Lakewood
pupils, staff
earn honors
LAKEWOOD — Distinguished students and teachers were honored by the Board of Education at its June 9 meeting in recognition of their outstanding performance over the past year.
Awards were handed out to Oak Street School students and their coaches for their accomplishments at the Ocean-Monmouth Counties Academic Bowl held on March 26 at the Carl W. Goetz Middle School in Jackson.
Going up against 30 schools, a dozen students from two teams, coached by Bernadette Anen and Jeanne Woods, were honored. The sixth-grade team of Ian Volger, Nicole Ellis, Elizabeth Montalvo, Alexandrea Worthy, Ezekiel Subbhan and Keera Worthyteam placed seventh. The fifth-grade team of Jennifer Lynch, Megan Miller, Vincent Mota, Rodale Bowick, Steven Downey and Shaun Blain tied for first place and eventually took second-place honors after a playoff round.
After calling out the names of the honorees, Sheldon Boxer, principal of the Oak Street School, showed off what the students won and said, "This is the trophy that will proudly stand in the Oak Street School."
Boxer said great things are taking place in the schools because of caring teachers and staff members.
Lakewood High School students who participated in the Ocean County Teen Arts Festival were recognized for their accomplishments. Edwin Garcia was acknowledged for his pencil drawing of Roberto Clemente and Teddy Noguera presented a white pastel on black pepper. Alisha Hay received an honorable mention in creative writing while Daniel Haase was honored for excellence in his musical performance on the electric guitar.
When it came time to honor staff members, Superintendent of Schools Ernest Cannava praised reading coach Colleen Gray of the Clifton Avenue School.
"She worked very hard with all the staff at Clifton Avenue with tough assignments," he stated.
He praised six other teachers and described them as "our cream of the cream of our teachers this year." They were selected to the Governor’s Ocean County Teacher Recognition Program.
Each school in the district selects a Teacher of the Year and he or she is recognized at the county superintendent of schools’ office. The teachers chosen this year are Mardecia Dudley, Lakewood High School; Joann Grysqkiewicz, Lakewood Middle School; Elizabeth Ossino, Clifton Avenue Grade School; Jeffrey Shapiro, Ella G. Clarke School; Charles Breidenbach, Oak Street School; and Janet Thomas, Spruce Street School.
Patricia Forse, who represents teachers as president of the Lakewood Education Association, said, "One of the joys of the job that I have is to acknowledge and recognize my peers. I am honored to call you colleagues."