The Photo Club at County College of Morris (CCM) recently announced the winners of its fifth annual photography contest for New Jersey high school students. This year’s sponsor, Millburn Camera ASAP Photo, provided first-, second- and third-prize gift certificates.

Winning First Place with a $300 gift certificate was Clara Fischer from North Hunterdon High School. Anthony Carbonaro from Pompton Lakes High School took Second Place with a $150 gift certificate. And Third Place with a $75 gift certificate went to Emma Nicole Mykowski from Parsippany Hills High School.

First Place winning photograph by Clara Fischer

Receiving Honorable Mentions were Nora Anton from Randolph High School, Mitchell Coyle from Sparta High School, Evan Kelly from Pompton Lakes High School, and Devon Turner and Peter Wezyk from Bridgewater Raritan High School.

Emma Nicole Mykowski from Parsippany Hills High School won the Popularity Award, which was presented for the photo that received the most likes on the competition’s Facebook page.

Second Place winning photograph by Anthony Carbonaro

The contest was open to all New Jersey high school students. This year’s theme was “Contemporary Family.”

The winners were announced at an exhibition and reception held at the CCM Art and Design Gallery. Photo Club members served as judges for the event. Of the more than 750 submissions received from dozens of high schools around the state, 54 were selected for the exhibition. High schools featured in the exhibition included Bridgewater-Raritan High School, Columbia High School, Morris Knolls High School, Mountain Lakes High School, Newark Academy, Pompton Lakes High School, Roxbury High School, Sparta High School, Randolph High School, Westfield High School, West Milford High School, North Hunterdon High School, Parsippany Hills High School and Windsor Prep High School.

Third Place winning photograph by Emma Nicole Mykowski

“The quality of the work was overwhelming, and the members of the CCM Photo Club had an extremely hard time selecting the finalists,” said Hrvoje Slovenc, assistant professor of photography, who helps to oversee the contest.

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County College of Morris Completes Second Year of EOF Mentor Program
CCM Dance Instructor Wins Two Prestigious Fellowships
County College of Morris Hosts NASA Awards Program for Students Involved in Space Station Projects

County College of Morris Completes Second Year of EOF Mentor Program

The EOF Professional Mentor Program at County College of Morris (CCM) just completed its second year of matching college staff and local professionals with second-year EOF students to help them prepare for their future careers. The mentors worked with the students on writing strong resumes and researching internships, while providing them with additional support and encouragement during their college journey.

EOF student mentees from County College of Morris (l-r) Jaison Buchanan, Elise Bryant, Jane Quedding, Keara Thomas, Luisa Palacio Zapata, Brian Hernandez, Muhammad Ahmad

Mentors become part of the CCM community as official volunteers and are processed through the Human Resource department including background checks. They are provided with an orientation and training. Mentees also are oriented to get the most out of the experience, and both groups are provided with mentor program guidelines.

The program involves a six-month commitment on the part of the mentors and begins with a special dinner where mentors and mentees first meet. During the dinner, the mentees participate in a speed encounter that allows them to practice their elevator speeches and exchange business cards. Over the course of their time together, mentors and students meet monthly or more often. At the end of the program, the students present their mentors with an award at the annual EOF Recognition and Awards Dinner.

Many pairs have stayed connected beyond the official mentoring period and develop a deeper connection.

CCM Dance Instructor Wins Two Prestigious Fellowships

Stephanie Nerbak, of Lake Hiawatha, an adjunct professor of dance at County College of Morris (CCM), recently won two choreography fellowships – one from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and another from Jersey NEW Moves! – in support of her preeminent performance work.

“I was ecstatic when I heard I’d won these two fellowships,” says Nerbak. “I recently moved back to New Jersey and haven’t been in the dance community here for very long. To be welcomed into the community in this way was overwhelmingly joyful, but also a strong motivation for me to press forward as an artist.”

Stephanie Nerbak, adjunct professor of dance at County College of Morris, with one of her dance classes at the college. Credit: John Hester

Nerbak was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship Award for $12,000 from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The awards are open to New Jersey artists in 12 different disciplines, which rotate each year, and are granted based on an anonymous panel review process focused exclusively on artistic quality. The program is carried out in partnership with the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. This year’s award winners were artists working in the categories of choreography, music composition, poetry and sculpture.

“It was exciting to learn that this year was the first year that nine choreographers were selected for fellowships; it’s usually a very small cohort,” says Nerbak. “That so many were selected speaks to the high caliber of choreographic work that is being done in New Jersey. To be included in that group is an honor.”

She will use the fellowship to create new work and market herself through a website and other branding.

“I like to create work that is multidisciplinary,” she says. “I like to cross into other artistic disciplines so dance can combine with the fields of theater, visual arts, music and technology. I’m currently working on a piece that will be premiered at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) this June at the Jersey NEW Moves! emerging choreographers performance.”

Jersey NEW Moves!, the second fellowship Nerbak won, is offered through a partnership between NJPAC and Dance New Jersey. The third annual edition of this Garden State showcase will feature New Jersey’s best up-and-coming choreographers. After an open submission process, selected artists will be mentored by four of the modern dance world’s leading choreographers and share their work for the first time with NJPAC audiences. The two-year fellowship allows choreographers to present their work at NJPAC once a year, two years in a row. Winners receive an honorarium of $1,000 each year to offset the cost of creating new work.

A dance professional for more than 20 years, Nerbak joined the CCM faculty in January 2016. She previously worked for dance and theater companies across the country including the Heidi Duckler Dance Theater in California, the West Virginia Dance Company and the Clear Space Theater Company in Delaware. She holds a bachelor’s degree in dance performance from Point Park University in Pittsburgh and a master’s of fine arts degree in dance from Sarah Lawrence College in New York.

“I couldn’t have won these fellowships without the support of CCM,” she says. “I had the use of the studio at the college for the past year. That space is primarily where the work I submitted for these fellowships was generated, and I am very grateful to CCM for that. Space is always difficult for dance artists to come by, but is so essential to our work.”

County College of Morris Hosts NASA Awards Program for Students Involved in Space Station Projects

More than 300 teenagers, teachers, parents and other guests visited County College of Morris (CCM) on Saturday, May 13, as part of a NASA recognition program for high school students who worked on projects for the International Space Station.

The ceremony for schools from the Northeast marked the 14th anniversary of High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) program. As HUNCH participants, the students worked on projects ranging from the development of a UV wand to help eliminate bacteria on the spacecraft to the creation of a dessert for the astronauts. The winning dessert was an apple rhubarb crisp.

Students enrolled in the NASA HUNCH program at County College of Morris receive their certificates for creating equipment for the International Space Station. Pictured on the screen behind them is the storage locker they constructed parts for that is now housed at the space station. Credit: Shelley Kusnetz Photography

Included among the participants were more than 20 Morris County School of Technology students enrolled in the Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing (EDAM) program at CCM. Those students worked on parts for a storage locker that was sent to the International Space Station and a toilet paper dispenser. Also in attendance were students from 10 other high schools located in New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.

Attending the ceremony as a special guest was Astronaut Clayton Anderson. Speaking to the students, Anderson encouraged them to dream big and persevere, noting that he applied to NASA 15 times to become an astronaut.
“All people who dream are going to go on and do something great in life,” said Anderson.

Astronaut Clayton Anderson talks with students enrolled in the NASA HUNCH program at County College of Morris about the toilet paper dispenser they designed for the International Space Station. Credit: Shelley Kusnetz Photography

Dr. Anthony J. Iacono, CCM’s president, encouraged the students to continue their good work.

“You are among the very few to have this kind of experience,” he noted. “Continue to be inspired and do great things in your life.”

“It is a great experience,” said Nate Petricca, a CCM EDAM student. “I watch NASA programs on TV, but I never thought I’d be making stuff for space.”

Also attending the ceremony were Florence Gold, HUNCH implementation manager, and Stacy Hale, who founded the HUNCH program in 2003. Fourteen years later, HUNCH is now in 90 schools in 29 states.

To view a Facebook gallery of photos from the ceremony, go to http://tinyurl.com/kgq4uzd.

For additional information on the EDAM program, call the Morris County School of Technology at 973-627-4600 ext. 277. For more information on the engineering programs at CCM, visit http://www.ccm.edu/academics/divdep/BMET/engtech/.

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