To recognize America’s veterans who sacrificed their lives so that freedom could be preserved, Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest will conduct its annual Memorial Day observance on Wednesday, May 21st. The event will commence at
11:15 a. m. at the flag pole in front of the entrances to the high school’s Auditorium and North Gym.

Student government leaders will share their reflections on Memorial Day, and representatives from the Music and Social Studies Departments will participate in the ceremony.

Veterans from throughout the Northern Valley towns are invited and encouraged to attend the ceremony as are local police and fire departments, EMS squads, and municipal government officials.

In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be conducted in the Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest Auditorium.

Boy’s Track Team Wins Group B County Relay Championships

On Friday and Saturday, April 18th & 19th, Northern Valley Regional High School in Demarest, hosted the Jack Yocker’s Bergen County Track and Field Relay Championships. 47 schools and more than 2,000 athletes participated in the championship. In the Boy’s B Division, Demarest out pointed Ramsey High School, 73 to 70.5. Demarest and Ramsey entered the final event of the meet separated by only half a point. The Demarest 4x400M relay team of Anthony Morelli, Michael Drew, Yee Joon Chun, and Jake Hubschman; beat the Ramsey team by more than 2 seconds to secure the victory.
Demarest showed that the victory was truly a team effort as the Norsemen place in 15 of the 16 events but won only one of those events.

Congratulations to Coach Mike Theuerkauf, his staff and the Northern Valley Demarest boy’s track and field team on their Bergen County Championship.

NVD Student Receives Award from Alliance For Young Artists & Writers

Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest is proud to announce that Alice Rhee, Senior, has been recognized with a Gold Key by the Alliance For Young Artists & Writers, Inc. through The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Alice Rhee will be awarded a certificate and Gold Key pin for her accomplishment.

Only the most accomplished works submitted to the regional programs of The Awards earn Gold Keys; out of 5,000 submissions in the writing category of the Region-at-Large this year, 1,000 works were given this distinction. All Gold Key works will be considered for national level recognition.

On the national level, more than 1,000 young artists and writers are recognized with national Gold Awards and Silver Awards. Graduating seniors who earn Portfolio Awards may leverage scholarships from the Alliance Scholarship Provider Network, ranging from $1,000 to full-tuition scholarships. National award recipients are celebrated with a Ceremony at Carnegie Hall, a National Exhibition of selected works, and are invited to attend a series of Workshops led by professional artists, writers and creative industry leaders in New York City.

The mission of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a non-profit organization, is to provide guidance and support for the next generation of artists and writers. The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers annually identifies and recognizes creative teenagers through The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and develops a community for creative youth with resources to encourage, connect, and empower them.

Northern Valley-Demarest is proud of this young writer and the English Department teacher, Dr. Marissa Januzzi, who mentored her.

Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest will present a substance awareness education speaker, Dr. Matthew Bellace, for Juniors and Seniors on Monday, April 14. The program is tentatively scheduled to begin at 8:30 am in the Northern Valley-Demarest Auditorium and will be coordinated by Ms. Deborah Bajakian, Student Assistance Counselor.

Dr. Bellace has a Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology. “How To Get High Naturally” is the topic of the dynamic presentation that focuses on natural highs. His program has been described as a combination of interactive demonstrations, inspirational stories, and stand-up comedy. Dr. Bellace’s goal is to empower students to be leaders in their lives and make healthy choices.

Dr. Bellace has over 15 years of drug and alcohol prevention experience. In 1993, as a Bucknell University Sophomore, he founded a grassroots prevention group called C. A.L. V.I. N. & H. O.B. B.E. S. (Creating, A, Lively, Valuable, Ingenious, New, Habit, Of, Being, (at) Bucknell, (and) Enjoying, Sobriety). Dr. Bellace has been speaking nationally and internationally for over a decade at conferences such as Youth to Youth, PRIDE, and FCCLA. His schedule annually includes over 150 high school and college programs across the country.

As a stand-up comedian, Dr. Bellace is a regular at comedy clubs in NYC and along the East coast. His comedy is sharp, honest, and consistent with his message.

Having received his Ph. D. in clinical psychology from Drexel University, Dr. Bellace’s subspecialty is child and adolescent neurophysiology, the study of the developing brain and behavior. He completed his internship at The Mount Sinai Medical Center (NYC) working with patients on the Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Units. Dr. Bellace’s dissertation topic was memory, an expertise that is not lost when presenting to a youth audience. As a speaker, he has been known to deliver a forceful program, using examples of his life experience.

Dr. Bellace’s primary goal is to encourage young people to pursue natural highs and make healthy choices. He believes that by empowering students to make healthy choices and pursue natural highs, students will be less likely to abuse substances.

Dr. Bruce Sabatini, NV-Demarest Principal, is proud of the substance awareness education students receive. “Our substance education programs have been well received. The goal is to consistently place students in the moment of decision. The practical application of the decision-making process captures the attention of students and demonstrates our commitment to providing them with appropriate and effective strategies in their own decision-making process related to substance use. ”

NV Demarest Teens-N-Tots Pen Pal Exchange with NV Old Tappan

Mrs. Corbisiero’s Child Development class at NV Demarest is starting a Pen Pal program in cooperation with Mrs. Reid’s Child Development class at NV Old Tappan. Mrs. Reid and Ms. Corbisiero have paired each Child Development student with a child in the individual Teens-N-Tots preschool. Then we paired the Teen and Tot from NV Demarest with their counter-part from NV Old Tappan.

This is a great opportunity for the young children to experience making friendships and encourage creative writing. Art is one of the easiest ways to motivate children to put words to paper. Young children are natural artists and as they develop into writers, they enjoy adding words and sentences to create short stories for their artistic creations. Communication will take place through picture drawing for the Tot with writing help from their Teen Teacher. The Teen will also communicate with their counter-part on their observations of the child they are paired with.

There will be two communications per month beginning with Valentine’s Day in February through May and we are planning a field trip for everyone to meet each-other in the spring. And, of course who doesn’t like to hear those three little words, “You’ve got mail!!

Winter Sports News

Northern Valley Demarest is pleased to announce that Michelle Brody is the 2008 recipient of the NATIONAL GIRLS AND WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY. Michelle is a two sport student-athlete winning All League and All County honors in volleyball and softball. Each state high school is invited to select one outstanding female athlete to represent their school. Michelle is a great example of a student/athlete and Northern Valley Demarest is very proud of her and pleased about her selection for this honor. Michelle was presented with an award certificate during the State-wide awards luncheon on February 3, 2008 at Seton Hall University in the Brennan Recreation Center. Immediately following the luncheon, all award winners and the adults accompanying them, were invited to attend the women's basketball game between Seton Hall University and West Virginia University. All award recipients were recognized at halftime of the Seton Hall game.

Congratulations to the NV Demarest boys swim team, as they are the NBIAL division champions for the 2007-2008 season. At the League meet, the team scored a whopping 244 points and scored in almost every event. Jesse Taylor, Arthur Hong, Matt Dermksian, and Joe Conti were instrumental in the win. Overall, the team is currently 6-2, finishing seventh in the Bergen County Championships. At that meet, Joe Conti set a school record in the 100 meter butterfly with a time of 55.92 seconds.

Congratulations are also in order for the NV Demarest girl’s swim team, as they are the NBIAL division champions for the 2007-2008 season. The girls team is also 6-2, and finished fifth in the Bergen County Championships. At the NBIL League Championships the girls team scored 223 points and were led by Tori Cervone. Alisha Cervone, Sarah Sykes, and Maud Bashmadjian.

The Boys Basketball Team has won three straight games in February. The team is led by Steve Liparini. John Golias, Sam Brisk, and Anthony Montagne. The Boys Freshman Basketball team has also qualified for the Bergen County Coaches Association Tournament. The team received the 9th seed and beat their first round opponent, Park Ridge 44-19, qualifying for the round of 16 teams.

The girls basketball team has played much better over the past two weeks. The girls are led by leading scorer Kim Dabajian, and starters Jamie Rubin, Jaimie Beddoe, Caroline Becker, and Alyssa Migliore.

The Ice Hockey team has equaled its win total from last season with one month left in the season. This season, the team has increased numbers and hopes to continue its improvement.

Our varsity boy’s and girl’s track teams competed in the NBIL, Bergen County, and NJSIAA Championships. Over 130 students participated in winter track this season.
Our wrestlers will begin competing in the NJSIAA Tournament. Districts are held at River Dell High School, Regions at Hackensack High School, and Finals at Atlantic City’s Convention Center.

PTSO Update and News

The PTSO is seeking volunteers for our HS Student Directory committee. This committee is responsible for two of our most important initiatives: the directory itself, and the money it raises for our scholarship program. Last year we awarded fifteen $1,000 scholarships to graduating seniors for use toward a computer or peripherals. In June of 2008 we will be awarding even more scholarships thanks to dedicated volunteers. As you know each year we lose some volunteers as their students graduate. Please join us and feel the pride of making all of this possible for our amazing children. To volunteer for this or any other committee, email us today at NVDPTSO@verizon.net. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Participation in the directory is strictly voluntary, but you must take the initiative to be listed in it if your student has not been listed previously. We do not get student information from the school and rely on each family and student to fill out and return the directory listing form that will be mailed to you. New for the school year 2008 – 2009, one copy of the directory is included in each PTSO family membership. If you are not a member of the PTSO, your student must be listed in the directory to purchase a copy.

Applications for the PTSO Scholarships will be mailed in late February to each student in the Class of 2008 whose family are members of the PTSO. The applications will be due back in late April. Family membership in the PTSO is a prerequisite for applying.

PTSO Board Members have been working on a number of issues this past quarter, meeting with students, staff, and the administration, as well as making a presentation to the Board of Education in January. Come to one of our future meetings to see what’s been going on, or to add your voice to the group. We welcome everyone and would like to hear from a variety of people who make up the school community.

Our meetings for the remainder of the year are:
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

We are in the process of forming next year’s Executive Board, and hope you will join us at one of our meetings.

Vivian Choe, a senior student at Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest, has assumed leadership of the student-initated re-cycling program at the school begun by 2007 graduate, Ian Altendorfer, now a freshman at the University of Vermont. Ian's motivation and initiative manifested itself in securing a $1,00 grant from the Bergen County Utilities Authority which will be used for the 2007-2008 school year.

Vivian has made a revised re-cycling proposal to Bob Armstrong, Director of Buildings and Grounds, to meet the needs of the 2007-2008 school year. She will be assisted by Mr. Steven Ryan, Biology teacher, and the encouragement of support of the Student-Faculty Senate, Mr. Steven Ryan, Biology teacher, and the Earth Club.