Cranford High School | Special Announcements

Congratulations to Ms. Narus for winning a 2012 Promising Practice for her practice, "Blankets of Love." We will celebrate her success by adding a plaque in the rotunda.
Thanks for everyone's support for this year's Relay for Life. So far we have raised over $109,000! Cranford High School again has shown that we are great supporters of community events like Relay. We could not have done this without your help and influence.

A special thanks to the staff that were able to attend and help out: Mike Leong, Michelle DellaFortuna, Nikki Savino, Gabby Rendek, Pat Mamrak, Kathy Shaw, Ginger Burd, Jen Hilborn, Maureen Duganzic, Sara Moulton, Lisa Burnfeindt, Nancy Campbell, Barbara Narus, Jeanine Boyle, Joan Weeks, Aileen McGuire, Mike Pliskin, Daniel Chernosky, Brian Gilroy, Christine Ahern, Sue Ulaky, and Mr. Dionisio.
This Friday, May 11th, in the CHS Auditorium, is our Annual Spring Dance Concert, featuring the Academy Dance Classes, Elective Dance Class and Dance Club. The students have worked very hard to put together a wonderful evening of dance, including the premiere of Tribute, a piece choreographed by the junior and senior dancers based on their reading of The Hunger Games earlier this year.

Student choreographers include Rebecca Decyznski and Emily Grable, whose works were selected earlier this year to perform in New York City; Brandon Rosario and Dina Savva, and Lindsey Rizkalla, '09. Costume designs by Dina Savva, Angela Sandoukas and Emma Fyhr, '11. Set and Light Design by the Technical Theater Class and Michael Pliskin. Tickets are $5 at the door.
CHS Student Council has once again be named an Honor School. In addition, for the first time, we will receive a Community Smile Award for raising over $2,000 for the State Charity, Good Grief. The following students have been awarded for their efforts:
Kate DeWeever, Ashley Favato, Jeff Francis, Amanda Tempesta, Jill Folger, Brian Foye, Tommy Foye, Manny Garcia, Erin McAuliffe, Nina Montero, Cara Mayberry, Paulina Pryzdzial, Lauren Rocchini, Caitlin Slattery, Jackie Trelles, Emily Ushay, Jake Waleski, AnnaLee Gallo, Natalie Salinardo, Carmine Volpe.
Johnathan Rubin won the Mr. CHS show on May 10. Over $2,000 was raised at the event for Good Grief, a New Jersey charity that helps children handle loss. Congratulations to the contestants, student council, and all of the teachers involved for making it a great show.
The following students have had work accepted into the High Relief art show at The Shore Institute of Contemporary Art in Asbury Park, NJ: Elena Margulis, Marisa Orlandi, O'Dowd, Nicorle Portuese, Katelyn Baumann, Megan Byrnes, Carly Maucione, Geneva Loconte, Alyssa Curry, Aleksandra Czyrznic, Michelle Portuese, Lya Finston, Patricia Kolokythas, Corey DeChiaro, Katie McDermott, William Brown, Jasmine Goncalves, Katie Sprague. The opening reception is Sat. May 5th from 5-8PM at 610 Cookman Avenue. The show will be running until May 25th.
CHS students in the annual New Jersey Science League competition scored yet another huge success in the final competition for the 2012 season. High schools within the NJSL Area 16 include Arthur L. Johnson, Jonathon Dayton, and Mother Seton Regional sent teams to the competition testing their knowledge in the disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science. The CHS teams of Biology I, Biology II and Chemistry I achieved highest combined scores earning 1st place honors, with the Physics II team earning 2nd place honors. Five students participated in all four events this year and five participated in 3 of 4 competitions. Each student will receive certificates for their participation. Congratulations to the CHS Science League for a successful season!
Recently, five CHS students were announced winners in the Stossel in the Classroom essay contest. Winners included, all juniors from Mr. Vito's AP US History classes, Kaitlin McGovern and Katia Oltmann (Semi-Finalists), Kristian Brito, Erin McAuliffe and Gary Hoffman (Honorable Mentions).

Stossel in the Classroom, a project of the non-profit Center for Independent Thought, provides free curriculum materials to teachers, using video clips from John Stossel television shows and specials. Stossel hosts a weekly program on the Fox Business Network.

Students were asked to write an essay about Politicians' Promises Gone Wrong, after viewing John Stossel's Fox News special on that subject. There were 3,944 essays submitted by students around the country, with 225 essays chosen as prize winners. Winners won cash prizes of at least $50.
Cranford High School Business students participated in the Farleigh Dickinson University Rothman Institute Business Plan Idea Competition, where they designed a business plan with an innovative entrepreneurial idea. Over 650 students submitted their ideas from around New Jersey, and the top 36 were chosen. 13 of the 36 finalists are from Cranford.
The students who will be receiving scholarships and awards are: AJ Buono, Kathryn Jordan, Matthew Ghiretti, Kathryn Hehl, William Daly, Valerie Podbelski, Erica Kripaitis, Erica Chiari, Walter James, Daniel Murphy, Jeffrey Kaiser, Kayla Piatkowski, and Michael Polyviou. The Students will be honored at a ceremony at Farleigh Dickinson University on Friday March 30th.
CHS students who participated in the annual New Jersey Science League competition scored another huge success in the March 8th competition. High schools within the NJSL Area 16 include Arthur L. Johnson, Jonathon Dayton, and Mother Seton Regional sent teams to the competition testing their knowledge in the disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science. The CHS teams of Biology II and Chemistry I achieved highest combined scores earning 1st place honors and teams Biology I and Physics II earned 2nd place honors. Chemistry II and Physics I teams rounded out the CHS field with 3rd place finishes. The final competition for the 2012 season will take place on April 19th at Mother Seton Regional High School in Clark. Congratulations to past winners and participants! Good luck on April 19th!
The Pennies for Patients fundraiser collected a total of $291.91 with the senior class winning the competition.
Cranford High School just had its annual Multicultural Expo, where students from the World History classes represented 64 nations from around the world. Winners were selected by a panel of volunteer judges. The winning countries were El Salvador (Jen Alacion, Carolyn Perez, Alyssa Pastrone, Michaela Goff, Libby DiTripani), Hungary (Nick Hughes, Bryan Couto, Kevin Klutkowski, Dan Montelegrae), Cameroon (Tim Dooley, Frank Monteguedo, Chip Pipala, Matthew Van Pelt), Ukraine (Sebastian Rebelo, Cooper Sciascia, Brendan Kane, Brendan McSharry) and Armenia (Rachel Neusch, Nick Capobianco, Bernadette Garcia, Kevin Trotter). The World Language displays were also judged on their displays, with the Japanese Club winning with their contribution.
Cranford High School DECA Team Achieves Success at State Conference
Fifty One Cranford High School students attended the February 26-28 DECA State Leadership Conference in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, at which contestants from across New Jersey competed in several business categories. 25 Students placed in the top ten in their events out of over 100 students in each one. These include 14 finalists and 11 instructional award winners and 1 state award winner. The chapter also received an award for increased membership of over 10% for the year.

From April 27 to May 1 Allison Verrili will attend the International Career Development Conference held in Salt Lake City Utah where 18,000 DECA students from the United States and Canada will compete in their respective business specialties, and attend energizing leadership academies.

Overall, Cranford High School's DECA Program, aimed at helping students prepare for business careers, learn leadership, and practice community service, boasts 119 members. It is advised by Business Management and Information Systems teachers Richard Goldstein and Donna Cathcart. Membership in the club is open to any student attending Cranford High School.

Below are the names of the individuals and events in which they excelled in.
DECA 2012 State Conference Award Winners:
Finalists:
- Allison Verilli - Principles of Business Management and Administration 2nd place overall
- Joseph Bringuier - Principles of Finance Finalist
- Scott Belmont - Principles of Hospitality Finalist
- Natalie Salinardo - Principles of Hospitality Finalist
- Eddie Guillen - Principles of Marketing Finalist
- Michael Wolansky - Accounting Finalist
- Gabrielle DaSilva, Lauren Iauruzio, Alexis Neush - Automotive Services Finalists
- Caitlin Slattery - Apparel and Accessory Marketing Finalist
- Madison Van Houten - Food Marketing Finalist
- Taylor Baton - Hotel and Lodging Management Finalist
- Oliver Bevan - Restaurant and Food Management Finalist
- Zachary Brown - Quick Serve Restaurant Management Finalist
- Jacqueline Chiari - Sports and Entertainment Finalist
Instructional Award Winners:
- Peter Strotz - Buying and Merchandising Team Event/Written Event (high score)
- Tim Coda - Principles of Business Management (Written Event)
- Allison Verilli - Principles of Business Management (Written Event)
- Scott Belmont(Role Play), Natalie Salinardo (Role Play) - Principles of Hospitality and Tourism
- Eddie Guillen - Principles of Marketing (Written Test)
- Gabby DaSilva (Written Test, Role Play), Lauren Iauruzio (Role Play 1 and 2), Alexis Neush (Role Play) - Principles of Marketing
- Taylor Baton - Hotel and Lodging
With the 2012 season underway, CHS students participating in the annual science league competition through the New Jersey Science League scored a huge success in the February competition. High schools within the NJSL Area 16 include Arthur L. Johnson, Jonathon Dayton, and Mother Seton Regional sent teams to the competition testing their knowledge in the disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science. The CHS teams of Biology I, Biology II, Chemistry I and Physics II earned 1st place honors with highest combined scores and teams Chemistry II and Physics I earned 2nd place honors. The next competition will take place on March 8th at Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield. Congratulations to past winners and participants! Good luck on March 8th!
JP Christiano has reached his 100th win in wrestling for the CHS wrestling team.
Pat Lynch won the title of Sectional Champion in Pole Vault for the CHS indoor track team.
The CHS Bowling Team and DECA Club hosted a 'bowlathon' to help support the Cranford First Aid Squad's efforts to restore it's flood-damaged building. Click here to read the full article.
The following Cranford students have been accepted into the 2012 American Choral Director's Eastern Division Honor Choirs. The twelve Cranford High School students and three Hillside Avenue School students will perform with other selected singers from the East Coast in Providence, RI in February 15, 16, 17 and 18 at the Eastern Division Conference of the American Choir Director's Association. Cranford students include Ann Attardi, Cara Costa, James Forrestal, Katie Gordon, Avi Kopla, Zachary Love, Erica Morreale, Kimberly Siehl, James Sweeney, Geddy Warner, and Cassandra Zebrowski, Hillside Ave students who will sing with the Junior High Honor's Choir include, Garrett Forrestal, Samantha Gordon, Devin Kenney and Todd Sweeney
Cranford High School is extremely proud to announce that four seniors- Matt LaFronz, Kevin Strotz, Victoria Treboschi and Anna Zhao have all advanced to the Finalist standing in the National Merit Competition. These distinguished students are able to compete for a Merit Scholarship. These scholarships will be announced beginning in May. Cranford High School heartily congratulates these students and their families on this great achievement.
The Cranford High School Mock Trial Team finished the season 5-2 after falling to Oratory Prep in the Union County Finals on Wed February 1st at the Union County Court House in Elizabeth, NJ. Cranford will miss the leadership of their three graduating seniors: Bridget Gautieri, Valerie Podbelski, and Matt LaFronz. However, their remaining members: Margarita Bronshteyn, Scarlet Grabowska, Casey Zebrowski, Annie Higgins, Kellie Joyce, Noah Lee, and Alli Barry will continue Cranford's winning tradition next year.
CHS Freshman Julie Byrne set the County swimming record in the 100 Butterfly.
CHS Senior Kristen VanBenschoten won the Union County Shot Put event for indoor track, setting a school record with 34'6"
Three students from the Cranford High School class of 2012 have been selected to participate in the United States Presidential Scholars Program. Matthew LaFronz, Kevin Strotz and Anna Zhao have been chosen to participate in this national competition because of their outstanding SAT scores. Only 100 scholars from New Jersey have been asked to participate, the next stages of the competition will involve college transcripts, secondary school reports and student essays.
This year's Model UN conference was held from January 6-8 in Hershey, PA. Cranford's delegation of 110 students competed with 1400 delegates from 32 different high schools in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. Click here to see the awards that the Cranford High School delegation received.
Fifty Five DECA students at Cranford High School scored in the top of their business events, making them not only eligible to compete in the New Jersey DECA Leadership Conference in Cherry Hill, February 26-28 but also the most to ever advance in the history of Cranford High School. Click here to see this year's DECA results.
While studying a unit on city sites, traffic and directions , Ms. Schmidt's German 4 class created a replica of a busy intersection in Germany with great details. Click here to see a photo of their creation.
The Performing Arts Program presented its 2nd Annual Winter Dance Showcase, Thursday December 15th at 7:30pm in the CHS Auditorium. The concert featured guest choreographer and CHS alumnus Lindsey Rizkalla; seven original works choreographed by current students; as well as pieces from the CHS Academy Dance Program and Elements of Dance Class. Styles included Modern, Jazz, Ballet and African Dance.
Congratulations to the Cranford High School Football team for winning the North 2 Group 3 state finals against Parsippany Hills, 27-0!
Cranford High School hosted the first Cougars vs. Cancer Basketball Tournament on December 27th & 29th with Old Bridge, Nutley and West Orange also participated. Cranford boys and girls teams captured the tournament championship. MVP awards were presented.
Morgan Miller was named New Jersey News 12 Scholar Athlete of the Week. This honor automatically makes Morgan eligible to be the NJ News 12 Athlete of the year. As a Junior Morgan was All Conference and All County in basketball. As well as being an unbelievable student, Morgan is a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, and Math League.
Congratulations Morgan!
With the help and support of CHS Students and Staff, over 200 blankets for cancer patients were made. We would like to thank students who so generously brought in fabric and worked to make beautiful blankets. Half the blankets are being delivered to Morristown Memorial Carol Simon Cancer Center. Later on, the rest will be shipped to Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC.
Cranford High School would also like to commend the following students for the National Merit Program: Christine Albert, John Christiano, William Daly, Rebecca Deczynski, Jennifer Heine, Meghan Heine, Kevin Hernandez-Rives, Kaitlin Hipkin, Dylan Kelly, Carl Liebermen, Timothy Nichols, Danny Rahal, Jeremy Rodriguez, and Galen Vosseller.
Cranford High School is proud to announce the accomplishment of the following semifinalists in the 57th annual National Merit Scholarship Program: Matthew LaFronz, Kevin Strotz, Victoria Treboschi and Anna Zhao. The 16,000 semi-finalists nation-wide are the highest scores in each state and represent less than 1% of the 1.5 million students who took the PSAT as juniors. These semi-finalists are the only participants from Cranford High School who qualify to continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships to be awarded in the spring of 2012. The academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $34 million. About 90 percent of the nation's semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and more than half will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title. To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the high school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.
Congratulations go to Mr. John Chorazak and his classes for earning a Character Education Partnership, Promising Practice, for his project, Toys for Tots. This is a nationally recognized award for exemplary practices that encourage the ethical, social and academic growth of students through character education. A plaque commemorating this achievement has been placed in the rotunda of Cranford High School.
The 2011 Cranford Cougars gymnastics team started the season ranked in the Star Ledger Top 20 and finished the season ranked #10. The team finished the season with a record of 10-0 setting numerous school records. They won the team championship at the Cougar Invitational and placed second at the Union County Tournament.

Senior Mary Kate Walch won the Union County All-Around Title for the second consecutive season as well as the State Sectional All-Around Title. Sophomore Alexandra Puryear was the All-Around Champion at the 2011 Cougar Invitational and was the Union County Champion on the vault.

The football team ended regular season play with a record of 8-1, the best record in school history. They advance to the State Sectional semi-finals.

The boys Cross Country Team won the Conference Championship and placed second at the County Championship. They culminated their season with a fourth place finish in the Sectional Championship and qualified for the State Group Meet for the fifth consecutive year. The girls team finished their season placing third at the Conference Championship and fifth at both the County Championship and the Sectional Meet.
The Latin 4 and AP Latin students competed in an academic competition during Classics Day at Montclair State University on Friday, October 21st. Our school placed 8th out of the 20 schools that participated in the competition.
The Siemens Foundation announced the Semifinalists of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, revealing the brightest high school minds in contention for the nation's most coveted teen science prize. Congratulations Anna Zhao for being selected as a semifinalist in what is regarded as one of the leading science and mathematics research-based competitions for high school students.
The CHS members of the NJ All-State Chorus will sing in Atlantic City at the NJEA Teacher's Convention November 11, and at NJPAC November 20, 2011. These students auditioned in the spring of 2011 to earn spots in the NJ All-State Chorus. CHS members are Jake Forrestal, Jimmy Sweeny, Lucy Esposito, Ryan Burd, Geddy Warner and Casey Zebrowski.
The St. Louis Cardinals, beat the Texas Rangers 6-2 to win the World Series. The game was played at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri for the Cardinals eleventh World Series title.
The Friends of the Performing Arts Department Presented "Cabaret Night: A Masquerade" on October 29th at CHS.
The Cranford High School Cougars Marching Band had an excellent opening to their competition season while competing in the United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) Silver Show at JP Stevens High School. The band took second place in division 3A (up to 75 members). The band also took second in the individual categories of Music Ensemble and Overall Effect.
The Art Educators of NJ and NJPAC invite you to the 2011 Fall Youth Art Exhibit CHS exhibiting artists are Alexandria Bizub and Elizabeth Holan, class of 2011. Alexandria and Elizabeth's artwork was chosen from over 100 entries. The exhibit is at the Victoria Theatre, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ. Their artwork is also available online.
Cranford High School has been ranked #502 on the Washington Post's list of national schools.