A Hillsborough student plans to further her education thanks in part to scholarship money she received from a local education institution.
Carly Bronfeld, a township resident and graduate of Hillsborough High School, is set to embark on a five-year master’s degree program at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), Trenton, with a $10,000 scholarship awarded by the Goddard School. She will be an incoming Special Education/Elementary Education student at TCNJ this fall. She is a 2007 graduate of the Goddard School’s Hillsborough location.
The early childcare development institution announced in August that Bronfeld had been selected as the recipient of the childcare’s annual $10,000 Anthony A. Martino Memorial Scholarship.
This scholarship award is open to high school seniors nationwide who have graduated from the Goddard School Pre-K or Kindergarten programs. Officials from the school said that the scholarship is intended to be awarded to students who exhibit qualities of Martino, the founder of the Goddard School franchise system. The awarded applicant is honored and recognized for their great work ethic, perseverance in education and love for community, according to school officials.
After Bronfeld submitted an entry for the scholarship, in which she discussed multiple ways the institution prepared her for continued academic success following her time at Goddard, she was awarded the scholarship.
Following her scholarship recognition, Bronfeld said it was her start at the Goddard School, which helped put her on the right path toward her educational success. She subsequently graduated from Hillsborough’s Triangle Elementary School, Auten Road Intermediate School, Hillsborough Middle School and Hillsborough High School.
“I was a very creative person, and that definitely started to spark at the Goddard School,” Bronfeld said. “That’s when I was starting dance lessons, and I was diving my head into different things outside of school. Then, I was able to bring them into school where we had different musicians come in and stuff like that. So, I was able to focus on exactly what I wanted to do and pick out my interests.
“Being with my friends and being in an atmosphere that enforced my creativity, and kept that going – wanting me to pursue that as I went – really made the difference for me every single day there. I was able to find who I was there and what I was interested in, and I still stick to that today,” Bronfeld said.
With a background in music and dance since she was just 1, Bronfeld studied at Hillsborough’s Triangle Dance Center. She said her particular interest to pursue dance and education was made possible by the Goddard School at a young age.
“[Dance] was a huge part of my life, and I had that at the Goddard School,” she said. “I got to pick that as what I really wanted to do, and when I was there, I was able to take that in. Now, the table has turned, and I want to be a teacher, and I can use creative movement. I look to Goddard School for that because they did a great job teaching me.”
Although the incoming TCNJ student accredited much of her academic creativity to the Goddard School, her time in the Hillsborough public school system was not lost on her, either. Bronfeld noted that she felt the whole Hillsborough school community had an impact her education.
“I’m lucky to be in a community that can do that,” she said. “I know that others can’t, so I’m grateful that I had great experience in Hillsborough throughout high school. I have always been supported. I loved all my guidance counselors and teachers. I even stay in touch with them now. Just to graduate as a National Honor Society student, but to also have those bonds – I’m very lucky to be in a community like that.
“In Hillsborough, everyone has each other’s backs. It’s a great community to live in,” she added.
As Bronfeld prepares to take on the next step of her educational career at TCNJ, she expressed her gratitude for the scholarship money, which she said will serve much significance to furthering her studies.
“It’s no lie that college is expensive, so I’m very grateful and humbled by the fact that Goddard has given me the opportunity to get all the certifications I need to reach out beyond my comfort zone to be the best teacher I can be,” she said. “This is what the scholarship is doing. It’s allowing me to be the best teacher that I can be, so that I can impact other kids the way that all of my teachers at Goddard and the systems at Hillsborough have made me want to do the same thing that they do every day.
“I am extremely grateful to all of my former teachers and role models at Goddard School and throughout the Hillsborough School System. At Goddard, I am especially thankful to Ms. Susan Hoy, owner of Hillsborough Goddard School, who was always present in the classroom, and to Ms. Elia Bazan, who inspired me to become a teacher.”