Cranford High School held the 2017-2018 National Honor Society Induction Ceremony for the National Spanish Honor Society on June 5th. The inductees are Alexia Berenger, McKenna Flynn, Kristina Kortbaoui, Hannah McCarthy, Johanna Capone, Mia Garofalo, Christian Lijo, Kelly McMahon, Samuel Clark, Lily Gudoski, Marisa Lijoi, Rose Michetti, Lillian Collyer, Mia Harris, Emma Lore, Paulina Onisko, Julia Conolly, Erin Iredell, Jayna Mallon, Sofia Prata, Caroline Dembiczak, Burke Jaeger, Tessa Maloney, Maddie Simone, Mary Feranda, Grace Kisly, Emily Marinucci, and Juliana Tabback.

Cranford High School held the 2017-2018 National Honor Society Induction Ceremony for National Latin Honor Society on June 5th. The inductees are Ian Baumann, John Bush, Andrew Dolan, Andrew Gordon, Kimberly Haupt, Amanda Hogan, Jon Iosso, Jennifer Kosty, Brenna Krebs, Lucian Mahadeo, Christian Malamug, Enya Manning, Mary Grace McNamara, McKenzie Muller, Nicholas Noce, Benjamin Quinutolo, Julia Saginario, Jessica Schwartz, Kayleigh Talbot, Patrick Trojan, Theodore Trojan, Charlotte Willis, and Riona Wilson.

Cranford High School held the 2017-2018 National Honor Society Induction Ceremony for the Delta Epsilon Phi (German Honor Society) on June 5th. The inductees are Paige Brogan, Caitlin Chiodo, Anthony DeCostello, Dylan Fahy, Claire Ganley, Mary Johnstone, Maya Jones, and Shannon Roman.

The spring dance concert led by Emily Donahue was a huge success. The students captivated the audience with their performance and science teacher Jenn Nisita also showed off her talents in this event.

Several Interact Club students volunteered their time to serve meals to the less fortunate at the Soup Kitchen in Elizabeth. Their advisor is Sue Ulaky.

CHS students Lindsey Twaskas, Alexander Whitemore, Judy Dullavin, Riona Wilson, Tim Eimer, Jennifer Flynn, and Will Sassi were awarded the Japanese Language and Culture Study Award by the NJ Association of Teachers of Japanese.

Burke Jaeger was accepted into the NJ Scholars Program.

Kacie Dombrowski, Abigail Giannoble, Natalie Schindler and Alannah Clarke had their artwork selected to for the Union County Teen Arts Traveling Art Show.

Emma Lore won an Instructional Award in the Apparel and Accessories Marketing Role Play event at the annual DECA International Career Development Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cranford High School has finished AP exams for the 2017-2018 school year. This year, 430 students took at least one of the 31 exams offered.

Ethan Parish, a CHS freshman, was recently accepted to Temple University, Japan Campus’ 2018 Summer Program. Ethan will be participating in excursions in Tokyo, Nikko, and a trip to DisneySea.

Congratulations to Elizabeth McCaffery, Tom Gilmartin and Kaitlyn Herreid who are finalists in this year’s NJ Business Idea Competition 2018. They are among the top 24 submissions out of 500 that were received in this competition. There will be an awards ceremony on April 20, 2018 at Fairleigh Dickinson University Campus.

Congratulations on to our top two students in the Class of 2018!
Valedictorian: Meg Cui
Salutatorian: Emily Wilson

On March 14th 2018, many CHS students participated in a walk out that was organized in an attempt to pay respects to the students who lost their lives in the Parkland shooting. The CHS students were outside for 17 minutes, some students gave speeches about the students who passed in the shooting as well as gun control laws; the students proceeded to give a moment of silence and light candles to honor the Parkland students. It was a solemn and peaceful event.

On Friday, March 9, 2018 Cranford High School students were awarded with NJATJ's (NJ Association of Teachers of Japanese) Japanese Language and Culture Study Award. The students honored were Lindsey Twaskas, Alexander Whitemore, Judy Dullavin, Riona Wilson, Tim Eimer, Jennifer Flynn, and Will Sassi, nominated by Fisco-sensei, Kimura-sensei, and Wingate-sensei. There ceremony was attended by Mr. Horiki from the Consulate of Japan, who gave the congratulatory address.

The following students were selected and will be performing in the American Choral Directors Association's All-Eastern Honor Choir in Pittsburgh this weekend. They were selected from hundreds of applicants throughout the Northeast and we're honored they'll be representing Cranford High School and our strong music program. The students are: Charlie Bernstein, Joseph Coyne, Alex Gee, Burke Jaeger, Max Kopla, Noah Kopla, Christian Malamug, Matthew Mallick, Juliana Marcotrigiano, Pria McNeil, Rose Michetti, Robert Morris, Madison Panno, Laura Salway, Madeline Simone, Justin Witwick, and Noah Wohlsen.

CHS DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) participated in the Regional Competition at Kean University on January 11. The results are as follows: Individual Event Finalists: Apparel and Accessories Marketing, 1st place - Emma Lore;​ Automotive Services Marketing, 3rd place - Jayna Mallon; ​Entrepreneurship Series - Lee Rosenthal; ​Food Marketing Series - Steven Shore, Joseph Casazza, Veronica Niemiec;​ Hotel and Lodging Management, 1st place - Kathryn Pringle; ​Principles of Marketing - Benjamin Quinutolo, Sara Iredell, Noah Kopla; ​Sports and Entertainment Marketing, 1st place - Kevin Schwartz, ​ Ian Sullivan, Erin Infante, Michael Callahan, Chloe Levy; ​Principles of Hospitality & Tourism, 1st place - Maddy Larrabee​, 2nd Place - Deirdre Tighe​, 3rd Place - Rachel Durant, Joseph Carrea, Sarah Martin; ​Business Service Marketing, 3rd place - Kerry Pollock; ​Retail Merchandising -Kaitlyn Herreid​, Restaurant & Food Service Marketing, 2nd place - Matthew Doran, Madison Howells​. Team Events: Entrepreneurship Team Decision Making, Zachary Blevins/Gavin Kellett, Michael Carracino/Brian Nigro;​ Marketing Management Team Decision Making, 3rd place- Samantha Berry/Claire Readie; ​Sports & Entertainment Marketing Team Event, 3rd place- Chris Guiditta/Hannah McCarthy, Matthew Fonseca/Jeremy Hunt; ​Travel & Tourism Team Decision Making, Daniel Gomez/Christian Malamug

Cranford High School flutist, Minato Hiroka​ (grade 11) was accepted into the Central Jersey Music Educators Association High School Region Band. Minato was one of 16 flutes selected from over 120 players who auditioned. He performed with other selected students from around Central New Jersey at a concert at Montgomery High School on January 15.

On February 21st 2018 the CHS Latin Club came together and participated in a "FreeRice.com" academic competition for charity. The Latin Club raised a total of 18,000 grains of rice that will be donated to the World Food Bank.
Here is a photo of the students competing against one another.

A staple of the performing arts program at Cranford is community service. The Cranford High School Madrigal Choir engaged in 18 different activities for community organizations between Thanksgiving and the New Year. These activities include their annual caroling at the Elizabeth YMCA Shelter Christmas Party and the Cranford-Elmora Soup Kitchen.

On January 11th CHS Science League members, led by advisor Michael Castagno,​ competed in their first competition for the 2017-18 School Year. CHS hosted the NJ Science League and competed against 3 other area high school science league teams. CHS entered six teams into the competition in the areas of Environmental Science, Biology 1, Chemistry 1 & 2, and Physics 1 & C. The Environmental Science and Physics C teams won first place.

CHS Teacher Sara Sherman​ coordinated the Poetry Out Loud Competition, and senior Josiah Cadet​ will be representing Cranford next week in the regional competition at South Orange Performing Arts Center. Michelle Balseiro​ has been serving as Josiah’s mentor.

On December 16th, a very cold Saturday, the Global Affairs Cohort, consisting of a mixed gtoup of juniors and seniors, volunteered to work with Habitat for Humanity on a job site in Orange, New Jersey. Here they learned how to install hardwood flooring. They were able to speak with a regional coordinator about the workings of the program and how it services the community. The students and their advisor, Nicole Savino Mulcahy​, were honored to meet a recipient of one of the homes. The students were so moved by the experience that they want to sign up for an additional date in May.

On Friday February 2nd, Mr. Bell's AP Computer Science Class and Webmaster Team went on a field trip to the Google office in New York City. Here they were able to see the how the company functioned on a day to day basis by touring the office's 10th floor. After the tour finished the students participated in a coding activity in which they were able to create their own search engine using the Python coding language.

CHS students competed in the 2018 Speech and Theatre Association of New Jersey (STANJ) competition on January 6th. This is the first year that CHS had one finalist in every category. Katrina Wischusen​, Dramatic Monologue Finalist; Haley Baranowski,​ Comedic Monologue Finalist; Katrina Wischusen​ & Pria McNei​l, 3rd Place Comedy Pairs; Sophie Zacharda​ & Brian Nigro​, Dramatic Pairs Finalists; Alexa Bobko ​& Noah Wohlsen​, 5th Place Dramatic Pairs; Kelly McMahon​ & Katie Manhardt​, Improv Pairs Finalists; Anna Kalafatis​ & Judith Kirkikis​, 6th Place Improv Pairs; Kelly McMahon, 3rd Place Best Actress in State; Noah Wohlsen​, 3rd Place Best Actor in State; "She Kills Monsters", Nora Sullivan, Noah Wohlsen, Andrew Gordon, Sophie Zacharda, Marisa Lijoi, Katie Manhardt, Sullivan Grace, Pria McNeil, Haley Baranowski​, 4th Place Best Scene; "Letters to Sala", Kelly McMahon, Alexa Bobko, Anna Kalafatis​, 2nd Place Best Scene.

On Thursday January 11th, the 2018 DECA Regional Conference took place. Congratulations to the 36 of the 95 Cranford High School students who will be moving on to compete in the New Jersey State DECA Career Development Conference in Atlantic City from February 27th to March 1st 2018. Here is a complete list of all the students who won at the conference.

Congratulations to the Physics C and Environmental Science teams for winning the opening Science League competition yesterday. Their next match will be on February 8th.

CHS sent 100 delegates to participate at the 48th Annual Model United Nations Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The event was host to approximately 1700 students representing 20 schools from the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware area. Several CHS students were awarded for their work at the event. These students include: Danny Nicholas, Colin Budries, Minato Hiroaka, and Nicholas Assaf for Outstanding Country, Madeline Simone for Premier Country, Gabe Beckford for Premier Diplomat, Andrew Rojo for Outstanding Country Research Paper, Cam Matheson for Outstanding 1st Year Delegate, and Burke Jaeger who was elected as Chair of National Building Committee. CHS itself won Outstanding Delegation. Additionally these following students were selected to attend the annual YMCA Youth Conference on National Affairs; Burke Jaeger and Emma DeBole with Gabe Beckford was selected as an alternate.
Here is a write up with all the students who were recognized at the event.

Here is a list of the Cranford High School Performing Arts students who were honored by the International Thespian Society for their outstanding work and academic achievement. There were 31 students total that were honored. Here is the full list of students and the awards they won.

Congrats to the APA actors and actresses who competed at STANJ over the weekend of December 30th-31st. Katrina Wischusen, Dramatic Monologue Finalist. Haley Baranowski, Comedic Monologue Finalist. Katrina Wischusen and Pria McNeil, 3rd Place Comedy Pairs. Sophie Zacharda and Brian Nigro, Dramatic Pairs finalists. Alexa Bobko and Noah Wohlsen, 5th Place Dramatic Pairs. Kelly McMahon and Katie Manhardt, Improv Pairs Finalists. Anna Kalafatis and Judith Kirkikis 6th Place Improv Pairs. Kelly McMahon and Noah Wohlsen, 3rd Place Best Actress and Actor in State.

Three CHS students, Dane Hagstrom, Dan Iosso, and Isiah Johnstone attended the Hack-a-Thon. The Hack-a-Thon is an event where you are placed into groups and you are tasked with creating something that involves different types of programming. The group was able to play games, create programs, and receive SWAG from the event. One member of the team said that the group came into the event without an idea as well as having limited knowledge of coding on different platforms. However, he said that he still enjoyed attending the event and would go again. He also stated that he came away from the event with this, "I learned very basics of Java, to come in knowing about what you want to do ... and to know how to code".
Here is a photo of a program the group was working on

On December 6th, the CHS Latin Club held its annual "Saturnalia" Roman feast in the CHS senior cafeteria. Around 50 students attended and enjoyed food, fun, and prizes from Italy and Greece. Additionally the students participated in a variety of contests such as the toga-draping and the Latin Trivia Certamen.

Congratulations to Mr. Corazza for winning the Turk-A-Teacher contest. Even with a broken wing he was still able to suit up. The Turk-A-Teacher event raised a total of $116 which was donated to Cranford Family Cares. Here is a photo:

This year Mr. Gorman's Advanced Graphics class participated in the Memory Project by creating digital portraits for children in the Philippines. The Memory Project is a nonprofit organization that invites art teachers and their students to create portraits for youth around the world who have faced substantial challenges such as neglect, abuse, loss of parents, and extreme poverty.
Here is a photo

Additionally, here is a link to a video about the Memory Project.

CHS arts students recently had the opportunity to engage with college professionals. Professors and students from Montclair State University's theater and acting program visited CHS to perform and work alongside the students in the acting academy in a master class and workshop. Moreover, representatives from the School of Art Institute of Chicago and MassArt visited and shared information about their programs and portfolio reviews with the CHS art students.

On October 27th, CHS' AP Latin students attended Classics Day at Montclair State University. The students attended two lectures regarding features of an epic hero in ancient and contemporary societies as well as a lecture discussing the mythological stories of Ovid. Additionally, the students participated in an academic competition concerning grammar, Roman civilization, and Greco-Roman mythology.
Here is a photo

For the 2017-2019 academic years, Cranford Public Schools was one of eight districts nationwide to be chosen as a host school for J-LEAP. J-LEAP stands for “Japanese Language Education Assistant Program”, which brings native Japanese Language Assistant Teachers to educational institutions in the U.S. for up to two years. The purpose is to strengthen Japanese language programs and provide an assistant teacher to team-teach with the lead teacher in their classes. The program started in 2011 and is jointly administered by The Japan Foundation and The Laurasian Institution.
On October 18, 2017, Leslie Roberts, Japanese Language Specialist from The Laurasian Institution, visited both Hillside Avenue School and Cranford High School. Roberts-sensei observed Wingate-sensei (lead teacher) and Kimura-sensei’s (assistant teacher) Japanese classes and gave extremely valuable feedback to both teachers.
That morning, Roberts-sensei met with Dr. Fogas and Ms. Santa to present a certificate of recognition to Hillside Avenue School. During the afternoon, she presented a second certificate of recognition to Mr. Cantagallo and Mrs. Bellino at Cranford High School. This certificate is not only to commend selected Japanese Programs that are participating in a very competitive fellowship, but also to welcome colleagues into the J-LEAP family.

CHS is proud to announce that in 2017, there were 791 AP Exams taken, and 155 students have been designated as AP Scholars.

CHS students Charles Bernstein, Joseph Coyne, Burke Jaeger, Max Kopla, Noah Kopla, Alex Gee, Christian Malamug, Matthew Mallick, Juliana Marcotrigiano, Pria McNeil, Rose Michetti, Robert Morris, Madison Panno, Laura Salway, Madeline Simone, Justin Witwick, and Noah Wohlsen have been selected for the American Choral Directors' Association All-Eastern Honor Choir. In March, these students will perform in Pittsburgh with other top singers from high schools in the Northeast.

The Latin Club created a scarecrow which is currently placed on Walnut Ave. Here is a photo of some of the members and their scarecrow.

Burke Jaeger and Paulina Onisko, Science Academy students, have been working with a UCC Science Professor in an attempt to create composite material using mushrooms.

Senior Clair Ushay made history as the first CHS student to go out for Open Campus.

On September 8th Cranford High School started using the Rotate and Drop Schedule. This was Principal Mark Cantagallo's reaction:
"On September 8, 2017, Cranford High School made history. We started our first day of the Rotate and Drop Schedule. It was an impressive event that was well executed by the teachers, students, custodians, administrators, secretaries, and community members. We stand together unified and changed the direction of Cranford High School forever,".
Most CHS students have taken a liking to the new schedule. One senior stated that, "We are able to complete more in depth learning activities during class, I enjoy the longer periods", while another student noted that, "I am not rushing around the building anymore and I have time to get work done during lunch".
Teachers have also developed feelings similar to those of the students. One teacher stating that,
"I like that I can transition to multiple class activities during the class period. The students are getting a lot accomplished during class. The students love the new schedule and enjoy coming to school more. I am able to assist students on a one to one basis now...Kids are coming to me for extra help during lunch and it is helping them understand things before the next class. I was not a believer, but seeing it in action is amazing, I am on board now."