MEMS January Highlights

The following highlights are submitted by Irene Policastro, the Secretary to Superintendent John J. Marciante of the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District.

American Mathematics Competition

In November, 301 students from competed in the American Mathematics Competition. Students worked on 25 challenging math problems for 45 minutes without a calculator. All 301 students are applauded for competing and representing MEMS in the competition. The following students are the top 12 scorers from MEMS and our school winner.

• Top 5% Reimond Costa Michael Rosenberg Vladyslav Nazarchuk Konrad Slabinski Michael Conover
• Top 1% Lucas Eisenberg Tiffany Yuen Joshua Reich Joseph Cabral Jared Bass
• Congratulations to our school winner, Kathryn Jiang, who answered 20 out of 25 correctly.

History Channel Award for Service

Jacqueline Colon, 8th grade Social Studies teacher in Lambda Community, was awarded the New Jersey History Channel Award for Service for 2011. Ms. Colon represented New Jersey in the national competition and placed second in the country. Her dedication as a teacher and her commitment to National History Day makes her a wonderful role model.

Spanish Fair

Senora Bosters’ 8th grade Spanish students will be putting on a Spanish Fair of With Distinction, AT With Distinction, and other cultural projects on Wednesday, February 1st in the double rooms of the Media Center at MEMS. On display will be students' cultural projects dealing with a wide variety of Spanish and Latin American topics. This fair will be in addition to the official World Language Fair which is scheduled for May 25th. All Spanish classes are welcome to attend and to submit their own projects if desired.

Pickle-Ball Tournament

Mr. Arbeitman’s classes have been engaged in a very exciting "Pickle-Ball" Tournament. The students are playing for one of six possible places. All students will receive a ribbon and certificate at the end of the tournament. The bracket charts will then be displayed in the hallway along with the pictures of the winning teams.

Pringles Potato Chip Challenge

The students in Mrs. Falk’s 7th Grade PBL class participated in an inter-school Pringles Potato Chip Challenge. The goal was to send one Pringle potato chip, through the mail, in the smallest, lightest package without the chip breaking. Packages were exchanged between MEMS and the Keith Valley Middle School outside of Pennsylvania. Both classes evaluated their packages together in a LIVE Skype session! And the winners were MEMS Students -- Matt Grieco and Anthony Mentesana!

On Wednesday, January 25th, the students of Italian attended an assembly about the many contributions of Italian-Americans. The guest speaker was anchorwoman Janine Strafaci from News 12 New Jersey who spoke about her own experiences of being an Italian-American. The presentation was fun, informative and interactive. Students won prizes for answering questions correctly.

HIB Assemblies

HIB assemblies on the tenth and eleventh of January reviewed previous lessons and introduced the topic of Friendship Bullying. Students viewed a captivating power point presentation and listened attentively to the convincing words of Mr. DeMarco and Ms. Long. The vice principals explained that friends sometimes allow themselves to be bullied because they fear losing a friendship. Being totally engaged in the program, it did not take the MEMS audience very long to realize that friendship bullying actually causes them to lose their friend anyway. The students left the auditorium with the clear understanding that friendship power should be equal and that no one has the right to control anyone else.

"Get a Grip"

On Tuesday, January twenty-fourth, the eyes and ears of the MEMS students were focused on the auditorium’s big screen, as they watched Camfel’s Character Education Production, Get a Grip. Seventh and eighth graders alike were captivated as real teens shared their problems and the strategies they used to face and overcome them. The inspirational film was easy for the children to relate to, as it highlighted the reality that everyone faces challenges in life. Whether it is the death of a loved one, living without a limb, being the weakest and smallest member of an athletic team, or facing the bully’s torments, if we take control of our lives, our problems will never control us. With its popular music, current film clips, and real life situations, our students were encouraged to set personal goals and face their own challenges by getting “a grip” on life.

Student Voices

Jessica Viti, seventh grade MEMs student and member of the Beta community, was recently honored by the Asbury Park Press. Jessica’s essay was published as part of their monthly column, Student Voices, wherein local students respond to the paper’s monthly topics. Jessica won second place for the January edition: How can schools do a better job of utilizing technology in the classroom? Ms. Viti’s picture and essay were featured in the January 25, 2012 edition of the Asbury Park Press. In addition, classmate Carmen Jimenez’s essay received the title honorable mentioned. Both are burgeoning writers of Mrs. Cassandra Capadona’s language arts class and the middle schools’ online newspaper The Paw Print Press run by Mr. John Dalesandro.