FEBRUARY 2020
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Teaming up for charity LHS DECA Club co-presidents lead effort to raise funds for grieving kids By JUstin Feil Jenna Cahill and Nicole Seeburger make a good team. The Lawrence High School seniors were captains for their field hockey team in the fall, and throughout the school year they have been co-presidents of the school’s largest club, its chapter of Distributive Education Clubs of America. Each year, DECA supports a state community service project that gives students valuable experience in working on a project to benefit the community. This year’s project challenged
DECA chapters to raise money and awareness for Good Grief, a non-profit organization that helps grieving children after the loss of a family member or loved one by providing comfort, support and education. “In years past, they’ve chosen other organizations like Bucks for Books,” Cahill said. “There’s also a national community service project. DECA wants to focus on the other aspects besides just business and wants to get a wholesome student that can be involved in the community and also learn about business.” DECA is a worldwide program that allows students to explore marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high school. This year, Lawrence has its largest chapter ever (almost 200 members) and
the largest chapter of any Mercer County school. LHS students first must be enrolled in a business class to be able to join DECA, and its members come from a variety of backgrounds. Seeburger said that in addition to its charitable work, the club also competes at the regional, state and international levels in business competitions. The teams are given scenarios and they are tasked with exercising their critical thinking and communication skills with people in the industry. The purpose is to help give them real life experience in the business world. “I actually had no aspirations for business going into high school,” Cahill said. “I had no clue what I wanted to do. I got put into sports marketing. It See DECA, Page 8
Women celebrate 100 years of voting By Michele AlPerin
Lawrence High School’s Zach Roldan brings down West WindsorPlainsboro High School South’s Alex Yu, winning the match in 1:15. The Cardinals defeated WW-P South by a score of 78-6 at LHS on Jan. 15, 2020. For more wrestling coverage, turn to Page 18. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
In early morning hours of Feb. 10, 1920, New Jersey became the 29th state to vote for ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. The struggle of the suffragists, who had fought so hard, ended with the amendment’s successful ratification on Aug. 18, 1920. On Feb. 14, 1920, during the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the expectation of their ultimate success prompted Carrie Chapman Catt to found the League of Women Voters; its role would be to prepare the 20 million new women voters to carry out their new responsibilities and
use their new power to shape public policy. The Ewing Township Historic Preservation Society will join with the Lawrence League of Women Voters on Sunday, Feb. 9 to host a program marking 100 years since Lillian Feickert, president of the N.J. Woman Suffrage Association, packed the New Jersey Assembly chambers to witness the 34-24 roll call vote in favor of ratification. The program will feature Carol Simon Levin, a professional storyteller and independent historian, who will portray Feickert as she shares stories of New Jersey’s fight for women’s suffrage: for example, about Lucy Stone and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s staging of tax and voting protests;
about Alice Paul’s push for a federal amendment; and Florence Spearing Randolph’s bringing black women into the movement. The free program will take place at 2 p.m. at the Ewing Presbyterian Church’s education building at 100 Scotch Road. For more information, contact (609) 883-2455 or info@ethps.org. “When we heard it was the centennial of women’s suffrage, we thought we should tell the story of the women and men who fought so hard for women’s right to vote,” said Mary Anne Midura, vice president of the Ewing Township Historic Preservation Society’s board of trustees. The Society was looking to fill the program slot on the second See SUFFRAGE, Page 6
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