Abington Avenue

4th Annual Acts of Kindness Tea Party at Abington Avenue School

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Random Acts of Kindness are done on a daily basis, and the 15 student leaders serve as role models for the rest of the students during different monthly initiatives like today on the 100th Day Celebration at Abington whose theme was “Showing our Love for learning!” These student leaders have also served a key role in Abington’s Respect Week in the fall. Throughout the school year, the Tea Party Girls spread the word of kindness and respect by modeling each day as well as lead in classroom presentations.

February 14th - Valentines Day marked the 4th Year Anniversary of the Acts of Kindness Tea Party where the student leaders pledge to show kindness and respect. Superintendent Roger León was a special guest while the students honored Sharon White, Custodial Worker, who came up with the idea. Her idea of how we can be kinder and more respectful as a community by having a Tea Party and discussing how we can all be Friends while resolving any conflicts with one another through acts of kindness. The Tea Party and the student leadership group is now an Abington staple with Future Female Leaders of Kindness!

Abington Inducts Students into the National Junior Honor Society

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On Tuesday, February 26, Abington Avenue School proudly inducted 31 deserving Middle School students into the National Junior Honor Society(NJHS). All of the students selected have maintained academic excellence and display leadership, sound character, integrity, and a service-oriented mindset. All became members of the national group whose affiliates are among the world’s highest achieving middle school students. All can now proudly add NJHS to their resumes. Each inductee received an honor rope, that indicated their grade level. When each student graduates 8th grade, they will wear their honor ropes from each year in which they served as an NJHS member. National Junior Honor Society will provide our students an outstanding opportunity to grow academically, sharpen their skills and habits, and see their role as models of integrity and service.

Abington Avenue School Students Are #1

Elementary School is Selected as NPS’ Most Active School


[Newark, NJ – June 22, 2018] Abington Avenue Elementary School was recently celebrated as “Newark’s Most Active School,” in the annual Activity Works Program. The school is the recipient of a $1,000 cash prize to improve the health and wellness of students at their school. Activity Works is the classroom-based program that combines physical activity and core curricula content to get students up and moving each day is being sponsored by Novo Nordisk and the Devils Care Foundation.

“On behalf of the principals, administrators and students of our 10 participating schools, thank you for bringing Activity Works to Newark Public Schools,” said A. Robert Gregory, Interim Superintendent of Newark Public Schools. “I want to thank our partners, particularly the Prudential Center, who continue to support the many programs and services of Newark school children.

Activity Works (activityworks.com), an interactive on-demand physical activity video series for K-4 classrooms designed to reduce childhood obesity, is now available to hundreds of more classrooms in Philadelphia, Newark and Trenton thanks to a new three year grant from Novo Nordisk, a global leader in diabetes care. With new classroom activations having begun in January 2018, Activity Works is already on track to be implemented in approximately 500 classrooms in these new markets, with aspirations to grow to more than 1,500 active classrooms by year three. Since its inception, the annual goal of Activity Works has been to empower as many children and families through physically-based wellness curricula and programming.

Tom Sullivan, CEO of Activity Works said, “We are so proud of the students at Abington Avenue for their contagious energy and joyful performances today. It is easy to see why they were the winners of Newark’s Most Active School Contest. Newark Public Schools should also be proud because their participating schools achieved over 93 million steps since February and led the way among participating districts including Philadelphia and Trenton.”

“We believe in programs that grow the mind and body of our next generation” said Jim Leonard, executive director of the Devils Care Foundation. “The partnership we have with Activity Works and the Newark Public Schools does just that, and we are proud to be involved in such a worthwhile endeavor” said Jim Leonard, Senior Vice President, Government Relations, of the Prudential Center.

During Newark’s Most Active School contest (February 1, 2018 – April 30, 2018), Abington Avenue Elementary alone achieved:

  • 185,000 Minutes of Physical Activity
  • 645,000 Calories Burned
  • 15.4 Million Steps

Abington Avenue School Principal Nelson Ruiz said, “Thank you to the students, teachers and our sponsors for all they have done to improve the health and wellness of our students.”

Newark Public Schools Recognize Black History Month with Programming, Lessons, Arts and Culture and Events

[NEWARK, NJ – February 23, 2018] Newark Public Schools students, teachers and principals are recognizing Black History Month with a number of programs, events, and arts and culture initiatives throughout the month to recognize the many contributions of African Americans.   The month long recognition included special guest speakers and lectures at Weequahic High, Hawthorne Elementary School, First Avenue School, Chancellor Avenue, Mt. Vernon, Carver Bruce Street School and East Side High School, to name a few. In addition, a number of schools conducted Celebrity Read Program and tributes to African Americans who have contributed to the American experience in this country and the office of Family and Community Engagement hosted a health fair focusing on wellness in the community.

“Thank you to every principal, vice principal, teacher, aide, student and parent, who this month paused to remember the many contributions of African Americans,” said Robert Gregory, Interim Superintendent of Newark Public Schools. “It is our responsibility to remember African American history, not just in February, but to remember it at all times and to and teach African American history year round, in and outside the classroom.”

Below is a partial list of programs and events that recognizing African American history month.

  • First Avenue- Students Protest Parade-Hallways
  • First Avenue- Motown Theme
  • Chancellor-“Celebrity Read” (Black History Theme & a Partnership w/ United Way)
  • Chancellor- MVOL Family FUN Night
  • Chancellor- Black History Showcase Performances: Songs, Dance, Poetry, Monologues, Video Clips, etc…)
  • Newark Evening- Know the past, shape the future
  • Carver/Bruce- Carver Black History Month (A School-wide Celebration of History & Culture)
  • Early Childhood North- Celebrating in the Auditorium history through

Song, dramatization, chants and affirmations

  • North 10th Street- Celebrating Famous African American Woman
  • East Side High- Black History Month Wall (Display)
  • Abington- Brief history of Jamaica, Musical, Dance, Singing

Local Teacher Completes National Food Safety and Nutrition Training

From Farm to Table, Teachers Explore the Science Behind Nation’s Food Supply

Henie Parillon
Henie Parillon

[WASHINGTON, DC. August, 2017] Henie Parillon, a teacher at Abington Avenue School in Newark, NJ was one of 30 teachers nationwide chosen to complete a food science training program developed and implemented in a partnership between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), and Graduate School USA. The one-week program for middle and high school science teachers, as well as family and consumer science and health education teachers, took place in Washington this summer.

Mr. Parillon said, “This FDA/NSTA Food Science Professional Development Program is one of the most informative and inspiring I have attended in a very long while. It exposed me to the efforts of federal and national agencies in helping keep the nation’s food supply save and provided me with the tools to further engage students and fellow educators on the topic of microbiology and food safety. I enthusiastically look forward to imparting the knowledge I have obtained with stakeholders in the Newark Public Schools (NPS) District.”

The training is part of the FDA/NSTA Professional Development Program in Food Science, a sustained effort to train U.S. teachers to use FDA’s curriculum in their classrooms nationwide and train additional teachers in their area of the country. The goal of the program is to educate teachers and students about critical food safety issues such as foodborne illnesses by exploring the science behind them. The program arms teachers with a unique topic and curriculum with which to teach science. In addition, participants learn about nutrition, food allergies, cosmetics safety, and color additives from FDA experts. The teachers also receive nutrition education material to help teach their students how to use the Nutrition Facts label to make better food choices.

“Many teenage students have jobs in the food service industry or have food preparation responsibilities at home,” said Louise Dickerson, FDA’s Project Manager for the Professional Development Program in Food Science. “This program will better educate them about the importance of handling food safely and why precautions must be taken. From FDA’s perspective, our professional development program for teachers is an effective way to support our goal of reducing the incidence of foodborne illness in this country.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 6 Americans get sick from food poisoning each year.

During the training, teacher participants learned firsthand about the development and spread of foodborne illnesses; the vulnerability of at-risk populations; and the science behind safe food handling, storage, and preparation. These teachers also learned how to better use the Nutrition Facts label to assess the nutritional value of foods. In addition, the teachers talked with scientists from FDA and conducted laboratory experiments at the University of Maryland at College Park to further increase their understanding of food science.

For example, teachers investigated how a single bacteria cell can multiply to millions in just a few hours, and they observed how different temperatures (heating, room temperature, chilling, and freezing) affect the growth of bacteria. The teachers explored these concepts by putting their culinary skills to the test. After cooking hamburgers to various temperatures, the teachers tested them for bacteria and other organisms that cause disease.

“Though the teachers have completed the training, the professional development experience has not ended,” said Al Byers, Associate Executive Director of Strategic Development & Research at NSTA. “They will implement the curriculum in their schools, conduct workshops for their teacher colleagues, and receive continuing online support beyond the onsite experience. This program models sustained teacher support espoused in the latest standards in science professional learning whereby teachers may collaborate locally with other colleagues as part of an ongoing professional learning community.”

The food science program is centered on a standards-based curriculum developed by FDA in partnership with NSTA. The Science and Our Food Supply curriculum is available at no charge to all middle-level and high school teachers; it explores the science behind the production, transportation, storage, and preparation of our nation’s food supply, and contains a video, hands-on experiments and activities, and evaluation tools. Other parts of the curriculum explore little-known facts about food science that affect millions of people every day, such as how a traceback investigation is used to stop the additional sale and distribution of contaminated food, the likelihood of certain foods to cause foodborne illness more than others, and reasons why salt serves as a good preservative.

For information on this exciting curriculum and information on how to apply to participate in the FDA Food Science Professional Development Program in Summer 2018, please email: isabelle.howes@nullgraduateschool.edu.

Growing Future Scientists in a Lab

By: Leslie Brody | Follow Leslie Brody on Twitter | Email the author | The Wall Street Journal

New Jersey nonprofit looks to lure teenagers to science jobs with real-world experiments in a high-tech facility

Gwynn Munn, a Students 2 Science instructor, leads students in an experiment. Students 2 Science brings teenagers and professional scientists together to tackle projects in a high-end lab.

Photo: Steve Remich for The Wall Street Journal

As owner of a laboratory that tested pharmaceuticals, Paul Winslow was dismayed by the scarcity of qualified scientists he could hire.

After selling his business a decade ago, he tried to do something about the shortage. Dr. Winslow leased space across from a cemetery in East Hanover, N.J., rustled up $4 million worth of donated equipment and recruited volunteer scientists to show teenagers the wonder of real-world experiments.

His goal: getting them hooked on science so they can land lucrative jobs and companies won’t have to leave New Jersey to find skilled workers.

About 22,600 jobs tied to science, technology, education and math are currently open in the state, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor. The department predicts these fields will account for 251,000 positions in New Jersey in 2024, up 9% from 2014.

“If you want to keep industry in New Jersey, you have to have the manpower,” Dr. Winslow says. “We want to provide the next generation of scientists.”

The growing nonprofit he co-founded, Students 2 Science, brings more than 2,000 teenagers yearly to tackle a series of projects with chemists, engineers and other professionals in a high-end lab. It has instruments far more complex than the Bunsen burners of yore, including a liquid chromatograph with a mass spectrometer that can analyze fluids and is worth about a half-million dollars. Experiments include testing drinks, such as Monster Energy and 5-hour Energy, to see which has the most caffeine. (Answer: coffee.)

Scientists and support come from a range of firms including Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Daiichi Sankyo Inc. and Merck & Co.

Most students come from poor cities like Newark, where school officials hope to create a second Students 2 Science lab downtown next fall. Leaders of the nonprofit and Newark schools have raised $1 million and want to raise another $7 million over five years to do so.

On a recent morning, 34 eighth-graders from the Abington Avenue School in Newark put on goggles, lab coats and rubber gloves to conduct four experiments designed to pique their interest and provoke analysis. One sought to create a sunscreen that would work better than commercial products. One aimed to find how much antacid it takes to calm a roiling stomach. And another showed why it takes 450 years for a disposable diaper or plastic water bottle to decompose.

Nayely Urena, 13 years old, took to the challenge. “You get to get your hands dirty,” she said.

As Jacek Kowalski, a retired vaccine researcher, helped two boys measure the viscosity of a solvent, he nudged them to be more careful. “The accuracy of your result depends on the accuracy of your observation,” he said. “You’re making observations and not writing them down? We never rely on our memory!”

Supporters like Chris Cerf, superintendent in Newark, say this lab offers much more than a glorified field trip. Students 2 Science also provides a “virtual lab” that helps children conduct experiments in their classrooms under the tutelage of a scientist in a studio, in an interactive videoconference that can train teachers as well as students.

“Too often educators have made science pretty uninteresting with big fat textbooks,” Mr. Cerf said. “This is really hands on.”

Nelson Ruiz, principal of Abington Avenue School, said that after his middle-schoolers visited the East Hanover lab last fall, they asked to start their own science club. Now there’s a coed group and one for girls that draws about 40.

According to surveys by Students 2 Science after visits to its lab last year, 42% of middle-schoolers said they were more likely to consider a science career, and 81% of high-school students showed deeper knowledge of job options in pharmaceuticals and chemistry.

“The natural world is the greatest show on earth,” said Dr. Kowalski. “I just want to yell it from the highest mountaintop so that kids out there who have the aptitude will have that experience.”