"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
Happy New Year to all of the members of the Cranford community. 2013 was a year of personalized growth for Cranford High School in academics, arts, character education, service, and athletics. It was also an opportunity for CHS to maintain our authenticity while we continued to push toward continuous improvement. Each new year is a time to reflect on our passion and commitment to teaching and learning. What we further demonstrated as a community in 2013 was the strength, perseverance, and partnership that exemplify the Cranford experience.
Cranford High School continues to be ranked as one of the top high schools in the State by New Jersey Monthly magazine, most recently ranked #51. For the ninth consecutive year, Cranford High School was named by Newsweek magazine as one of the top high schools in the nation, #206, our highest ranking ever. The Washington Post ranked us #558 nationwide and #10 in the State of New Jersey. Our students exemplify the best of what Cranford has to offer. Individually, our students were selected for prestigious awards and recognition such as the Wallenberg Honors Program, New Jersey Governor's School, NJ Scholars Program, and National Merit Recognition where fourteen students were recognized as National Merit Commended Scholars and one student became a national finalist. Please visit the main page of our school website to see our presentation on The State of Our School.
CHS continued the expansion of rigorous course offerings for our students and the opportunities for increased academic engagement. In 2013, students challenged themselves in 804 advanced placement tests in twenty-six disciplines. This statistic demonstrates nearly a 2% increase from the prior year while 81% of our students scored a "3" or higher on their advanced placement exams. The scholarly learning environment in our school is possible because of the willingness of our students to set high expectations and the nurturing and knowledgeable staff who support them in achieving their goals. In addition, Cranford High School continues to surpass the state and national average with a mean SAT score of 1666 and will continue to make sustained progress in years to come.
Our Performing Arts program continues to thrive evident through the eyes of our audience members. Eleven student representatives performed with the 2012 NJ All-State Mixed Chorus and NJ All-State Women's Chorus. Six students performed with the ACDA National Honor Choir in Dallas, Texas. 2013 graduate Jake Forrestal received the prestigious Governor's Award in Arts Education for his top scores in All-State Chorus. In Academy Dance, students participated in and earned scholarships at the Regional High School Dance Festival in Norfolk, Virginia and in April were accepted to showcase student choreography at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. Our Theater program received 3 Rising Star nominations for our production of Sweet Charity.
Academy Actors participated in the 2013 Speech and Theatre Association of New Jersey's (STANJ) Governor's Award Competition held at Rutgers Douglas Campus in New Brunswick with Natalie Pastrof placing 2nd for her Comedic Monologue. Marissa Salway and Ben Gelber received Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for their performance in our fall production of Pride and Prejudice in the 2013 Montclair Theatre Night Awards Program.
CHS students in Visual Arts had work select for the Morris Museum Fresh Perspectives Art Show; earned recognition at the Congressional Arts Competition; earned honorable mention at the DuCret School of Art High School Exhibit; won in the student category at the JCAS Cranford Plein-Air event; earned recognition in the NJAE Youth Art Month competition; had work displayed at NJPAC; created work for the Cranford Floraphile Garden Club Art Show and Sale; created greeting cards for US troops in Afghanistan; Created portraits for Afghani orphans through the Memory Project; created logo designs for various CHS clubs and for the Cranford Jaycee's Firecracker 400 race; had work selected for the AAA Safety calendar; created and gifted a sculpture promoting environmental awareness to the school - on display in the school courtyard. Engineering students in Applied Technology participated in the Union County Bridge Building competition at UCC and the Panasonic robotics competition at NJIT; woodworking students raised over $1500 to purchase Toys for Tots by creating and selling cutting boards; automotive students kept teachers on the road by completing car repairs as part of their coursework.
DECA students impressed once again with their outstanding performance and best year ever as a chapter at Cranford High School. Forty-four Cranford High School students attended the February 27-March 1, DECA State Leadership Conference in Cherry Hill, NJ at where contestants from across New Jersey competed in numerous business categories. Twenty-two students placed in the Top 10 in their events, with more than 100 students participating in each event, making this the largest number of CHS students to achieve at this high level of competition. Five Cranford High students represented the DECA chapter at the DECA International Career Development Conference held in Anaheim, California in April 2013. More than 15,000 students from across the United States and Canada met to compete in a variety of business categories and attend leadership activities. Cranford students competed in Apparel and Accessory Marketing, Fashion Merchandising, Business Management and Administration, and Accounting.
Students in several Cranford High School business courses entered the Fairleigh Dickinson University Rothman Institute Business Plan Idea Competition. Students created and developed a unique business idea and prepared a well-developed written business plan to accompany it. Twelve students from Cranford High School won the competition, and were honored at a ceremony at FDU in March 2013. One CHS student won second place overall and receiving a monetary prize.
In terms of service, The Character Education Partnership awarded CHS a Promising Practice award for its Totem with a Twist, bringing our total to twenty-nine awards since 2000. Totem with a Twist cultivates an awareness on important social and ethical themes through artistic representation of ceramic totem poles designed by students on concepts such as equality, poverty, and social justice. Pathways for Exceptional Children is a non-profit organization that focuses on helping children with disabilities. "Pathways" has successfully developed over 35 recreation, life skills, and employment programs for children. Cranford High School has now trained 100 of its students to work with the disabled children in Cranford. Cougar P.R.I.D.E. (Peers Rooted in Developing Excellence) was implemented as our new peer leadership program to support the freshman transition at CHS and to continue giving back to the community. I am also happy to note, that our students and staff have made a renewed commitment to follow school rules and are taking a stand against bullying and harassment.
Athletics posted one Group State Championship, three State Sectional Championships, one County championship, and three Conference Championships. In addition, the varsity baseball team was named #1 team in New Jersey by The Star Ledger. Two Union County Scholar Athletes were named as well as one New Jersey State Scholar Athlete award winner. These are only some of the accomplishments we are proud of. Please take a moment to review all of our achievements by visiting our Achievements and Special Announcement sections of our school website. Last year was also an opportunity for us to continue to assemble new members of our esteemed staff and a supervisory team who will further support the growth and development of our teachers as lifelong learners as we continue to chart a course for continuous improvement for our students. Thank you to those of you in the community who have joined us on our ventures and who have been supportive along the way. Instruction and curriculum are clearly on an upward trajectory. Cranford continues to do a great job in developing highly effective young citizens and building community.
We have shown the energy and resilience needed to move forward. Best wishes for 2014 and I am hopeful that the new year will bring joy, good health, and prosperity to every member of our community.
All my best,
Rui Dionisio
Principal
