The BOE’s Start of a New Tradition

The+BOEs+Start+of+a+New+Tradition

Justin Bamgboye
December 3, 2021

When an individual does something exceptional, time and time over again, isn’t recognition due? Well, that is exactly what the Board of Education (BOE) realized and decided to rectify. On Tuesday, November 16, the BOE held a meeting in honor of the students and teachers that have played a role in Manville School District’s success. As the fall sports have come to an end, they recognized players from Boys and Girls Soccer, Football, High School and ABIS Cross Country, and Cheer. Not only did they recognize athletes, but they also recognized the Students of the Month throughout the Manville District. Each team got a speech highlighting their season and seniors. If you weren’t there, here is an insight on that evening.
To begin, these are the speeches, staff, and seniors for each program:
Cheer Recognition: “At the start of the season at UCA Cheer Camp, the Cheer team scored the following: Second place for sideline cheer, fourth place for camp routine, first place for cheer, and second place for game day. 6 Cheerleaders also made the All-American team. Additionally, every senior this year has successfully hit a liberty stunt at a game or competition! Most recently, the team placed fourth at the Skyland Conference Competition where they hit their entire routine, which was the most difficult routine Manville has put on the mat.”Cheer Seniors: Haylie Colombaroni, Athena Drake, Aileen Lopez, Lorelai Lopez, Allison Marin, Georgiana Pulley, Emily Vega-Zamora.Cheer Coaches: Ms. Stefani Levonaitis, Ms. Daniela DiGena, Ms. Maureen Stephen As you can see the Cheer team has been exceptional this year as all of the seniors made a mark in the program. Now on to the Manville’s Football Team.
Football Recognition: The MHS Football team finished the season with 6 wins and 3 losses making it the 4th time in the last 6 years the football program has finished with a .500 or better record. After their winless campaign in 2020 the Mustangs got back to work and re-established themselves as a physical presence on Friday nights by averaging 234 rushing yards per game and earning 2 shutouts on the defensive side of the ball. In addition, Manville defeated its rivals from Bound Brook by eclipsing the 50 point barrier for the first time in series history which began in 1957. Football Seniors: Nichola Ayala -Biondi, Brandon Flores-Salazar, Jason Gonzalez, Christopher Petrone, Anthony Yakobchuk. Coaches/Staff: Mr. Patrick Gorbatuk, Mr. Barry Kostibos, Mr. David Markowitch, Mr. Michael Knitowski, Mr. Max Sidoli, and volunteer, Jake Bentz, and game day coord, John Bentz.The Manville Football team has continued the trend of winning. This year they were remarkable and gained a lot of recognition from all of New Jersey. Next is the Boys Soccer Team.
Boys Soccer Recognition: The Manville boys soccer program continues to be a program that athletes are proud to join. This is the 5th winning season in a row and the 3rd year in a row the boys have made the Central Jersey Group 1 Sectional Semi-Final. This season the program reached 14 wins! Although the team only had 5 seniors, they played a huge role in the success of this team. The team has been recognized on NJ.com as being one of the top Group 1 programs in the state on several occasions. Although we are a very small school, the boy’s soccer team looks for a challenge and played Group 3 and Group 4 schools throughout this season. The motto for this program is to never settle and you need to play the best to be the best.Boys Soccer Seniors: Justin Bamgboye, Mark Bueno, Jeryk Coto Murillo, Ryan Rodriguez, Daniel Vega.
Boys Soccer Coaches: Mr. Kenneth Eckles, Mr. William Rooney, Mr. Bradstreet RandThe Boys Soccer Team has been exceptional this season. With the help of the coaches and the Seniors, the Boys were able to make remarkable season. Next up is the Girls Soccer Program.
Girls Soccer Recognition: The Lady Mustangs improved their winning percentage this past season, despite being in a tough conference and an overall young team. That being said, we were able to see the potential for more success in our future through the efforts of our underclassmen. Our seniors created a positive family atmosphere that kept all 32 members of the team engaged throughout, continuing to prove that we are an ever-improving program, whose numbers continue to rise each season. This group is an exceptional group of scholar-athletes that work hard on the field, classroom, and community. With their help, we raised $1300 for RWJ Cancer Center in Somerville with t-shirt sales to promote Breast Cancer Awareness. During our Senior Night, our Lady Mustangs presented a check to Dr. Tumi with the presence of the Somerset of Prosecutors’ “pinked out” patrol car. Our successes were in beating South Hunterdon, Dunellen, Irvington and New Egypt, while others were within our grasp. The girls lost in an overtime contest during the first round of states to Middlesex, a game we dominated. Next year we expect to have another opportunity at the first round and hope to get even farther.Girls Soccer Seniors: Melanie Alcantara, Ariana Cubero, Alina Marsicano, Victoria Sobkowicz, Kiara Vazquez, Siobhan WesolowskiGirls Soccer Coaches: Mrs. Erin Shannon, Mrs. Stacy Forke, Mr. William SperdutoThis year the girls have been good on and off the field. From raising money for a good cause to winning games on the field, the girls did in both aspects and everything in between. Last but not least is the High School and ABIS Cross Country Program.
High School Cross Country Recognition: The Manville Cross Country Mustangs had a banner year. A veteran Boys team led by Captains Colin Weber and George Thomson laid down some majorly fast races and threatened to break team and individual school records. A young girls team led by Captains Anna Kontos and Natalia Musielak found their stride and experienced great success!Weber finished 3rd in the division and the boy’s team finished 3rd in division. Weber is the lowest sectional qulaifier in School history at 5th place, Thomson finished 12th in sectional. Weber advanced to Group championships and finished 40th in the NJ for group 1 runners. Girls Michelle Miga finished 1st in division race with Anna Kontos 7th and Nat Musielak 10th. The girl’s Varsity team won the MHS’s first Mountain Division Championship. Girls team finished 5th in sectional championships qualifying for group championshps for the first time since 2015, miga finished 9th in sectional championships individually qualifying, only the 2nd MHS runner to finish top 10 since Casey Shields in 2007. The girl’s team finished 12 in NJ for group 1 schools, upsetting a handful of teams at groups. Miga finished 17th in NJ for group 1 XC runners. SENIORS Captain, Anna Kontos has been a varsity runner and fastest or second fastest on the team every year since she started 3 years ago. Michelle Arbelaez Munoz ran XC for her first time this year and had a great season earning herself a chance to run in some varsity races. Franchessca Votteler, also known as MHS HOMECOMING QUEEN, returned to XC this year after running her freshmen year and improved on all of her times. Captain Colin Weber led the team as Captain and fastest
runner for his second year in a row, setting a school record for best finish at sectionals, Captain George Thomson has been challenging Colin as the fastest runner for the past two years and laid down some spectacular races including a 12th place finish at sectionals. Todd Peterson is a three-year varsity runner who improved his times and was a great role model to all of the young runners on the team. Mouctar Diarra had a breakout rookie season as an XC runner, routinely finishing 3rd on the team and making us a contender for division and section titles. Paul Kanyuch is a three-year varsity runner who routinely finished in our top 5 and absolutely crushed his workouts. All 5 of these boys should be proud of being part of one of the fastest mhs xc teams in history. High School Cross Country Seniors: Boys Seniors: Mouctar Diarra, Paul Kanyuck, Todd Peterson, George Thomson, Colin WeberGirls Seniors: Michelle Arbelaez, Anna Kontos, Franchessca VottelerHigh School Cross Country Coaches: Mr. Kevin Caldwell, Mr. Frederick McCarrick, Mr. Andrew Monterroso, Mr. Ricky MonterrosoAs seen the High School Cross Country Team was outstanding this year. They accomplished a lot through hard work and dedication. Although High School Cross Country was outstanding, the ABIS Program did great as well.
ABIS Cross Country Recognition: The ABIS cross country team came out of the gate strong with stellar performamces from both the boys and girls side of things. The team built upon their performances from each meet and always gave it their best. Learning anything that is brand new to you can be very hard. The young mustangs rose to the challenege of understanding this new sport, and they did so with ease. Everyone on the team broke their personal best from the beginning of the season by over 1 minute. What a huge accomplishment!ABIS Cross Country Members: Adianez Carvajal, Jonathan Schumacher, Damian Schumacher, Dea Gudavadze, Anastasia Tabatadze, Amy Gonzalez.ABIS Cross Country Coach: Mr. Nicholas McFarland For the first time in history, there is a cross-country program in ABIS. For it being the first year, the members personally accomplished a lot. Away from the fall sports programs that did great this year, students academically did great each month and were recognized for it. Also there was one athlete that was recognized for being Athlete of the Month. The students and athlete of the month of the High School and through the districts are shown below:Manville High School
● Student of the Month○ David Kuznetsov● Athlete of the Month○ Alina Marsicano
ABIS School● Grade 5○ Dana Lopez● Grade 6○ Malgorzata Wojtach● Grade 7○ Zairabella Perry● Grade 8○ Katie KemashviliRoosevelt School● Grade 3- ○ Marlyn Ramos● Grade 4-○ Giavanna Canuso
Weston School● Pre-K-○ Santiago Andrade● Kindergarten-○ Elena Rojas● Grade 1-○ Suriely Colomer-Gutierrez● Grade 2 – ○ April BarqueroWhile these students were recognized there were also staff members that were outstanding for the month of October. These teachers are shown below: Staff members:
● Weston- Tina Riga● Roosevelt- George Putvinski● ABIS- Debbie Gregor● MHS- Darlene Bandel● District- Lianne Chieppa
In the end, this Board of Education meeting was the start of a new tradition. Dr. Mauron was responsible for this and wanted to give thanks to the students and staff that have shined through fall and the month of October. Before ending there are two people that are very honorable: Todd Peterson and George Thomson. These two both received the National Merit Scholarship for the first time in Manville History. As seen the 2021-22 school year just started and Manville has flourished and this meeting and new tradition exhibits that.