is making it happen! Against a couple tennis greats at Arthur Ashe Stadium no less! Sun appears on a new American Express commercial airing during the U.S. Open for #GoNextContenders. Sun, an entering sixth grader at Mt. Pleasant Middle School, plays at Centercourt Athletic Club in Chatham. He’s got an older brother, Kevin, on the state champion LHS tennis team. And he plays everyday. “It’s his dream” to play the U.S. Open, says his father, Qiang Sun. Someday he may get the chance. Sun certainly looks good going against …
Pokémon, that late-'90s fad, is alive and well as thousands of aficionados travel to Indianapolis this weekend for the 2011 Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) U.S. National Championship Tournament. David Shoyket, a 15-year-old from Livingston High School, is poised to do battle with the best. “The number of people competing has been growing every year. It’s sometimes like chess, sometimes like an avatar game," his father Greg Shoyket explains. The Pokémon (pronounced Poh-‐kay-‐mahn) universe includes more than 640 creatures that players can collect, trade, train, and use in battle against their…
Jared Kirsch, a 12-year-old actor from Livingston, had his big screen debut in David, a story of faith, friendship, family. . . and the challenges of being different in America. “This movie deals with a sensitive subject that I hope will touch other people’s lives,” Jared said. Based in Brooklyn, the film tells the story of Daud, a Muslim boy and his friendships with boys in the Yeshiva. Directed by Joel Fendelman, the film won the Audience Award at the Brooklyn Film Festival, where it premiered. David isn’t the only film Jared will be starring in this year. He also appears in the recently …
“She’s been musical her whole life,” says Tara Kahn about her 11-year old daughter, Samantha. The Burnett Hill fifth grader recently competed in Montville Township’s Summer Idol Amateur Talent Competition, which was held as part of the Township’s Independence Day Celebration. Samantha sang the song “Don’t Stop Believing” by the group, Journey. This talented tween, who also plays piano, sings all the time at home. Her favorite artists are Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, and a various Broadway tunes. When Samantha isn’t doing something musical, she plays tennis, reads, and spends time with her …
Alyssa Pepper, a competitive swimmer and LHS junior, spends more than 20 hours a week around water. So it’s really no surprise that she’s making a splash in environment circles by organizing a daylong conference on water quality and conservation. “I’m a swimmer, so I love water,” Alyssa explains. Alyssa is working on her Gold Project as a Girl Scout. A few years ago, for another scouting project, she became interested in ways to save water and organized an educational field trip to Livingston's Water Pollution Control Facility. For that project she won the NJ Clean Communities student award…
Looking at Ben Lewinter, you might not realize how remarkable he is. However, this 17-year-old high school senior at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston just did something incredible. He spearheaded a charity run called 4K 4Kids which benefitted four charities: Chai Lifeline, Yachad, and The Koby Mandell Foudation, and Kushner’s Kupat Beit Sifri which supports struggling families in the school community. The 4K 4Kids is a special event because it was completely run by kids while it supports kids. Although the race had been run last year under different leadership and raised $4…
Thinking about helping these kids with their homework? Don't bother. If you're anything like me, you don't stand a chance. The high school seniors who presented the results of their three-year projects last week at Livingston High are way ahead of the pack. In fact, their work is awarded college credit by the University in the High School Program in Albany. The projects had names like "Checking for A-to-I RNA Editing in the Homo Sapiens Zinc Finger Protein 414," "Quantitative Biological Mass Spectroscopy of Lysosomal Proteins" and "The Role of mGluRs in Estradiol Effects on Seizure-Induced …
Livingston High School student Joy Ming, a senior in the high school’s science research program, has been selected as a semi-finalist for the Google Global Science Fair. Joy, a 17-year-old national merit finalist, is one of 20 semi-finalists in her age group selected for this honor. Joy’s project, titled “Looking deeper into Autism Spectrum Disorder,” can be viewed here. Brian Carey, Livingston High School Science Department Chair and Director of Science Research, said 15 finalists will be selected, five from each age range and will be flown to Google Headquarters for final judging later this…
Livingston teens showed their scientific prowess in world competition in Saint Louis, bringing home major awards for robot design. The Livingston High School Lance Robotics was awarded the highly coveted PTC Design Award for creating the most functional and aesthetic robot. Landroids received the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award for their ingenious design of their robot. “To be selected as the best of all the best teams from through the world is amazing!” said Connor King, captain of the Lancer Robotics team. The four-day FTC World Championship in St. Louis on April 27-30 challenged the teens …
After playing soccer in Livingston for most of her life, Amanda Cardona scored the opportunity of a lifetime when she was accepted into the international non-profit volunteer program, Soccer Without Borders. On T.E.A.M. Granada, she’ll be part of a group that “aims to provide opportunities for girls to play soccer, meet and interact with peers, and enjoy the benefits associated with team sports.” Girls in the program set and work toward relevant and achievable goals on and off the field. "The idea is to become a role model for the participants and, hopefully, allow them to realize just how …
XI. KA. AI. UT. Qat. Qaid. Qwerty. Say what? The average person may not be too familiar with these words. But you can bet that any Scrabble player worth his salt knows the 101 two-letter words — as well as the Q words that don't include the obligatory U — acceptable by Scrabble standards. And you can bet that, this weekend, these words will be used repeatedly in one strategic maneuver after another as 200 young Scrabble experts from the United States and Canada descend on Orlando for the 2011 National School Championship on April 15 and April 16. Indeed, two teams from New Jersey will be …
Future forensics champions showcased their burgeoning talents as the Livingston High School Forensics Team hosted the Lancer Junior Invitational competition this past Saturday. Fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth graders representing four school districts and the Bragg School in Chester competed in Oratorical Declamation and Interpretive Reading with Junior Varsity and Varsity divisions in each event. Students were permitted to “double enter” so as to compete in both categories. According to Lenore Argen, Heritage Middle School Director of Forensics, forensics is a great way for kids to …
Who: Stanley Chernavsky, a 14-year-old pianist. Accomplishments: Winner of the 35th annual Young Artists' Concerto Competition. Key to Awesome: You can hear just how awesome this musician is when Chernavsky joins the Livingston Symphony Orchestra for its spring concert on Saturday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. Chernavsky, a LHS senior, will perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major with the LSO. The concert, dubbed “Youth and Power,” will also feature Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D Minor.Chernavsky began studying piano at the age of 6 with Marina Goldin of The Do-Re-Mi School of …
The Bansal girls puts their money where their mouths are, or rather, they don’t just talk about giving back to the community – they do it. When they lived in Hudson County last year, they organized a month-long shoe drive that resulted in 1,200 pairs of shoes being given to the needy. When they moved here nine months ago, they repeated that task as Avika (in the 4th grade at Riker Hill Elementary) and Anusha (in 1st grade at Riker Hill) organized a town-wide shoe and sock drive. During a one-week period, with support from the town, library, LYCS, and Riker Hill Student Council, they …
Who: The Livingston Division B Science Olympiad Team. Accomplishment: They took fifth place at the New Jersey Science Olympiad Tournament on March 15. The team coached by Pat Folinusz and Jennifer Wirt is comprised of 6th through 9th graders who received an invitation to the state tournament after placing 1st at the NJIT Regional Science Olympiad tournament in January. Key to Awesomeness: Fifty-three teams competed at the regional tournaments in New Jersey. The competition was intense, with some districts having competed in Science Olympiad tournaments for the past 15 years. This is only …
Who: Brett Gottsegen, a junior at Livingston High School and member of the Lancer varsity golf team. Accomplishments: As a volunteer for the First Tee Foundation of Essex County, he collected golf equipment to give young adults in the Newark community the opportunity to play golf. Key to Awesomeness: “I thought it would be a nice way to give back to the community by getting involved in something that I am passionate about,” Gottsegen said. Brett collected and donated over 100 golf bags, clubs, shoes, clothing and raised more than $1,000 in monetary donations which will be used toward …
Who: Chase Walker, a Heritage Middle School seventh grader. Accomplishments: He’s the gadget boy! “When I was young, my Dad bought me a little tool set and I loved it,” Chase said. “I loved tinkering even then.” Key to Awesomeness: Chase can take apart just about anything. And he’s taken apart plenty. His first word, so goes the family story, was “broke.” Meaning if it’s broke, can he go to the tool shed and take it apart? Broken down computers, DVD players, televisions, microphones and cameras have all come under the hands of this teen inventor. He disassembles them for parts like circuits …
