Let's Talk TPS
March 22, 2023
Celebrating Music In Our Schools Month
Having a robust music program at our elementary and middle schools is music to our ears! During Music in Our Schools Month, our elementary schools showcased their many musical talents which include the young violinists from Stillman (featured right), and a group of budding musicians under the leadership of Mr. Carolan, their music teacher (featured below). Smith School's music teacher, Mr. Ahramjian, brought a Kenyan theme to their school assembly day, and the students sang many songs in Swahili. As you can tell, it was also St. Patrick's Day!
Thank you to ALL of our music teachers at our schools:
Mackay: John Fugaban, vocal music teacher, and Alecia DeJoseph, instrumental music teacher. Maugham: Cordelia Bergamo, vocal music teacher, and Alecia DeJoseph, instrumental music teacher
Smith: Michael Carolan, band and orchestra, and Mark Ahramjian, chorus
Stillman: Michael Carolan, instrumental music and Dana Rizzo, vocal music
TMS: Dr. Kimberly Burja, band director, Donna Girvan, choral director, Dr. Nick Rzonsa, orchestra director, and Andrew DeJoseph, music teacher
THS: James Millar, music teacher, and Mike Jacobetz, band
TMS County and Region Music Ensemble
Tenafly Middle School has many musically-inclined students - including those who were selected to be a part of the Bergen County Chorus and Band, or the North Jersey Region I Intermediate Honors Orchestra.
It was fun to bring all of these talented students together for some group photos. Featured are the TMS representatives to the Bergen County Band (to the left) and Bergen County Chorus (down below). Also below are TMS' region bands, orchestra, and chorus; and if you look all the way to the back row of the big group photo, you will find their respective staff instructors. What a gifted bunch!
NJSMA Middle School Concert Band Festival
On March 9th, the TMS 6th and 7th grade bands were invited to participate in the NJSMA Middle School Concert Band Festival at Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ. This was a very exciting opportunity for our students to receive feedback from two very distinguished conductors - Dr. Thomas McCauley (Director of Bands at Montclair State University) and Dr. Teresa Purcell-Giles (Director of Bands at William Paterson University). All of the district's instrumental music teachers also attended: Dr. Burja and Mr. DeJoseph (TMS); Mr. Carolan (Smith and Stillman); Mrs. DeJoseph (Mackay and Maugham); and Mr. Jacobetz (THS). Having all the band music teachers in one place gave our teachers an opportunity to make curriculum connections. It also gave the elementary school teachers a chance to see how far their former students have come, and the High School Band Director a preview of what's to come!
TMS Presents Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Musical
Support our middle school students, under the leadership of Ms. Girvan and Ms. Vardy. Show times are Friday, March 24th at 7 pm and Saturday, March 25th at 3:30 pm. Performances will be held in the Dr. Alan Van Poznak Auditorium at TMS. For tickets, visit: https://tms.seatyourself.biz/
Strong Performance at 2023 DECA State Competition
DECA is a non-profit organization designed to prepare students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management around the world. Tenafly’s DECA Chapter, now in existence for seven years, recently announced a very strong performance in the 2023 State Competition. This year's event had almost 5,000 students statewide, who completed over 50 events to qualify for DECA's International Career Development Conference (ICDC) taking place in Orlando, Florida this April.
Tenafly Chapter's DECA State Competition Results:
65 students qualified for the State competition, the most ever (prior high was 41)
Of our 65, we had19 finish in the Top Ten statewide in their respective events (prior was 9)
8 students qualified for ICDC (prior high was two)
For the first time ever, we had three students place top in the State:
Sophie Lee in Apparel & Accessories Marketing; and
Jordan Tobias and David Levine in Buying & Merchandising Management Team Decision Making
Congratulations to all of these students, their club advisor, and their chapter presidents, Aiden Krumerman and Zaki Khan. We wish you all the best at ICDC!
Building a Bridge at Mackay
We are sending out a special that you to Dr. Lei Zheng, a Bridge engineer, for visiting Mrs. Goretsky's 5th grade class to teach them basic design concepts on how to build a bridge. The students then got the chance to "build a bridge" of their own! For more pictures, be sure to follow us on social media!
Bergen County Math League Competition
Tenafly was the host of this year's Bergen County Math League Competition. All participating schools (from 28 districts) were divided into six groups and the 220 Bergen County students competed against one another for awards. With the help of our math team advisor, Ms. Peggy Wissler, our students performed very well:
Alon Danai, grade 11 - 1st Place, County
Seihyun Lee, grade 10 - 1st Place, Group 3
Thomas Yoon, grade 12 - 1st Place, School
Iris Sung, grade 12 - 2nd Place, School
Also, as we look toward the future, our TMS and THS Math departments recently participated in a special professional development event presented by Dr. Eric Milou, Professor of Mathematics at Rowan University. Dr. Milou worked with our teachers on how to transform the math classroom in ways that are invigorating and infuse technology to engage students.
