001e e e good evening and thank you for attending the Ying High School 2024 senior scholarships and awards night my name is Jennifer Anton and I have the pleasure of serving as the Director of Counseling Services an assessment for the uing public schools before we begin tonight's program we have a few housekeeping items to address restrooms are located directly across the auditorium pleas please silence or turn off your cell phone this evening's program is being recorded by Our IT department it is currently being live streamed and will be available on the uing public schools YouTube channel at a later date it will also be posted on Channel 19 a commemorative list of tonight's award recipients will be distributed at the end of the evening finally in an effort to keep the program moving we ask
002that speakers make their way to the podium once the presenter before them has finished in addition regardless of the size of your voice we ask that all presenters use the microphone so that our it Department can pick up the sound without any difficulty there is a second Podium available for any presenters who would like to use the podium on the ground floor lastly please make the presentation to the student um right at the podium at this time please join me in recognizing student council president for the class of 2024 leading Us in the Pledge of Allegiance Nicholas [Applause] Benedetti I pledge allegiance please stand I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for
003all this year we will begin our ceremony with a few brief remarks from our distinguished board president Mrs Deb dudus our superintendent of schools Dr David Gentile and Ying High School principal Mr edme followed by the presentation of our scholarships and awards and ending with a presentation of Ying high school department Awards in the event that a student was unable to attend this evening we will ensure that they will receive their honors from tonight's program at this time please warmly welcome to the podium our distinguished Board of Education president Mrs Deb DUIs good evening everyone it is my pleasure being here this evening to honor this amazing group of young students I am so impressed with all that you have already accomplished the scholarships and Awards being given tonight are amazing this Ying High class
004of 2024 is truly sectional you should all be very very proud of yourselves as we are of you I have seen the list of your future plans colleges trade schools military and some of you have already earned a spot in the workforce if you're unsure of your path that is okay too everything will fall into place I'd like to leave you with a little bit of advice find a career path that you love trust your gut spend money wisely find balance between work and spending time time with your loved ones and surround yourself with those who bring out the best in you I expect to continue to hear amazing things about the y High class of 2024 in the future on behalf of myself and my board of education colleagues we are so proud of
005you and wish you much success before I finish I would like to quote my colleague Anthony massina once a Blue Devil always a Blue Devil congratulations [Applause] good evening everyone good evening everyone good evening there we go there we go uh thank you Mrs dudus um I'd like to also thank the Board of Education members uh some in attendance tonight um for your continued support and making the students the priority uh you really do an excellent job with that I'd like to give you a round of applause if we can it is my honor and privilege uh to welcome you to the high school senior award banquet for this graduating class of 2024 Tonight We Gather to celebrate the remarkable achievements of all these outstanding students seated before you um each has demonstrated excellence dedication
006and resilience in their academic Pursuits as well as extracurricular Endeavors this evening is a testament to your hard work the unwavering support of your families and the dedication of our exceptional Educators and staff as you prepare to embark on this next chapter in your lives uh take pride in what you've accomplished and this bright future that lies ahead of you just last night I sat in an attendance uh a lot like all of you there for my son's senior award night I know firsthand how your parents and loved ones are likely feeling this evening there's some pride some hope and still some anxiety because no matter how big you become we can't help but seeing you as the children that once looked us for everything you know we were the experts at one point believe
007it or not now if your household is anything like mine uh you rank just below the animals of Tik Tock but that's okay though because no matter what happens we remain your biggest fans your biggest supporters and will always be here if you need us for now we are content with watching you conquer your fears strive for your dreams so congratulations to all of the award recipients tonight let's celebrate your achievements and the promising Journeys that wait ahead of you we can't wait to see what you guys come up with next thank you very much enjoy the evening and please welcome me welcome Mr edil uh principal to the podium welcome and thank you uh superintendent Gentile Board of Education president uh Mr ludus and all our board members I want to also thank our
008counseling department our director of counseling Dr Anton and all our counselors who worked so hard this evening worked so hard part all year to put this evening together uh it doesn't just happen instantaneously the high school administrative team our district supervisors and our entire High School staff are extremely excited and pleased to have everyone together tonight to celebrate the class of 20124 it's been a long and difficult Road for our students and now as we prepare for commencement next Friday June 21st at 7:00 p.m. they are ready to go out in this world I want you to know it has been a pleasure having your children in our high school tonight is about honoring and recognizing their accomplishments and accolades I am very extremely honored and privileged to stand here today as principal viewing high
009school at this year's senior scholarship and awards night which is a culmination of the four years of high school to recognize the academic accomplishments of these students each student has worked tremendously hard to be here tonight overcoming obstacles and persevering in their specific areas you spent 18 years waiting for this moment to be here you did an amazing job raising these young men and women so parents and grandparents sit back enjoy this evening and Rel us in your child's Limelight as we begin our program now I would like to bring up Mrs Ellen Scott to get us started with the first award [Applause] hi I'm ellan Scott and I am here to present the Joshua Scott Citizenship Award this is not an award about achievement scholastically or athletically it is recognition of an individual who
010has extremely fine character um I have to thank the athletic department though for doing the job for me of getting nominations and votes to determine which person that is so thank you athletic department so back in 1990 when Joshua was taken from us he was in ninth grade and at that point n9th grade was still at Fisher and I don't know if there's anybody else in the room as old as I am remembers an English teacher at fiser a lovely woman named Geneva Williams so she was a a wonderful teacher but Joshua had her and he was not in love with English so they kind of buted heads all year long and it was it was hard on both of them so now was finally the end of the year and Josh comes home from
011school and typical parent question I say well you know what did you do in school today and he said oh well I helped Mrs Williams uh you know collecting all of her books and putting them away for the summer and I thought what so I actually blurred it out I said why did she choose you because I knew that they had kind of you know loost horns a number of times and he looked at me with that look that only a a child can give a parent which kind of says oh po mom that right and he said well she chose me because she knows she can trust me that is a very telling comment and when Josh was St and only a few days after that we had so much Outreach from the community
012teachers and coaches who had worked with Josh and the one thing that they all said one way or another was the regret that they had never told him what an extraordinary individual he was because he was trustworthy he was kind he was so many fine things so we decided Well that's you know that's a shame that we don't do that so we decided to bring on the annual award presentation which is given to someone that everyone who knows this person thinks they these qualities as well sorry about that folks there used to be right outside the auditorium a big plaque that had all the words and it had 33 years worth of recipients names and it was like visiting the loveliest families in uing and people that on many fine great things um so this
013year I am inviting an individual to join that group and I am presenting the Citizenship Award to Nathaniel [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Manon hello this is yours this is a way of us putting him and everyone who knows him every teacher everybody that this is an exceptional person and you should look forward the best so we wish you the best and we know you'll get the best [Applause] good evening everyone even my name is Marcus Cole um I'm from the Universal Display corporation uh so every year my company uh we present a scholarship it's called our fed scholarship and it's presented to a student who exemplifies all of the key things that make a great stem Advocate potential researcher future scientist um as well as someone that is actually going to use their talents and pursue
014a career in stem um I remember being in high school and not really knowing what I wanted to do who I was and this particular individual uh is none of those things they according to everyone who knows them and has provided recommendations for them they know exactly who they are what they want to do and where they fit into this world and they know how to try things and fail and try again and succeed and really find out what makes them special and what makes them valuable to this world um I EDC the kind of the three main pillars when it comes to research and developing Innovative science we really value innovation vision and reality having that Innovation to look forward and out beyond the things that you can see right in front of you
015having that Vision to actually take that Innovation and turn it into something real and obviously creating that Innovation into some kind of reality um the this person's particular essay really stuck out to me mainly with the last uh sentence in this essay they and I'm paraphrasing obviously but they said we can't just think or act critically as scientists when we are going to innovate and go out into the world and add new things we need to think critically and think sustainably so that what we're doing is not going to tarnish our environment and actually provide value for longevity and not for shortterm game um so with that I would like to present this year's um f Le 2024 award and the uh total amount of $20,000 to Nicholas benedet good evening congratulations to the class
016of 2024 my name is Rick DeFalco um awarding the scholarship has become one of the highlights of my year it reminds me that we all have the ability to positively impact the lives of those around us in so many different ways this scholarship was born from the idea that simple acts of kindness can help improve another's life and it is dedicated to helping you understand just how important you are and how much we count on you to carry on this tradition 36 years ago I had the immense pleasure of meeting and starting a friendship with Ralph do Ralph was a very private individual he worked as an engineer and he enjoyed computers photography and music he was extremely bright and possessed a cutting wit Ralph was one of those individuals that always seemed to be
017standing on the outside looking in never fully comfortable in his own skin and certainly never receiving the appreciation his talents truly deserve Ralph helped teach me to look past the faan of a person to take the time to really know someone and see all they have to offer he helped me to understand that friendship requires effort and that trust must be earned not merely expected Ralph showed us how sad it is but a life has lost too soon and potential has left unrealized I lost my friend of cancer in November of 2007 since its Inception the Ralph Doge Memorial Scholarship has provided over $1 million in schol Ral scholarship Works to help support those individuals that we feel have the potential to truth make a difference to let them know that they are appreciated and
018that we believe in them and what they can accomplish to let them know we have faith that they in turn will one day carry the spirit forward it is our utmost pleasure to award the 15th annual Ralph doers Memorial scholarships to follow students to help help them start their meetings Andrea tetela [Applause] excuse us we have so many scholarships up here that we are um obtaining those as we speak so I will call all of the names of the students and then um we will we will make sure you get those scholarships um for $33,000 Maybelline sers I'm sorry students when when I call your name you can just come on up to the podium Destiny rickets for [Music] [Applause] $2,000 David hernand andz for [Music] $2,000 Kira Johnson for $2,000 Lauren Nelson for $2,000
019Courtney wnel for $2,000 excuse me for $1,000 car Carmela Gerald for $1,000 and Toma Willie for $1,000 have Fai in you young bues Inspire those around you to continue to make us proud [Applause] we would now like to call up the ying High School class of 1962 to present the next scholarship [Applause] good evening my name is Susan Shyer Westerberg and I was the class of 1962 and it's a little note about our graduating class we couldn't graduate from mewing high school we had to graduate from Trenton State College because it rained for 3 days before before we could get our graduation diplomas and then later I did graduate from Trenton State College it is with great pleasure that I speak with you this evening as the EHS class of 62 scholarship Committee chairwoman in
020May of 2023 on a regularly scheduled Zoom meeting to 30 members I suggested to the regular attendees that we develop a one-time only scholarship to a 2024 EHS graduate pursuing a higher level of education at a trade school Community College or 4-year graduate degree Zoom meetings were initiated by one of our fellow graduates during Co and we've been meeting once a month by Zoom ever since that our class had funds in an account for future reunions and we had a wonderful 50th reunion but no one volunteered to organize our 60th so there this there this money sat in an account doing nothing so at the May 2023 Zoom meeting I suggested the scholarship naturally all agreed and wanted me to be chairwoman I selected four classmates to serve on this committee we asked for donations
021to add to the account and by November of 2023 we had a total of $7,000 the committee decided on two $3500 scholarships and an application was developed and sent to the guidance director and to the principal I was in contact with Miss Tony Stewart guidance department secretary who dispensed 22 applications to seniors who sought our application and she was very instrumental on pushing these students to get their applications in by the deadline and she helped them to forward them to me by email and she's to be to be commended by these St we received 13 completed applications my committee met via zoom on May 7th with the challenge of selecting two recipients because the quality of essays the students leadership community service their transcripts acceptance letters and recommendations we had difficulty selecting only two recipients
022who are Daniel Armstrong and [Applause] to please stay up here at that point two members wanted to be added to the account and we asked our classmates for additional donations at that point we collected $4500 more and we decided to select three more recipients they are Madison Hill Thomas Davidson and Nicholas Benedetti they will all receive $1,500 scholarships than [Applause] hi I'm uh Carl rner from The uing Kanas club and uh on behalf of the unicist I want to congratulate all of the award winners tonight and also all of the other Ying High School seniors on their upcoming graduation I know it's an exciting time moving into a new phase of your lives uh I'd like to congratulate all the teachers School staff parents and families for the hard work uh to help the seniors
023get to this point in their lives Kanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving World um improving the world one child and one community at a time today we stand with more than 550,000 members including key clubs such as the one at Ying high school and uh other Kanis family organizations such as Circle K uh for college students the uing Kuan awards are in the areas of leadership Scholastic Improvement scholarship and volunteerism each year viewing onest Awards uh the leadership and citizenship Awards to two members of the Ying High School senior class who demonstrate outstanding leadership and citizenship this year's recipients are um Amira Brown Mullin and Chaz hen Chaz hen [Music] the next award is the Bruce White Memorial most improved award it it's for students who have shown the most Improvement
024during their time at U High School the scholarship is named after Bruce White who for many years was an educator he served many years as a member of the U of the uing Board of Education and had been the driving force behind the projects that the uing quanis uh do in in the uing uh School System including our scholarship program this year's recipients are uh amyra Carter Parton p and Christopher Yu these are5 $500 Awards uh next are the uing uh kanes Ying Foundation scholarships uh Foundation scholarships started about 30 years ago since its Inception the foundation's awarded approximately $130,000 to about 140 students uing uh Foundation scholarships are open to all Ying High seniors who reside or I should say all high school students who reside in Ying so not just the Ying High
025School uh so tonight we're going to announce all of the Ying High School winners uh the recipients um for $1,000 uh is ma uh Madison Hill [Applause] um and for $500 is Daniel Armstrong $500 to Thomas Davison and $500 to Isabelle hman finally um the George a barell Memorial Scholarship is awarded uh for scholarship and service to a member of the Ying High School Key Club uh this this year's uh recipient for ,000 is Alan Truss we're going to try and get a picture okay thank you very much congratul good evening we welcome you tonight we're from the epep organization my name is ly low I am the vice president and this is my wonderful president miss Roman KH want give you a little background in our EP he public education Foundation is an independent
026nonprofit citizens organization dedicated to providing Innovative educational experiences for students and the community of Y Township epep continues its tradition of providing grants to Yu public schools for Innovative educational programs we were established in 1995 as an independent not for-profit citizens organization whose mission is to mobilize Community Support concern commitment and resources to help improve the quality of Education in y Township EPF provides grants to the Y public schools for Innovative educational programs through fundraising and corporate and institutional sponsorship the grants recognize the need for Innovative educational opportunities in a variety of areas and the creativity of our Educators and meeting these needs this year we are so excited to be able to give out 11 scholar sh this year we are truly truly grateful for the Credit Union of New Jersey for sponsoring us
027with two scholarship we thank you very very much so tonight my first scholarship recipient is Dea Reed leadership scholarship $1,000 [Applause] academic Excellence scholarship to Jerel Rasheed Allen [Applause] Shala Collins committee service leadership scholarship $1 academic Excellence scholarship Madison Taylor Hill janelis sedino academic accent scholarship spons by the of New Jersey $1,000 leadership scholarship Nicholas Anthony benad Selena de academic e scholarship Ryan SKS the Vincent J SC athle leadership scholarship $1000 and Allan William chass the wayall personal scholarship $1 the next two scholarships I'm going to present in loving memory of my U father Raman Khan who was a civil engineer in value education as being and my phone died no as being the basic Foundation to continued success in life he supported individuals here in the states and abroad I hope to continue his
028legacy by presenting the next two scholarships today so ran Aon St academic scholarship goes to Thomas John Davis and the next one goes to Daniel laru Armstrong [Music] than good evening everyone my name is Dr dony Johnson and I will be presenting with my sore Patricia Reed Trenton alumni chapter of Dela Incorporated the Trenton alumni chapter of delus reward Incorporated was charted on September 16th 1952 in Trenton New Jersey Jersey by 11 trell blazing charter members Norma gabir Bingham Gloria Edmonds Carter Ernestine Doggins Louise Overton Granger Audrey Lee Harvey cider Grace Mahoney Dorothy vau Palmer Lenny Marie Pickins Elizabeth Smith Taylor Ellen Logan Williams and Edna W the trenum chap Del stus reor Incorporated serves the needs of Trenton Yu Hamilton Princeton East Windsor and West Windsor Lawrence Pennington and Hopewell New Jersey our membership
029includes over 160 women of diverse backgrounds who work in private and public entities throughout New Jersey we are Educators administrators business Executives politicians journalists attorneys judges doctors Etc in addition to being active in the sority our members are active in national and local organizations such as the NAACP United Negro College Fund PTA Urban League National Council of negro women Christian Ministries and Girl Scouts of USA and more our members strive to truly exemplify positive female role models for the Next Generation over the years we have raised thousands of dollars to fund our scholarship program which provides Merit Scholarships and book awards for deserving students other successful programs sponsored by trit alumni chapter include the Dr Betty shabaz Delta Academy Delta gems and Delta Enrichment Academy and our annual International Day of Service whose primary focus
030is on the prevention and education of HIV and AIDS for its efforts the chapter has received numerous honors and commendations for New Jersey from New Jersey's Governors members of Congress Mayors and other prominent figures in the community for their steadfast commitment to service at this time Miss Reed will go over our candidate good evening again um before I uh ask the students to come up I'd like to say to tr uh sorority each year Awards four merit awards this year three of those Awards came from you and high school so coun and staff is to be commended uh as I call your name would you please come up receiving the Sandra e Bishop Mar award is jayen [Applause] green jayen this award is in the amount of [Applause] $5,000 our next merit award goes to
031Morgan calber Morgan Morgan is receiving the Dorothy Palmer merit award again your award is in the amount of $5,000 [Applause] and our last award goes to uh Daniel [Applause] [Music] Armstrong Daniel you are receiving the Veronica Taylor Merit book award uh congratulations to you and your award is also in the amount of $5,000 thank good evening even my name is Jeff suers I'm representing the Omega SciFi fraternity Delta Upsilon chapter of the greater Trenton area first and formost I just want to acknowledge the Y School Board the administration as well as the teachers and most importantly the parents for their commitment their guidance and the direction and providing a class group for 2024 all right so you need to give your parents G and teachers a hand please our fraternity was founded on the campus
032of Howard University 19 191 you thank you I also attended Howard University class of 1980 I also attended y High School class in 1976 each year I come here and I'm extremely proud to present to the scholars and those who are endeavoring and pursuing higher education their Awards this evening we have two Awards in which we Pres uh first and foremost uh we have an award for Mr gerl [Applause] Allen in addition to that Mr Daniel [Music] Armstrong $1,500 all right I just want to say one thing about the model of our fraternity friendship is essential to the soul make new friends keep your old summer like silver summer like gold good night good evening all congratulations um graduates 2024 it's congratulations on your the scholarship recipients and congratulations parents um and congratulations staff what
033a wonderful staff as a former guidance counsel I know the work that it requires to put this kind of pro awesome program together but it's always a blessing for me U to be involved my name is Randy Morrison and I'm from the Kappa alide Fraternity in corporate and we are um a fraternity that started in 1911 at the University of Indiana and uh this is I want to St you this is our 45th year of reading these scholarships and we just want to say thank you this is the most wonderful program we have throughout the years always a pleasure um assisting students and their Endeavors because we know the sky limit because we can see from what has happened and those who receive scholarships and all our young people their places they going to go
034that they going to be opening new avenues for for us all and our world will be changing because of them and we thank them this year recipients for um we have as was mentioned we have five scholarships three of our recipients have come from Ying High first I say this is our uh the Jerry Yuri and Daryl Washington book award scholarship which we started a few years ago after their untimely passing and their families helped us with uh through our foundation and this the basic criteria along with good AC um grades and and GPA and and awesome um uh essay was at the first generation student and this year's specific is going to be gell [Music] alen and as you mentioned that it's for $1,000 [Applause] and our next two are our academic achievement scholarships
035and they are named after our Wesley neas and James Floyd um former brothers who actually started our Trin alumni chapter back in 1949 and those these scholarships were named after these young men and they are in the amount of $3,000 and this year recipients are Daniel Armstrong and Troy [Applause] Davis these your are doing their thing like there [Applause] and I just want to thank them and you all for the opportunity for the captains to participate in this program God bless [Applause] we bought the big check good evening class of 2024 parents faculty and staff my name is Doyle sadel and good evening everyone my name is John gamble now because we know the program could not include more lines in it and we're going to stay within our 3 minutes zet Lambda Education Foundation
036is affiliated with Alpha fi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated and it's Trenton chapter Zeta a Lambda and just as a note alpha alpha fraternity was founded December the 4th 1906 at Carell University in itha New York the first Intercollegiate black Greek organization thank you whoever was we have two presentations tonight and we add like others two of three uh scholarships we're presenting were earned by students here at Yu High School is Dylan Robert's mama here come on up here for a minute please man and we still within these three minutes we were told Dylan had another obligation tonight but we bought the big check Mom right in the amount of $1,000 has Zan [Applause] Roberts brother gamble good evening I will be a minute again this scholarship process that we had um in terms of the application
037and Essay um looking at transcripts and we will say that this young young man as evident by what we've already seen exceeded our expectations so I think we know who the recipient is of our scholarship come up Daniel long Daniel was he schons for the amount of [Applause] $2,000 Mr one more please we appreciate [Applause] you we told him he gets a real check he can't spend this one in addition we understand that the Brinks truck is going be outside the building later this evening [Applause] d uh good evening everyone good evening um my name is Francis O'Brien and I am the good citizen chair for the general Mercer chapter of the D and I have with me tonight our Regent Katherine medich who is also carrying our prizes so um I have the very
038great honor to present the Good Citizen Award to the Ying High School senior who has demonstrated the qualities of dependability service leadership and patriotism to a very outstanding degree and truly as she says in her prizewinning essay she sets the example she is the change she wants to see so congratulations to the Ying High School D good citizen Naomi Ty Esther okay well she'll receive her award we will make sure she re okay and we did increase our financial award so there's envelopes in that [Applause] good evening my name is Vinnie Ferrara um uh buildings and grounds right here at Ying um I'm behalf of the New Jersey Association of designated persons I would like to present this award to a young woman who exemplifies dedication compassion and academic Excellence as she embarks on her
039journey into the challenging profession of nursing at Townson university university is with greate pleasure pride and admiration that we recognize her as the recipient of this well-deserved scholarship given to a student pursuing further education in the environmental field of health and safety please join me in congratulating our scholarship winner and future nurse Isabelle [Applause] [Music] H it is my pleasure as vice president of the Mercer County chapter of the New Jersey school buildings and grounds associ assciation to award two recipients with scholarships these awards are presented to two students who will be graduating this year from vocational school they have both excelled academically and have shown an extraordinary commitment to their educational and career goals as well as their active participation in school activities I wish them continued success in all their future endeavors please
040join me in congratulating congratulating Amir ladimer and yanuk Jo [Applause] have a good night good evening everyone my name is Carl Vetti and I'm the president of the uing township Democratic Club and joining me this evening is our uing Township Council vice president councilwoman Jennifer Keys Maloney first and foremost we want to congratulate each and every one of our honores this evening we join you and your families your teachers your administrators and celebrating your tremendous achievements and we wish you nothing but the best as you proceed to graduation and into this next exciting phase of your lives personally it's a great honor as a former member of the Board of Education and also as a proud member of the Ying High School class of 2009 to continue to see the best and brightest of what
041the U public schools have to offer and yes it just recently hit me that it's the 15th anniversary of my own graduation so I'm feeling a a certain type of way that's five not five zks so for the past 10 years the Y Township Democratic Club has made it one of our annual goals to award a scholarship to a graduating Ying High School senior this award is given in memory of the late former Vice chair of the uing township Democratic committee Miss Angela TOS Angela was an attorney a scholar a civil rights activist engaged in the Arts and most of all a public servant each year we seek to honor a student that is well-rounded and represents the values that Angela stood for this year we have the pleasure of honoring a student who is
042not only successful in the classroom but has represented youing with style and grace as a stellar student athlete we wish her the best as she continues her academic and athletic career next year at St Joseph's University this year's Angela Tois Memorial Scholarship goes to Ryan stes good evening and thank you very much for having us my name is Suzanne borgas and I met Debbie marks Lake right across the straight on Felino field in the Dirk mountains when we were about four or five years old and we became lifelong friends we're both Ying High grads and we I'm so grateful to be here to honor her tonight it's my great it's my great pleasure to also have Debbie's nieces here to present tonight Lany and Olivia pno we're here to present the Debbie marks Lake foundation
043scholarship also known as Debbie's dreams Debbie was one of the finest student athletes that merer County ever produced she was a three sport student athlete for y High School she excelled in soccer B basketball and softball she was a member of the uan High School National Honor Society and attended laal University on a soccer scholarship where she graduated Magna kumade Debbie sadly passed away in 2015 after a very hard fought battle with cancer but along the way and still to this day she reminds us all to love laugh always tell the truth and most importantly be thankful this $2,500 scholarship is presented to a Ying High School female student athlete who demonstrates the same qualities as Debbie with regard to academic leadership and athletic achievements the student selected this year is an outstanding Yu High
044School senior and one of the hardest working and dedicated student athletes in the area she was named the CBC coaches player of the year is a gorade Player of the Year nominee a McDonald's All-American nominee and closed out her high school basketball career with 1,610 points and more than 800 [Music] our and your teammates many of which she played with since middle school leave behind a girls basketball Legacy that Debbie would be so proud of at yinghai and that will always be remembered she loves graphic design and hopes to pursue a career in the visual arts while playing division one women's basketball at the University of Michigan we can't wait to watch this young leader continue to grow both on and off the court Debbie would be so proud of the accomplishments of this very
045special young lady the 2024 recipient of the Debbie Mark scholarship is tala [Applause] [Music] hi everybody hi hi I'm s Cy aka Mr D uh I am the art teacher one of the art teachers here and you and I um I'm here to represent the U Township Ed Association which takes great pride in working simultaneously with parents the Board of Education and the UN Community this $750 award is presented to students who transition flawlessly between academics career building clubs and communal activities throughout their time with us each student has exemplified the very essence of leadership dedication and compassion their involvement in various aspects of school Life Community programs has left the lasting Mark demonstrating a commitment of Excellence that is truly commendable it is my honor to announce this year's three recip minuts of the
046ETA scholarship this student dominated the courts here at yinghai as a captain of the team she was an integral part in leading our girls basketball team to multiple championships she was a captain of The Varsity chering squad and a member of Spring Track off the court she was an invested member of the National Honor Society and the unified program she gives back to the community as a volunteer for the uing tree lighting ceremony a coach and scorekeeper for the community Ying wck basketball league and a summer camp counselor next fall she's looking forward to attending Fairley Dickinson majoring in Communications Miss JY Johnson this next student was incredibly involved in the larger EHS Community as a member of the Key Club the world cultures and Spanish club a peer leader and a dance captain for
047the School Musical as well as a four-year varsity cheerleader and a captain of the squad she is volunteered their time with unified Field Days freshman orientation class of 2024 concessions uh ensuring the success of our activities Beyond her school day she volunteers with the Prospect Heights Fire department the hope well Valley food pantry and the Special Olympics Mrs Madison Hill will make her Mark and state of the [Music] psychology this this next student was unable to be here today uh she has graced the Halls viewing high with a friendly smile Pleasant demeanor she was a member of the Key Club and Spring Track while also working through her high school years she volunteered her time with class of 2024 concession sales helping raise money for our class functions she will be attending Mercer County Community
048College this fall while her major is currently Undeclared she is thinking of pursuing a business major with a minor in marketing while attending Mercer she also plans to obtain her realtor's license to create her real estate empow so when you're looking to sell by you can give Jordan lewitz a call rations to all good evening my name is Barbara Brean and I'm here representing you Covenant Presbyterian Church you Covenant Presbyterian Church containing our commitment to you our community are pleased to present two $2,000 scholarships to students who will be attending the Community College this year's recipients of the scholarships for Jennifer yum de Roa and Abdullah denin Jennifer will be attending Merc County Community College with plans to study radiology and Abdula will be attending again attending Merc County Community College with plans to study
049accounting we applaud them with their dedication their determination to continue their education and we wish them success and their Endeavors con [Music] good evening my name is Rebecca Urban I'm president of the Yung Township historic preservation society and standing next to me is Don CS Jr we're here to present the Violet cops Memorial Scholarship over the years I have attended this Awards program with Donald Cox senior who was married to Violet Cox for 44 years he had always asked for someone else to read the description of his wife because it was still difficult for him years after her death to talk about her this past year Donald Coop died at the age of 90 on October 22nd 23 so I would like to share something about Don's dad to be able to have you understand
050why it was so significant for him to do something for his life Don's accomplishments were numerous he was a lieutenant in the US Army a travel industry entrepreneur selected for who's who in America and outstanding young men in America he taught history and World culturist classes at Trenton high school he was very active in the Ying kuas club and Ying Knights of Columbus later in life he helped co- found the Ying adult school and was a member of the Ying Township Council The Violet cops Memorial Scholarship was established by him and family through donations made by friends and relatives upon her death 24 years ago the money collected was sufficient to provide an ongoing scholarship in her name Violet Cox had been a teacher throughout her life as well including at Fisk Lanning and Fisher
051schools in uing she belonged to many historical organizations throughout New Jersey and was instrument establishing the victoriia museum and the state historic district both in Trenton she also served as an elected member of the Y Township governing body and served for many years as president of the Y Township historic preservation Society Violet established the Y Township historic preservation commission and helped to put many sites in youing on the state excuse me on the local registry in honor of violet Cox we are presenting today a $500 scholarship to a student who has indicated a strong interest in the further study of history we're very pleased to present the Violet cops award to Aba white we are very proud of her accomplishments and wish her well in her college career congratulations to our [Applause] hi there I'm
052uh John guz I'm not John F I'm John R um for probably the last close to 35 years this has been the John F guz Memorial Scholarship U fortunately we lost mom this year and so it's now the John F and Barbara Anda Memorial Scholarship now before we get into the scholarship um I'd like and I'm another uh 76 guy so I'd like you guys to give the teachers and your parents a hand having having raised kids myself and being the rap scallion that I was um yeah you guys did a good job with these kids um Mom and Dad both believe in education dad started his career here in Yan High School in 1953 we recently found his first contract and he got a whopping $2,000 as his full salary for being a science
053teacher and also a football coach um he finished up his career in 1989 as assistant superintendent of schools um Mom also was an educator they met at what is now Rowan back in those days it was Glassboro State Teachers College um if you look back one of the previous scholarships was the Gilmore J Fisher Memorial Scholarship I'm probably I'm betting I'm the only person here who's ever met Gilmore J fer he was a uh oh uh we we got some folks here I forgot about you 62 guys um yeah he was he was a great guy um I met him in Arizona after uh he had retired obviously fiser Elementary in junior high school was named after Mr fiser he was he was just a great guy well back to Mom and Dad um they
054both were deep into the education in this community uh they were also very deep in community service specifically in the kuas club I just found dad's uh lifetime membership card to kuas he was a member from 53 until his passing in ' 89 and when he passed mom joined the club and she was a member for 35 years um she was also the leader uh from the Kanas Club of the Key Club here at yhai for many years um so they uh did a lot and um with that um I'm going to introduce my sister who is uh the 5 year this year she's not the one five she's five I think she looks pretty good for that uh she's uh Pat my sister Pat har pant uh class of 74 hello everyone I'm so
055happy for all of you and congratulations I know you put in loads of work to get here everybody should be proud thanks to everybody involved I know there a whole load of people from school people parents and new yourselves so congratulations so uh I am going to announce the first recipient of the scholarship and these are in ,000 Juliana Medina and we understand our second recipient unfortunately couldn't be here but the school will give her this award Naomi [Music] Glover thank you very much We Now call Mrs Uma Brewster for Spencer Savings Bank is Mrs Brewster here okay no problem I will present this award I'm very proud to present this award scholarship tonight to a very deserving student for over 20 years Spencer Savings Bank has been awarding scholarships to students in supporting education
056for a brighter tomorrow to date the bank has awarded almost $600,000 in scholarships to local students tonight we are honored to award shaune [Music] bigs with a $11,000 college scholarship congratulations Shae on all of your hard work and academic achievements reach for the stars and Spencer Savings Bank quickly wants to tell us to stop by and visit us at Spencer Savings Bank we'd love to connect with you more and tell you about all the wonderful ways we can service your banking needs congratulations again and have a wonderful night we'd like to call up Mr Dave Beaver for the William antile Elementary School parent teacher organization [Applause] scholarship good evening everybody uh every year the uh anti ele uh parent teacher organization presents two $1,000 scholarships to two students who had the wonderful academic luck of
057attending what is strictly the best grade school in Ying catch me outside if you don't like that so this year our uh our two awards are going to sha and a g and this is you the best success in the future uh and we hope that you will continue to inspire the much smaller students that I interact with every day to achieve the heights that you graduates are achieving this year congratulations good evening hi hello and how do you do so congratulations to all of tonight's winners um definitely job well done I feel like I've watched so many of them grow up full disclosure I'm the parent of one of the seniors on the stage so I'm a little emotional right now so forgive me my name is Terence Stokes I am one of the
058seven County Commissioners here in merca County and each year we take we award a scholarship to an in to one student from each of the public high schools in Mera County who will be attending Mera County Community College this year we're P proud to present guell Allen with a $3,200 scholarship Mery County Community [Applause] College I put a big round of applause for all our presenters and all our organizations for all these wonderful scholarships acknowledging the accomplishments of the class of 2024 thank you thank you from the bottom of our hearts we really appreciate it and I know the kids will as soon as they get the first tuition bill in August um I'm here to present the lore Elementary School alumni scholarship award to a you to a lore graduate who continues to walk
059the walk of Lord Unity program living our Unity words of responsibility appreciation respect and kindness as a child at lur school this student learned important lessons about appreciating diverse cultures and perspectives and collaborating with others their journey to academic success started at lore school and continues today while a student while a student at Ying High School this person has earned the principal's honor role recognition since 2021 as well as an AP scholar award from the college board for their performance in AP Human Geography AP US History one and two AP environmental science AP Computer Science and AP English Literature and composition beyond the classroom the student is an active member of the Ying High School Community they have participated in the drama club the international thesbian Society Key Club and was a Blue Devil player
060all four four years here at Ying High School they've been a part of the environmental Club culinary Club jazz band Master singers for their section leader robotics Club rotary interact club and this year they added peer leadership peer tutoring the technology Student Association and the National Honor Society to their resume as a member of St Luke's youth group this student Volunteers in thec local suit kitchen they participate in community performances as a member of the Trenton Children's Choir assists with events such as the Watershed institution volunteer and helps with children's events at the Fredericksburg Library the student finally remembers his class trip to Camp Ernie so do I and while there the lessons he learned about teamwork developing social skills and collaborating with friends and classmates I'd like to think it's an experience it's the
061experience at Camp Bernie and not the hikes he's taken with his grandfather since he was a little kid that influenced his passion for protecting natural environment environment for future Generations this student is looking forward to the fall where he will be studying Forestry at the University of main his hope is to develop a future in forestry that will allow him to combat climate change and preserve our forest for generations to come this year's lore School alumni scholarship is awarded to Alan chel [Music] hello everyone my name is Cindy Hutchinson and this is Dennis zalis and we are the advisers for the uing high robotics team um every year Well since 2011 this award was begun uh because one of our founding Johnson and Johnson mentors Mentor passed away from pancreatic cancer in October 2010 so
062since then we've been given out a $11,000 scholarship in his memory um I first I'd like to congratulate all the uh students and graduates of Ying High um so we honor this student today uh let us also acknowledge the mentors teachers and family members who have supported and guided them a leader is shaped not just by their achievements but by the community that believes in their potential it is with great pride and immense pleasure to present the Richard Prospero Memorial Scholarship to a remarkable individual o Glenn toal a Bren is part of our technical team he was co- captain and robot operator for this year's competition when he first started on the team he never thought that he would be the positions that he is today in the world of Robotics Precision creativity and teamwork
063are Paramount these are not just technical skills they are life skills o Glenn has embodied these principles taking on challenges with resilience and guiding his peers with a steady hand and an Innovative mind being part of the robotics team has been a trans formative experience for a blend not only has he learned valuable engineering skills such as operating a lathe and Mill but he has also learned the importance of effective communication and teamwork working on the robotics team has taught him the value of empowering others to achieve the common goal of building a robot through countless hours of Designing building and building and building I'm talking about the swerve modules um and testing the robot he saw firsthand the power of collaboration and cooperation most importantly being part of the robotics team has helped him
064gain confidence in himself and and his abilities he has pushed himself out of his comfort zone taking on new challenges and grown as a leader Glenn I have this to say continue to dream big continue to push boundaries and let your leadership lift the way for others light the way for others your journey is just beginning and we are excited to see the incredible impact you will make on this world congratulations and thank you for inspiring us [Applause] all hi my name is Roman khong and I'm here to present r l night scholarship U my son was on the robotics team and he really enjoyed his time there and we decided to give back to the team he could not be here but he wrote a little thing for me I'm going to read it
065to you my time on first team 2016 proved to be an inflection point in my life my active engagement exposed me to phenomenal new Concepts and the experiences I had laid the foundation for my character today I sincerely hope that my continued support will allow other young students to find their footing their identity their aspirations for the future and through this scholarship I aim to guide one individual to the Apex of their formative Years first of many I hope proud to give to Morgan T you hello my name is Laura and I am here on behalf of you and Girls Softball Association for 40 Seasons now our program has provided players with positive experiences encouraged good sportsmanship and help to develop individual skills and teamwork needed both in softball and life we've been very blessed
066to see incredible players return Season after season to watch these players go on to accomplish great things throughout their college careers and Beyond this season we are fortunate enough to be able to offer two $1,000 scholarships to two players who have been a part of our Organization for many years they have remained a part of our organization whether playing or assisting at the fields we are grateful for all of the years you have spent with egsa and the positive impact you have left on younger generations of players whom look up to you both Amira Brown McMullen started softball Journey back in 2015 beginning as many did as a recreational sport a sport she never saw herself playing she showed determination passion and Rose to the challenges of balancing school teams and extracurricular activities and a
067heavy school schedule even playing after a pandemic which held its own set of challenges Amir who is also an accomplished dancer and very active in her surrounded Community is an inspiration to many young girls in our program who can see what a dream is and to have the confidence and hard work to get it Amir we at egsa are proud to have you of all you've overcome and the joy you have found with sful and cannot wait to watch your continued success at Clark Atlanta University this [Music] year Courtney Lil has been a part of our program since T and it's spent many years on our Ying Edge travel program she has been a delight to coach and an inspiration to her teammates for her positive atlook and true brick on the field Courtney found
068companionship and a love of traveling to new places amongst many other things during her tenure with us one of the most important things she has learned is how to recognize mistakes are not a failure but opportunities to reflect and redeem yourself something she will be able to use as she continues her journey she has remained a part of our EGS community and often comes back to assist during tournaments or help the younger generation find the Love of the Game Courtney we are grateful for all the years you have spent with our organization and we wish you success at Eastern University [Applause] good evening everyone first congratulations to all of the award recipients that are up on stage and those that could not be with us here tonight also this is a testament to all of
069the parents Guardians family members that are out in the audience that have supported all of the graduating seniors up until this point so please Round of Applause for all of the my name is Holly Ritter I'm the president of Y United Soccer Association this is the vice president toyra Ambrose I was on this stage some years ago as a Ying High graduate as well born and raised here in ying and now am using this opportunity to give back to our community as a lot of our students on the stage are as well the the individual that was chosen for the UN United Soccer Association scholarship has helped with our kickers program which is our youngest players of four and five years old by organizing and leading the practice sessions activities and mini games with great
070enthusiasm this individual has consistently volunteered as a coach for the past four years with professionalism diligence and gentle patience for the EA players the past two soccer season this individual was one of the two volunteers that took our kickers program under his wings made it their own and continued EA's curriculum and mentality this individual has greatly assisted EA in continuing our mission and focus on empowering teaching and guiding our local youth by serving as a role model sorry this individual has been a huge help to our program obviously the EA board is happy to recognize this individual with $1,000 scholarships we will definitely miss you Tommy buer good evening everyone congratulations to the class of 2024 my name is Tara Butler and I serve as director of community engagement for The Smith Family Foundation New
071Jersey our mission is to empower our community cultivate leaders and transform lines our core values sewing the seed of Education we believe that all Trentonian and mercy County residents have the right to be educated using higher education as a springboard citizens will have the ability to increase home ownership and have an economic stimulus in the city we attest that higher education is the normal Next Step our goal is with an emphasis on College and increased career vocational awareness as well as promoting lifelong learning adult citizens fostering sustainability cultivation We Are multi-year funders Who understand that philanthropy is a partnership as funders we seek to balance the power dynamics of nonprofits churches and philanthropy to best meet the needs of the Community we are serving we Empower our partners by providing leadership development capacity building and
072governance training to increase the propability of the success and sustainability of their programming and or congregation changing lives transformation we know that funding Education and Training our partners can expand their reach and effectivess effectiveness of their programming thus far Transforming Our Lives in our City and our community I'm proud to present the two scholarships um and before I present them for with The Smith Family Foundation we do not just present money scholarships and say see you later we follow them for the whole four years of their college education making sure that we're providing them resources making sure that we're checking up on them our director of uh I am the change Miss Sharice York and her absence she travels no matter where the UN University or college is she travels to to make sure to
073meet with them to meet with their um advisers to make sure that they are you know because when you leave away when when you leave school right high school and you're going into college we already know that it's a different atmosphere so I am proud to present the Charlotte Williams scholarship of in the amount of $2500 to Daniel Armstrong and I'm really proud to present this because his dad is my frat brother conratulations the next book award is for Alan chce in the amount of $500 and I hope to see both of you tomorrow evening is Right congratulations again good evening my name is Shela Jarrett I am one of the principes here at uan high school this evening I'm presenting the uing township administrators and supervisors Association scholarship in the amount of $500 this
074award is going to an EHS student who attended uh Ying public schools from kidney Garden through 12th grade and who intends to pursue a major and career in education this is re recipient is Connor [Music] Greg Conor Greg has been a dedicated student athlete both the wrestling and baseball teams at EHS as well as a hardworking senior experience student working at the Pennington market and this fall Conor plans to attend tcj and pursue a major in education me again the what's my name Foundation is in honor of Samantha Josephson who graduated from Robinsville High School in 2015 Samantha was a young lady that lit up a room when she walked in she made everyone feel important and special Samantha was kidnapped in murdered when she got into a car that was impersonating in Uber at
075the University of South Carol in last week we had the opportunity to hear from Mr Miss Josephson and it was not a sound in the auditorium they shared their story of Samantha and um it was important for them to let our seniors know about ride share safety the foundation was formed to educate the world on rer safety it uses her nickname Sammy stop before you get into a car please review the safety features ask before you get into a car ask the driver what's my name match match the license plate and model before getting into the car inform share your ride details with a friend or loved one doing these four steps could easily save your life for someone that you care about on behalf of Marcy and Seymour Josephson and the what's my name
076Foundation we are honored to award this scholarship to Gaz [Applause] Daniel good evening it is my privilege to present the second annual Follow My Lead scholarship award in memory of Blake woski two years ago Blake was third grade student at the lur school who passed away suddenly in August 2022 to honor and celebrate Blake and the amazing young man he was the weski family has started this scholarship in his honor this year's recipient of the follow my lead scholarship was a lore school student and is currently an active member of the Ying High School Community she will be attending Caldwell University in majoring in education she's currently the president of the k club excuse me clay Club at uing High School in her free time she enjoys art and music it is with great pride
077that I present the second annual Follow My Lead scholarship award to Destiny rickets [Applause] good evening my name is Lisa lean and I am one of the assistant principles at Union High School we are very proud to present the Catherine T reading scholarship award to Ryan Stokes Ryan your dedication throughout your years in new high school's Community is inspiring we know that moving forward you will continue to soar to new heights and we wish you nothing but the best on your continued Journey [Applause] the Carol a Allen Memorial Scholarship is a grant of $500 to be used towards College expenses awarded to a student who will pursue a career in elementary education Carol was a dedicated teacher in the uing public school system having taught in Elementary grades at lore and antile schools before her
078retirement she was devoted to her students and was recognized in who's who among teachers in America Governor's teacher of the year and bold Teacher of the Year this year's recipient is Lauren Nelson Lauren will attend Liberty University where she will major in music education during her time at Yu High School Lauren was a member of drama club Master singers Bella the EHS Musical and coffee for the soul and participated on the softball and swim teams congratulations Lauren Lauren is unable to join us tonight we will accept this award on her behalf the Blackford scholarship was established in 1994 by Peggy Blackford in honor of her parents Kirby and gay Peggy is a graduate of uing high school and is retired from United States Foreign Service Kirby was a local businessman and served as mayor and
079member of the Ying Township governing body gay was a longtime member of the Yi Township Board of Education The Scholar is intended to a80 student who has demonstrated Community involvement and who will continue that tradition this is a scholarship grent of $1,000 per year for up to four years payable one half in August and one half in January to be used toward the expense of college education this scholarship is available for four years upon subsequent application and submission of a transcript demonstrating at least a c plus cumulative average the first recipient is Valeria Valaria will be attending the University of South Carolina Center where she will major in Psychology and play for the softball team while at y High School Valaria was a m of bridge to employment and the Varsity softball team congratulations the
080second recipient is Lydia green Lydia will be attending rers University Camden and majoring in nursing while at Yu High School Lydia was an avid member of our bridge to Employment Program congratulations Lydia and Valeria theing High School faculty fund Foundation scholarship is awarded to graduating members of the senior class who have shown Improvement in the areas of academics and citizenship funds for this scholarship are raised by bi-weekly jeans days for staff and other faculty fundraisers this year's recipients will receive 20 50 to assist in their postgraduation Endeavors congratulations to Andy Moran Gonzalez Lan Madison Slaughter and Jaden sh Jaden is not here but will make sure he gets his word the next scholarship honors Tracy Taylor who graduated from Ying High School in 1985 she unfortunately passed away after her sophomore year so their organization
081aims to select current Ying high school students who honor the spirit of Tracy it is my pleasure to announced that the two recipients for this year's Tracy D Taylor Memorial Scholarship are Morgan Talbert and Michelle Hopkins as as previously mentioned Morgan Talbert will be attending the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and majoring in animal science in their prev veterinary program and Michelle Hopkins will be attending Rowan University next fall and majoring in Psychology congratulations to you both next the west Trenton Garden Club is generously awarding three scholarships for our uing high school students I am proud to announce that the three recipients are Nicholas Benedetti Alan CH and jayen [Applause] Greer congratulations [Applause] good evening everyone I know you're looking at your score cards now this is number 37 um hey my name is Mike
082van Wagner I'm delighted to be up on this stage uh and as a proud graduate of parway antile Fisher uing High Now quickly you might be wondering what do you mean anti and Fisher well I was part of that interesting experiment that created a middle school at antile for two years so sixth and seventh went to anti and then eighth and nth went to Fisher I don't know how long that lasted but uh so I've got all four and uh proud about it um it's an honor to be here tonight to present the Lloyd Snider award uh on June 7th 1941 a young man from levitown Pennsylvania was stationed at Pearl Harbor he ended up in the water uh fortunately he was okay he was rescued um and as it turns out his his position
083by the way was musician's mate in the Navy imagine that a position musician's mate he had a French horn that he thought was lost in the sinking of the boat but they salvaged it it was never playable again but he kept it for the rest of his life well roll forward to 1953 or 57 Lloyd Snyder was hired here at Ying high school as the instrumental as the music teacher to start a music program here at y High School which was relatively new at that time the school and he built a fantastic program here band Orchestra Jazz the marching band um and uh he had a career that lasted 26 years through 1983 uh the band room is named in his honor now uh a few years after he passed my older brothers my twin
084older brothers who were part of lyd Snider's programs here decided to start a fund in his honor uh the Lloyd Snider fund the goal of which would be each year to donate an instrument a brand new instrument to the band in his honor and that instrument would be endowed in the name of a senior selected by the music director at that time so it's it's it's my pleasure tonight to let you know that Lauren Nelson is this year's recipient and I know Lauren couldn't be here and I know you've heard a little bit about her a very accomplished uh young woman um she played the flute so it'll be a flute that will be forever in Mr Price's uh band room and he has shared with me that uh this is a leadership award so
085uh through her career starting go she started in elementary school which is also was part of what Lloyd Snider felt was important from fourth grade it's important to have the opportunity for students to play an instrument for free um and Lauren started at an early age continued with it brought her passion and enthusiasm and Leadership through Fisher and then here to Ying High School uh where that helped many other students along the way so again congratulations to Lauren Nelson and to all of [Applause] our good evening my name is Kelly hammer and I am here as a representative of the Ying High School sunf fund Foundation our organization is made up of teachers and staff members uh who work uh very tirelessly to support other co-workers and um staffers in times of great celebration and
086also in terms of great need uh anybody who has met our principal uh Ed knows quite quickly uh that he operates always from a focus of family uh student co-workers admin faculty community members he sees everybody as part of his own and so this past spring when he lost his father we wanted to come up with a way that would honor both him and his father's Legacy Ed shil Senor spent his life as an auto worker at the jam plant in Lyon New Jersey he spent his time in the paint department spraying Cadillacs doing touchup body work and when we asked Ed to talk about his father to describe him in three ways he said first dedicated to family second resilient and finally determined to succeed so what we've done this year is we have
087created a Memorial Scholarship to honor his father and we are choosing to give it to students who are pursuing vocational education or who moving directly into the workforce this year our recipient uh is a senior who at a very young age according to him at the age of nine already knew that he wanted to dedicate himself to being a barber um he actually said he kind of created a bald spot the first time he cut his hair and he knew that was it he was ready to go um for us uh we want to celebrate that passion that dedication um and that love that people find for their vocations uh by honoring this senior um he is uh pursuing a field that requires you to be very dedicated it requires a lot of training a
088lot of talent and we very much see The Echoes of Ed's father in The Pursuit that our senior will uh go after so our recipient this year he actually cannot be here because he is working uh but I would like you to please help me celebrate the first recipient of the Edward chimal Memorial Scholarship and that is Amir ladimer at this time I would like to welcome Mr schme to present the salutatorian and valedictorian thank youbody close the book okay salutatorian is an academic title given to the second highest ranking graduate of the entire graduating class this honor is based on grade point average and the number of credits taken out of 260 seniors at Ying High School this student is number two which is quite an accomplishment this year saluted tooran has a GPA
089of 4.69 it's pretty high I am proud to announce the salutatorian for the class of 20 24 Liam Ty Liam will be attending the Honors College at Ruckers University in New Brunswick and will be majoring in computer science let's give Liam a big round of applause I'm going to ask Liam to remain standing as we honor our valid dictorian valid Victorian is an academic title given to the student with the highest ranking among their graduating class this honor is based on GPA and the number of credits taken out of 260 seniors at euwing high school the student is number one the students uh this year's valid victorium has a grade point average of 4.82 pretty high as well this valorian is Nicholas [Applause] Ben our Val our valedictorian of the class of 2424 Nicholas Benedetti
090plans on attending the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and will major in Environmental Studies I am very proud of these two young men and all their accomplishments so let's give them a big round of [Music] applause at this time the district supervisors and the EHS teachers will recognize our students with Department Awards our first presenter is Mr Jason price from our music department right good evening everyone my name is Jason price I am the band director here at y High seniors hi congratulations very exciting um the first award that I have is our department award for band uh the band Department award goes to a student that exemplifies hard work dedication and passion to their musicianship and our Ensemble it is my pleasure to recognize Dakota Woods as this year's band Dakota has been
091a member of the band programing Ying since fourth grade playing clarinet throughout her musical experience here Dakota has always proven herself to be passionate about learning performing music and also able to dodge the sometimes Rogue flying of time sorry um Dakota's commitment to her musical abilities and her bandmates and our program makes her the perfect candidate for this award and proud to have had the opportunity to be a part of her musical Journey here at DHS for me and the rest of the band thank you for your hard work dedication Dakota and [Applause] congratulations right going stay right here next next word I have is the Seer Fidelis award for musical Excellence The Seer Fidelis award for musical Excellence is presented to a student who displays traits that the Marine Corps considers essential to being
092a good leader that includes endurance knowledge unselfishness dependability enthusiasm and loyalty award recipients are not necessarily the most outstanding musicians but rather a student whose leadership qualities have contributed to the success of the band program and is presented by the United States Marines youth Foundation Incorporated and the Marine Corps League in recognition of diligence dedication and musical Excellence as a performing high school bandman and soloist I can confidently and proudly say that this year's recipient has demonstrated all of the qualities listed above as well as demonstrated a high level of musicianship and has used their abilities to lead by example and with passion I am honored to present this year's Seer Fidelis award for musical Excellence to Mr Michael fon Michael will be attending Westchester University this fall and where he will continue where he
093will major in music performance with a focus in percussion and I'm very excited about that being a percussionist and going to Westchester myself so Michael here you go thank you uh good evening again uh social studies oh I'm Kelly Hammer I teach social studies at the high school I don't think I said that last time but I am here tonight uh to also present our department award social studies is an Ever evolving uh field of study that provides students with opportunities to develop informed and reason thinking skills help them become really creative decision makers and more importantly action takers tonight our department recognizes a student who really has truly fully formed uh and become committed to the idea of studying the social sciences and has really for us and for all the teachers in the
094department demonstrated a profound understanding of her role as an active citizen in the larger Community this student has taken many of our social studies electives including student voices in action she leads our Civics program she's member of peer leadership she's taken AP human Geo sociology have in class right now and our human behavior of course she truly understands the importance of applying the lessons of social studies courses to the betterment of society and plans to continue on her path at the George Washington University and while she cannot be here tonight we would like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate her for the work that she's done through our department through our courses and we really wish her the best of luck and we are incredibly excited about where her next PATH takes her in
095terms of her activ citizen rate congratulations please to Naomi Glover good evening again I have about four Department Awards Tatiana pedler is most deserving of the business education department award throughout her 4 years at EHS Tatiana has participated in three business related courses accounting one business organization and management and principles of marketing her grades of each course exemplify her hard work and dedic ation to being the best student she can be as a department hi taana as a department we your business teachers are proud to honor Tatiana this evening and wish her the very best of luck and continued success next year Tatiana will be attending K University and majoring in accounting while a student in EHS Tatiana was active in the black student Alliance and part of the bridge to Employment Program congratulations [Applause]
096family and consumer science this is from Mr John kinsky or as the students know Mr K uh he's also doing the the Delicacies for tonight so please be sure to get your cupcake your canoli as well as your water it is with great pleasure and honor that I nominate Alan chow to receive the culinary arts family to the sence with great success Alan has completed the culinary program here at y High School it is Allen's confidence and respect for others that help build a professional atmosphere in our classroom Allen's many other accomplishments include president of the EHS culinary Club EHS jazan work in the EHS musical as well as many other EHS activities as Alan moves on to the university of main for the next exciting chapter of his life life studying forestry I'm hopeful
097that he will reflect back on his time at you high school and our culinary classes in closing Allan completes each day with a quick visit and a gracious thank you Mr K see you tomorrow congratulations Alan and best of luck catch you cooking in the woods John cinsky Mr K [Music] French the next award is given to the student excelling in her studies in French Maybelline sers has been a dedicated student of French throughout her High School career her enthusiasm and love of the language have been evident through her performance in class and of her course her unmatched duing straight congratulations mayine you are a great representative of the French students here at Ying High School orchestra the orchestr award goes to a senior that has demonstrated exemplary performance of instrumental music within the stringed
098instrument family I am honored to present this award to Ashley gone through her time at EHS Ashley has been the very active participant in our Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra ensemble in class she has been a role model for the underclassman through her playing but also her positive attitude and growth mindset she has also participated in several performances outside of required School performances including performing with the 2023 and 2024 cjmea High School honors Orchestra Mr M TR I know that Ashley has had a positive influence and presence in my class everywhere else she involved I admire that she always seeks to improve and is willing to help those around her to do the same congratulations Ashley on everything have achieved so far and we all look forward to seeing all the great things you do after
099you [Applause] graduate good evening everyone my name is s graa and I'm the district supervisor of English language arts and ESL tonight it's my honor to present the English Department award to Frank romanel Frank's dedication and passion for the English language have been evident throughout his academic journey in English one and English 2 honors Frank stood out as an insightful and intuitive student his contributions to class discussions not only enriched the learning environment but also enabled his peers to collaboratively explore new ideas and reach profound conclusions Frank's resilience and positivity during virtual hybrid and inperson classes were a joy to witness and refreshing reminder to his classmates of the joys of learning furthermore Frank's influence extends beyond the classroom his teachers and peers consistently Look to Him for his detail oriented committed and Brilliant approach
100to education in drama class he stepped out of his comfort zone to not only write scripts but also direct and perform them embodying kindness and promoting a promoting a culture of inquiry and collaboration his mature connections to literature and current events as well as his compassion for the class Community have been truly impressive in addition to excelling in four years of honors English Frank has also undertaken English electives such as journalism drama through literature creative writing and communicating beyond the screen Frank your hard work and dedication have set a high standard for all students and we're excited to see all of the incredible things you will achieve you will achieve as a journalism major at tcmj congratulations tonight I'm also presenting the award for um English as the second language it's a pleasure that I
101present the ESL Department award to Veronica mingz since her arrival from Columbia Veronica has demonstrated remarkable progress in her English language skills her commitment to learning and her persistent efforts in all her classes have not only impressed her teachers but also set a commendable example for her peers Veronica's Journey has been one of dedication and resilience reflecting her strong determination to succeed in mastering a new language and culture moreover Veronica's proactive approach to her education is truly inspiring she consistently maintains strong communication with her teachers ensuring she understands her coursework and actively seeks feedback for improvement her hard work and diligence are evidence in her academic achievements Veronica we celebrate your accomplishments and look forward to seeing all of the future successes that your efforts will surely bring and I'll accept cold hard devoid of
102Joy some people feel this way when they think of mathematics but there couldn't be more mistaken math opens the universe us it has a beauty that has allowed us to go into space see into the subatomic world and provided Al algorithms that the police can use to clock your speed well maybe that one is not such a great use but seriously the life we enjoy today especially in today's digital world is here and works because of mathematics today's math Award winner sees that he PL to pursue this world of math as he moves on to Ruckers New Brunswick Honors College majoring in computer science over the years he's oppressed our math faculty when asked to describ them they told me he's dedicated and respectful displays an innate curiosity and desire to learn has an analytical
103mind capable of great levels of distraction and generalization he will always find where a pattern develops or design an efficient algorithm to solve a problem he's a caring student who often Fe volunteers to share his knowledge and help his classmates it is with great pleasure I present this year's senior mathematics award to Liam to [Music] 125 years ago scientists were talking about how they figured everything out they just had a few details to fill in then a man came and realized that what we know about speed and time it's relative people could travel through time at different rates we discovered that an object can actually be in two places at the same time so we delved into the quantum world world and relativity and thought once again we know pretty much everything there is to
104know about the universe but we took some measurements to figure out which of two possible fates for the universe were in our future and by taking those measurements we discovered that what we thought we knew made up 100% of the universe only made up about 5% that 95% of the universe and the world around us we can't see we see its effect but it's made of something we don't know we're delving into that making Headway but today there's so much that we do not know about the universe and that we're starting to discover and find it's on inspiring but it raises questions for our society like never before and along with Intrepid explorers pursuing science to discover the secrets of our universe we also need informed leaders to use science to understand it and make
105good choices today science Award winner plans to work in both these areas he'll be attending University of nth North Carolina and Chapel Hill for Environmental Studies and political science now this the part where I usually take pieces of what my teachers tell me and describe the student but there were two that I felt they couldn't break up the first is from one of his classroom teachers who describes him as an absolute rock star in AP biology he put the pro in procaryotic the might in mitosis and was truly EX cellit in just about every way imaginable I have no doubt he will succeed in wherever he puts his mind to accomplish it and then I had another one that actually was from one of my teachers but not one of his classroom teachers who knew
106him outside the classroom and he wants to know that he was made a huge impact on him as the activities they put together have not only brought together the students but the entire Y Community I am lucky to have met him and wish him the best in his future endeavors it is with great pleasure I present this year's senior science award to Nicholas benedet good evening and I'm the health and phys supervisor and athletic director for the union public school districts um we are almost to the end so please stay with us here I have the honor of recognizing the top female and male in health and fizzed um I'm going to break the mold a little bit can I call Shannon Larry up to the stage please so Shannon Larry is my top female
107in health and fizzed this year she has excelled academically receiving health and PE grades of 95 and above her entire High School career she has demonstrated exceptional dedication to both her academic studies and her passion for physical activity and wellness Shannon Shannon's enthusiasm and commitment will have a lasting impact on the health and well-being of those around her and on behalf of the UN High School we present this award congratulations [Music] Shannon and then now for the male Award winner for PE and this gentleman has been up and back and forth on the stage already tonight so can we have Daniel Armstrong [Applause] please again Daniel has exhib exibited a profound commitment to promoting health and physical activity through his academic achievements leadership roles and sports involvement Daniel has earned grades of 97 and higher
108in health and PE throughout his high school years as well as being part of the varsity boy soccer team Daniel's commitment to promoting Healthy Lifestyles and inspiring others to lead active lives is truly commendable and I can truly hope that my kids grow up to be something piece of you right there again congrats Danny good luck [Music] thank [Music] you and piggybank piggybacking on Mr kaminskas Awards I'm pleased to announce the United States Marine Corps distinguished athlete Awards um our distinguished male athlete is Colin Elam and our distinguished um female athlete is tala [Applause] Tas I have the privilege of presenting the Spanish award tonight we have the opportunity to celebrate an amazing human being a res young woman who knew that Spanish for honors was not going to be easy but took it anyway
109she needed to be strong and work hard to finish a challenging class with the determination of a warrior kaziah Daniels you are excellent example of your values your respectful kind honest and a gen leader your willingness to help others and do well is contagious you will shine like the sun in every project and your goal and goal you put your mind to because you are academically ambitious and your drive will take you far keep up the good work and have lots of fun in [Applause] between Dr Papadopoulos nominated ran Mentor for the technology Awards Ryan Mentor is truly an exceptional student who has excelled in all of his technology and stem classes including engineering design with 3D printing graphic design one robotics one and Robotics 2 his dedication creativity and problem solving skills have not
110gone unnoticed by his peers and and teachers Ryan's outstanding performance in this year's technology Student Association promotional design and Technology bow say that 10 times fast is a testament to his talent and hard work he serves as a role model for his classmates inspiring them with his passion for Learning and Innovative thinking congratulations Ryan we are so proud of you and wish you all the best in your future endeavors [Applause] I'm back so before I got here and did this for the first time this was a speech but don't worry everybody wants to leave I'm going to condense that real quick so I'm here to represent the visual arts art is more than lines on a paper color on a canvas shapes M from play or graduation requirement that every student is forced to complete
111it is powerful medium through which we express our deepest emotions intellectually challenge societal norms and provoke thought when asked by my department supervisor who would like to present this I jumped at the opportunity uh I was overjoyed with excitement and also overwhelmed with sadness this student and I have become family uh literally I taught her big sister from sixth grade through her senior year I worked with her mother daily calling her every day to say hello and now with this senior graduating you and Halls will be handling free Isabelle handin come on up Isabelle artistic Journey not only in trust our community but encouraged young artists of tomorrow she's a well-rounded artist with Ceramics art two art three drawing and painting she was so good she skipped our one her artwork has been entered in
112the Mercer County teen Arts Festival for the last three years years advancing to the state level two years in a row for both 2D and 3D Works um she has an unwavering commitment a Relentless pursuit of creativity and her drive to constantly improve her craft inspires all uh as a new adventure begins and you embark on your next chapter I think of your boundless potential fills me with hope kiddo so Isabelle hanin thank you I'm [Applause] bye [Applause] H good evening everyone and don't worry we have made it to the end my name is Alex Minter I am the director ctor of choirs here at Ying High School the vocal music department award is given to a student who has displayed the qualities of dedication leadership growth and musical achievement this year I am honored
113to present this award to a four-year member of our Coral program chorus council president Alia Dio now as she knows I could go on for hours talking about her um but for the sake of everybody here and holding back tears I'm going to keep it nice and short as I said alayia has been a four-year member of our Coral program here at y High School surviving the covid Endeavor of concert choir was no small feat a member of the pop Acappella group Master singers as well as the Yu High School Corral our top level mixed Ensemble here at y High School she was also an inaugural member of Bella y High School's award-winning and Premier soprano Al Ensemble and if that wasn't enough she also serves as the president of qu's council which helps me
114oversee the day-to-day choir activities and social events that happen outside of the building one might describe her and as she's already heard this as bossy a little needy and sometimes demanding but what they really mean is that she is assertive she is determined and goal oriented determined to help cultivate and grow a program of high quality music making here in high school Alasia has been dedicated to the growth of our choirs both musically and socially creating a space where all kinds of students can Thrive she has led this program to new heights and has set a precedent for the future of this program's growth and achievement she has grown not only into an incredible young human being but also an incredible and dedicated musician while the entire program will always feel the weight of your
115loss we know that you are going on to achieve incredible things we you know that you will do us proud just make me one promise and never stop [Applause] sing as we close tonight's program we would like to congratulate all of the students here tonight along with their parents and Guardians who have offered support throughout their their child's years of schooling we have programs for you with this year's Awards recipients um or rather a list of the award recipients uh available as you exit the Ying High School auditorium please help me thank all our presenters for their time tonight as well as uh all of the generous organizations who honored our worthy students [Music] we as a school community and District appreciate everything you do for our students lastly we would like to thank the
116people who did a lot of the work behind the scenes to make this night successful Mr Jason price for providing our lovely musical Prelude the you the uing High School culinary arts program and teacher Mr John kobinski for our delicious treats for everyone to enjoy at the conclusion of the program the Ying high school scholarship committee uh for all of their diligent efforts in selecting Ying High School's worthy recipients the uing high school support staff Mrs Deb Beck Mrs Ellen Everett Mrs Tony Stewart for attending to every detail youing and our counseling team lest I forget um also for attending to every detail the Ying High School custodial staff and Mr Mike KN for always presenting Ying High School in its best light and finally the Ying Public Schools buildings and grounds department for always
117maintaining our Outdoors so impeccably congratulations to all our scholarship winners and honores safe travels home to everyone and have a good [Applause] night e