Bloomfield, Glen Ridge students honored by NCJW/Essex

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The National Council of Jewish Women, Essex County Section, have honored three Essex County high school students with the Nancy and Robert Eskow NCJW Volunteer Awards, according to a press release from the NCJW/Essex.

Selected from a field of 36 applicants, the 2016 award-winners include Madeline Broderick of Glen Ridge High School, Jared Kofsky of Columbia High School
in Maplewood, and Mark Rosetti of Bloomfield High School. These high school
seniors were honored for their commitment to improving lives for others, locally and globally.

Broderick has dedicated her time as president of her school’s Feminist Club to make a difference in the lives of women as well as in the LGBT community.

With the club, she participated in fundraisers that included a clothing drive for Oasis Women’s Shelter in Paterson, a toiletries drive for Safe House Domestic Violence Shelter in Bloomfield, and a fundraiser for victims of acid attacks in the Middle East. She also helped advocate for gender-neutral bathrooms to be created at her high school.

“Making a difference means sometimes making people uncomfortable and challenging people’s beliefs, which means that you won’t always be the most popular,” Broderick said.

Rosetti, fascinated by fire departments and firefighters, began taking videos and pictures at fire scenes and posting them on YouTube as a hobby. His channel began to develop a fan base and the videos have been used for education and training.

Three years later, his channel has grown to 6,300 subscribers and 4.6 million views. He is now on the Bloomfield Fire Department Volunteer Rescue Co.
“It has been a childhood dream of mine to become a firefighter. I believe that building relationships through my film work and learning skills and techniques from what I have seen, I will be a better firefighter and also a better person,” Rosetti said.

The winners of the Nancy and Robert Eskow Volunteer Award reflect the mission and values of NCJW/Essex through their commitment and dedication to community service projects and advocacy experienced during their high school careers. In recognition of their exemplary contributions, each of the three awardees will receive a $500 scholarship and an award certificate.