Mendham Student Wins Diversity Contest

The Awards Ceremony for the 2012 National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), West Morris Section's sixth-grade diversity contest, called "What Prejudice Means to Me," honored Grand Prize winners, Outstanding Award winners and those receiving Honorable Mention.

The event was held recently at Morris Knolls High School in Rockaway. Sixth-graders from 18 Morris County public, private and parochial schools participated in the contest, which is conducted in conjunction with the observance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Special guest speakers for the Awards Ceremony were Musa Aluga and his uncle, Namid Hamoda, formerly of Darfur, Sudan, who spoke about their family’s experience of prejudice in that African country.

Both refugees are settling in northern New Jersey, thanks to the efforts of Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) of MetroWest. Joyce Reilly, coordinator of the Darfur Resettlement Project of JVS, also spoke at the event.

At the awards ceremony for the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), West Morris Section’s sixth-grade diversity contest, "What Prejudice Means to Me" are Melanie Noll of in Mendham, a grand prize winner for written work; Karen Secular of Morris Township, chair of the NCJW, West Morris diversity contest; Emma Marszalek of Central Middle School in Stirling, a grand prize winner for written work; Musa Aluga, a guest speaker; Ethan Mersing of Robert R. Lazar Middle School, a grand prize winner for artwork; Namid Hamoda, a guest speaker; Kristen Moran of Chatham Middle School, a grand prize winner for artwork; Joyce Reilly, a guest speaker; Ashley Prior of Mountain View Middle School in Mendham, a grand prize winner for written work; Kim Kramer Ganz of Morris Township, NCJW, West Morris vice president of community service; and Molly McCarthy of Madison Junior School, a grand prize winner for written work.

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