Welcome to another week at About Town! We've had some birthday party action here in town — with a Wilson student celebrating an "amazing" birthday party while another celebrated with a Big Greek affair. Also, some local tennis players are making their mark at the college.
So sit back and relax and enjoy the week. I am kicking off this week at boot camp. More to come on that later in the week, if I can use my fingers!
WILSON STUDENT CELEBRATES 'AMAZING' BIRTHDAY
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Zoe Tedeschi, a Wilson School third-grader, wanted to have a birthday party that would be fun and be like her favorite TV show. So she held a Westfield "Amazing Race."
Patterned after the Emmy-winning reality show, four teams of local students ran through downtown, hitting up local stores in challenges arranged by Zoe's parents, Bruno and Elizabeth Tedeschi. The teams started off at Ferraro's for pizza and their first clue, followed by a challenge of eating bags of candy at Funk and Standard, then making beaded necklaces at Just Bead Yourself, making a puzzle at Thinka Dinka and then finding a pine cone in Mindowaskin. The race was topped off with dessert at Rita's.
Find out what's happening in Westfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Congratulations to the first-place blue team (Dylan Tedeschi, Andrew Leone, Matt Leone and Jack Lanza); team members earned $10 gift cards to Thinka Dinka. The red team came (Grace Friedberg, Morgan Angelo, Catharine Miller, Emma Wojci, and A.J. Wargo) came in second. Third-place honors went to the white team (Devin Marler, Taylor Dombalis, Alexis Evans and Simone Davey). The fourth-place team was the yellow team (Kate Resnikoff, Cate Cheng, Lily Cassidy, Talia McRoberts and Maggie Lapolla). The green team (Zoe Tedeschi, Kate Leone, Caroline Wargo, Sofia Lanza and Sofia Carayannopoulos) finished fifth. We think it was really cool that Zoe let her friends and family win big. It would have been unseemly to win, don't you think?
The Tedeschis were helped out by a group of parent team leaders — Elizabeth Tedeschi, Rich Cheng, Rebecca Steen, Anne Wargo and Lori Leone — who kept the teams on track for the race.
Thank you to John for pitching in for About Town and taking video of the race! Happy Birthday Zoe!
IT'S GREEK TO ME
Did you happen to notice a bunch of people on Prospect Street dressed up in Greek attire?
Maria Aloupis was looking for a unique way to celebrate her husband's 50th birthday party. Why Greek theme? Did you notice her married name?!
Steve Aloupis, proud of his heritage, should also be proud of his wife. She planned the surprise party, and mandated that all invitees dress as if they were on the Greek islands. We ended up on the front lawn to surprise Steve (just like in My Big Fat Greek Wedding)... It worked! He was totally surprised — especially to see everyone in costume!
Maria decorated the back yard to make it feel like a candle-lit outdoor Santorini tavern. She added a dance floor, a party canopy and added blue-and-white Greek flags. The lavish Greek meal was highlighted by a flowing ouzo fountain. It was a blast! So much so, that one of the neighbors called the cops on us at 9:15, requesting that the music be turned down. That didn't stop all the Greeks — or their friends — from dancing all night!
We hope to get invited to another Aloupis party soon!
Speaking of invitations, Maria has her own invitation business, Paper Chateau. She sells invitations for all occasions, notepads, labels and any other custom paper products you may need. Trust me, she's amazing, I used her for my son's Bar Mitzvah two years ago and the invitations that she did were gorgeous! You can contact Paper Chateau at www.paperchateau.com or 908-578-9101.
BLUE DEVIL TENNIS ALUMS WIN BIG
Westfield continues to turn out amazing tennis alums; two of whom are starring for their college teams.
Tara Criscuolo, a 2010 WHS alum and freshman at The College of New Jersey, was named a New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week this month. Criscuolo has a 3-0 record at fifth singles and a 2-0 record at third doubles as her collegiate tennis career takes off. She's also tied in the state for singles victories.
Scott Bernstein, from the WHS Class of 2010, won a singles title on Sunday at the Northeast Intercollegiate in Providence, RI. Bernstein, co-captain of last spring's state-championship team, just started his freshman year at Bucknell University and is showing he's on his way to tennis stardom there.
Congratulations Tara and Scott!A NEW FACE IS COMING TO TOWN
We told you last week not to get too used to Doug Layman as assistant principal at Edison, since he's leaving later this month to take a principalship closer to his Sussex County home. It's now come out who will be taking his place as deputy to EIS principal Cheryl O'Brien.
Matt Forte, currently a middle school English teacher in the West Essex Schools, is going to be taking Layman's job soon. We don't know the date because the school system doesn't know the date yet. Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan said that Forte is trying to get released from his contract in West Essex so no start date has been set yet.
"He is eager to come to Westfield," Dolan said.
MUSICAL CHAIRS AT THE BOE
Parents with questions for a particular BOE member can rest assured that the music has stopped and the board members are now safely settled into committee chairs. The final part of the 2010 musical chairs occurred Tuesday night when BOE Veep Ann Cary announced she swapped the long range planning chair for the curriculum chair with Alice Hunnicutt. Other new chairs were announced this spring with Jane Clancy taking the facilities chairmanship from former BOE member Richard Solomon and Ginny Leiz taking the policy chair's job from Clancy.
Stay tuned for next April when the music could start up again.
