VIDEO: Manalapan-Englishtown BOE Recognizes National History Day Winners

This video features commentary from award-winning students and teachers who have advanced to a National History Day competition in June. They were recognized by the Board of Education during a May 24 meeting.

After successfully advancing from a southern regional competition, the students competed at the state level, the New Jersey American History Day event, which was held at William Paterson University on Saturday, May 7. 

Cynthia Rishi and Nikita Jagtiani, seventh graders from Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School, qualified for the national competition with a group project that addressed the topic of child labor. The name of their project is “Child Labor Debate: Exploitation or Simple Economics?”

Their faculty supervisor, eighth grade social studies teacher at MEMS, Jackie Colon, received the 12^th annual History Channel Award for Service. Colon was recognized for excellence in history education through service to the National History Day program in New Jersey. Her nomination moves on to the national level.

Julie Abahazy, a sixth grader from Pine Brook School, also qualified nationally with her individual project, “Let’s Defeat Segregation in Special Education.”

Abahazy's teacher, Jill Piaskowsky, was also recognized as the recipient of the New Jersey 2011 PBS Teacher of Merit Award for innovative history teaching. She qualifies to compete for the national PBS Award.

After a brief introduction from their teachers, the students presented their topics to the Board of Education who congratulated them and wished them good luck.

The students and teachers will travel with the exhibits to the University of Maryland College Park to compete in the 2011 Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest, June 12 - 16.

“Ms. Colon and Ms. Piaskowsky are just two examples of the incredible professional staff we have in Manalapan,” said Superintendent John J. Marciante in a statement to Patch. “Their work with these students is reflective of the preparation that all the children in Manalapan-Englishtown Regional Schools receive. Having Julie Abahazy, Cynthia Rishi, Nikita Jagtiani qualify for the National Competition maintains a tradition that was established by Mr. Bruce Mitzal, the former Supervisor of Social Studies, who retired last year. It is wonderful to see that tradition maintained by these teachers and students.”  

In a memo attached to the meeting agenda, the Board also recognized Joseph Perez and Connor Clancy from MEMS who received an alternate recognition for their project, “Cuban Missile Crisis – The Hottest 13 Days of the Cold War.”

Additionally, three other teachers have been recognized on the district website for their achievements during the school year:

• CSI Forensic Science Teacher at MEMS, Donna Falk, has been accepted into the Siemens Science Technology Engineering and Math (STAM) Institute for this summer. According to the district website, this process was highly selective, as the institute accepts only 50 educators nationwide from a pool of 600 applicants. Siemens appeared in USA Today for this achievement.
• Christine Delmas, a first grade teacher at Wemrock Brook, was selected as the 2011-12 Monmouth County Teacher of the Year. She was chosen at the county level after being recognized as Wemrock Brook School’s teacher of the 2010/2011 school year. Delmas, who is involved with the Project Read initiative, will be considered for the New Jersey State Teacher of the Year Award.
• Linda Schiano, MEMS World Language teacher of Italian, is the recipient of a scholarship from the Italian Teachers of New Jersey (ITNJ). The award as enabled her to study at the Universita' Per Stranieri di Siena in Siena, Italy for the month of August this summer.

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