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Reels, jigs and more: Irish music in Hopewell
Teen vaping on the rise
All that jazz
By RichaRD J. sKelly It is no surprise that Irishborn singer Fiona Tyndall makes educating her audience a part of her shows. She is the daughter of two teachers, and enjoys sharing the tales behind the tunes as much as she enjoys singing them. On Saturday, March 2, audiences will have the opportunity to get some of that musical education when Tyndall and her band present “Shamrock and Thistle” at the Hopewell United Methodist Church. The program will include Scottish poetry and songs from Robert Burns, old Irish folk ballads, and new songs by contemporary Irish singer-songwriters. “We do a lot of traditional Irish and Scottish music, a lot of reels and jigs,” she says. Now living in Belle Mead, Tyndall is carrying on an Irish family tradition. Her parents, Buadhach and Ida Toibin, were also musicians who taught their three sons and two daughters traditional Irish folk ballads in their home in Ennis, County Clare, not far from the famed Cliffs of Moher. Tyndall’s passion, music, has also seen some packing and unpacking over the years. It was partially put on hold when she went to study nursing in Dublin. But that nonmusical interlude was when she met her future husband, David, now the senior director of research and See IRISH, Page 16
MERCER CAMPS
March 28 forum to address public health concerns over electronic cigarettes By Joe eMansKi
jemanski@communitynews.org
Maeve Merzena as Roxie Hart and Carline Herbert as Velma Kelly in Hopewell Valley Central High School’s Feb. 24 dress rehearsal of their musical “Chicago.” Shows are scheduled for March 1, 2, 8 and 9. More info on Page 7. (Photo by Maria O’Lear y.)
Science fair changes with the times By Michele alPeRin Already a science and technology wonk in junior high school in Falls River, Massachusetts, Titusville resident Jonathan Allen, secretary and board member of the Mercer Science and Engineering Club, competed in science fairs by demonstrating high-voltage effects with a Ford spark coil and building a ham radio transmitter. “Science fairs have changed a lot,” Allen says. Back in “the old days,” science fair entries were more a build-it project, an
engineering project. But today the focus is largely on doing science: testing a hypothesis, performing experiments, doing research, coming to conclusions, writing them up, and presenting them orally. In particular for the senior level, grades 9 to 12, he says, it’s almost like presenting at a scientific conference. Although there are still engineering projects, it has to be some attempt to discover something new or innovate. The Mercer County Science Fair, which has been running
for 65 years, is the primary activity of the Mercer Science and Engineering Club (founded after its predecessor, the Engineers Club of Trenton, disbanded). The fair is open to all students in grades 4 through 12 attending school in Mercer County, including home schooling. The fair includes three divisions: elementary, grades 4 and 5; junior, grades 6 to 8; senior, grades 9 to 12. The fair will run from Sunday, March 17 to Tuesday, March 19, with the awards cereSee SCIENCE, Page 8
E-cigarettes are not new. But there are trends in the usage of e-cigarettes among teens that are new, and alarming. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that more than one in five high school students has vaped in the past 30 days, as well as five percent of middle schoolers. To put those numbers in perspective, fewer than three adults in a hundred were current e-cigarette users in 2018. With those figures in mind, the Hopewell Valley Municipal Alliance will host a community forum on the trend of vaping, juuling and e-cigarettes among youth at 7 p.m. on March 28 in the Performing Arts Center at the high school. Smoking policy expert Kevin Schroth will give a presentation, which will be followed by a panel discussion featuring a physician from Princeton Nassau Pediatrics as well as administrators from the middle and high schools and at least one recent CHS alumnus. See VAPING, Page 14
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