Heritage to Present Fiddler on the Roof

Student performances April 19-April 21 will celebrate the power of tradition and change.

  Fiddler on the Roof will be performed this weekend at Heritage Middle School. Christopher Russoniello directs this time-honored story of hope, love and acceptance. Performances are 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20 with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. April 21. The cast features: Jared Kirsch as Tevye and Jill Friedland as Golde, his wife. Their daughters are played by Sara Portela, Arielle Fuhrman, Meghan Nevola, Valeria Taboada, and Charlotte Simon. Meredith Harris is Yente, the matchmaker; and Ryan Healy is Motel, the tailor. Also:  AJ Keenan, Jackson Rynar, Andie Weischer-Schlesinger, Tatiana Batista, Gabrielle Grillo, Amanda Stephenson, Rhianna Bhatia, Joseph Lanigan, Alysia Machlovitz, Ilana Goldin, Alexander …

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FemGineers Excel in NJ Future City Challenge

Heritage team awarded third-place overall – and $1,000 grant for their school.

Heritage Middle School’s FemGineers (Female Engineering Club) took home top prizes for their utopian cities in the New Jersey Regional Future City Design Challenge held Jan. 12 at Rutgers University. This year, the middle school students came up with solutions to manage storm water runoff. They worked countless hours through the fall and over the holidays using SimCity software; researching and writing solutions to an engineering problem; and building tabletop scale models. 
  At the New Jersey Regional Future City Design Challenge, 81 teams from 50 schools participated in the events. Heritage’s results of the competition are as follows: Nerocity: Jackie Gelman, Sophie Kushner and Arya Mirchandani won 3rd place overall. They were awarded a…

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Heritage Middle School Presents 'Our Town'

Treasured American drama explores the lives of people living in a small American town.

Middle school actors will present the American classic — Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” this weekend in the Heritage auditorium. Performances are 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 11 and Saturday, January 12. A matinee will be 2 p.m. Sunday, January 13. This treasured American drama explores the lives of people living in a small, quintessentially American town. Teenagers George and Emily meet, fall in love, marry -- and suffer the slings and arrows of everyday life. Christopher Russoniello directs the cast performing in this Pulitzer Prize-winning play. "Since I first saw the classic television production with Hal Holbrook and Robbie Benson, I have dreamed of directing this time honored classic,” Russoniello said. “It is an ambitious undertaking…

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Heritage Students Discover ‘The Many Faces of Disabilities’

Guidance Symposium focuses on understanding, acceptance.

Heritage Middle School students discovered the many different faces of the disabled, a group vulnerable for bullying at the school’s annual Guidance Symposium.   Organized by the school’s guidance department, students researched 25 different disabilities, each displayed  on November 21.  Students also took part in simulation games in the gym in which they attempt a number of tasks after limitations are placed on them.   The students heard from Scott Chesney, a paraplegic who shared disability awareness and overcoming adversity; and Dr. Paul Wichansky, who addressed social issues and sensitivity.

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Harlan Coben Shares Hometown Stories at Heritage

What’s the secret to his success? The best-selling author tells students he's really good at making things up.

Harlan Coben last stood on the stage at Heritage 35 years ago when he made a speech seeking votes on student council. He was running for treasurer, already tall, playing basketball for the Eagles, and best friends with Chris Christie, the kid seated next to him in homeroom. Coben reflected on that friendship bonded in Room 202. Christie grew up to become New Jersey’s governor, while Coben has made a career out of lying on his sofa wondering, “What if?" As the best-selling author of 23 mysteries, he asks that question a lot. It’s the secret to writing fiction, Coben told a new generation of students at Heritage Middle School on September 25. His second book for young adults was recently published, Seconds Away, a new Mickey Bolitar novel, …

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Sports Wrap

Livingston Lacrosse Kicks Off Season

Second- and third-grade girls play season openers.

Last Saturday, nearly 50 second- and third-grade girls from across the township kicked off the Livingston Lady Lancer Lacrosse League season.  The pair of games, featuring teams named after famous college lacrosse powerhouses like Maryland, Northwestern, North Carolina and Princeton, took place at the Oval lacrosse fields. This Saturday, games will move to Heritage Middle School. The lineup includes rivalries featuring Maryland and Princeton at noon and Northwestern and North Carolina at 1 p.m.  

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Gear Up for Emergencies

Residents learned how to pack emergency kit and prepare for disasters.

Sergeant Richard Colabelli of the Essex County Sheriff’s Office had a message for attendees of an emergency preparedness session Thursday night in Livingston: Disaster can strike at any time, so it is better to prepare for the future. The two-hour meeting Thursday night at the Heritage Middle School was one of a number of training sessions planned throughout Essex County by the Essex County College Police Academy as part of the federal Community College Citizen Preparedness Program. The session was co-sponsored by the municipalities of Livingston, Millburn, Roseland and West Orange and drew about 40 participants. Colabelli noted in the last several years New Jersey has experienced extreme weather conditions including epic snowstorms, …

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The Weekender: Simple Gifts, Youth and Romance and CHS for a Day

A roundup of weekend activities in our area.

High school and middle school spring productions continue around our area, while other stages host shows and concerts as diverse as a marionette show at SOPAC and a speakeasy show from Studio B.  Columbia High School is opening its doors to adults for a day, and MoFiddles is bringing us a fine acoustic concert.  Read on for the details of these events and others, and be sure to check the Patch calendar for a complete listing of everything happening this weekend. The Cashore Marionettes in Simple Gifts Simple Gifts is so much more than a puppet show.  The Cashore Marionettes are engineering marvels, able to produce life-like movement portraying a wide range of emotions.  Scenes are set to the music of Vivaldi, Strauss, Beethoven and Copland…

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Livingston Students Place at Science Olympiad

Teams consisting of middle- and high-schoolers will go on to state competition.

Students from Heritage Middle School and Livingston High School placed in the regional qualifier of the New Jersey Institute of Technology Science Olympiad last weekend. The middle school team, coached by Dr. Jennifer Wirt, took 4th place.  Of the two high school teams, Team 1 took 4th place and Team 2 took 3rd place. “Based on these results, we have been invited to bring one team each to the state tournament in March,” said Dr. Nuni-Lyn Walsh, who coaches the high school teams.  The students competed in 13 different events and received medals for placing in these individual events. The combined total of individual places determined the overall ranking for the collective team. This is the fourth year the Livingston teams have been …

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