NWR Community Patriot Post

Happy Holidays from the North Warren Regional School District! May you find time for relaxing with friends, family and neighbors during this winter break. It has been an exciting time of year since Thanksgiving in the school district. This post will highlight the student's and staff's dedication to service and community as well as highlight some key members of the NWR staff. Have a peaceful and fulfilling holiday!

Mr. Scott Stoll is the North Warren Educator of the Year for 2017-2018. Mr. Stoll is a Middle School Social Studies teacher who has been at North Warren for 11 years. Mr. Stoll is loved and respected by his students due to his passion for Social Studies and the students he teaches.The kids love that he is not afraid to look silly in order to maker his point. The connection he has with his students is evident whenever you enter his classroom. North Warren is a better place because of Mr. Stoll.As an educator, Mr. Stoll understands not only the content, but those he is delivering it to - he not only has mastered the standards, but he has quietly set them higher for himself and as a result, those around him. Mr. Stoll sees an importance in connecting with the students, even the ones that are not on his roster, and does it daily. As an athlete, Coach Stoll motivates his team to not only focus on their stats in season, but their stats in life. As a person, Mr. Stoll is humble in his actions, kind with his words and honest in his friendships. As a parent, Mr. Stoll can be found on the sidelines of North Warren Football games with his three sons cheering on the Patriots or on Monday morning telling us about their family adventures over the weekend. On numerous occasions, both professionally and personally, Scott has offered his colleagues advice, humor, and support. From the classroom to the weight room to the mat to the dance floor at the Middle School dances - Mr. Stoll makes a difference in all of the arenas he presents himself in. He is a positive role model to all of our students and can often be found giving advice, lending a listening ear or laughing with our students. Mr. Stoll knows the right things to do, does them himself, and inspires those around him to do the same.

Ms. Beth Dispoto is the North Warren Education Specialist of the Year for 2017-2018. Ms. Dispoto has been our school nurse for 11 years and has served in this role for 14 years. Ms. Dispoto is the consummate professional in all aspects. Mrs. Dispot is the person we all go to when we need medical help and many times when we need a caring person who is good at listening. Ms. Dispoto is an adjunct professor at the Passaic County College School of Nursing at Sussex County Community College where she guides and leads the nursing profession of the future. Mrs. Dispoto is an indispensable member of the North Warren School community. She has served for many years as an active member of our School Safety Committee where she has established many health and safety standards that serves all of our students and staff. Ms. Dispoto has also worked to advise and lead by example with her work as the advisor for our Friends of Rachel's Club. This organization's motto is “Start a Chain Reaction” which calls on all of us at North Warren to do something positive with the hope that it grows. Ms. Dispoto took the lead with our students from Friends of Rachel this year with a very successful toy drive that was sponsored by Project Self Sufficiency, a local non-profit that focuses its energy on helping struggling families in our community. Ms Dispoto has been happily married to her husband Frank for 24 years and she is the proud mother of two college students, Kathleen and Natalie.

These mini biographies were composed by Mr. Sylvester, Chair of the Selection Committee and nominating staff members.

The NWR school district is committed to service to others; both in the school and within the greater community. Please take a moment to appreciate all that our students, staff and community members do for our school, the county and beyond. What you are about to discover is all the recent service activities since November. They have organized and provided relief to hundreds in just this short month. This is nothing short of miraculous. I am humbled to be a part of such a giving community. I felt the need to highlight this leading into this season of giving and celebrating. I hope you are as proud and impressed as I am.

Friends of Rachel, under the advisement of Ms. Dispoto, donated money to ship "Operation Christmas Child" boxes. NWR raised enough money to ship 28 boxes. They are also currently writing Christmas cards for the local nursing home. Friends of Rachel also partnered with Project Self Sufficiency that assits low income families in Warren and Sussex Counties. This year they ran a toy drive and the NWR greater community collected 625 gifts!!!

National Honor Society members helped local food banks to package and deliver Thanksgiving "Baskets" for local families in need. 15 NHS members help out. Ms. Zhang, the Chinese exchange teacher also helped out as they do not celebrate Thanksgiving in China and she was eager to see the service activities in which many of our students are involved.

Please note that many NWR organizations, like Interact, cooperate and work together to make this annual service activity happen. The four food pantries are First United Methodist Church of Blairstown, St. Jude's Church, First Presbyterian Church of Blairstown and the Evangelical Free Church of Blairstown

Interact Club had a very busy fall, from the annual trip to prepare and serve lunch at the Manna House soup kitchen in Newton to our ongoing collaboration with LocalShare. After learning from Christine and Michelle from LocalShare about local food waste and ways to prevent it while giving to those in need, 20 Interact members gleaned 40 boxes of apples at Brook Hallow farm in Columbia. Then, the students worked together over the course of two afternoons to clean, peel, core and slice all the apples. Some students made the pastry and assembled 20 apple pies that were part of the Thanksgiving Baskets given to 24 families from Knowlton and North Warren. Other students sorted good apples for St. Jude's food pantry Thanksgiving baskets (95 baskets in total!) and others stored the sliced apples to freeze for future use. Even the scraps were put to good use and distributed to local farms for animal feed. Over the course of November, members held a canned food drive with the Middle School Student Council for EarlyAct's Thanksgiving baskets. This week, Interact members used the extra canned goods collected after Thanksgiving for Christmas Dinner Bags and made more pies and applesauce for NW families and patron's of St. Jude's food pantry. Residents of local nursing homes and rehabilitation centers also received a little holiday cheer in cards and cookie care packages baked and arranged by Interact's members.

Spanish National Honor Society, also lead by Ms. Abbiate, the Spanish Honor Society collected personal hygiene items and over the counter medical supplies for families in Puerto Rico displaced and affected by Hurricane Maria.

Family Promise - Our students and community members collected 59 blankets to donate this holiday season through our NWR Peer Leadership Program! The local organization, Family Promise, will use our blankets to create "First Night Bags" for homeless children in surrounding areas to help them through their first night in a shelter. Along with the blanket, there is a stuffed animal, coloring books and crayons, children's book, toothpaste and brush, and a nightlight included in the backpacks that schools from other towns have collected.

Second Chance Toys - This program is sponsored through Norwescap. A box was located in the front lobby for GENTLY USED TOYS (Not new toys). The used toys were collected and given to low-income families in Warren County. The used toys that were collected will be in the hands of children in need by Christmas.

Gifts From The Heart - This service project is a North Warren Exclusive! Gifts from the Heart is a collection of gifts from staff to provide presents for students in need that attend North Warren Regional. It is lead by Jessica Loughlin, Loren Marcus and Dawn Sell. This year

Breakfast with Santa - The North Warren Regional chapter of the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), continued a decades old tradition of providing the Breakfast with Santa event for the community. The students worked hard to put on the event including the advertising through the sending districts, determined pricing, and organizing the program. Everyone that came had a wonderful time with the coloring and games, while enjoying the food, much of which was provided the Blairstown Acme. The FBLA’s mission is to bring business and education together in a positive working relationship through innovative leadership and career development programs. The club does this while focusing on leadership development, academic competitions, educational programs, and performing community service. Thanks to Mr. Snyder, our FBLA advisor.

On December 12, the NWR National Honor Society inducted 21 new members. Over 100 family members and friends attended this year's induction ceremony. This year's Keynote speaker was our very own Ms. Serzan. Our NHS advisor is Mrs. Yiu and we would like to thank her for her work with our students.

Our Band, Strings and Chorus programs each recently held winter concerts. As always they were enjoyable, impressive and well attended by the community. Band is lead by Mr. Zuccheri, Stings is lead by our new staff member, Mr. Israel and Chorus is lead by Ms. Cohea. Congratulations to our music directors and their students for their stellar performances once again.

The NWR Marching Band was recently honored at a Board of Edcuation meeting for their marked excellence this past season. The below listed are for 2017 only! This is an incredible accomplishment and I thank all the advisors and students who make this program one of the best in the nation!

USBands - Competition (Lenape Valley Reg. HS, Stanhope, NJ) 1st Place

USBands - Competition (Northern Highlands Reg. HS, Allendale, NJ) 1st Place

USBands - Competition (Wayne Valley HS, NJ) 1st Place

USBands - Competition (Vernon HS, NJ) 1st Place

USBands - Competition (Nazareth HS, PA) 1st Place

USBands - NWR HOME SHOW (North Warren Regional, HS, NJ) 1st Place

USBands - Competition (Mount Olive HS, NJ) 1st Place

USBands - NJ State Finals, III Open (Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ)

“NEW JERSEY STATE CHAMPIONS”

USBands – New Jersey PRELIMS (Old Bridge HS, NJ) 1st Place

USBands - All States Competition III Open (MetLife Stadium) 2nd Place

As has been the tradition for years at NWR, Mr. Bridge organized a student and staff Holiday Variety Show filled with music and performances. There were a total of 11 acts in show that were performed during a whole-school assembly. It was the perfect way to send everyone off to Winter Break.

Thank you to all our performers and organizers of the event!!