ALJ Student of the Month for October 2016 is senior, Krista Ginesi. Krista is a member of the National Honor Society and the Vice President of the Spanish Honors Society. She is also a member of the Science Honor Society, Key Club, and Chess Club all while keeping up high honor roll status. She has showed her school spirit by earning a varsity letter in Cheerleading all four years of her Johnson career.
In her free time Krista likes to shop, play tennis, and hang out with friends. Her favorite things about ALJ are the teachers and cheering on the football team. Krista traveled in the Spring of 2016 with the History Club to Spain and Portugal. Krista’s aspires to attend Marist College to major in fashion merchandising and she hopes to travel to Europe one day.
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Loren Hsu is the Crusader Today’s first Educator Profile, but she is not actually a new teacher to Clark Public Schools. Mrs. Hsu (pronounced “Sue”) taught resource room and self-contained classes for 22 years at both Hehnly and Valley Road Schools. Beginning this year, Mrs. Hsu teaches American Sign Language 1, World History, and Study Skills at ALJ.
Mrs. Hsu graduated from Trenton State College (today known as TCNJ) as a Teacher of the Deaf. She then completed an Interpreter for the Deaf certification program. She grew up in Union, New Jersey, and graduated from Union High School. She has lived in Union County all her life. Her personal interests revolve around her family. “I love spending time with my family. Both my daughters compete at dance competitions and we spend much of our time at the dance studio," Mrs. Hsu said. She is also a fan of personal fitness. She has completed three triathlons, three half marathons, and one marathon. When asked what she loves about teaching she said, “I LOVE interacting with my students. I love knowing that maybe, just maybe, I have made a difference and my students will remember me when they are older and out of school. I still keep in touch with my third grade teacher who inspired me. Thanks, Mrs. Faulks.” Mrs. Hsu is enjoying teaching at ALJ very much. “I have had the best 22 years at elementary level and my first few months at ALJ have been spectacular! I am so happy to be here at the high school level,” Students are enjoying the uniqueness of the sign language classes. Dana Ugarte, a sophomore in Mrs. Hsu’s 6B American Sign Language class is enjoying the class very much. “I took the class because it is so different than anything else offered at ALJ. It’s really a great class.” The Arthur L. Johnson History Club conducted a Mock Election in Language Arts classes during this week. Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein all received votes. In addition, Clark is part of the seventh Congressional district where Leonard Lance (R) is running against Peter Jacob (D) for the House of Representatives. Lastly students were asked two questions that the people of New Jersey find important. These are not referendum questions on the ballot in New Jersey.
Of roughly 750 students, 490 students voted in the mock election, representing 65% of the school population. Donald Trump won the mock election with 56% of the vote, followed by Hillary Clinton with 27%. Gary Johnson and Jill Stein each received roughly 7% of the vote. These numbers will be added to the National Student Mock Election totals and the winners will be announced next week. While the majority of the school population is not 18 and therefore can’t actually vote on November 8th, many are very passionate about the choices. Liz Archer, a senior, said, “I turn 18 six days after the election. I’m not that disappointed. I think these are both bad choices, although I would have to vote for Trump because of his stance on abortion.” Kyle Cerasa, a junior supports Hillary Clinton. “If I had to vote I would vote for Hillary because she is less insane than Trump.” Andrew Lakkis, a sophomore, said “I would vote Trump because Washington is broken and we need an outsider to fix it.” Mr. Fredy Reyes, co-advisor to the History Club explained why doing a mock election is important. “Voting is an important obligation of all citizens. I always tell my students, if you don’t vote you don’t matter.” The mock election has been held at ALJ for many years. In the last two elections students Barack Obama won their vote. The ALJ Crusader of the Month for September 2016 is senior, Hart Tecson. Hart is the Key Club president, President of Chess Club, and also a Peer leader. He has won the gold and bronze award for Key Club, has placed 1st in the science league for physics, and holds AP honors awards. Hart has practiced Cuong Nhu Karate for 12 years. When he is not training for karate, Hart likes to draw and watch TV shows. When asked what his favorite thing about ALJ is, he responded, “Everything!” Hart loves to give his time and efforts to help those around him achieve their best selves while also improving himself beside them. Hart aspires to attend college to become a computer engineer. His goal is to build Iron-Man. By Ryan Rutano
A transformation has occurred in Arthur L. Johnson High School with the schedule change to A/B scheduling in the 2016-2017 school year. For students, the most exciting part about the new schedule is the activity periods that are now available to students. Activity periods are a 25 minute segment of the day where students can get extra help, have club meetings, do any work in the IMC, or simply hang out in the gym or even the hallways. Before, students went through school restricted to a path leading students to their classes, but now students have acquired the freedom to explore what Johnson has to offer. For example, students during their activity periods can go visit the courtyard located in the middle of the school. In previous years this courtyard was rarely used, and most students were unaware to even entering the courtyard. Now, students can relax and socialize with one another, and take a break from the routing of the school day. Students involved in the music program here in Johnson are using the time to improve their talents. Over the course of the week band director Rachel Bollaro has lessons for different music ensembles depending on the day of the week. For instance, on Thursdays musicians who are in the ALJ Crusader Marching Band come during their activity periods to practice and improve their field show for their upcoming competitions. “As a member of the ALJ music program I can absolutely confirm that the activity period is benefiting the band immensely,” said Senior Sectional Leader Lauren Petite. Also, Mr. Hemberger, the new vice principal, said “Activity periods have helped improve the student's academic life and are shaping the culture in ALJ. Although this concept is fairly new, I believe that over the year teachers and students will refine it in order to create more student opportunities for the future.” Overall, everyone seems to be enjoying the activity periods.
On Tuesday, October 6th , college representatives arrived at ALJ to provide students with information on some of the top colleges throughout the US. The college fair was open from 4:00pm to 5:30pm, with over one hundred different colleges and universities attending.
Some schools that attended were the University of Delaware, Iona College, Villanova University, the United States Army, and many more including some popular interests at Crusader nation such as Rutgers, Rider and Rowan University. College reps started filing into ALJ around 3pm to set up their stands with pictures, contact information, fliers, and pamphlets. By the start of the fair, Johnson was starting to get packed with anxious 9th , 10th , 11th , and 12th graders interested in seeing what different colleges and universities could provide for them. Students expressed that they it was very informative. Sophomore Nikkianne DiCosmo said “This is my first year coming and I think that the college fair was very helpful, and really gave me an idea of what to look for in colleges in the future,” . Many other students agreed. From the looks of it, every stand was getting attention and the students, although slightly overwhelmed, seemed to enjoy getting to know different college representatives and learning more about schools they have been interested in. The college fair also provided students with a chance to learn about new colleges they may have not heard of or looked into beforehand. “It really opened my eyes to the fact that college isn’t as far away as I thought and that I should probably start looking at more schools,” said Sophomore, Juliana Desantis. |
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