Students from the Roselle Park Middle School (RPMS) were recognized for volunteering to help out victims of Hurricane Harvey as well as accomplishments in art and poetry.
In August of last year, Hurricane Harvey – a category 4 hurricane hit the Houston metropolitan area, caused 91 confirmed deaths, and had a total damage estimated at $125,000,000,000.
During the presentation, RPMS Principal Kathleen Carlin said, “Our National Honors Society [was] instrumental in collecting a lot of school materials for Hurricane Harvey victims in Texas. We have a teacher here who had relatives there and were affected so we had the name that we could get in touch with the teacher there, sent boxes and boxes of stuff there. Those kids . . . they collected, they packed it up, we reached out to anybody who may know somebody from FedEx or UPS and . . . they actually shipped everything for us for free.”
The 17 middle school students recognized for their many hours collecting, packing and shipping supplies to the victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas were:
- Isabella Albarron
- Michael Alvarez
- Jaydin Bonilla
- Rishabh Dhingra
- Samir Djokic
- Pranay Francis
- Victoria Henry
- Nicholas Lopez
- Camila Martinez
- Justin Mishoe
- Erin Mooney
- Ariana Paulino
- Ernest Romero
- Lucas Ruiz
- Veronica Ruiz
- Jason Torres
- Emily Tribiano
Additionally, two students had their artwork selected for display in the AENJ NJPAC Late Winter Exhibit. The Art Educators of New Jersey (AENJ), in collaboration with New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark, selects works out of numerous entries submitted from throughout the state for four events in the fall, winter, late winter, and spring. The two students from Roselle Park who had their work selected were:
- Marissa Colon
- Brianna Velasquez
Finally, four students had their works of poetry selected for publication in the 2017 Rising Stars Collection, Limited Edition:
Gia Battaglia “Rainbow Lollipops”
Darren Chen “Blackbelts Ready to Spar”
Samira Daoulabani “Imagination”
Natalie Medina “Soccer”
Included below is the poem “Imagination” by Samira Daoulabani:
My imagination goes wild
Like a confused little child
I pretend to be the princess
In my very own castle