The superintendent stands with the students who are being honored.
ORANGE, NJ — The Orange School District celebrated a night of student achievement at Orange Preparatory Academy on Tuesday, Jan. 21, with an event called “Dawn of a New Day.”
Guests enjoyed music performed by the Orange Preparatory Academy Jazz Band, as well as an opening performance by the Orange High School cheerleaders and a later one by students from Heywood Avenue School.
The district recognition program was designed for students who are achieving academically, as well as for those participating in the decision-making process for college or who are due to receive scholarships for college.
Based on the recommendation of an administrator or teacher at each school, students meeting overall exemplary academic, attendance and other standards were honored.
Among the students were 25 Orange High School seniors who had been accepted to New Jersey City University, most with scholarships, during the school’s Instant Decision Day; this allows students to apply, interview and receive an admissions decision in a single day.
In addition, students who participated in the Seton Hall Junior MBA program, a collaborative venture with the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University, were recognized at the program. For the fall 2019 academic semester, students from Orange High School participated in a management information systems course with Seton Hall students as if they were fully enrolled first-year students; they were assigned student and faculty mentors for the duration of the program. Students who took the course earned college-level credit.
Students from the STEM Innovation Academy and Orange High School who participated in the Rutgers Mini Med program last fall were also acknowledged. The program offers students an introduction to the study of medicine through a nine-week sequence of one-hour dinner hours/seminars, formal lectures and small group discussions, and several elective courses. The students were given the option to enroll in three elective weekend courses; one, a two-hour course, deals with accessing medical information and is offered by the librarians of the George F. Smith Library of Health Sciences. A second elective, cardiopulmonary physiology, focused on normal versus abnormal heart and lung function. The third offered students an opportunity to become certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Guided tours and demonstrations of the laboratories of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine facilities, as well as tours of the Emergency/Trauma Unit, were conducted.
Superintendent of Orange Schools Gerald Fitzhugh II spoke highly about the event.
“The District Recognition Program is extremely important,” Fitzhugh said in a quote sent to the Record-Transcript on Monday, Jan. 27. “It reflects our recognition of our students, who are working to their fullest potential and achieving notable goals. This program allowed our families to celebrate with the school district monthly. I am pleased with the performances by our schools, as well as the attendance of our families. These are the ingredients needed to move the Orange Township Public School District from good to great.”
Photos Courtesy of Joan Purkiss
About the Author
