APRIL 18, 2022 • PASCACK VALLEY PRESS
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Sc h ool News
DEAN’S LIST AND MORE: ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT
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PASCACK VALLEY
ASCACK PRESS SALUTES the Pascack Valleyʼs highachieving alumni of our area high schools. Hereʼs what theyʼve been up to lately, according to their schools and families…
• David Sklar of the Township of Washington is graduating Ramapo College of New Jersey with a masterʼs degree in social work (MSW) this May. Sklar, now 36, decided to SKLAR change from a career in information technology to one that in the words of his father, Michael, who tipped us off, “makes a better world for children.” David told Pascack Press heʼs wanted to be a social worker/therapist since he was 12 and is now following his dream. Heʼs a social
work intern at South Orange Middle School. He graduated Ramapo College of New Jersey with a bachelorʼs degree in social work, 2019–2021, and Bergen Community College with an associateʼs degree in psychology, 2015–2019.
• Reports his mom, Ian W. Laflotte, formerly of River Vale, and a 2007 graduate of Pascack Valley High School, received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Rutgers University this spring. LAFLOTTE He took his MS in nuclear physics at Carnegie Mellon University. He told Pascack Press on April 13 his research work involved the Large Hadron Collider, the worldʼs largest and highestenergy particle accelerator, at
EMERSON
Class of ’22 dodgeball fundraiser April 22
Dodgeball fun is back! Emerson Project Graduation Class of 2022 is hosting six-on-six dodgeball on Friday, April 22 at 7 p.m. in the Emerson Junior-Senior High School gym. All are invited to attend. If you are interested in putting a team together, email project-
graduation2022EHS@gmail.com. Participants must be 14 and up. Yes, adults are welcomed too. The fee is $10 per Emerson student or recent graduate or $20 per non-Emerson student/adult. Complete and submit all paperwork by April 8. Prizes will be awarded to the winning teams.
ADVERTISE YOUR SERVICE IN THE SERVICE DIRECTORY IN THE PASCACK PRESS.
SUMMER 2022:
JUNE 21 - JUNE 24 TUESDAY - FRIDAY
JUNE 27 - JUNE 30 MONDAY - THURSDAY
JULY 11 - JULY 14 MONDAY - THURSDAY
ALL SESSIONS AT: Pascack Valley High School 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
GIRLS: Grades K - 8 • BOYS: Grades K - 7 Coach to Player Ratio: 1 Coach per 5 Players
JEFF JASPER DIRECTOR
email: jjasper@pascack.org phone: 551-427-1030 web: jeffjaspersbasketballcamp.com
CERN, near Geneva. He worked on a team, the Compact Muon Solenoid Collaboration, collecting and analyzing data for “a more sophisticated theory of how the world works.” Laflotte credited his PV chemistry teacher, Carrie Jacobus, who retired last year from the River Dell Regional School District, for “inspiring my fascination with chemistry. “She did a great job and then I had a lot of questions about how chemistry worked at a deeper level, because it kind of felt like we were told some things work because thatʼs just the way it is and I had more questions than that.” He said, “At some point she was like, Look, I donʼt fully know how to answer your questions; a lot of the answers are going to be based in physics, and thatʼs how I started to get more into physics.” He said he also had always enjoyed math as well, “and it was a natural fit. And then I got to college and thatʼs when I started doing physics properly.” Now heʼs looking for a job
outside of academia: “data science, analytics, computer programming big data analysis. Iʼm looking forward to joining the industrial workforce in the tech sector. ... itʼs very difficult to have a long-term research career. … I like playing with computers too much.” Laflotte said, “I love the way my brain feels after 10 years of getting to study physics. I love my critical-thinking abilities. It was just a lot of fun to be able to practice that, and to get told every day, This is what you have to work on. Physics problems? OK, great, love it! Learning to do research? Excellent!”
• Stephen Brennan of Hillsdale was among the University of Scranton students inducted into Alpha Delta Sigma, the national honor society sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, recognizing and encouraging scholastic achievement in advertising studies. Brennan is a senior social media strategies major at Scranton, a Jesuit university in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
• Alyssa Raine Lara of Westwood earned membership into the 2022 Purple Key Leadership Society at Emerson College, in Boston. Participants were honored during the annual Emerson Recognition & Achievement (ERA) Awards on Friday, April 8. The Purple Key Leadership Society recognizes a select group of seniors who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and service, solid academic achievement, and a commitment to civic engagement. Lara is majoring in Media Arts Production and is a member of the Class of 2022. • Michelle Galdi of Park Ridge was inducted into Pi Theta Epsilon, the occupational therapy honor society at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Conn. during a recent campus ceremony. Students inducted must exhibit superior academic performance. This yearʼs inductees had GPAs of 3.7 or higher. — Compiled by John Snyder. Send your family milestones to pascackpress@thepressgroup.net
$2K IN SCHOLARSHIPS VIA HERITAGE SOCIETY
WESTWOOD
The Westwood Heritage Society, a volunteer organization that is dedicated to the preservation of the history, beauty and spirit of the Borough of Westwood, will award its Cheryl Todd Memorial Community Service Scholarship to a high school student who is a resident of Westwood and who is completing his/her senior year. The society will be awarding scholarships totaling $2,000. The scholarship, which is dedicated to the memory of Cheryl Todd, former borough historian, who devoted her life as a volunteer to the research
and preservation of the history and heritage of the Borough of Westwood, will be awarded to a student who has been accepted for enrollment in a post-high school educational program and who has a demonstrated record of community service in the Borough of Westwood. For more information and an application form — the deadline to get this in is April 30 — write WestwoodHeritage@usa.net or, by USPS, Westwood Heritage Society, ATTN: Community Scholarship Committee, P.O. Box 611 Westwood, NJ 07675-0611.
PASCACK VALLEY
30th Annual Kid Fishing Contest April 30
The 30th Annual Kid Fishing Contest, sponsored by the Friends of the Pascack Brook, is on for Saturday, April 30 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine. All kids 4–16 are invited to fish the Pascack Brook between St John R.C. Church in Hillsdale and Brookside Place in Westwood. There is no advance registration or fee. In order to compete for trophies, prizes, and other awards, kids should have all trout caught the day of the contest measured and recorded during contest hours at the police booth in Hillsdale. All club-tagged fish caught will be awarded prizes during contest hours only. Any child who wants to help stock the brook with fish should be accompanied by an adult and meet in the parking lot of the Hillsdale Public Library or the ball field by Brookside Place in Westwood, both at 7 a.m. the day of the contest. Organizers say it would help
Hillsdale’s Jayden Tattoli shows off her catch at the 2021 Pascack Brook Kid Fishing Contest. Photo courtesy Danielle O’Brien. to bring a clean spackle bucket to and soda from noon to 1 p.m. help stock with. Anyone wishing to donate The Westwood Elks Lodge may send contributions to Friends #1562, at 523 Kinderkamack Road, of the Pascack Brook, P.O. Box 84, will serve hamburgers, hot dogs, Hillsdale, N.J. 07642.
