Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The team competed in the national competition in St. Louis.
There were 400 of the top robotics teams in the world competing together to find the best—and after winning its division, Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s First Team 303 finished the recent championships in St. Louis as third in the world. “We thought it was amazing, and it was the first time we had traveled with the team,” said senior Matt Gorka, who was one of the co-captains of the team for 2012-2013. “These were 400 of the best teams in the world.” The world championships were held in late April in St. Louis, and capped off a successful season for the team. According to senior Keerthana Hirudayakanth, the other 2012-2013 co-captain of the team, there are four divisions that head to the world championships. Bridgewater-Raritan High …
The science team competed in Washington D.C.
Students at Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School ranked as one of the top 16 teams in the country at the National Science Bowl in Washington D.C. Under the direction of science coordinator and team coach Rob Ambrose, eighth graders Akash Kumar, Brian Wei and Patrick Wu, and seventh graders Jerry Kong and Irene Qiao participated in the science bowl after qualifying to attend at the regional competition held at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. “After winning the New Jersey Regional Science Bowl in February, the team began practicing and preparing for the National Science Bowl, which took place in Washington D.C.,” Ambrose said. The team practiced at least three times a week until the competition, Ambrose said, which took place at the …
But the reports do not fully measure the work of students who are on shared time.
The Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School received a bronze ranking through the U.S. News & World Report’s list of the best high schools in the state. “The designation is a wonderful acknowledgement of the work we do with a diverse group of students,” said Chrys Harttraft, superintendent of the school. “We won a bronze medal of excellence this year and last, based on the exam scores of our students.” Harttraft said the rankings are given by using three criteria, including overall student performance and disadvantaged student performance on language and math proficiency tests. Harttraft said the focus for the school is on career and college readiness, which is not actually considered in the filtering of requirements for …
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Assistant superintendent Cheryl Dyer says the data is calculated differently than in U.S. News & World Report.
Bridgewater-Raritan High School has made Newsweek’s list of the 2,000 best public high schools in the country, ranking at number 442. The ranking is based on data that includes college acceptance rate, graduation rate, average SAT scores and more. According to the findings, BRHS has a 96 percent graduation rate, with 95 percent of students being college bound. Average SAT scores in Bridgewater, according to Newsweek’s findings, are 1701, and average AP scores are a 4. These ratings come about two weeks after BRHS did not make the list of top high schools in New Jersey from U.S. News & World Report. Assistant superintendent Cheryl Dyer said there are several factors that influence the school’s ranking in both magazines. With Newsweek, she …
Monday, May 6, 2013
Michael Schilder will make a formal announcement in the coming week.
UPDATE: Superintendent of Schools Michael Schilder posted a note on the district website Monday afternoon concerning his retirement. In his note, Schilder said his retirement will be up for approval at the May 14 board of education meeting, and the board will also begin discussions then on transition plans. "It has been a privilege to have served in BRRSD and these past six years have been the highlight of my career," he said in his note. 9 a.m. Bridgewater-Raritan Superintendent of Schools Michael Schilder will be retiring from the district this year, according to Board of Education President Patrick Breslin. The retirement will be effective Aug. 1. Breslin said Monday that Schilder has spent several days speaking with administrators, …
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Students are chosen to be honored at the high school.
As part of a new program at the Bridgewater-Raritan High School instituted by new principal Brett Charleston, at least one student is chosen every week to be honored for his or her contributions to the community at some point that week. In this column, we will honor those students each week, with the information included in Charleston's weekly principal's column, on the school's website. Congratulations to the most recent honorees!
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
BRHS raised a total of $1,500.
The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Student Council recently raised about $1,500 selling shirts to support the restoration of the Jersey Shore after Superstorm Sandy. According to Olivia Di Iorio, student council president, the board had come up with several ideas to raise school spirit at the high school, but not many of them had originally been approved by the administrators. One of those ideas though, Di Iorio said, was to hold a spring pep rally with an opportunity to do a fundraiser. “Our idea was to have a whole Restore the Shore theme, and each grade would be wearing a different bright colored Restore the Shore shirt, and have beachy-themed spirit days during the week,” she said, adding that the school normally only has a fall pep …
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
The game against the Hometown Heroes raised money for Project Graduation.
With almost 2,000 people in attendance, almost $10,000 was raised for Project Graduation during Friday’s match between the Harlem Wizards and the Hometown Heroes at the Bridgewater-Raritan High School. Project Graduation is a program held the night of graduation to provide seniors with a safe environment to go and spend time with friends. The event pitted the famous Harlem Wizards against administrators, town officials and others from Bridgewater. “The night was a community-wide supported, fun-filled event,” said Dee Yosafat, one of the coordinators for Project Graduation. “Everyone laughed and cheered and had a great time.” Yosafat said it was a great show of sports skills and comedy. “They enjoyed seeing the Harlem Wizards in action, and…
Monday, April 29, 2013
Seven students were among 22 who were inducted at Somerset Vo-Tech.
Seven Bridgewater residents were inducted into the National Honor Society among 22 total new members at the annual ceremony in March at the Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School. During the induction, according to a release from the school, the new members were presented with emblems and certificates, and also had the chance to participate in a candle lighting ceremony. To be eligible for induction, students have to be either juniors or seniors, and maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher, have a history of service and leadership and have a good discipline record. “These are the elite students,” said NHS advisor Catherine Fortunato in the release. “No student is inducted simply because of a high academic average. The National Honor …
Students have been arriving 10 minutes before extra help programs begin, although administrators have said not to do so.
Despite an e-blast sent out about exactly what time students should be dropped off at Eisenhower Intermediate for extra help before school, one parent is still finding students standing outside because they arrive too early. Parent Lisa Weinstock said at Tuesday’s board of education meeting that she drops her child off for early-morning help at the school, and has found students standing outside alone because they are not allowed in the building before a certain time. “I saw students standing outside unsupervised,” she said. “When I called parents to ask if they knew they were not supposed to do this, they were appalled their children were left standing outside.” Weinstock said the parents believed that because students are allowed in 10 …
Karen E. Katz
10:50 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2013
I was on the edge of my seat here in NJ watching our amazing students maintain their cool as they calmly proceeded up the list of eligible teams. congratulations to all of the TEST TEAM 303 members and their awesome mentors and advisors. Congrats to Mr. Kloberg who steadied the ship in rough waters! more ›