Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
The Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot program, the nation’s largest and fastest growing youth cyber education (STEM) program, has designated Red Bank Regional High School as a “CyberPatriot Center of Excellence” in providing leadership and support to students through their CyberPatriot program.
Press release from Brookdale Community College
Brookdale Community College is accepting applications for the second annual GenCyber Jersey Blues program, a free, one-week cybersecurity training camp held this July on the college’s Lincroft campus.
The program, funded by grants from the National Security Agency and National Science Foundation, is open to local high school sophomores, juniors and seniors.
Attendees will engage in hands-on cybersecurity training activities, such as programming a Raspberry Pi computer, and meet with nationally renowned industry experts. Students will also receive a free Raspberry Pi computer, keyboard and mouse to continue their training at the completion of the camp.
Red Bank Regional sent six teams and 17 students to the only computer coding competition this year at Stockton University, taking 2nd and 3rd place finishes, as well as one of two honorable mention. Pictured with Stockton’s mascot Talin are (back row, left to right): Dylan McRae, Makoto Brown, Dylan Reitsma, Bobby Villaluz, Jack McNally, Kyle Neary, Ford Zacks, Kyle Scheider, Andrew Schembor, Tyler Lewis, and Damanbir Sahi, plus (front row, left to right): Jared Prezwodek, Jake Glauber, Josh Goldsmith, Max Mason, Harry Jain, and Ian Birn.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
The Academy of Information Technology (AOIT) at Red Bank Regional High School always searches for opportunities for their students to compete on the specialized knowledge they learn in their technology academy. The AOIT found such an opportunity for its students to compete in computer coding on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, in the second annual Computer Science Teachers Association South Jersey (CSTA-SNJ) computer science competition at Stockton University in Galloway, NJ.
The competition included 130 students from 12 New Jersey High Schools. While a team from Toms River took the first place honors, RBR dominated by taking three of the five top placements.
Pictured are the members of Team Maroon from Red Bank Regional AOIT, which took first place in the CyberPatriot NJ State Competition. Left to right: Young Chen, Andrew Costa, Woody Quinn, Bobby Villaluz, Jack Ferrone, Kyle Neary.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
The recent hackings of American government and corporate institutions have rocked our nation and emphasized how important a superior cyber security industry is to the defense of the United States. Finding talented individuals to fill the future roles of our Cyber Patriot warriors is the reason the Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot Competitions were developed.
For the past eight years, Red Bank Regional High School has offered a superior program in Cyber Security for its students in the award-winning Academy of Information Technology (AOIT). In fact, in the first year the Cyberpatriot contest opened to public high schools, RBR took first place in the nation.
RBR exhibited this same strong performance in the CyberPatriot State Round that took place on January 14. That day six RBR teams worked from the school media center to compete virtually, determined to take the title for New Jersey. They ended the six-hour competition by sweeping the First, Second and Third place NJ State finishes.
Special-needs education programs developed by the Fair Haven animation studio Small Factory have been recognized with a substantial grant from the National Science Foundation.
Two small businesses on the Greater Red Bank Green — one in Fair Haven, the other in Lincroft — have been named recipients of major grants from the National Science Foundation.
Press release from Fair Haven School District
Sergeant Tom Rich, an internationally recognized internet safety expert known as the STOPit Cop,” shared his message with students and parents at Knollwood School on November 29.
At two daytime rallies for students (in grades 4 and 5, and grades 6 through 8) – as well as an evening session aimed at adults – Sergeant Rich (pictured) shared the consequences of misusing technology, social media, and popular apps such as Snapchat and Yik Yak. Using his own cell phone and an interactive presentation, he demonstrated how students can make their devices safer, during the presentations that were made possible by the Fair Haven PTA.
The second phase of the Innovation Lab at Forrestdale School has been designed with input from inspired students, teachers, administration and members of the community.
Press release from Rumson School District
The Innovation Lab at Forrestdale School has completed Phase 1 of its design and construction. Part of a collaborative effort between administration and teachers, the first phase was made possible through a generous donation from the Rumson Education Foundation.
Currently the home of the technology/STEM classroom, which all Forrestdale students are enrolled in, the lab includes a student activity learning area that could be configured in countless possible arrangements in order to meet the needs of the students’ technology and STEM-based activities, as well as a state-of-the-art, touch-screen teacher and student display, and other technologies.
Red Bank Regional technology teacher Mandy Galante is pictured with her former student Luke Matarazzo, now an Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar at Rochester Institute of Technology. Luke nominated her for special recognition during his last semester at college as the “best” teacher and role model that influenced his future.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
In the 14 years since she left corporate America to become a technology teacher at Red Bank Regional High School, Mandy Galante has been named Monmouth County Teacher of the Year, and New Jersey’s Teacher of the Year by the Air Force Association. Her CyberPatriot teams have won state, regional and national titles every year since 2011. Lieutenant Governor Kim Gaudagno has twice visited RBR to commend her students, while WABC-TV’s Eyewitness News and NJ Channel 1 have each aired reports on the curricula she designed.
That said, Mrs. Galante holds no accolade in higher esteem than the recognition and appreciation she receives from her students — such as a 2012 honor she received from Yale University, when a former student nominated her for Yale’s Educator Award.
This past semester, Galante found herself the recipient of a certificate of recognition from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) — an honor that came about when she was nominated by another RBR graduate, Luke Matarazzo.
Participants in the Governor’s Cyber Aces Championship are pictured at Brookdale Community College in 2014. The Lincroft campus will host a new slate of no-cost cybersecurity workshops in July and August, with deadline to register June 17. (Photo by Russ DeSantis)
Press release from Brookdale Community College
Brookdale Community College is accepting applications for its new GenCyber Jersey Blues program, a free, two-week cybersecurity training camp opening this July on the college’s Lincroft campus.
Funded by grants from the National Security Administration and National Science Foundation, the program is open to local high school students, and provides enrollees with an introduction to the fundamentals of cybersecurity.
There is no cost to apply or attend, and applicants are not required to have any prior cybersecurity or computer programming experience. Students of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
Press release from Red Bank Charter School
Administrators and teachers at Red Bank Charter School are no strangers to the constantly evolving technology and social media world. Every day they hear students discussing a video they viewed on YouTube, or a funny meme from Instagram. Some even incorporate social media carefully into lesson plans and homework reminders.
They’re also aware, however, that there are two sides to the technology coin, and that social media’s darker side shouldn’t be ignored. For that reason, RBCS hosted a Social Media Smarts Workshop, which brought its 6th-8th grade students together with local high school students from Red Bank Regional High School for interactive discussions. The Social Media Smarts Workshop — led by current RBR students Jessica Hansen and Teicia Gaupp, with Nicole Paventi, certified Teen Outreach Program facilitator and former RBR student — was held at Red Bank Charter School on Wednesday, April 13.
Press release from Monmouth County Library
A new tech tool, Playaway Launchpad, has been introduced in the Children’s Department of the Monmouth County Library.
Available in all 13 library branches — including the Eastern Branch on Broad Street/ Route 35 in Shrewsbury — these child-friendly tablets are pre-loaded with ten high-quality, ad-free learning apps grouped by age and grade level. Each simple-to-use bright orange tablet has a 7-inch high-definition touch screen, and is durable enough to withstand heavy use by little hands. Each has a unique theme, which may include princesses, animals, dinosaurs, transportation, art and more, in subject areas that help build English language arts, math, and science skills.
Red Bank Regional CyberPatriot Team Maroon members are (back row, left to right) junior Kyle Neary (captain), senior Andrew Noglows, sophomore Jack Ferrone, and (front row, left to right) junior Young Chen, junior Bobby Villaluz, and sophomore Andrew Costa.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
In a few weeks, Red Bank Regional High School‘s Team Maroon will be hardening defenses and battling stealth cyber attacks to claim the trophy in the Air Force Association’s (AFA) prestigious CyperPatriot National Finals competition on April 10-12.
The six-man team consisting of captain Kyle Neary, Bobby Villaluz, Young Chen, Andrew Noglows, Jack Ferrone and Andrew Costa will travel with their coaches — RBR Academy of Information Technology (AOIT) teachers Mandy Galante and Jeremy Milonas — to Baltimore, MD, where they will be competing among the top 12 teams in the country.
This represents the third visit to the National Competition in six years for an RBR team. They won the National championship in the first year of the competition’s opening to public high schools, and last year finished in a close race to fourth place.
The teams clinched the State Championship in late February with an amazing showing by three RBR teams (Maroon, Gray and White); sweeping the state championship by coming in first, second and third. Those teams then competed in the Northeast Regionals against the top teams from Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut, where Team Maroon won First Place. More importantly, their score in that round was the seventh highest of all teams nationwide, placing them in the elite top 12 teams, and securing their invitation to the Nationals competition.
The Academy of Information Technology Students from Red Bank Regional High School were dominant in the State Future Business Leader Completions, held on February 18 in at Harrah’s Conference Center in Atlantic City. Pictured above are (left to right, front row): Devin Long (1st place in Networking Concepts); Zach MacLean, Andrew DeRose, Young Chen, Josh Goldsmith, and (back row) Bobby Villaluz, James Szwede, Chloe Sharpe, Nick Polis, Nicole Ortiz, Harry Jain, and Andrew Schembor (missing from photo: Makoto Brown). The students are now eligible to compete in the national competition, taking place June 29 to July 2 in Atlanta.
Press release from Boys & Girls Clubs of Monmouth County
In an announcement this week, The Boys & Girls Clubs of Monmouth County launched the Building Blocks program, an initiative designed to inspire kids’ curiosity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and prepare young people for 21st century success.
Through this program — which was implemented in the Red Bank Unit of BGCM late last year, and is set to launch in the Asbury Park Unit this month — the Clubs will receive a customized STEM curriculum and twenty Samsung 4 10.1 tablets from supporting sponsor Samsung Electronics North America.
Press release from Rumson School District
Computers are everywhere, touching nearly every aspect of our lives — but surprisingly, fewer schools teach computer science now than were teaching it 10 years ago.
“Teaching kids to code is just as important as teaching them any other language,” stated Apple CEO Tim Cook on December 9th, 2015. “And the younger they start learning it, the better.”
This sentiment is echoed by the Rumson School District. Both Educational Technology teachers, Mark Panas of Deane-Porter (K-3) and Chris Macioch of Forrestdale (4-8) and their students have joined in on the largest education event in history: The Hour of Code.
Pictured are ten of the Red Bank Regional students who brought back top honors in several categories at the FBLA regional tech comnpetitions held this past fall. Front row, left to right: Young Chen, James Szwede, Zach MacLean, Devin Long; back row, left to right: Nicole Ortiz, Makoto Brown, Nick Polis, Bobby Villaluz, Kyle Neary and Andrew Schembor.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
This past fall, a number of students from the Academy of Information Technology at Red Bank Regional High School participated in the online tech competitions sponsored by the Central Regional Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). With 19 RBR students qualifying to compete, the results were stunning, as they swept the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions in four categories, while placing high in several others. The students will be competing at the 2016 FBLA NJ State competitions, which will be held in February at Harrah’s Conference Center in Atlantic City.
Press release from Fair Haven School District
Thanks to a partnership between Google and the Fair Haven School District, students from Viola L. Sickles and Knollwood Schools enjoyed a recent a “virtual reality” field trip experience, courtesy of an event showcasing Google Expeditions. The schools were among the first chosen for beta testing, from a wait list of approximately 6,500 schools.
Google Expeditions associates visited both schools on November 17 to introduce Expeditions to students in grades one through eight. Expeditions is a program that Google has created — using a cardboard viewing device, smartphones, and the Google Expeditions app — to create a virtual experience of places and activities. Google views Expeditions as the “next level” in learning, since students can actively engage in the lesson.
The Red Bank unit of The Boys and Girls Clubs of Monmouth County has been awarded $18,500 by the OceanFirst Foundation for a state-of-the-art computer lab, enabling BGCM to update workstations and enhance the computing infrastructure for its over 300 registered members. Unit director Christy Crank stated that “This grant will absolutely help our kids develop their technology skills and stay competitive in school, and eventually the workforce,” adding that the improvements have a target finish date of December 2015.
Fair Haven School District EdTech Coach Chris Aviles joined students from Knollwood School in a “Maker Faire” event at Barnes and Noble in Eatontown.
Press release from Fair Haven School District
Recently, a group of eight students from Knollwood School joined Chris Aviles, EdTech Coach for the Fair Haven School District, in a special “Maker Faire” event that allowed participants an opportunity to experience some of the latest trends in 3D printing, robotics, coding, and more.
The event, held at the Barnes and Noble Booksellers location in Eatontown, took place between November 6-8. Event sponsors included such tech companies as Ozobot, SPRK, and Protocol.
Barnes and Noble representatives invited Aviles and his students to participate during an “Innovation Lab” program offered to fifth and sixth graders at Knollwood School. The EdTech Coach agreed, and on November 7 the eight Knollwood students helped facilitate two hands-on workshops — a “Little Makers” session for ages 5 and up, and “Junior Makers” for ages 8 and up — that allowed youngsters to explore the creation of structures using Lego brand building materials.
A team of Red Bank Regional students competed in this year’s Technology Student Association state conference contests, including (left to right) Elisa Orsini, Vincent Novellino, Jose Ramirez, Erick Camerino, Ricky Wild, Javier Molina and Edwin Castillo (not pictured: Jorge Benavides).
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
A team of eight Red Bank Regional High School students competed in this year’s Technology Student Association (TSA) state conference contests, which were held on May 5 at the College of New Jersey. More than 1400 students from all over the Garden State competed in over 60 technology-based events.
During the event, RBR senior Elisa Orsini (Shrewsbury) placed second in Flight Endurance, and junior Jose Ramirez (Red Bank) placed third in Transportation modeling. The other students who represented RBR were Jorge Benavides (Red Bank), Erick Camerino (Red Bank), Edwin Castillo (Red Bank), Javier Molina (Deal), Vincent Novellino (Millstone) and Ricky Wild (Belmar). All of the students are members of RBR’s TSA Club, which is advised by RBR Pre-Engineering teacher Kathryn Hawley.
By JOHN T. WARD
A first look at this year’s budget, and public confusion over the impact of a series of proposed bonds, dominated Wednesday night’s bimonthly meeting of the Red Bank council.
The governing body also moved toward the creation of a new $90,000-a-year job at borough hall: information technology director.
Press release from Rumson School District
On Monday, February 23, the Rumson School District presented a parent “coffee chat” on the subject of Internet Safety and Cyber Bullying. The event was organized by Forrestdale School Guidance Counselor and Anti-Bullying Specialist Jenn Crow — and hosted by local parent and internet safety expert Tyna Kilbourne, who has a wealth of industry experience (having once spearheaded AOL’s Criminal Compliance Unit).
Kilbourne, who is a member of the Forrestdale School Safety Team, examined the “ugly side” of the internet, where predators abound, and addressed issues such as “perceived anonymity” that affect today’s school-age children.
“Statistics show that 92% of children in the U.S. have had some exposure to the internet or have some form of online presence by the time they are two years old,” Kilbourne told a surprised group of parent attendees. “And a question that parents should always be asking when their children are using internet technology is ‘what exactly are they doing?’”
Three of the four New Jersey teams competing in upcoming National Youth Cyber Defense Competition — all from Little Silver — are pictured with their coaches. Front row, L-R: Sophie Navarro, Sam Jansky, Brooke Arend, Josh Sapirstein, Leanne Spears, Mentor Ryan McVeety. Middle row: Mentor Greg Jansky, Holly Scanlon, Charlotte Jansky, Erin Rooy, Matt Swaggerty, Middle School Assitant Coach Kristen Galante. Back row: Coach Jeremy Milonas, Kyle Neary, Louis DiOrio, Tyler Birn, Mark Eulner, Josh Even, Coach Mandy Galante. The teams welcome NJ citizens to follow them on Twitter, hashtag #NJCyberStrong.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
At a time when the press is bemoaning the loss of high tech jobs from the Garden State, New Jersey schools — recognized among the best in the country — are building the bench to provide the “cyber patriot warriors” that will defend and protect the United States from cyber crime and terrorism.
This reality will be on display March 11 to 13 in Washington D.C., when New Jersey will be the only state represented in all three divisions of the prestigious Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot’s National Youth Cyber Defense Competition.
Team Alpha from NWS Earle placed second in the All Service Division (Cadets), in a competition that began with over 1000 teams. Team Maroon from Red Bank Regional High School led the way by taking the Number Five slot in the Open Division (High School) finals, after having competed with 978 teams. In the Middle School Division, two teams from Markham Place School in Little Silver won the first and third place slots. They competed among nearly 200 teams nationwide.
Pictured left to right are embers of Red Bank Regional Academy of Information Technology “Team Maroon” Kyle Neary, Josh Eve, Tyler Birn, Louis DiOrio, Bobby Villaluz (being held up) and Mark Eulner). The students took first place in the State round of the CyberPatriot competition, among 48 competing teams.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
Two teams from the Red Bank Regional High School Academy of Information Technology (AOIT) recently finished first and second in New Jersey in the state round of the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. Both teams now go on to compete in the regional round of the competition, which takes place January 16- 18.
In all, 2,175 teams registered to compete in the nationwide Cyber Patriot tournament, with 48 teams from New Jersey.
Press release from EFLS
The Education Foundation of Little Silver (EFLS) today announced the purchase of state-of-the-art technology items, including Chromebooks, SmartBoards, camcorders and more, for the Little Silver public school system. The purchase was made possible thanks to the “Little Silver’s Got Talent” fundraiser held last spring.
In addition, the parent-based foundation announced that the 2015 campaign will feature a newly-revised grant-submission process that will enable community members to directly fund teacher-submitted technology grant requests.
The $65,000 raised in 2014 will be used to purchase SmartBoards and styluses; Chromebooks; digital voice recorders; camcorders; wireless mice; NXT Intelligent Bricks (used to build intelligence machines or robots), as well as to replace theater and performing arts equipment that is many decades old.