AchronicleoftheexcellenceatParsippanyHighSchool

Redhawk Report

HelloRedHawks,Soonerorlater,itwillstopsnowingandwe’llbeabletogooutsideagain…Untilthen,enjoyreadingthelatesteditionoftheRedHawkReport.Despitethecold,ithasbeenabusywinterforourstudentsandstaff. We have some great academic accomplishments (Merit Scholars, Robotics, and ACDEC StateChampionships), rewardingserviceopportunities (ServiceNightsandToyDrives)andathletic feats(Cavaluzzogoals,Marksmedals,andStatesforBoysSwim,GirlsHoops&Wrestling).Allgreatstuff!Asalways,thanksforreading,Dr. Mulroony

IN THIS ISSUE: Page 2 ACDEC & RedBots Page 3 Scholars of the Month Page 4 Science Olympiad Page 5 Service Nights Page 7 Hall of Fame Page 8 Wrestlers make states Page 9 Marks bowls to 3rd in State Page 10 Cavaluzzo hit 150 Page 12 Student Walk-Out Page 13 Senior Superlatives

ACADEMICHONORS&AWARDSELLIE XU NAMED

NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLAR Congrats to Par High senior Ellie Xu who was named a National Merit Scholar. Of the approx. 1.5 million juniors who take the PSAT each year, the top 1% are eligible to become a National Merit Scholar. Ellie was selected from among that 1% for this prestigious honor.

MARCH 2018

BENNETT WINS NATIONAL SPANISH SCHOLARSHIP

Congrats to PHS senior Claudia Bennett who won a $1,000 scholarship from the National Spanish Honor Society. Claudia competed against Spanish Honor Society students from high schools nationwide for one of twenty-five awards.

SHUBA PRASADH WINS PROGRAMMING AWARD

Congrats to Par High soph Shuba Prasadh who was the New Jersey recipient of the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing which honors girls in grades 9-12 who have demonstrated aptitude in the fields of computing and programming.

Vol. 8, Issue 3 (Winter Recap)

APRIL 2-6 Spring Break 9- Boys Lax vs PHHS 12- Family Science Night 13- Girls Lax vs PHHS 20- PHS Junior Dinner 24- Service Night (Trivia!) 25- World Lang Honor Society 26- Mr. PHS 27- AAC Movie Night

MAY

2- PHS Jazz Café 3- Student vs Faculty Hoops 4- Baseball vs PHHS 5- ICC Big Show 8- PTSA Mtg 17- NHS Inductions 22- Service Night 23- Band Spring Concert 24- GCC Coffee House 25- AAC Sushi Dance 31- Choir Cabaret Concert

JUNE

2- Redstock & Powderpuff 6- Solo/Small Ensemble Concert 7- Senior Prom 12- Senior Awards Night 14, 15, 18, 19- Final Exams 21- Graduation

KAKIRDE WINS MODELING

COMPETITION

Congrats to sophomore team member Aneesh Kakirde who took 1st place in the On-Site Modeling Competition. We’re so proud of Aneesh who has worked so hard on robotics and programming!

ROBOTICS TEAM HAS AMAZING SEASON

Robotics: Congrats to our Parsippany High School Robotics team, The Redbots, who advanced to the Eastern US Super Regional Tournament this winter. The team consists of Joyce David, Neha Deshpande, Neil Deshpande, Jaswanth Duddu, Yash Garala, Aneesh Kakirde, Tej Moradia, Neer Patel, Adarsa Pedada, Rithvik Ramineni, Aarav Shah, Abhi Sheth, Chaitanya Trivedi, Ronak Vaghela, Ayush Vyas. What's so impressive about the Redbots performance is that they are only in their second year of existence. Many thanks to Mrs. Effner who serves as their advisor, and to Mr. Kakirde, who spearheaded the creation of the program.

ACDEC WINS 5TH CONSECUTIVE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

The Parsippany High School Academic Decathlon (AcDec) Team recently participated in the New Jersey State Competition. The competition was held at Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes on Saturday, March 3. Parsippany High School’s team placed first in the state and won the Super Quiz. As State Champions, Parsippany High School will advance to the National Competition April 19-21 in Frisco, Texas. This is their 6th State Championship. Eight team members and nine alternates competed in the State Competition. Team members who participated were: Daniel Kuo, Hugh Kwong, Andrew Lie, Alice Limanova, Anthony Martucci, Shiv Dipak Patel, Adam Ye and Ellie Xu, Overall, the Parsippany High School team took home 57 awards and honors for the Regional Competition. Academic Decathlon is a 10-event scholastic competition for high school students. The events include Math, Science, Social Science, Literature, Economics, Art, Music, Speech, Essay and Interview. This year’s theme is Africa. Team coaches are Nancy Lennon, Science Teacher and Stacy Cozin, Media Specialist.

TV PRODUCTION CONTEST Five PHS TV Production 1 & 2 students (Kenny Slaman, MJ Sinatra, Kandarp Ajvalia, Matt Afonso and Jared Osgood) are producing an independent original short film which will be submitted and screened at the annual NJ High School Film Competition & Workshop event at Six Flags on May 24th. Good Luck guys!

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SCHOLARS OF THE MONTH Every month we recognize students that are performing at a high level, are giving extra effort or who have demonstrated tremendous passion for or improvement in a specific subject area. The recipients are awarded with a bagel breakfast in June. DECEMBER English: Yessenia Villota Math: Andrew Hsieh Social Studies: Olivia Leon World Languages: Angeline Jiju Science: Riley Ferguson Music: Richa Iyer Physical Education: Kaitlyn Sklow JANUARY English: Skylar Schey Math: Kevin Weiss Social Studies: Fiona Celli Science: Dev Patel World Lang: Isabella Cacciottolo Foods: Rainie Li, Elia Ariana Maceda Chavela FEBRUARY English: Bhumi Patel Math: Andrew Lie Social Studies: Olivia Johnson Science: Ryan Crooker World Lang: Rachel Wang Phys Ed: Riya Nayini Applied Tech: Julia Kloss WORLD LANGUAGES DAY

AT TROY HILLS SCHOOL On Feb. 9th we sent twenty seven senior Spanish, French and Italian students to take part in the Annual World Languages Day at Troy Hills School. The students prepared and delivered presentations on various countries and world cultures for the elementary students at Troy Hills. As usual, they did an amazing job.

ESL POETRY GRANTThank you the Parsippany Ed Foundation, forsponsoringanamazingpoetryworkshopfor our ESL students with Ms. MarciaLeBeau! Beautiful wordswere created andsharedbyourESLstudents.ThankstoMs.Liuforpursuingandfacilitatingthegrant.

THANKS TO…Mrs. Russell for donating bags of personal suppliestofamiliesinneed.Jared Hurta for providing assistance to astudentinneed…

FBLA ATTENDS CONFERENCE We are very proud of the following students for their accomplishment at the FBLA State Leadership Conference this February: Neil Shah (3rd place in Word Processing) and Vraj Shah (4th place in Word Processing). They will compete at the National Leadership Conference in Baltimore this summer.

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD SUCCESS The Par High Science Olympiad Team placed 6th overall out of 20 teams at the Regional Competition in January earning a trophy in the process. Congrats to the following team members who placed:

• Neha Deshpande & Anish Balamurali-Game on: 6th place

• Neha Deshpande & Nick Lim-Mousetrap Vehicle: 5th place

• Joe Koo & Andrew Hsieh-Rocks and Minerals: 3rd place

• Andrew Lie & Hugh Kwong-Write it/Do it: 4th place

The team competed in the State Competition on March 15. They placed 22nd out of 27 teams and earned 2 medals.

• Mousetrap Vehicle: 5th place (Nicholas Lim and Neha Deshpande)

• Rocks & Minerals: 4th place (Andrew Hsieh and Joseph Koo)

The members of the Science Olympiad Team are: Anish Balamurali, Steven Chang, Karni Dechoian, Neha Deshpande, Marc Hoeltge, Andrew Hsieh, Aneesh Kakirde, Joseph Koo, Hugh Kwong, Andrew Lie, Nicholas Lim, Sunaina Mukherjee, Sejal Murthy, Zill Patel, Shuba Prasadh, Anjali Ramesh, Arjun Ranade, Samantha Shimabukuro, and Philip Varghese.

ONCOLOGY OLYMPIAD Congratulations to our four students who participated in the Rutgers OncologyOlympiadinJanuary:SejalMurthy,AnjaliRamesh,ArjunRanadeandRiaShah.Theacademiccompetitionfocusedoncancerdiagnosis,treatment,symptoms,geneticsandhealthcarespecialists.TheOncologyOlympiadseekstoraiseawarenessaboutcancerandtosupporttheRutgersCancerInstituteofNewJersey.Manythanksto senior Sunaina Mukjerhee who helped them prepare for thecompetition.

BABY DIGIORGIO Congrats to Par High Math Teacher Mrs. DiGiorgio who welcomed her son Alexander Mies DiGiorgio on January 15, 2018.

FEDO WEDDING Congrats to Ms. Fedo (now Mrs. Hakim) who was married on March 9th.

TSUI & BHAVSAR EXCEL FOR DECA Congratulations to senior Gary Tsui and junior Dilan Bhavsar who qualified to compete at the NJ DECA Conference in Atlantic City. Both students were required to take a general business test and then execute various role play scenarios in front of a panel of judges. While at the conference, Gary and Dilan were able to meet fellow business students from across the state and interact with a variety of business and education-themed vendors.

VARSITY JACKETS PHS is exclusively working with Cozy Embroidery in Morristown for Varsity jackets. If you have earned your Varsity letter and would like to purchase a jacket, please visit their Morristown store, located at 151 South Street. You will need to bring your Varsity letter and a $100 deposit.

YEARBOOKS Yearbooks: 2017-2018 yearbooks are still available to purchase for the low price of $80! Please visit: ybpay.lifetouch.com and enter code 12157718 to order your copy online.

PLANNING FOR REDSTOCK Redstock: Our annual community festival is scheduled for Saturday, June 2nd. If you are a local business owner or know a local business that would like to reserve a booth during festival hours (12:00 - 3:00), please contact CRussell@pthsd.net.

DECEMBER: KEY CLUB MOVIE NIGHT Key Club Movie Night: Thanks to the 200+ big-hearted Par High Students at our December Service Night. Interact and Key Club hosted a Movie Night, made holiday cards and collected over $200 for UNICEF.

JANUARY: PROJECT GRADUATION LETTERS Thanks to the 120+ Par High students & parents who knocked out about a gajillion letters for the Project Grad mailing at Service Night last night! Remember, Project Graduation is a parent and community sponsored program to provide a safe night of celebration after high school graduation.

FEBRUARY: KINDNESS ROCKS

Our February Service Night was dedicated to "Service Rocks." Approximately 100 students donated their time by painting rocks and writing inspirations messages on them. The rocks will be placed around PHS and other schools to beautify the campus and to help inspire those in need. Thanks to Mrs Bush & Mrs Youngs for organizing and facilitating Tuesday’s PHS Service Night for #kindness rocks.

GREAT KINDNESS WEEK CHALLENGE

As part of Kindness Week, Par High guidance counselor, Mrs. Letsch organized The Great Kindness Challenge. Students had a week to challenge themselves to complete all of the items on Kindness Checklist. Students could stop by "kindness stations" located in both cafeterias and the media center during lunch to help them accomplish some of the tasks. Participants were rewarded by giving and receiving acts of kindness all week long and were entered into a drawing for a Dunkin Donuts gift card or PHS gear.

SPANISH HONOR SOCIETY TOY

DRIVE Our Spanish Honor Society officers and Mr. Duhl delivered and wrapped toys from the PHS Toy Drive at the Northside Center for Child Development, NYC. Thanks to everyone who donated for making the drive a success. We raised 360 new toys for needy kids. Khalid Alzubi won the basketball wrapping contest. #skills

HUNGER CONFERENCE

Thanks to our positive relationship with The Community Food Bank of New Jersey, we were invited to bring twenty students to the Hunger Conference held at Seton Hall Prep. Students attended various workshops to learn about different ways that can help fight the plight of hunger in their world. Thanks to Mrs. Stapp for chaperoning the trip.

PAR HIGH CAMPUS CONNECTIONS Absolutely loved hearing from and connecting with some amazing and successful Par High alumni at PHS Campus Connections. Thanks to Mrs. Van Wingerden and the Student Council who organized and facilitated the event. We had representatives from over twenty colleges including: FDU, Hofstra, Loyola, Monmouth, NJIT, Penn State, Ramapo, Rowan, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. Joseph, St. John, Stockton, Syracuse, TCNJ, University of Delaware, University of Maryland, University of Miami, William Paterson

(ANOTHER) STUDENT COUNCIL AWARD

The PHS Student Council won a NJASC Top 10 Award for our "Kill Em With Kindness Project." The members also ran three workshops at the NJASC conference: Kill 'Em With Kindness, SPIKE and The Glammies. As always, we’re so proud of the leadership our Student Council continues to display…

VISIT TO 8TH GRADERS As part of a revamped freshmen transition program, Ms. Doyle coordinated a group of Par High juniors and sophomores to meet with incoming 8th graders at Central. Topics included academics, relationships, extracurriculars, peer pressure, drugs and alcohol, etc... Thanks to Jared Hurta, Angelo Cascio, Chris Hall, Tyler Wyka, Kevin Weiss, Ryan Suchocki, Amon Sharafi, Ryan Crooker, Parth Rana and Andrew Hsei for being great role models and adeptly answering questions from the 8th graders.

BAND NEWS The PHS Bands have had an exciting winter! The following students successfully auditioned into the top NJ Honor Ensembles: Area Band: Ethan Kaplan (tenor sax) and Hugh Kwong (clarinet) Region Band: Ethan Kaplan (tenor sax) Region Orchestra: Amanda Chen (violin) and Lawrence Yu (violin) Region Jazz: Ethan Kaplan (tenor sax) All State Band: Ethan Kaplan (tenor sax) In addition, Ethan Kaplan and RJ Paguntalan were both honored as "Music Student of the Month" at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown for Outstanding Band Member (October 2017) and Outstanding Percussionist (January 2018) respectively. For the first time in almost ten years, the PHS Bands will be performing in the Region Concert Band Festival later this month at Parsippany Hills HS. The bands will come together to perform for professional adjudicators who will give the band a rating of Gold, Silver, or Bronze. We are looking forward to showcasing our instrumental music students in this competitive environment. SAVE THE DATE: The March Band & Choir Concert has been rescheduled to Tuesday, March 27, at 7PM! Admission is FREE and refreshments will be served after the performance. We hope you will be able to join us for an exciting night of music!

ITALIAN CLUB MOZZARELLA DAY The Italian Club hosted Mozzarella Day in February. Mrs. DeCandia invited her family members in to demonstrate how to make mozzarella for the students. Needless to say, it was a delicious afternoon.

2018 HALL OF FAME INDUCTIONS

We held our annual Par High Hall of Fame Inductions in February. Congrats to our 2018 Parsippany High School Hall of Fame Inductees: Mike Yesunas, for his 44 years as a student & teacher/coach at PHS, and Andy Ladas for his extensive acts of service in the Parsippany community and beyond. We are so proud to have these impressive people representing PHS forever. As always, if you know if someone who you think deserves to be in the PHS Hall of Fame please send Dr. Mulroony an email with the name and some information.

LAYUPS 4 LIFE Layups 4 Life is a charity basketball tourney that will be held on Sat. April 28 at the PAL Building from 10:30 to 6:00. People can get involved by playing, volunteering, donating or sponsoring. For those interested in signing a team up, making a donation, becoming a sponsor or interested in volunteering please visit layups4life.org or email layups4life@gmail.com. Thanks to the Layups 4 Life founder, Dan Exter, for speaking to our Boys Basketball teams this winter. This is a terrific program!

ANTI-VALENTINE DINNER-AND-A-MOVIE NIGHT

The Junior Class held an Anti-Valentine Dinner-and-a-Movie night. Thanks to Parsippany Applebees for the generous (and delicious) donations.

MR. PHS Thursday, April 27th at 7:00. Be afraid. Be very afraid…

SPIKE2ISCOMING… We will be holding out 2nd annual

cross-town double-elimination volleyball tournament charity fundraiser with PHHS on Friday, April 13th. Last year we raised over $2,000 for charity; this year’s charity is America’s Grow-A-Row, and we want to raise even more. Sign-up information will be coming soon…

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Congrats to our BALDWIN PIZZA Athletes of the Week for the Fall Sports season: Alex Cavaluzzo (12) – Ice Hockey Ralph Jean-Francois (12) – Basketball Madison Miller (11)– Basketball Sameerah Khan (11)– Indoor Track Sean Gentile (12) – Wrestling John Krevis (12) – Wrestling Lauryn Patracuolla (12) – Swimming Justin Wellman (10) – Ice Hockey Lauren Marks (11) – Bowling Natalie Donda (9) – Cheer Dominick DeIntinis (10) – Wrestling All honorees received an Athlete of the Week t-shirt, a RedHawk pin and a $5 gift card to Baldwin Pizza. Thanks to Baldwin Pizza for generously sponsoring this program at PHS.

WRESTLING TEAM MAKES STATE SECTIONALS; GENTILE HAS MONSTER SEASON

The PHS Wrestling team qualified for the State Sectionals yet again and won the cross-town rivalry versus PHHS. They also finished 3rd in the Districts and advanced six wrestlers to the Regions including two champions: Dominick DeIntinis and Sean Gentile. The team was led by seniors John Krevis, Ahmed Homsi, Richie DeMary and Sean Gentile, who put together an unbelievable season by placing in every tournament he entered and qualifying for States down in Atlantic City. Several great seasons were had by multiple wrestlers; individual honors include: 113- Richie DeMary: 4th place Morris County, 2nd place Hopatcong Tourney 120- Cameron Weissberg: 3rd place District 5, 3rd place Parsippany Tourney 126- Anas Sawalhi: 2nd place District 5, 5th place Morris County; 2nd place Minutemen Tourney, 3rd place Parsippany Tourney, 3rd place Hopatcong Tourney 132- Sean Gentile: State Qualifier; 1st place District 5, 4th place Region 2, 1st place Parsippany Tourney (Outstanding Wrestler), 3rd place Morris County, 2nd place Hopatcong Tourney 145- Dominick DeIntinis: 1st place District 5, 5th place Region 2, 2nd place Minutemen Tourney, 2nd place Parsippany Tourney, 1st place Hopatcong Tourney 152- Naseem Sawalhi: 4th place Morris County, 3rd place Minutemen Tourney, 4th place Parsippany Tourney, 2nd place Hopatcong Tourney 220- Ahmed Homsi: 3rd place District 5, 4th place Morris County, 2nd place Minutemen Tourney, 3rd place Hopatcong Tourney HWT- Jon Krevis: 1st place Hopatcong Tourney, 1st place Parsippany Tourney, 4th place Morris County, 2nd Place District 5

SWIM TEAM RECAP: BOYS QUALIFY FOR STATES! The PHS Redhawks had an amazing season with a lot of growth and speed. Our girls tied and came close to winning their first meet in the programs history! It was a nail bitter to the end with Morristown Beard! The boys team came very close to winning their first meet of the season against Whippany Park, but just fell short, even though they swam their best meet of the season. Speaking of our boys, they qualified for the Team States Tournament and swam against Madison High School in the preliminary round. Quite the accomplishment boys! We had quite a few freshman come out this year and had a team of 39 (including our three statisticians). Best of luck to our seniors next year; Lauryn Patracuolla, Kate Bernauer, Alice Limanova, Angeline Jiju, Miguel Maquiran, and Albert Chen. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to the team. Great job Redhawks!

BOYS HOOPS RECAP Boys Basketball finished the season with a record of 5-10. The senior-led team was very competitive throughout the season with some very close games versus tough opponents. The team was paced by senior captains Khalid Alzubi, DJ Pico, Dan Ruggiero, Michael DeMonico, David Ton and Ralph-Jean Francois. Both David and Ralph were chosen Honorable Mention All-Conference.

MARKS PLACE 3RD IN STATE! Congrats to Par High junior Lauren Marks, our very own bowling legend. After placing 3rd in Morris County and 10th at the Sectional competition, Lauren bounced back to finish in 3rd place at the State Championships to bring home the bronze medal. As always, we are so proud to have one of the best bowlers in the state as a RedHawk! In case you didn't know, Lauren is also a two-time Morris County Champion.

WINTER TRACK RECAP The indoor season went well and is promising moving forward with countless personal records throughout the season. On the girls side Olivia Shoshan placed 3rd in the 55 meter dash and 4th in the 55 meter hurdles and Sameerah Khan, a captain, placed 6th in the 1000 meter race at the Morris County Championships. Olivia Shoshan also placed at State Sectional Championships and moved on to the Group Championship for hurdles and the 4x400 relay. Olivia Leon, a senior and Captain, had her best jump of the season in high jump of 4 feet 8 inches at State Sectional Championships. The boys have improved their times which many have come close to school records and certainly have the possibility to break them in the future. Anthony Colasuonno placed 15th in the 300 meter dash, with his fastest time of the season, at the Morris County Championship. Vincent Colantoni also a sophomore ran his fastest mile time of 4:38 at the Morris County Championships placing 14th. A freshman, Carlos Ortiz won shot put at the frosh-soph championships. It was exciting seeing the team come together and showing excitement about improving. Moving to the outdoor season we look to continue get better and set more personal records. Morris County Championships results: Olivia Shoshan - 5th place in the 55 meter dash and 4th place in the 55 meter hurdles; Sameerah Kham - 6th place in the 1,100 meter race; and the 4x400 relay team of Olivia Leon, Amanda Ribiero, Olivia Shoshan and Sameerah

GIRLS HOOPS QUALIFIES FOR STATE TOURNEY

The Girls Basketball finished the year with some momentum going in to next season, qualifying for the State Sectionals and giving a tough Verona team a great game. Congratulations to the graduating seniors (Skylar Schey, Tia Ayton, Luisa Barone and Ragan Kelley) who provided leadership, maturity, and guidance for the team throughout the season. Senior captain Tia Ayton earned Honorable Mention All-Conference and All-Academic Team with a GPA of 3.8! Good luck to Luisa Barone who will continue her soccer career at Wagner College.

BUDNEY DOMINATES ON THE MAT

Congrats to Par High junior wrestler Hailey Budney who was the 2018 New Jersey USAW Girls State Champion. This was the highlight to another incredible season wrestling independently in various tournaments. Hailey also took 2nd place in the Maryland Girls State Championship and placed 3rd at the USAW Middle Atlantic Girls Folkstyle Championship.

Congrats to Parsippany Regional Hockey senior Alex Cavaluzzo who had 2 goals and 2 assists in a win over Park to gave him 150 for his career!! An amazing accomplishment by an awesome guy. Congrats also to Shawn "Moose" Wellman who had his 1,000th save in only two seasons.

HOCKEY RECAP

When it comes to athletics, we are typically measured by wins and losses. Whether coaches or athletes are considered great depends on how many championships they’ve won. As a team, we had goals of making the playoffs and again being in the state tournament, but unfortunately we fell just short of those goals this year. Based on this measuring stick, our season could be looked at as a failure, but for anyone who truly understands the dynamics of sports knows that there is so much more to a team’s legacy than just statistics…

Half way through the season, we had some key injuries and a few players were playing different positions daily. The team had every opportunity to stop fighting and give up, but our seniors and leaders wouldn’t let us. We continued to improve every day in practice and build on our chemistry as a program. The players and coaches genuinely care for one another, which resulted in us battling not for ourselves, but for each other. Due to this hard work and dedication, we tremendously improved throughout the season. We tied the #1 team in the conference, battled until the very end with the #2 team, and upset the #3 team. For those attending our games, they saw a completely different team the second half of the season. As coaches, we preach to believe in the process, work to improve every day, and by doing these things we were able to compete with the top teams in the conference. This season should not simply be measured by our record alone, instead by the character and fight of these incredible young men and women.

If we continue to build off of our team chemistry, relentless attitude, work hard and support one another like we have since day one, we will be competing for another Conference Championship next season!

NCAA SIGNING DAY So proud of our four RedHawks who were recognized at their College Signing Day on February 8th. They're terrific student-athletes with bright futures ahead of them. Luisa Barone - Wagner, Soccer; John Krevis - Pace, Football; Faith Preziosi - Iona, Soccer; and Daniel Rodriguez - NJIT, Soccer. Thanks to Mr. DiBernard who organized the pictures with their parents and coaches. More college information coming soon….

COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF NJ Thanks to all of the students who attended our annual trip to the Community Food Bank of NJ. As usual, it was a rewarding experience for everyone. We helped to sort and box food that will be delivered to food shelters and soup kitchens around the state. Thanks also to our wonderful nurses Mrs. DeMarco and Mrs. Skibitski who helped by chaperoning the trip. There will be another trip to the Food Bank this summer. Keep your ears open for information and the date….

WINTER CHEERLEADING Our season was jam packed full of fun and excitement as we cheered on our fellow Red Hawk Girls and Boys Basketball teams. The squad choreographed a few different halftime routines and rotated through them throughout the season. Natalie Donda was named Athlete of the Week as she proved herself to be a fearless leader on the team. We ended our season with a delicious Hibachi banquet the night before SNOWMAGEDON. We will miss our seniors very much. Millie, Gabbie, Malcolm, Julia, and Karissa - Good luck in all that you do!

CHOIR NEWS… The PHS Choir has had a great first half of the year! We have our largest group in 8 years at 62 members. We also have additional singers that participate in our after-school choirs such as our Chambers, Women’s, Men’s, and A Cappella ensembles. We performed for the annual VNA Tree Lighting/Celebration of Life Event in Morristown on November 16th. We also performed with the PHHS Choir at our town’s annual tree lighting on December 2nd. These performances were a great way to start off the holiday season and to serve the community. In addition, we sang at Barnes and Noble on December 2nd. We also performed in our Band and Choir Winter Concert on December 13th. The CMS Eighth grade chorus performed with us, and we also performed for the eighth grade at CMS on December 20st. We had thirteen students who auditioned and were selected for the Morris Area Honors Choir. They performed in January at Randolph High School. Congratulations to Abby Sanchez, Stephanie Hernandez, Juliana Smith, Richa Iyer, Chelsea Aboagye, Karen Shih, Kenny Lee, Aidan Lafuente, Chloe Budd, Karmina Wall, Jazmin Lee, Liz Cogan, and Philip Varghese. Anya Kosachevich, Richa Iyer, and Bobby Wilson were accepted into the NJ All State Mixed Choir last April, and performed on November 11th in Atlantic City, as well as at the NJPAC on November 19th. Bobby was also accepted into the NAfME All National Honors Choir. He spent four days in Florida (November 26th-29th) rehearsing and performing with a renown composer. They learned so much and had two incredible experiences! In January, we had eight students accepted into the North Jersey Region I Honors Choir. They performed at Bloomfield High School on January 27th. Congratulations to Claire Alleyne, Chloe Budd, Stephanie Hernandez, Richa Iyer, Jazmin Lee, Maya Ng’oche, Juliana Smith, and Philip Varghese. In addition, we have ten students auditioning for the New Jersey All State Choir in April. We are looking forward to many more great experiences this year, including our choir trip to Broadway, and a lot more performance opportunities!

SPIRIT WEEK

Thanks to our Student Council for putting together our Spring Spirit Week! Monday: Meme Day... dress like your favorite meme OR create a meme to represent yourself and wear it with pride! Tuesday: Socks & Sandals Day Wednesday: Mismatch Day Thursday: Jersey Day Friday: Class Color / PHS Day & Pep Rally

NATIONAL STUDENT WALK OUT

(article originally posted in Parsippany Focus by Frank Cahil on March 14, 2018) In the wake of the tragic events that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, a

grassroots movement has emerged promoting a National School Walkout on March 14, 2018. This movement has gained support from students across New Jersey and in Parsippany-Troy Hills, as well.

Student leaders at Parsippany High School and Parsippany Hills High School expressed their desire to stand with their peers from across the country on March 14. The goal of the students is to gather to honor the lives lost in Parkland school shooting and to raise their voices in a call for action to promote safety for all students in America’s schools.

At Parsippany High School the walkout was ultimately held in the auditorium due to snow. Students were given the chance to speak on gun violence, there was a moment of silence, and they watched a video of the student activists from the Parkland shooting on the walkout.

There was a 17 minute walk out to recognize the 17 lives lost at the parkland shooting. There was a high turnout and it was a positive experience for all the students attending. The experience gave the students a chance to address the issue of gun violence/mass shooting and show our solidarity.

“The walkout really did give students at my school the chance to feel heard. I feel so lucky to attend a school that keeps an open dialogue on the things that matter. While many students that attended the walkout certainly disagree on specific gun policy prescriptions, the important thing is that we all rallied behind the idea that something needs to be done. We had the chance to express how passionate we are about the issue which unites us and made the walkout a success,” said Junior Bella Rocco.

Parsippany Police was present to ensure security and to assist in closing off access to the school during this time. Visitors will not be permitted to enter the campus between 9:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. to provide for the safety of our students and staff.

Parsippany-Troy Hills Superintendent Dr. Barbara Sargent said “The Parsippany-Troy Hills Township School District has developed a comprehensive Strategic Plan which strives to produce students who are problem-solvers and self-directed individuals, and to help all students become adaptable, confident citizens who embody self-awareness and strong interpersonal skills, capable of responsible decision-making and managing their emotions and behaviors. Toward that end, our schools support students who wish to participate in a peaceful and organized Walkout on March 14.”

Parsippany High School students organizing the event were Caitlin Crooker, Nicole Dugan, Emma Suarez, Bethany Goordman, Fiona Celli, Tyler Becker, Amanda Stover, Sarah DiPippa, Riley Ferguson and Kenny Slaman.

SPRING MUSICAL ANOTHER HIT I hope that as you read this you are one of the lucky ones who got to see this year’s Spring Musical Nice Work If You Can Get It. As usual, it was amazingly entertaining and featured a talented cast, a hilarious script, and wonderful music. The singing, dancing, acting and music were a testament to the talent that our Par High students possess. Thanks to Director- Mrs. Musilli, Choreographer- Mrs. Laux, Vocal Director- Mrs. Wilson, Costumes- Mrs. Champion, Technical Director- Mr. Lau, Pit Band Director- Mr. Stella and Stage Crew Manager- Adam Welch. In addition, thanks to our talented senior cast members (Talia Wynzel, Sean Van Vliet, Thomas Diez, Jannel Ateinza, Malcolm Green, Jacob Ponce DeLeon, Kaitlyn Sklow) for all of the amazing performances. Finally, thanks to the Stage Crew, Technical Crew, and all of the parents who supported the show by making the set, selling snacks and everything else…

MARCH BAND & CHOIR CONCERT As usual, our March Band and Choir Concert was a tremendous success (after a snow-induced delay..). We were treated to performances by the Concert Choir, Men’s Vocal Ensemble, Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Women’s Vocal Ensemble, Chamber Ensemble, Combined Band and Combined Band & Choir. Special thanks to our wonderful music teachers- Mr. Dalakian, Mrs. Neglio and Mrs. Wilson- and to our outgoing musical seniors who have dazzled us for for years. Special congrats to Ethan Kaplan for making the North Jersey Region Jazz Ensemble as 1st tenor sax.

KREVIS RECIEVES SCHOLAR ATHLETE AWARD

Congrats to senior football player John Krevis for being named to the Morris County Scholar Athlete team.

SPRING PEP RALLY Our Spring Pep Rally was a great opportunity to bring the school together to recognize our Spring Sports Teams and to have a little fun. After a grand senior entrance, we enjoyed a dance by the ICC Club and crowned Aqif Mahmudi the musical chairs champion. Thanks, as always, to Mr. Bush for emceeing the event.

GLAMMIES

We held our annual Glammies Night in January where we announced all of the winners for the Senior Superlatives. Thanks to the Student Council for facilitating the event and thanks to all of the presenters, performers and the technical crew!

Best Smile: Sebastian Abreu & Dunya Mohamed Best Eyes: Harris Ansari & Riley Ferguson Best Hair: Steven Rodriguez & Isabella Nicoletti Class Scholar: Ethan Kaplan & Ellie Xu Best Laugh: Marc Hoeltge & Julia Kloss Class Actor/Actress: Sean Van Vliet & Talia Wynzel Class Clown: Matt Strumolo & Julia Kloss Best Girl Buds: Maliha Mannan & Shakzoda Rakhimova Best Guy Buds: Max Johnson & John Krevis Best Girl/Guy Buds: Matt Strumolo & Camren Fitzsimmons Class Artist: Jacob Ponce De Leon & Rachel Wang Class Athlete: David Ton & Luisa Barone Class Optimist: Sebastian Abreu & Sarah DiPippa Class Pessimist: Rahul Mody & Hailey Amato Class Flirt: John Krevis & Jannel Atienza Least Changed: Everton Scott & Luisa Barone Most Changed: Jason Finkle & Sam Lee Talks Most Says Least: Alex Serben & Maliha Mannan Talks Least Says Most: Elijah Crawford & Annie Zhong Class Daydreamer: Mike Demonico & Olivia Leon Best Dressed: Hamza Naqvi & Savannah Cerrato Class Cutie: Jared Bazaral & Kaitlyn Holler Class Musician: Anthony Martucci & Isabella Cacciottolo Class Mom/Dad: Rachel Hoffman & Adam Welch Class Singer: Phillip Varghese & Isabella Cacciottolo Most Likely To Succeed: Ethan Kaplan & Ellie Xu Social Butterfly: Ali Ozdemir & Sarah DiPippa Boy To Bring Home/Girl Next Door: Enzo Ferrara & Rachel Hoffman Couple That Never Was: Bon June Koo & DJ Pico Class Couple: Ethan Kaplan & Bella Nicoletti

NATIONAL ART HONOR SOCIETY Congrats to all of the new National Art Honor Society members who were inducted in January. NAHS just recently organized Art Appreciation Week and did a great job of beautifying the school. Their current focus as a club is creating an Italian mural that will be located in the World Language wing of PHS. It will be the club’s third World Language mural, and has cemented itself as the main focus for our club. Rachel Wang is the current NAHS president.

ENVIRONMENTAL CLUB

The PHS Environmental Club has been busy making the world a little greener. Club members have been collecting plastic film (such as grocery bags, bread bags, case overwrap, dry cleaning bags, newspaper sleeves, ice bags, produce bags, bubble wrap, cereal bags, etc.) since December and have saved over 40 pounds of plastic from going to landfills. Instead, this plastic will be recycled into high performance composite Trex boards. The collection will continue through April, so please send in any clean plastic film. Club members also helped local homeless animals by conducting the annual donation drive for the Parsippany Animal Shelter. Thanks to all who donated! Picture below are club officers with some of the donations.

AAC CLUB Thanks to everyone who attended the Asian-American Club’s Annual Big Show in February. With your support, we donated over $550 to Operation Smile. Come hang out with us some more. We have a Game Night on Fri., March 23, a Movie Night on Fri., April 27 and our Annual Sushi-Tea-Dance on Fri., May 25. All are welcome- we hope to see you there!