The Westfield Leader Newspaper
The Times of Scotch Plains-Fanwood

CYAN YELLOW MAGENTA BLACK

Concepts &Thought

HISTORIC VISIT… American history came alive for fifth graders at Brunner Elementary School in Scotch Plains when they visited the New Jersey State House in March. The students were given a tour of the Senate Chambers and Governor Christine Todd Whitman’s office, thanks to fellow Scotch Plains resident State Senate President Donald T. DiFrancesco. Pictured, above, are Samantha Gates and Senator DiFrancesco at the State House.

SP Library to Offer Introduction in June

To Sign Language

SCOTCH PLAINS — The Children’s Department at the Scotch Plains Public Library will offer an introduction to basic sign language for all ages during the month of June.

Two separate sessions will be offered. Ages 3 to 6 will learn the colors, animals and numbers on Monday and Saturday mornings, from 10 to 11 a. m. Ages 7 and up will learn the manual alphabet, numbers and common phrases on Wednesday nights from 6 to 7 p. m. and Saturday afternoons from 2 to 3 p. m.

Saturday sessions will be a repeat for those who cannot attend during the week.

Sign up sheets will be on the Children’s Room desk. The program is open to Scotch Plains and Fanwood residents exclusively. For more information, please call Mary Schank at (908) 3225007.

Scotch PlainsFanwood Pupils Learn About Drunk Driving

SCOTCH PLAINS — The Scotch PlainsFanwood High School chapter of Students Against Driving Drunk will sponsor the Chrysler Neon Drunk Driver Simulator today. The senior and junior classes will be invited to come to the parking lot of St. Bartholomew the Apostle’s Church where an obstacle course will be set up.

Students holding valid driver’s licenses will drive through the course once to familiarize themselves with it, while two other students will sit as passengers in the back seat. Then, an instructor with the Neon Drunk Driver Simulator will program a computer in the car to simulate handling by a driver with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit of 0.1.

The car’s steering and brakes will be affected as the students drive through the course a second time.

The Simulator will graphically illustrate the dangers of driving drunk to young drivers without endangering them or their two passengers.

The SADD students, including President Jessica Parker, Vice President Terry Levine, and Secretary/ Treasurer Naomi Schiff have organized this event. They secured a generous contribution of $3,000 from Allstate Insurance Company, which will fund the entire program.

In addition to thanking St. Bartholomew the Apostle Church for the use of their parking lot, the Students Against Driving Drunk would like to thank Michael Abadir, their faculty advisor, and committee members Jackie Klock and Charles Matthews for their dedication which made this experience possible for the classes of 2000 and 2001.

Willie A. Green, 3rd Earns Bachelor of Science At University of Michigan

FANWOOD – Willie A. Green, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Willie A. Green, Jr. of Fanwood, has graduated the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology.

Willie, who will pursue a graduate degree in the fall, graduated Scotch PlainsFanwood High School in 1996.

Enrollment Rise in District Begins to Weigh Heavily

On Music Programs Moria Catherine Cappio Earns Rebuth Scholarship

SCOTCH PLAINS — Moria Catherine Cappio, a sophomore at Boston College, has been awarded a special Scholarship from the College Club of FanwoodScotch Plains.

The award, in the amount of $2,000, is in memory of Claudia Rebuth, a member of the College Club, who passed away suddenly in February of this year.

Moria, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Cappio of Scotch Plains, is being recognized for her academic achievement and dedication to pursuing a career in education, goals dear to Mrs. Rebuth who was herself a former educator for many years in public elementary school districts in New Jersey, including Scotch PlainsFanwood.

Moria carries a double mayor, Elementary/ Moderate Special Needs Education and English. She has been named to the First Honors on the college’s Dean’s List.

During this fall semester, she taught children in the second grade in a prepracticum experience in a Boston public school and volunteered as tutor/ mentor in an inner city high school. Upon graduating, she would like to

teach in an urban school. During this year’s spring break, Moria participated in an Urban Immersion Program in which students serve at sites such as a women’s shelter, a community center for victims of HIV/ AIDS, meal and clothing distribution centers or with the Girls and Boys Club of Western Boston. The students also do inhome visits with poor, elderly shutins.

Moria was recently inducted into the National Society for Collegiate Scholars through which she will participate in “America’s Promise,” the Colin Powell worldwide program that sends college students into inner city high schools to promote higher education.

She had maintained a high average and is the principle trumpet player with the Boston College Symphony. Jeanne Pauly College Club President said, “It is most fitting that we make this award in Claudia Rebuth’s name for in Moria’s zest and accomplishment in learning and desire to put her talents to educating young children. She exemplifies Mrs. Rebuth’s accomplishments and spirit.”

By LAWRENCE HENRY

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

WESTFIELD — Fine Arts Supervisor Linda King noted that when she came to work for the Westfield school district in 1988, “there were maybe five kids enrolled in instrumental music programs at each of the elementary schools.”

“So I started beating down doors,” she said.

Now, according to a report presented three weeks ago by Superintendent of Schools Dr. William J. Foley, there are 417 children playing musical instruments in the fourth grade at Westfield’s elementary schools. Every fifth grader sings in the choir for every elementary school.

This flourishing music program can be traced almost entirely to the efforts of Ms. King.

“I went right into the classrooms,” she recalled. “I asked, ‘Who’s playing what instrument? Come on, let’s sign up. ’”

The music program expansion hasn’t come without a cost, however.

Ms. King’s staff of music teachers, she noted, are “teaching from carts,” because there are almost no dedicated music rooms. Instead, the instructors conduct classes and rehearsals in corridors, cafeterias, and gyms.

The growth in music participation will, inevitably, make a major impact on Westfield High School an impact that tends to get lost in the larger issue of the school population boom and the proposed expansion of the high school by the Board of Education.

The numbers tell the story. For the school year 20002001, there are 91 students enrolled for the high school’s concert band, 42 for the wind ensemble, 18 for the prep orchestra, 39 for the symphonic orchestra, and 19 for the writing and arranging class.

Freshman chorus has 54 students, mixed chorus another 78, concert choir 83 more, and choraleers and chorale, 23 members each. All of this has been possible with a single band room and inadequate instrument storage space, according to a recent interview by The Westfield Leader and The Times of Scotch PlainsFanwood with Ms. King and

Westfield High School Principal Dr. Robert G. Petix.

Even with some students dropping out of bands and orchestras in the elementary grades, the population of students playing instruments can be expected to double at the high school level when today’s elementary kids reach ninth grade.

Within the next several years, Ms. King said, “Our projection is to hire another (music) person full time, possibly to get to three concert bands, two wind ensembles, two prep orchestras, and one symphony orchestra”plus handle increased enrollment in the writing and arranging class.

Ms. King has entered the request to hire that additional music instructor, but

it has not yet been approved. For music students and their parents, instrumental music follows a regular seasonal routine.

In May, Ms. King explained, The Music Shop of Boonton comes in to the schools to introduce students and their parents to instruments and instrument rental arrangements.

“You sign up for a rental program in May,” Ms. King said, “and your instrument is waiting for you in September.”

The teachers “stay on top of the paperwork” involved in instrument rentals, Ms. King explained.

Instrumental instruction takes place in small groups of four to five students. As the students advance in their abilities, they enter bands and orchestras.

A recent band rehearsal at Tamaques Elementary School involved an ensemble of more than a dozen children, one on trombone, and four or five each on clarinet, trumpet and saxophone.

Ms. King explained that students are required to meet certain standards of playing as they advance year by year. The instrumental music book series is called “Standards of Excellence,” published by Neil A. Kjos Music Company.

There are no individual lessons provided in the schools themselves, though some children do take private individual lessons on their own initiative.

At the sixth grade level, students are required to demonstrate mastery of the techniques in “Standards of Excellence,” Level II.

“These are not Juilliardtype auditions,” said Ms. King. The technical skills in “Standards of Excellence” can be mastered by virtually any student willing to do the homework that is, to practice.

The system does mean, however, that “We don’t have the facilities to start out new students at sixth grade or higher,” according to Ms. King. A student who wanted to play in a band or orchestra at school could take private lessons, practice, and catch up.

Ms. King’s efforts show not only in the quantity of students involved in music, but in the quality of music being performed. At a recent Tamaques School rehearsal, the band played sophisticated arrangements in tune and in tempo.

The entire Tamaques fifth grade, lined up on risers, sang “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” and “School Days” in tune tracing a musical program rich in history and heritage.

But that Tamaques rehearsal took place in the school’s gym a situation that continues to frustrate Ms. King.

“Imagine what (the music teachers) could do if they had rooms,” she said.

Lauren B. Candia Graduates with Honors

WESTFIELD — Lauren B. Candia graduated Magna Cum Laude from Villanova University on May 14.

A 1996 graduate of Westfield High School, Lauren majored in communication with a minor in Spanish and psychology. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi and Lambda Pi Eta, the National Communication Honor Society.

After graduation, Lauren will be spending a month in Cochabamba, Bolivia working with Maryknoll Missionaries at a school for the blind. She then intends to pursue a Doctorate program in Cognitive Science and Communication at The University of California in San Diego.

Scholarships Presented By Junior Woman’s Club

Lawrence Henry for The Westfield Leader and The Times SPRING REHEARSAL... Adric Quackenbush, front, and Victoria Attanasio, members of the Tamaques Elementary School Band, rehearse for a spring concert. More than 400 fourth graders currently play msuical instruments in Westfield’s public schools.

WESTFIELD — The Junior Woman’s Club of Westfield recently presented two graduating Westfield High School Seniors each with $1,500 scholarships.

The first recipient, Linda Madorma has a 3.34 grade point average, is active in St. Helen’s Roman Catholic Church Youth Group and is a member of the Girl Scouts. Linda will be attending Plymouth State College in the fall.

The second recipient is Sandra Rhein. Ms. Rhein is a member of the National Honor Society, volunteers with the Booster Organization and tutors a 7yearold boy. She plays volleyball and has a 3.6 grade point average. She will be

attending Ramapo College in the fall.

According to the Club’s Scholarship Chair Suzanne Connaughton, “The club was able to offer two $1500 scholarships due to the phenomenal success of our recent 21st Annual Grand Auction, which was held in March.”

“There were many deserving applicants and it was a very tough decision to narrow it down to two students,” said Ms. Connaughton.

The Junior Woman’s Club would like to thank all our supporters in the Westfield community and beyond who participated in the events that made this year’s scholarships possible.

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