The Hun School Welcomes Freestyle Love Supreme Academy

Image Source: Hun School Office of Communications

On Wednesday, November 17, The Hun School welcomed Freestyle Love Supreme Academy to campus as part of the School’s Centennial Speaker Series and Her at Hun: Celebrating 50 Years of Girls and Women. The outdoor performance was high-energy, interactive, and carried a message of positivity and inclusivity.

Freestyle Love Supreme (FLS) was conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, and Anthony Veneziale. The group is currently performing on Broadway and are the subject of a Grammy Award-winning documentary on Hulu. FLS Academy are talented members of the cast who spin cues from the audience into humorous bits, instantaneous songs, and fully realized musical numbers. From singing to rapping to beatboxing with harmonies and freestyle flow, each show is unique to their audience.  more

Paul Muldoon Livestream Event, December 1

Labyrinth Books in Princeton will host a hybrid, livestream event with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon on Wednesday, December 1 at 6 p.m. Muldoon will introduce his 14th collection of poetry, entitled Howdie-Skelp: Poems. He will be joined by fellow poet Michael Dickman.  more

Penn Medicine Pavilion Offers a New Level of Care for Philadelphia-Area Patients

Image Source: www.pennmedicine.org

At the end of October 2021, Penn Medicine opened the doors to its 1.5-million-square-foot future-ready pavilion. The 17-story building on Penn Medicine’s West Philadelphia campus houses 504 private patient rooms and 47 operating rooms. The pavilion will play host to the latest inpatient care for cardiology, cardiac surgery, medical and surgical oncology, neurology and neurosurgery, and transplant surgery. It will also be the site for Penn Medicine’s new emergency department. more

Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Dance Presents Princeton Dance Festival

Choreographer Omari Wiles (center foreground) with Princeton students in rehearsal for his new work to be featured in the 2021 Princeton Dance Festival (Photo by Jonathan Sweeney).

The 2021 Princeton Dance Festival returns with in-person performances featuring new and repertory works by choreographers Rebecca Lazier, Kyle Marshall, Justin Peck (staged by Michael Breeden), Larissa Velez-Jackson, Omari Wiles, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, and Germaine Acogny (staged by Samantha Speis), and new work staged by Tina Fehlandt inspired by Mark Morris’ choreography on the 40th anniversary of the founding of his famed dance company, performed by Princeton dance students. All performances will take place at McCarter Theatre on November 19-21.  more

Fused Glass Ornament Workshop at WWAC

Just in time for the holidays, West Windsor Arts Council (WWAC) is offering a fused glass ornament workshop on Wednesday, November 24 at 3 p.m. at 952 Alexander Road in Princeton Junction. 

The class will be two hours long, during which participants will make three of their own inspired keepsake glass ornaments. The class will include hands-on instruction on how to design several ornaments for tack fusing, including cutting small pieces of glass and using a flame to shape glass stringers. The participants will glue their ornaments and fuse them together using a special kiln in the studio. The finished products will be returned to the students in 7-10 days, complete with a silver-plated bail for hanging on their Christmas tree.  more

“Slice of Life” Quilt Art Celebrates 300 Years of Hightstown History

Ever wonder what your day-to-day life would be like if you lived 100 years ago? 200 years ago? How about 300 years ago? The Hightstown Woman’s Club thought just that same thing and created a “Slice of Life” Art Quilt to commemorate 300 years of living in Hightstown, New Jersey. On Sunday, November 14 at 2 p.m., they will be presenting this work of living history and art to the Borough officials at the historic Fire House event room, 140 North Main Street. 

At the event, the Woman’s Club CIP Committee will reveal the two-year process that brought them to the finished product. This was a community effort, with 26 makers from Hightstown and East Windsor participating. An accompanying book has been produced with a rich historic compilation of the art quilt subjects, and will be available to view and purchase in time for the holidays.  more

Women Inspiring Women Celebrates its 8th Global Event at Montclair State

The 8th annual Women Entrepreneurship Week (WEW) at Montclair State University was kicked off by cosmetics giant Bobbi Brown in conversation with friend and award-winning WNBC-TV reporter Tracie Strahan.

Brown was one of a dozen speakers who shared their stories of pivoting, as well as of failures and successes along their entrepreneurial journeys with the in-person and virtual audience. WEW is a global event, as students and attendees from 250 universities in 40 countries and 48 states participated this year, said Mimi Feliciano, a Montclair State University Advisory Board member for The Mimi & Edwin Feliciano School of Business and board member of the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (FCE&I), which hosted the event. more

National Geographic Live: “Secrets of the Whales,” Nov. 7

Image Source: https://www.mccarter.org

McCarter Theatre inaugurates its new series of three National Geographic Live Sunday afternoons featuring the world’s leading explorers, adventurers, writers, and photographers, bringing their work from the pages of the iconic magazine to the stage. It kicks off with Brian Skerry’s Secrets of the Whales, based on a Disney + channel TV special featured as part of its Earth Day observances this past April. more

PU Public Lectures Welcomes AI Scholar Kate Crawford

Professor Kate Crawford is a leading international scholar of the social and political implications of artificial intelligence (AI). Her work focuses on understanding large-scale data systems in the wider contexts of history, politics, labor, and the environment. Crawford will deliver a free public lecture at Princeton University’s McCosh 50 on Wednesday, October 27 from 5 to 6:15 p.m. Crawford will also be joined by Wendy Brown, a political theorist who works across the history of political thought, political economy, and critical legal theory.  more

Four George School Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

George School has announced that Anjali Amin ’22, Forest Ho-Chen ’22, Christian (Zachary) Kalb ’22, and Arshdeep (Arshi) Nagra ’22 have each been named National Merit Semifinalists in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

These four students are among 16,000 semifinalists throughout the country, each qualifying for one of the 7,500 available National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $30 million that will be offered in the spring. more

NJIT Continues Rankings Climb

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) ranks in the top quarter of U.S. universities and colleges in the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings for 2022.

For the second year in a row, NJIT has earned a spot in the top 25 percent of universities, jumping another 16 spots from the 2021 rankings and an impressive 200 places since 2017. Additionally, NJIT is the second highest ranked public university in New Jersey among schools offering degrees in several disciplines, including business, engineering, architecture, and history.

“Since the ranking’s inaugural year, NJIT has steadily climbed the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education U.S. rankings,” said Fadi P. Deek, NJIT provost and senior executive vice president. “Our upward trajectory and improved standing is a testament to focused and strategic improvements we are making in our academic programs and faculty, and the positive feedback provided by our students.”  more

Jeff Whetsone Named Director of Princeton University’s Program in Visual Arts

Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts has named award-winning photographer Jeff Whetstone as the new director of the University’s Program in Visual Arts. Whetstone has been a member of the visual arts faculty since 2015 and succeeds Martha Friedman, who has directed the program since 2016 and will return to teaching full-time.

Whetstone’s photographs and films imagine America through lenses of anthropology and mythology. His Post-Pleistocene series illuminates the depths of wild caves in Alabama and Tennessee where layers of human markings reveal millennia of cultural evolution. His ongoing New Wilderness project portrays a human-centric American wilderness and questions how human cultural connection to the wild is revealed in contemporary times. Whetstone’s artwork also investigates the role gender, geography, and heritage play in defining the human position in the natural world. A self-described biologist at heart, he explores the cyclical and evolving narrative of landscapes as a force that compels humans to adapt. His work varies considerably with each project, but always addresses the particularities of a place and explores interplay between geography and human experience. For Whetstone, the natural world is a cultural experience, and the built environment is firmly, yet problematically, situated within the web of nature. more

Lawrenceville School Welcomes First Orion Military Scholars

News source: For additional information, please contact Lisa M. Gillard Hanson, director of Public Relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.

Lawrenceville is pleased to welcome the first class of Orion Military Scholars to the School, Rachel Deoki ’25 and Ben McCormick ’24. Lawrenceville is among the founding partners of the Orion Military Scholarship Fund (OMSF), teaming with select boarding schools to provide merit-based scholarships to children of active-duty U.S. service members. Deoki and McCormick’s fathers serve in the Army and Navy, respectively. 

Lawrenceville’s Dean of Enrollment Management Greg Buckles has worked closely with OMSF, which he called “an incredible resource.… We’re leveraging their expertise to help us find outstanding students we know will be a good match for Lawrenceville,” he said. more

Fund for Irish Studies Series at PU Presents a Conversation with Novelist Roddy Doyle

Princeton University’s Fund for Irish Studies presents a conversation with award winning novelist, dramatist, and screenwriter Roddy Doyle led by scholar and critic Frintan O’Toole, co-chair of the series, on Friday, September 17 at 4:30 p.m. via Zoom. Princeton’s Howard G.B. Clark University Professor of the Humanities Paul Muldoon, co-chair of the series, will provide a welcome and introduction. The event opens the 2021-22 series, which will be virtual for the fall. The event is free and open to the public.

Doyle has written 12 novels, including The Commitments; Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, for which he won the Booker Prize in 1993; The Woman Who Walked Into Doors; and, most recently, Love. His latest book, a story collection called Life Without Children,will be published in the U.S. in spring 2022. Doyle has written eight books for children. He has also written for screen and stage. He is the co-founder of Fighting Words, which aims to help Irish children and young people to discover and harness the power of their own imaginations and creative writing skills. He lives in Dublin. more

“The Art of Deception”: A Duck Decoy Workshop with Master Carver Jode Hillman

Join Morven Museum & Garden on Sunday, October 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for a special workshop presentation with duck decoy Master Carver Jode Hillman. “The Art of Deception: Techniques and Theory of Creating a Three-Dimensional Black Duck Silhouette Decoy” will be an on-site class, held outdoors, masked, and socially distanced. All supplies and materials will be provided. Lunch will also be included from Brick Farm Market (selections to be made the week before class). Attendees are asked to dress for the outdoors and weather. Class size is limited to eight students. more

Drew University Named a Princeton Review Best College Once Again

Makes top lists for theater, race/class interaction, and radio station

Drew University has made The Princeton Review’s annual “The Best 387” nation’s top schools. Drew has made the list every year since its debut in 1992.

The list, which includes only about 14 percent of the schools in the country, praised Drew for its 60-plus majors and minors, seven NYC semesters, top-ranked theater program, impressive science departments, engaging and dedicated faculty, and myriad research opportunities. more

A New Space for Spiritual Practice and Reflection

Outdoor labyrinth provides opportunity to focus on spiritual well-being

A new outdoor labyrinth is nestled behind the residential Witherspoon Apartments on Princeton Theological Seminary’s Charlotte Rachel Wilson Campus. Along with many helping hands, Student Life Resident Daniel Heath, MDiv ’20, dreamed of the idea and coordinated the design and recent completion of the labyrinth.

The previously unused space is now an ecofriendly gathering place for students and their families with a labyrinth at the center. At nearly 50 feet in diameter, it is one of the largest labyrinths in the Princeton area. more

Montclair State Awarded $1.4M to Address Impacts of COVID-19

State grants will increase student engagement and support academic progress.

Montclair State University will receive more than $1.4 million from the state of New Jersey to support programs that help to address the impacts of COVID-19 on postsecondary students.

Gov. Phil Murphy and Secretary of Higher Education Brian Bridges announced the grants on July 12, with Montclair State among 35 public and public-mission private institutions receiving $30 million in state aid to implement vetted best practices that increase college completion, address barriers to student success, and develop sustainable systemic reforms. more

Trenton Music Makers Orchestra is Growing

There’s nothing like drawing in an even larger group of your community’s kids because of your community’s own generosity.

Trenton Music Makers was honored to learn that it would be part of the cohort of grantees supported by the Trenton Arts Endowment Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation. The Fund will support the live 2021-22 opening of the after-school orchestra’s “Open Strings” project, begun online during the earliest days of the pandemic lockdown. more

Drew University Announces New Cybersecurity, Statistics Majors; Dual-Degree with NYU

As of August 2021, Drew University in Madison, N.J., has announced the addition of new majors in cybersecurity and statistics, as well as a dual-degree cybersecurity program with New York University. These new majors join an already robust selection of concentrations from the liberal arts college.

The new major in cybersecurity will be available in fall 2021. The program will offer a liberal arts approach with flexibility through elective offerings for students to choose emphases in software, systems, or interdisciplinary contexts.

Undergraduate degrees in cybersecurity are a rarity in higher education and the program’s liberal arts emphasis will further separate it from the few contemporary programs offered in the U.S. more

Dino Safari at Westfield Garden State Plaza

Now through September 6, grab a prehistoric passport and join over 40 giant moving dinosaurs on a globetrotting expedition at Dino Safari, a completely drive-thru dino adventure for the whole family at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus.

Get up-close-and-personal with the most fascinating prehistoric creatures from the mighty T. Rex of North America to the giant amphibious Spinosaurus from Africa while you learn how dinosaurs evolved over time, where on earth they lived, and the discoveries paleontologists have made about how they ate, moved, and behaved. more

Virtual Discovery Day at Stuart Country Day School

Discover the Stuart advantage at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart’s Virtual Discovery Day on Tuesday, August 17 at 6 p.m. This event will provide prospective families and students with the opportunity to engage with current teachers, administrators, and students. Register online at https://www.stuartschool.org/admissions/register-for-an-open-classroom. For questions regarding the admissions application process, email Director of Admissions Joe Petitto at jpetitto@stuartschool.org.

As the only all-girls school in Princeton, Stuart has been educating girls for lives of exceptional leadership and service since 1963. Situated on 55 acres in the Princeton Ridge, Stuart provides an environment where girls put academics first and are willing to explore and take risks. The challenging curriculum includes the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and math, as well as the arts, humanities, and athletics. Stuart enrolls girls in JK-12 and has a co-ed Early Childhood Program. more

Fantastic Fungi and How to Draw Them

Did you know that September is National Fungus Month?

Join Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve of Bucks County virtually to celebrate these fascinating organisms by learning the basics of mushroom foraging and documenting fungi using a sketchbook. This multi-week course runs from Tuesday, September 7 at 6:30 p.m. through Tuesday, September 28 at 8:30 p.m. Develop your drawing skills by depicting mushrooms in graphite. Go on to create a pleasing composition and design a watercolor painting. These virtual lessons are suitable for all age levels. more

Identify Birds You See or Hear with Merlin Bird ID

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology recently launched a free birding app, called Merlin Bird ID, which enables users to identify the birds they see or hear, anywhere, at any time. 

The Bird ID Wizard asks users to answer three simple questions about the bird they are trying to identify, and Merlin will reply with a list of possible matches. Merlin offers quick and accurate identification for all levels of bird watchers to help them learn about birds across the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania. Sample questions may include, “What size was the bird?” “What were the main colors?” and “What was the bird doing?”  more

Poets at the Princeton Public Library, August 16

On August 16, from 7 to 8 p.m., Princeton Public Library presents a virtual Poets at the Library featuring readers Catherine Doty and John David Muth. Each reader will share their work for 20 minutes followed by an open mic session. Poets who sign-up in advance may share one poem during open mic. To sign-up via crowdcast to attend this virtual event, or to reserve a spot during open mic, visit https://princetonlibrary.libnet.info/event/5414024.

Doty is a poet, cartoonist, and educator from Paterson. She is the author of Wonderama and Momentum, volumes of poems from CavanKerry Press and Just Kidding, a collection of cartoons from Avocet Press. She is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as an Academy of American Poets Prize and fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. more

Rochambeau at Morven: A Virtual Evening with Historian Bob Selig

Comte de Rochambeau from “Galerie des Batailles” in the Chateau de Versailles in France.

On Thursday, August 12 at 6 p.m., join Morven Museum for a virtual event exploring the history of Rochambeau’s French officers and soldiers in Princeton in August 1781. The talk will be led by historian and author Robert A. Selig, PhD, as he presents this unique talk just for Morven Museum’s audience.

Marshal Jean-Baptists Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, led the French expeditionary forces through Princeton in August 1781 to help the Continental Army capture Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. Rochambeau’s army included 5,000 men stationed on the grounds of Morven between August 29-31. Leading his troops from Phillipsburg, N.Y. to central N.J. on separate routes, the allied forces united just north of Princeton, following the encampment of Rochambeau’s men at the site of Morven. 2021 marks the 240th anniversary of this march. There is also a little-known monument to Rochambeau’s encampment on the grounds of Trinity Church in Princeton. more

Peddie School Alum Inducted into NJ Lacrosse Hall of Fame

Rich D’Andrea ’01 (second from right) is inducted into the NJ Lacrosse Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club in Bedminster on July 19. Pictured with D’Andrea is his father, Dan; mother, Darcy; and wife, Ericka Kapp ’98.

Rich D’Andrea ’01, already a Peddie Sports Hall of Fame member (2021), was inducted into the New Jersey Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame on July 19.

A three-year starter in goal at Peddie, D’Andrea helped the Falcons to a 44-5 record and two NJISAA Prep A Championships. He was a three-time First Team All-State Selection (’99, ’00, ’01), a two-time All-American (’00, ’01), and was twice the recipient of the Dietrich von Schwerdtner New Jersey Goalie of the Year Award (’00, ’01). In his senior campaign, the Falcons went undefeated (16-0) and earned a Top 15 national ranking. more

Watershed Butterfly Festival 2021

Join The Watershed Institute in Pennington on Saturday, August 7 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the 21st annual Watershed Butterfly Festival, an in-person celebration of the beauty and joy of nature. This family-friendly event is perfect for children and adults of all ages.

The day begins with tours of the Kate Gorrie Butterfly House and the Insect Zoo. Live music and entertainment will be provided by the Trenton Circus Squad and Eyes of the Wild (an exotic animal rescue show). Kids will delight in participating in the famous Butterfly and Bug Parade led by Lady Monarch, Ms. Allison. more

D&R Greenway Begins Two Yearlong Fellowships with 2021 Princeton University Graduates

D&R Greenway welcomes two recent graduates of Princeton University into one-year Fellowships in partnership with Princeton’s AlumniCorps Project 55 program. The program’s motto is to “Launch a life of civic leadership.” They are (from left) Ayame Whitfield and Heather Callahan, shown here at the front door to the newly acquired Gardener’s House at Point Breeze.

Two recent graduates of Princeton University were welcomed into one-year Fellowhips by D&R Greenway, beginning this summer. These Fellowships are provided in partnership with Princeton’s AlumniCorps Project 55 program. This program offers opportunities for exceptional recent graduates to connect with and work with nonprofits. The AlumniCorps Project 55’s motto is “Launch a life of civic leadership.” more

Bordentown Historical Self-Guided Walking Tour

Crosswicks Creek in Bordentown, NJ

Take a self-guided walking tour through the nooks and crannies of New Jersey’s local history! Authored by acclaimed local favorite Bordentown Walking Tours, Tour Takers hear from Mark Neurohr-Pierpaoli, owner and Tour Guide, via engaging videos at each Tour Stop. The app delivers the content and guides Tour Takers with walking directions along the route. more