Sarah Kaputa ’23 often gets lost in her art, painting for hours at a time. Ever since her grandmother introduced her to portrait-making as a child, she has been extremely passionate about art. Since then, she has experimented with many different styles of art (including printmaking in high school), but takes most of her inspiration from artists in the Renaissance period. Over the course of her high school career, Kaputa discovered a love for art history, and she will be continuing this passion by majoring in art history at Northeastern University. 

How did you start making art?
My grandma is a portrait artist, so I followed in her footsteps, and growing up I always was drawing and painting like her. And it was always my top hobby, so it kind of just blossomed. I like painting people a lot; I really follow in my grandmother’s footsteps in that [regard]. But I also do a lot of landscapes and classic stuff like that.

What type of art do you make?
I mostly do painting, but I just started printmaking and I  love it. Painting is a lot more fluid; I can work, rework, change things around, and get creative. But printmaking, there’s a lot of planning that has to go into it, which is different for me because a lot of times I don’t plan; I start painting. But both are really fun and I like that it’s a new thing. I’ve been painting since I was young, but I started printmaking last year, so I’m still developing  my craft.

How has your art style developed?
As I’ve grown, I’ve just figured out what I like to paint in terms of subject matter, but also I’m a really big fan of Renaissance art, so I take a lot of inspiration and style from that. But I also like being a little more fluid and I’ve kind of forced myself with my installation to try out different styles and things like that.

Do you have any inspirations in art?
I’m a really big fan of Artemisia Gentileschi. She’s one of the only few female Renaissance painters, and she has this incredible painting of two strong women killing a man. It’s so powerful and amazing and it gets me every time; she’s just so cool. I think it’s really cool that she was one of the first [women] to be famous and among the greats. She’s dear to my heart.

What are some challenges in painting?
I think just coming up with a plan for something that’s unique and something that really interests me. [In] all of my paintings, I get really in the zone and I’ll end up working for like six hours at a time because I just love it so much. [One particular challenge is] just planning something that’s interesting, new, and creative. I always try to create something that I feel I can be proud of it at the end. 

Are you going to continue to paint after graduation?
I’m actually not majoring in art, but I’m majoring in art history, so I’ll still have that piece that I can connect to in my studies. But I’m definitely going to take art classes and go to studios and museums and things like that, so I’ll definitely keep it up.

Sarah Kaputa ’23 reflects on the impact of art on her life

At Princeton High School, there are plenty of talented students in the field of art, including Heidi Gubser ’23, a flutist in the PHS Orchestra and the first chair in the All-State Band. Gubser is committed to Princeton University. Though she won’t be studying music as her major, she plans on continuing it in her free time as much as possible. Gubser began playing the flute in the summer before sixth grade. Since then, she started playing in an orchestra in middle school and joined PHS Orchestra her sophomore year. In only a few years’ time, she has definitely made her mark in the PHS musical department through her brilliant flute playing. 

What got you into playing the flute?
My mom was the one who got me into playing the flute. She mentioned it once, because she played in high school, so at the moment I didn’t think much of it. However, the summer before sixth grade, she signed me up for lessons. I was quite surprised, but I did really like my teacher. He gave me a lot of scales and such to play and that was kind of what we started with; we first focused on improving my technique and then we moved on to small pieces, and we went from there. This helped me grow to be the player I am now. 

What do you think was the hardest part about playing your winter concert solo, “Chaminade Concertino”?
One of the hard things about it is to play it in a way that sounds fresh, since so many others have played it. Back in freshman year, my understanding of music was so much less complex, I kind of just played music how I thought my teacher wanted me to play it, or tried mimicking recordings. So, this was definitely something new. This piece definitely made me rethink everything about the way I was playing it. I wanted to obtain the feeling of making music and overall improving the quality of my music. 

How was it playing with the orchestra accompaniment?
I started playing in an orchestra in middle school, so I was used to playing in the orchestra, but not as a solo part. So it is completely different playing a solo piece, with the orchestra accompanying you rather than playing along with the orchestra. Currently, I’m part of the PHS Orchestra, and I have been since sophomore year. 


How important is practicing when it comes to becoming a musician? 
Practice is a big part of becoming a musician, and people do recommend practicing every day. The most important part of being a musician is putting in your own time and effort into a craft that you yourself are creating and are passionate about. Sometimes your schedule gets in the way, but it’s important to put that time aside for yourself.

Who would you say are your inspirations?
Definitely my mom is one of them, as she did get me into it. Another I would say is violinist Hilary Hahn. Though there are many musicians in the world, they rarely talk about practice aside from shows, which is something I like about Hilary Hahn, because she shows how to practice. I took inspiration from her 100 days of practice on Instagram, where the challenge was to practice everyday for 100 days, and post a caption with it. I actually recently finished my own 100 days, and this challenge really helped me think about how I was practicing and being more mindful of what I practiced. And she is definitely someone who influenced and taught me so much about being mindful and practicing music. 

What is advice you would give to someone who wants to become a better musician?
I’d say that the most important part of being a musician is putting a lot of careful thought into practice sessions, since that’s the only way we can really improve our musicianship. 

Heidi Gubser ’23 opens up about her musical journey as a flutist

Propped over his paint-splattered desk, a bright idea and a blank canvas are all it takes for JP Kinney ’23 to create another masterpiece. From school work to personal projects, Kinney showcases his talent and creativity while doing what he loves: visual art. He is most confident while painting, but is also experienced in drawing, sculpting, and designing multimedia projects. Inspired by his family and motivated by self-mastery, he is eager to grow and excited to see where his journey leads in the future. 

How did you begin your visual art journey? 
I’ve been doing art my whole life - my mom is an artist, and I’ve just grown up surrounded by painting. [She] helps run The Cranbury Arts Council, and when she would go do the plays for the middle school, she would bring me to do the backdrops. I’d have my little paints on the stage and I’d paint [with her]. My mom is definitely my inspiration. 

What are you working on right now? 
I’m working on a lot of animation, which [I think] is really cool. I use Clip Studio Paint for animation and [digital] drawing. I also have a Huion Tablet for graphic-style drawing. Right now I’m also working on oil painting - I think painting is my best work. 

What kind of training or classes have you taken?
I’ve taken classes at the Paul Robeson Center for The Arts with the Arts Council of Princeton - [I do] mostly acrylic painting there. Right now I’m taking Studio Art 2-D 3 with Mr. Pembleton. For underclassmen, I definitely recommend looking into the [art] classes and teachers - they are all really nice and helpful. If you want to go to an Arts School after [high school], they can help you with your portfolio and write [recommendation] letters. 

Do you like Digital or Painting better? 
Digital art is much easier to sit down and do, because there is much less set up and clean up, but I feel like that is part of the charm with painting. Mixing your paint, having to be more thoughtful because you don’t have a control z, and just the physical feedback painting with a brush are all things I really enjoy when making art. 

 How do you see art playing a role in your future?
I want to go to school for art - If I can be doing art full time and be self sustainable, that’s my dream. I really want to do it for the rest of my life and it is my goal to make a living from it. 

What piece are you most proud of?
I am most proud of a self portrait entitled Tongue I painted with acrylics. I am proud of the way that I used color and a dynamic pose to express myself. 

What technique do you find the most challenging?
Watercolor is the most challenging for me. It is hard to know where to start, how much water to use, and it’s just really hard to make convincing shapes and colors. I can’t wrap my head around artists who will start a watercolor piece with a bunch of random splotches of color and transform it into a cohesive picture. 

What goals do you have for yourself? Is there something you’d really like to paint or create but haven’t done before?
I want to paint a mural somewhere- most of my art tends to be small and not take more than a few days to create. I want to work on a project that’s way bigger in size than what I usually do, and I want to be able to spend a lot of time on it. Even if it’s just a mural on my bedroom wall, it is something I want to accomplish and work on. 

JP Kinney ’23 paints his future bright

    As the lights begin to dim on his high school career, Matty Baglio ’23 reflects on his acting journey that started in middle school. Attending a camp at McCarter Theatre sparked his initial interest in theater, and he has spent his time performing ever since. Recently, you may have seen him performing as Aaron Fox in last year’s spring musical, “Curtains,” Chip Tolentino in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”, or Lucas Beineke in “The Addams Family.” Being involved in theater opened up many opportunities for Baglio such as competing in the STANJ (Speech & Theatre Association of New Jersey) competition, which involved competing in categories such as improv pairs and musical solo. Theater has also given Baglio the opportunity to work with the tech crew on various school productions. His long-standing involvement in theater has also resulted in the creation of many long lasting friendships, and he enjoys getting to participate in an environment that allows everyone to support and encourage one another.


Which of your acting performances are you the most proud of?
I would probably say Aaron Fox in “Curtains,” just because I had to put the most work into that one, but in “I Love You Because” sophomore year, I had a lead and it was really tough because the actors really couldn’t see each other until close to the filming of the show. I would say those two.

What do you look forward to acting in most for your senior year?
Whatever the musical is, because that’s gonna be a really important show for me. Everybody says “Don’t miss your senior musical!” That’s the one I’m most looking forward to, just because everything has been leading up to this point.

Who have you performed with that has influenced your acting the most?
If I had to choose one, I’d say Dean Morgan, because we were in the same cast last year in “Curtains,” we had a bunch of scenes together, we worked very well together, and at the end of the day he helped me out with a lot. It was a very beneficial working relationship, and also we’re friends, so that’s good.

What have you learned in the last few years that has helped you become a better performer?
Perform it like you’re doing it for the very first time. Never perform anything like you’ve been practicing it for months even though you have, because you want the audience to feel like it’s their first time experiencing it, and if you look bored onstage, they’re not gonna get the same experience. One more, which is kind of cliché, is that if you get onstage and you’re nervous, you have to just trust yourself. That’s it. Those two words, it kind of works every time.

What do you enjoy the most about the experience of onstage acting?
It’s kind of thrilling because it has to be perfect, but at the same time you can let your experience kind of soar throughout the whole show. I think you have opportunities whenever you’re onstage to be someone that people remember, which is pretty cool.

Do you think your younger self would have imagined that you’d perform as much as you do now?
Yes and no. I feel like I’ve always wanted to do these shows, but I’ve never thought about doing tech crew, which I do for the plays. I always thought that I would be able to do everything so seamlessly, but I’ve had to whittle it down to three big things that I do in high school: singing, acting, and baseball.

What has the experience of getting to work on tech crew for shows been like?
It’s pretty cool because I’ve never seen the backstage side, and now I know how everything runs and operates. I have a bigger respect for it now when I’m performing, because I know what needs to be done and I’m not gonna try to get in their way.


What has the experience of getting to compete in the STANJ competition been like?
To be able to represent not only yourself, but also your school and the other talented people that you’re there with, is very special. Everybody challenges one another to be the best they can be, but also encourages one another in order to be a great team.

Was there anyone you looked up to that made you feel encouraged to get into acting?
I watched Disney Channel a lot as a kid, [so] I always wanted to do that. I was like, “Oh my god, I’m gonna be on a show.” Watching those kids do that, and thinking, “I could do that!”

What do you think is most important when trying to emulate a character?
Everybody in the world has an intricate life with a backstory for years, and every single day there’s been something in that person’s life that has affected who they are as a person. I think you have to remember that when you’re playing a character, because you’re not only just playing that character in that amount of time and that setting, but you’re playing that character after all this stuff has happened in their life, and before everything that is going to happen in their life. You kind of have to remember that they’re also a human, they’re not just an enigma. They’re a real person, and I think you have to remember that so it comes off as authentic.

What is so special about acting that non-performers may not realize?
It gives you an outlook into another world. It’s a different place from here, and you get to experience it as well as learn how to put it all into perspective: If you’re learning about this other person, how does that affect your life here? How does becoming this person for two hours on a Saturday night help you in your life?

What is your favorite memory from past performances?

My freshman year, the musical was “Freaky Friday,” and it never happened, but the rehearsal process for that show was so fun. All these dance numbers, a bunch of moving set pieces, everyone was going crazy. At the end of the day, that was something that I was never able to do before in middle school, and coming into this experience was super new and exciting.

What do you find important when it comes to acting through song?

In a musical, you only ever sing when there’s a need to sing, when there’s a need to express emotion in a different way. I don’t think you get that through normal acting all the time. When you’re singing, and there’s music behind it, and there’s an emotion behind it that you can really show through your voice, I think there’s something really different and really special about it.

What has been the most difficult part of performing for you?

It’s a learning curve, because there are going to be some people that are more or less talented than you are, and it’s all about working as a group and finding the strengths within everybody to become a cohesive unit.

Is there anything about your performance that you think has improved since freshman year?

It’s kind of stupid if I say dancing, because I never danced before high school and then all of a sudden, I was told to do it all the time, but that’s gotten way better. I was not a dancer at all, but that’s a big part of musical theatre, you have to have all three. My acting in general has gotten better by being around people that are just crazy talented.

What do you think makes a good actor?
Somebody who’s willing to think outside the box. Somebody who’s willing to make some choices that may not be totally normal, but at the end of the day they help bring the character to life.


Have there been any mentors that have helped you find yourself the most as an actor?

The seniors from last year, Avery, Hannah, Teddy, Dean, and Lydia.




Matty Baglio ’23 reminisces on time well spent in theater

Tuning his saxophone, constant flipping of the music sheets, and nerve wracking performances are only a portion of Kieran Mckenzie’s’22, routine as a saxophonist. McKenzie’22 is one of the few saxophonists in Princeton High School’s top band program and has played abroad in several locations, including Italy. Playing the saxophone not only allows McKenzie to express himself, but also provides him with a sense of liberation. If you have attended band concerts in the past, you may recognize his knack for improvisation. From jam sessions to after-school practices, his dedication never fails to shine on stage.


Q: Why did you choose to play the saxophone?

A: I chose to play the saxophone because of how free it is as an instrument. Many musicians say it’s the closest instrument to the human voice, so you’re able to get many different sounds like no other instrument.


Q: How would you describe Princeton High School’s band program?

A: It is extraordinary. I often forget how great the bands are because of the high standards I seem to put on myself, but when I see the band programs at other schools it just really puts it into perspective, and I realize how amazing the band program at our school is.


Q: What is your favorite memory from band?

A: My favorite memory of being in the band program is not actually on stage as one might suspect. My favorite memory has to be one of the first times at a jam session where a bunch of music students came together during a break just to create music for fun. It leads to such natural and emotional music that you can’t often find with any group of musicians.


Q: If you had not learned to play saxophone, how do you think it would have impacted you today?

A: Oh, I would be such a different person. I wouldn’t have been able to travel to the places I’ve traveled, speak the way I speak, or think the way I think. With so many experiences and lessons, music has definitely shaped who I am as a person.


Q: Have you ever wanted to play a different instrument?

A: Oh yeah, all the time. I wish I would’ve started off playing piano and then switched to saxophone because then I would’ve learned about music theory and chords and multiple voices, which helps later playing a one-voice instrument.


Q: There are numerous saxophonists. What is one way you distinguish yourself?

A: A lot of saxophone players are very serious and sometimes strict, so I like to have as much fun as possible. I’m not afraid to let out a little dance, and I’ve noticed that if you’re into the music, the audience will also be into the music, which, in my opinion, is the most important thing.


Q: Who inspired you to play the saxophone?

A: I was actually inspired to start playing when I listened to an album by Joshua Redman when I was in eighth grade. If I never listened to that album, I would’ve never been into music in the first place.


Q: How much dedication does playing the saxophone require?

A: In the end, it’s all about how good you want to be, but saxophone players tend to be very serious, and it will take an incredible amount of dedication to be seen as “good” in the saxophone community.


Q: What do you want to tell people that are hesitant to join the band?

A: Just do it! At our school, you will be open to not just learning music but having real professional experiences that not many high schoolers can get.

Student Artist Of the Month: Kieran McKenzie

Click. With the press of one button, one is able to capture the moment, your loved one, a beautiful flower, or simply anything that catches your eye. For Yayla Tur ’22, photography isn’t just a form of media, but “ a peace-making art in its own form of therapy.” With more and more media representation, photography is a great way to capture everyday moments that we often overlook. Perhaps it is artists like Tur and other photographers that allow us to wonder, stay informed, and get inspired. Whether they are using their film camera or their phone, Tur  is able to call attention to the beauty surrounding us.



In a society where almost everything is digital, as a photographer, how do you feel about social media where you are faced with so much fast-paced social media? 

I think in a lot of ways, it can be overwhelming because it’s so overstimulating when there’s so much there. But at the same time, I feel like I’ve connected with different artists I would have never met, and found so many small artists and big artists that have become such inspiration for me. So although it can be a lot, it can also be very inspiring and it’s so exciting to see all those works from different perspectives. 
When do you usually take photos? 

I generally just have a camera with me all the time. I enjoy taking photos all the time constantly rather than having set photoshoots. I like to take photos on the go more, showcasing my day-to-day life. And also when I’m with my friends I try to capture the moments as well. 


Do you prefer taking photos on your phone or your camera?

It depends on what I’m going for. When taking film photos, there’s a different quality to it, especially when I’m going for flash photography, which I’ll always use a film camera for. If it’s on my phone, it’s generally more in quick situations. But also, there are different pros and cons to each. And it all depends on what the subject is going to be, and the quality I want.


Is there a specific platform you use to showcase your work? 

I’d say the most is VSCO, just because that’s where I’ve connected with a lot of artists that do digital photography, and collage. It’s a good way to share your art in a less judgmental space in comparison to Instagram, where you can get compiled likes.


What or who do you like to take photos of most? 

I love taking photos of my friends because I love capturing moments that I really enjoy with them. My friends have become very used to it, they know not to pose and just keep doing what they’re doing. I take a lot of photos of my best friend Helenka, or people I spend a lot of time with. So yeah, generally I think I enjoy taking photos of people the most. I also have a mini-series of just lights in houses from the outside at night. There’s something about the way it shines through the window that I think is really cool. 


What do you do after taking the photos?

So usually, I edit them a bit. It sort of depends on what I’m going for. A lot of times, there will be a photo I really like but it seems like there’s something missing. That’s when I start to collage photos, digitally usually, although I also do traditional collage with paper. Or I’ll combine a photo of something I’ve drawn, digitally layering it. But it all depends on the photo.


I know with oil paint or music, it is very easy to go back and forth and fix your work until you are satisfied with your final product. Does it bother you that with photography there is really no “re-capturing” of the moment?  

It depends. Especially with film, you have to be really frugal with it because you only have so many photos on a roll and developing film is expensive. Sometimes I’ll have photos where one thing is just a little too blurry, a little too this or that. There’s some little mess-up, which can be frustrating but in one way that is part of the beauty of photography. You just keep going, and it’s on the go, and you can’t tweak it in the same way you can painting. Although of course with digital collage, you can edit them to a certain degree, there is something nice about just it being how it is, and you can’t fix it. 


As an artist, how are you able to enjoy your work? Do you think there are advantages with photography over typical traditional art?

One thing with photography, especially with film, it’s nostalgic. Of course, you can look back on your memories, especially with film because it can take a while to finish a whole roll. You can start it in the summer and not finish it or develop it until the winter. And half of them, you won’t be able to look back until you get them developed so you’ll forget you took those photos, you’ll see them and you’re transported back to that time. So it’s definitely really nice to capture them, look back, and be reminded of real-life moments. In a way, it is sort of a peace-making art in its own form of therapy.


When taking a photo, what is your motto or motive?

To a certain degree, trying to capture but also trying to stay in the moment. Not becoming too concerned with taking a photo or taking a perfect photo, especially when I’m with my friends I don’t want to be so focused on taking photos of them. I just want to take it off the side, not people posing for it, me not putting too much of my time, and still getting to enjoy the moment itself.

Student Artist of the Month: Yayla Tur ‘22 captures the moment through photography

Joycelyn Brobbey ’22 has a distinct understanding and passion for music. As a singer and performer, Brobbey believes that music is an outlet for artists to truly express themselves, drawing her greatest inspiration from genres like jazz and rock. Like most artists, Brobbey was greatly affected by the pandemic. However, her passion for singing remains as strong as ever, and she continues to devote her time as a member of Around 8, the only gender-inclusive a cappella group at Princeton High School.

Q: If you have any, who is your biggest inspiration? Who do you look up to when you perform or when you practice off stage? 
A: To be completely honest, I don’t have someone who I look up to when I am singing. When I am on stage, either performing by myself or with my peers, I draw inspiration from the audience because it makes me happy to see the audience enjoying the performance.

Q: What are your thoughts and what was your experience like as an artist during your four years? How do you think PHS can improve with regards to diversity and representation? 
A: I think that PHS can improve its arts programs by reaching out to creative Black students who might feel like they don’t have a voice or space to express their creativity. Even though PHS is trying to increase its diversity and representation in the numerous spaces they provide, advocacy is lacking and many students of color find it difficult to reach out and participate. After taking drama my freshman year, I was deterred from involving myself in other musical theater courses in the school primarily because of the underrepresentation. I was not comfortable in a space that was never marketed towards me.

Q: How do you think your singing or music in general impacts people? 
A: I think that music has a very positive impact on people because it allows them to express themselves. It acts as an outlet for many people. Another great thing about music is that whether it is being performed or listened to there are many genres available for people to appreciate.

Q: Are there any specific songs or concerts that you would like to share? Something that you would like to cherish as you graduate PHS? 
A: A concert that will stay with me forever was the gospel concert the choir had during my sophomore year before COVID-19 hit. It was the last concert we had in person. The energy throughout the performance is still very nostalgic. It was exhilarating to see that the audience and the performers were equally enjoying the concert.

Q: Have you ever struggled with singing in general? Was there ever a moment where you wanted to quit or thought you would quit? 
A: During the peak of the pandemic, when we went virtual for the whole year, I found it difficult to love singing because every singing opportunity was virtual and it became a bore. If it was not virtual, we were masked. Fortunately, I did not let that get in the way of my love for singing. Instead, I invested in a microphone and a speaker so that I could do karaoke in my own home.

Q: What is your favorite song or piece you like to sing? It can be a song you sing in the shower or an actual performance piece. 
A: A song I like to sing in the shower is “All I Ask” by Adele.

Q: Why do you think it is important we keep and utilize clubs like Around 8? 
A; I think it is important to keep and utilize clubs like Around 8 simply because they are fun to be a part of. It is something non-academic students can enjoy in a school that has such an overly competitive atmosphere

Q: How did you start singing? Was there a particular event or person that inspired your journey as a singer? 
A: In elementary school, my teacher got me involved in a lot of creative opportunities, and singing happened to be one of them. Ever since, I’ve been involved in my school choirs and singing groups.

Student Artist of the Month: Joycelyn Brobbey ’22 uses her voice to make a difference


Lydia Garcia ’22 discovered the highlights of performing arts at PHS after participating in numerous plays throughout elementary and middle school. She is now the co-president of the Spectacle Theatre. Through this club, she cultivates an open community for PHS students interested in theater and guides them through their acting journeys. Her dedication to theater paid off, as she was recently awarded Governor’s Best Actress by The Speech and Theatre Association of New Jersey. Acting not only allows Garcia to express her individuality but also contributes to her confidence in life beyond the stage. Always willing to explore new opportunities, Garcia plans on continuing theater in college and is excited to see where this journey takes her.

What encouraged you to start pursuing theater and music?

My preschool had these little shows that they would put on, and I always loved entertaining and being on stage since I was a kid. Then McCarter Theater came to my fifth grade class. They were doing Macbeth, and I got the role of Lady Macbeth. It was just a really fun time to be with people that were in the industry already, and I thought that it was just a really cool job to have.

How does your Latina identity translate into your work?

Since I grew up in Princeton, I could only ever connect to my Latin roots through my family. It took a lot of time to understand how my ethnicity shaped me and what that meant being in a place with minimal representation. My Latina identity shapes my acting by showing me that there is a lot that goes into a character: who they appear to be on the outside and what parts of themselves they identify with. From my experience, Latina women can be known for being shameless and passionate, and I think these traits have definitely translated into my acting and my love for acting. My mentality is doing things just because I can, whether that’s a character choice on stage or simply stepping into an audition room. And feeling all the emotions that come with your actions, it builds cha- racter and empathy, which are two things that I can directly thank my Puerto Rican and Dominican roots for.

What productions have you been in?

What has been your most memorable role? Sophomore year was my first year that I got into theater at PHS. It was the play “Clue.” I got the role as a cop, which was okay, because it was a good entry-level role to get to know how things worked at PHS. That role showed me the ins and outs, and I got to know everything that goes on here pre-COVID-19. Then I auditioned for “Freaky Friday.” I got the role of Hannah, and that musical in itself was just really complicated in terms of choreography and late rehearsals so that was really cool to experience as well. However, when that show was about to come out, we stopped because of COVID-19. At least I was able to get a clear view of what theater looked like before COVID-19. In junior year, I auditioned for “12 Incompetent Jurors,” and I got the role as Juror 10. That is probably my most memorable role here because of how intense I had to be every single time, and I guess that pushed my love for acting and showed me what it’s really about.

Is there a community within PHS that students can seek out if they are interested in acting?

Spectacle Theatre is really the epicenter for everything acting, everything theater. I’m actually the co-president of the club. It’s a great place where people can come together, experienced or inexperienced, and talk about theater opportunities within PHS. We have a lot of plays, so that’s definitely a place where any interested PHS students can come and automatically be accepted into the space and feel comfortable to pursue acting or know more about it.

Do you plan on pursuing theater in the future?

Yeah, absolutely. It’s something that I’ve always loved, and I don’t want to give it up early. So if I can do it in college and make a career out of it, I definitely want to do that.

Student Artist of the Month: Lydia Garcia ’22 discovers self-expression through acting


The intoxicating scent of chocolate cake wafting from the oven kindled kindled a love for the kitchen in Meredith Hirschman ’22 from a young age. Observing her older sister, Leah Hirschman ’19, along with using Pinterest for inspiration, Hirschman gained confidence steadily – and it is reflected in her treats. With her sister’s encouragement, she now follows in her footsteps and serves as Editor-in-Chief for Spork, the PHS food magazine.



How did you originally start working for Spork?

My oldest sister was the Editor-in-Chief as a freshman. I had known about the magazine prior to even entering high school. I knew I wanted to do that because I always had a passion for baking. I applied, and I got to be a member. Then I worked my way up; I was Social Media Manager, then last year I was the Production Manager, and now I’m Editor-in-Chief.



What is the process of writing and creating each issue of Spork magazine?

The first thing we do is we come up with ideas of what themes we want to do. This past one, we did a strawberry and lemon theme. So we had strawberry lemonade, strawberry-lemon cake, something like that. And then we would ask our contributors to find those recipes specifically. They would write them down and format them correctly. We then buy the ingredients from those recipes and have recipe testing days, which are usually over the weekends. It’s one day, and we get everyone together in one kitchen. We make the recipes and set up the shot. So we make the food and then we put it all together and make it look pretty to take the picture. And then after that it’s production, which is about four days long, maybe longer. We take those photos, and we put them into Adobe InDesign. Then, we add all of the text and all of the needed recipes, and then we print them.



What is you favorite dish that you have made?It was a strawberry lemon cake, which, actually, I made earlier in March 2020. In between those three layers of strawberry cake was a strawberry-and-lemon curd. On the outside, it was strawberry buttercream. And then for decoration, I piped cartoon stuffed flowers with yellow buttercream petals, and a white center. Not only did it look good, but it tasted great as well!



During quarantine, at-home cooking and baking took over the internet, with trials of sourdough bread and dalgona coffees. Do you feel that in quarantine, you also gained more creativity in your cooking?

Yeah definitely. I also had more time to bake and cook, so I used that time. I followed the trends and made all the recipes. I made a frog bread, which was definitely trendy then. With all of that extra time, I also looked up pictures of food. I like to look on Pinterest, and I just like to search for something to make next.

Meredith Hirschman ’22 on her passion for baking and Spork magazine


All displayed photos are provided by Elias Gitterman

Theater is much more than just memorizing a script. For Elias Gitterman ’21, it’s a transformative experience, starting with the nerve-wracking auditions all the way to production day. After participating in musicals throughout middle school, Gitterman continued his acting journey in PHS by starring in drama department productions including “Theory of Relativity” and “Clue.” This year, he is excited to play Gomez Addams in PHS’ very own production of “The Addams Family.” Gitterman demonstrates his versatility as a student actor by taking on roles of all types of genres including comedy, mystery, and romance. When embodying a character, he emphasizes the importance of being original on stage. With his distinctive understanding of theater and his love for all roles, Gitterman looks forward to many more amazing on-stage experiences in the future, as he plans to attend New York University this fall. 

What influenced your interest in acting?

The first show I ever did was in fourth grade, and it was a Shakespeare play called “A Midsummer Night's Dream.” That sort of instilled in me a love of being on stage and having the attention of the audience. Then when I got to middle school, I just started auditioning for plays and taking drama classes; I auditioned for the musical when I was in eighth grade. I would also see plays and musicals, specifically on Broadway. By the time I got to high school, I very much considered myself an actor.

Is this your first time starring in a PHS musical production? If not, can you give an overview of past experiences? 

Yes, this is my first time having a leading role in the musical at PHS. I was in a musical last year called “Theory of Relativity.” That was an ensemble show that was just a series of individual musical numbers: some pieces were solos, some were duos, and others were large ensemble pieces. That was a big moment for me, getting to be in that show. There was a lot of emotion, and overall it was very deep and touching to a lot of people. My favorite role I’ve ever played was probably Mr. Green in “Clue,” because it was so much fun to play. I got to live out a lot of my theater dreams by playing a secret FBI agent; getting to play that character was such an over the top, ridiculous situation. And being able to play those characters in those types of scenes is fun. After this tremendous experience, I auditioned for Addams Family this year and got the role of Gomez. I’m just so happy to have the role. 

Can you guide us through the overall process of a production, starting with auditions?

The first thing you do is go to the informational meeting, where you learn what the show is about and you get your audition materials. Once you have your audition materials, you have to practice memorizing your lines and start thinking about which characters you might want to be cast as. Then you go to the audition, which can be nerve-wracking because there’s lots of new people.

You start to gauge what the production, in a broader sense, is going to look like. Every actor will also tell you that the audition goes by very quickly, you’re walking out of the audition room, and you’re thinking “wait, did that just happen?” But if you’ve practiced enough, it becomes second nature, and then you don't need to focus too much. So that’s the audition, but callbacks can be equally nerve wracking. Sometimes, directors and auditors will put you in a scene where they know that you’re going to flub your lines just to see how you roll with it. Actually, that is a great way for the people in the audition room to get to know you as a person and an actor. It does require a lot of devotion, but once you’re in production, you’re performing, and you never get tired of it. It’s always fun and so exciting to walk out on stage and be in a scene.

Auditions for musicals can get competitive. How do you feel about the environment of the musical industry? 

Whenever there’s some sort of aspect of performance, whether it’s instrumental or athletic, there’s always a lot of pressure following it, which can lead to a high pressure environment. There can be competitiveness when you're involved in a theatrical production. Though, in every show that I’ve been in, the environment has been very welcoming and positive. There’s always an understanding that there’s a level of pressure and weight that come with that. You’re doing something that’s important and you want to do it well. The theater community almost always is super supportive, which helps take some of the weight off of your shoulders when putting together such a large production.

Do you ever feel yourself getting personally attached to your role, or even becoming somewhat like the role you play?

I definitely bring a lot of myself in my roles, and I’m never the same person coming out of a show as I am going into it. It’s always a transformative experience, but outside of rehearsal I don’t really become my character. Like I said before, it’s fun to watch your characters come to life and bring them to the stage in a way that’s original and effective. You come to love your role, and you make the most of it no matter how many scenes you’re in or how big of a role it is. This is something that you'll definitely hear a lot as an actor, but bigger roles do not always mean better roles. It’s natural for different roles to have varying amounts of stage time and types of preparation. For the supporting and leading roles, your character is already written out. The type of character that you’re supposed to play already exists. However, as an ensemble member, you often get to create your own character, but at the same time, I always say that aspect of inventing is very important, no matter what role you get. You always have to bring something original to your role. To circle back around to your question, I’ve never gotten attached to my roles, but very often I find the characters that I’m playing are somewhat similar to me.

Gomez Addams is known for his extraordinary love for Morticia. When acting, is it ever difficult to portray feelings like love?

With something as complex as showing love, regret, or contempt, abstract emotions are obviously more difficult to convey because they have to come from an authentic place. A very common technique that's used by actors is emotional recall, and it’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. If you’re trying to convey an emotion, just think of a time in your life when you experienced that emotion, try to reflect on that in your brain, and recreate it through acting. Portraying an emotion like love can be difficult because people interpret love in lots of different ways, and there are many different types of love. It’s not always easy to be an effective actor. Something that I live by is that good acting is when the audience feels whatever the actor is trying to portray. That may seem obvious, but if there's a disconnect between what you’re trying to create and how the audience is perceiving it that means you are doing something wrong. I know I’ve stressed this so many times, but it’s something that I live by, and that’s being original with your role. You have to create something that’s never been seen before. So once again, to revisit your original question, portraying love can be challenging, but if you do it right, it can be very compelling and very moving. 

Any advice for students beginning in theater?

My advice would be that you have to form a community by getting to know the other people in your class because you are going to stick with them, and they're going to be people who sustain you. Once you do a show with them, you get to know them really well. You form this really strong bond that is so important to being not only a high schooler but also an actor. Shows should be fun, and they shouldn’t be too much work. You definitely have to work hard as an actor and have to put in those hours. You have to really be able to invent in a way that's honest, effective, and self sustaining. You need to be the type of actor who enjoys the work.

Elias Gitterman ’21 brings his character to life on stage

Perched high on her father’s shoulders as a toddler, Sofia Schreiber marveled at the floating orange drapes displayed at Central Park’s famous art exhibit, “The Gates.” Little did she know that admiring this exhibit would be the first of many experiences throughout her entire artistic journey.

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Schreiber spent her early childhood years in Hoboken, New Jersey — an urban environment where art flooded the streets, walls, buildings, and parks. From that point onwards, creativity has been a part of her very being. Primarily focused on the art of theater, Sofia has helped assemble the sets for many high school productions and plans to continue cultivating her passion in The Boston University College of Fine Arts. Despite having a clear career path in mind, she has never restricted herself to one art form.

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When did you find your passion for art? 

Well, I mostly started out with visual art. [Art] has always been ingrained in me since birth. I remember, specifically, I got this easel for my third birthday, and there were so many pictures of me standing on a little red stool scribbling on the easel. I did a lot of drawing. But I really got serious about art when I started taking ceramics classes at the Arts Council. I enjoyed 3D and started exploring sculpture and creating spaces with art, which was really cool. [After that] I started doing tech crew.

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Who is your inspiration for art as well as your favorite artists? 
[I’ve had] two teachers who are also professional artists. One is Barbara de Lorenzo, an illustrator. She’s been so sweet, and she's helped me put together my portfolio. [Another is] my ceramics teacher, Rebecca Graham. She makes these awesome sculptures [out of clay] like puppets. [Ms. Graham] puts them together with objects [she finds] and wire. [Ultimately,] she inspired me to start doing mixed media work, which is really fun. [My] favorite artists [are] Maya Lin, Andy Goldsworthy, and Ai Weiwei. There’s a piece at Storm King [Art Center,] a sculpture garden in upstate New York, by Andy Goldsworthy. It’s basically a stone wall that goes through the whole park, made out of the stones he found in the park. When my mom was pregnant with me, she took a picture standing next to the wall, and I’ve always loved that picture. During sophomore year, we went on a field trip there and I found the exact spot that she stood at and recreated the picture.

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What childhood experiences shaped you as an artist? 
Until I was three, I lived in Hoboken, New Jersey. It was really fun living in a more city environment, really close to New York City, and it’s shaped my love for cities because there was always so much art around. Specifically, I remember the artists Christo and Jeanne Claude who did an installation at Central Park called “The Gates.” There were all these orange gates throughout Central Park, probably 1000 of them. My parents took me there when I was three, and I remember loving it so much. I would sit on my dad’s shoulders and touch all of them as we went by. Just being surrounded by art from a really young age made me fall in love with it even more.

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Have you tried experimenting with different art mediums? 
I love experimenting all the time! I’ve tried everything from knitting to wire work. My favorites are probably watercolor, clay, and drawing. I’m always up for trying new things, so I’ve experimented with paper, yarn, and textile collages. There’s one piece that just makes me smile and it’s a fun piece that I did. It was [a] fabric paper collage. I made this chicken, named Patricia, and she’s a very eccentric chicken. She’s just fun and I hung [her] up on the wall.. Every time I walk by, it makes me smile!

How do you stay motivated during the pandemic? 
I guess it is kind of hard to stay motivated when there’s nothing to do, especially when there’s no real in-person theater productions happening right now at the school. [However,] the technical director, Jeff Van Velsor, made me his design assistant this year. I’ve been working on different aspects of theater, [such as] digital posters for all the shows, and how we can make a Zoom show more interesting, design wise. I also try to keep a sketchbook [to] draw something each day, even if it’s five minutes each day [or] drawing a pencil on my table. 

Sofia Schreiber ’21 explores diverse mediums to sharpen her creativity

With her whole family’s passion for music, Grace Axcelson ’20 seemed destined to follow down that path. But when she was introduced to the world of musicals by a production of “Wicked,” Axcelson, who was ten years old at the time, immediately became enchanted by the brilliant combination of acting and singing. She has been pursuing that passion ever since, starring in dozens of plays and musicals throughout the years. Aside from acting, Axcelson is also the president of Spectacle Theatre. Although theater takes up a huge portion of her life, Axcelson’s initial interest for singing was not thrown aside — she actively sings with the PHS a cappella group “The Cat’s Meow,” which holds concerts several times throughout the school year and has an album of their own titled “Gurgle Pot Addiction.” Axcelson will take a different route studying business at Mercer County Community College, but she looks forward to the acting opportunities presented at its Kelsey Theater. 

How did you first discover this passion?

I was ten years old, and I went to a sleepaway camp — it was my first time ever going to camp, and they were doing a production of “Wicked,” so I decided to audition. And from there, I didn't want to do anything else at camp. I wanted to sit at rehearsals — I wanted to be there. I didn't really even have a role, but I just wanted to watch the entire time. I listened to the soundtrack over and over again, and from then on, I've just been obsessed with theater.

Were you more attracted to the singing or acting aspect of a musical?

My whole family is really musical. My mom and my dad sing in a band; my brother is in a band. So when I was little, I always knew I wanted to sing. But [seeing the production of Wicked] was the first time I ever really saw acting and singing combined, and it was just so cool to me.

How is the combination of singing and acting different from just singing? 

[When I’m singing I] …  sometimes I find that I get too into my head, or like I'm too focused on how I sound. But with acting … you're taking on a different character and that character doesn't really [think] about what they're doing, which is how I love to sing.

Is there a moment in your acting career that is unforgettable?

I would say maybe when I was in “Once Upon a Mattress” and I was playing Princess Winnifred. There was one [show where] … a bunch of little girls … came up to me [afterward]. [One of them said], “you make me want to do theater. I'm really excited to go to [John Witherspoon Middle School] and get to do the shows.” So that was really, really cool. Moments like that always make me happy.  

Were there any difficulties that you encountered while pursuing acting?

In general, PHS has a lot of talents and there's a lot of impressive singers and actors, so sometimes the competitiveness can be a little bit much. There’s definitely a lot of pressure. But I've come to realize that people [all] have their own paths. Comparing yourself to somebody else isn't really going to get you anywhere. At the end of the day … you're still going to do what you want to do if that's what your passion is. And the same goes for [everyone]. There's no need to compete if you're doing what you love.

What would you say is the hardest role to play?

It might be this one. I'm playing Katherine Blake in “Freaky Friday” and the most challenging part about that is that I'm on stage for at least 50 percent of the show. There's a huge amount of lines and material to memorize. Also, [I have to switch] from one character to another within a few seconds. So in the opening number, the Mom and I have a completely different demeanor, and then as soon as we switch, it's like you have to become a different character. It's been a lot of fun to work on!

Branching out her passions for singing and acting, Grace Axcelson ’20 thrives on stage.

“It sounded like a bird, and I wanted to sound like a bird”  answered Abrielle Scott when asked why she first picked up the flute.
As a child, Abreille Scott was first drawn to the flute as it mimicked the melodic trills of a songbird.
In the following years since then, Scott has developed a great passion for the instrument. She currently plays in the PHS Orchestra and is one of its cabinet members. Besides playing as a part of the wind section in the orchestra, Scott is also an active soloist, having performed with PHSO on its Italy tour and with the Westminster Community Orchestra as the winner of the Choir College’s concerto competition. 
No matter where the results of her college applications might take her, Scott expects music to play an integral role in her post-high school life. Many options await her, whether they be trying out new genres of music, collaborating with fellow musicians, or joining an orchestra at her future college.

Q1: Have you composed any pieces of music?
 The most recent group work I’ve written was probably two years ago with my friend Haley for a flute quartet.We came up with a motive. [which is] the best way to start [writing any piece of music]---approaching it with a really close reading and motive, deciding what [you] want the whole orchestra or ensemble to do. It’s really hard, having one little idea and seeing if you can carry it through.  
[The composition] was called “Pirate’s Life”, a collection of scenes from a pirate’s life. It was supposed to be a suite, but we never really finished it. We got through like two movements but we were supposed to have five. We ended up performing them at my private teacher’s studio recital. That was really cool because it was [my] first time performing something that I wrote. 

Q2: What do you enjoy most about playing the flute?
I’d say [it’s] all of the amazing people I get to work with. The flute community is a huge group of adorable [individuals]. As a flutist, I’d like to think [that] I enjoy the flute because it’s a versatile and diverse instrument, [giving me the chance] to work with a lot of different people and instruments. It’s a really good way to play and to connect with [others]. I’ve [also] had so many good [experiences]...Over the summer, I [attended] the National Flute Association Convention, and it was actually so much fun! That was my first year going, and I saw so many other flutists. You don’t really see them collectively or in one space. There were so many different types of people from literally across the world [who] brought all types of music with them.

Q3:  In a world where musical education is so accessible, and where everyone has the opportunity to learn an instrument, do you ever worry that someone is better than yourself?
 That [feeling] used to be really scary for me, but honestly, that’s just how it is. Maybe last year I kind of came to terms with it. Instead of [viewing the talented] negatively and [as] something that would lower your self-esteem,  I think it's just better to look at them, and try [to] see them as a goal. If someone's technique is better than yours, [then] ask them how they got to where they are. Honestly, the music community is so small, and it’s better to just learn from each other rather than seeing everyone as competition. It's more fun that way too.

Abrielle Scott’s Flute Trills Fulfill Her Dream of Sounding like a Bird

The teacher has just asked a question and the answer that was so clear in your mind is now clouded by questions: What if it’s wrong? What if everyone laughs at me? What if I trip up my words and embarrass myself? The hand that you were about to raise goes back to your lap. To a teacher, this lowered hand could automatically lead to a lower grade, an assumption that you didn’t do the assignment, or an overall sour feeling about you. Very quickly those questions about your participation become questions about your grade leading to a new anxious spiral from a want to participate to the fear holding you back. 

Quiet people are often perceived as uninterested, unopinionated, or even disrespectful as they tend not to engage in large groups. Although we have this assumption in schools that quieter students can be coaxed out of their shells, the participation grade incentive that schools use to get students to open up does not work. This incentive leads to greater anxiety as the desire to bring up this grade is overshadowed by the anxiety that comes along with raising it. In general, participation grades are an inaccurate representation of students’ academic performances that ought to be replaced with a more inclusive analysis of students’ understanding of the material.

The desire to remain quiet comes from natural parts of peoples’ personalities such as shyness or introversion. While both traits can coexist, it is critical to make the distinction between the two. Shyness is fear of social judgment. Everyone has shyness to some extent and that is how the initial fear of raising your hand comes out in the first place. Introversion concerns how individuals respond to stimuli. Extroverts typically need more stimuli, while introverts thrive best in low-key environments. Our society tends to idealize extroverts as outspoken people who are often those with the greatest power or influence. PHS is guilty of this idealization as well. This is reflected in our participation grades, who we elect to student government, and even the people that we view as the smartest in our grades. We wouldn’t be placing our more extroverted peers on a pedestal if they didn’t make us believe that they deserved to be there through their outspoken tendencies. However, this idealization of more talkative students completely minimizes the work that quieter students do to maintain their grades, their positions in extracurricular activities, and their efforts to create a social presence at PHS. 

Having established the difference between shyness and introversion, we can dive into why shyness is impacting students’ participation tendencies in the first place. Researchers at Northwestern University theorized that “kids face a social stigma for publicly making an effort to excel”. This stems from a school’s overall academic based culture. We would like to assume that given the pressure to take AP courses, apply to top colleges and fill our plates full of extracurriculars, PHS would fall into the “cool-to-be-smart” category of schools, however this is not the case. It is always incredibly awkward to be the student who breaks the silence in class when it seems that no one knows the answer. In that situation, it is far easier to keep your hand lowered rather than draw attention to yourself for being the know-it-all or the dumb one if you get the answer wrong. Although the chances of that actually happening are incredibly low, human’s inherent shyness creates that narrative within our minds which makes it easier for us to follow the masses. Rather than penalizing people for their inherent shyness, shouldn’t our teachers be understanding of that fear and encourage participation rather than enforce it?

Modern-day teaching needs to embrace all types of learning, listening, and communication styles. In an inclusive learning community like PHS, we should encourage introverts and quiet students to reach their academic potential using a multitude of ways to demonstrate mastery of learning material. A more equitable participation grading technique could help to make it easier for quieter students to demonstrate what they know. The canvas discussion boards can be an effective way for students to interact virtually with a way to edit what they say to feel the most confident about their responses while also maintaining conversations with other students. This would eliminate the overwhelming stimuli of in-class discussions that can be daunting for many students. Regardless of the volume of their voice, every student has one, and it’s time we learn to listen.

Hands down — quiet people, speak up

Community service is no foreign concept for many students around the nation. Many school districts, including Princeton High School, require their students to fulfill a certain number of community service hours during their time in high school, ticking off the graduation requirement prior to leaving their senior years. While this requirement can be extremely beneficial and helpful for communities and students alike, it also raises many questions pertaining to the ethical aspect of mandating community service hours: Does requiring community service in schools undermine the intrinsic nature of what community service is? Does it instead build a strong foundation for the students while opening new pathways for students to explore their interests? While there is no definite answer, mandating community service for students infringes upon the intrinsic nature of what community service is supposed to be, despite still posing as a pathway for students to explore their interest and give back to their communities.

Community service at its core has been defined and recognized as an act of voluntary help for one’s community. The essence of community service is based on the foundation of volunteering, rather than a mandated requirement. By setting requirements for students to accomplish for the sole purpose of graduating, schools directly infringe upon the very nature of what volunteer work is, thus damaging and reducing the noble act of giving back to your community from the selflessness of your heart, to yet another “assignment” that needs to completed before the end of high school.

Reduction of such sorts can also prove to be harmful to not only students, but communities alike. By mandating community service, students may start to draw parallels by comparing it to schoolwork for classes, assigned homework, or class credits that need to be fulfilled in order to graduate. Such activities that usually carry negative connotations, due to their mundane and stressful natures, may in turn inflict a similar message upon community service. By requiring community service for graduation, students may start to shy away from taking part in any form of community service after they fulfill their hours or even after high school due to the weak first impressions they experienced as it being a requirement. As such, mandating community service may end up damaging the future of community service, rather than fostering one.

However, despite the concerns raised pertaining to ethics of mandated community service, the system can actually be beneficial for some students. The required hours for community service have created many opportunities, both in the school and within the community. Students are exposed to various forms of community service around their towns, and can pursue different passions or interests that they might have, while at the same time fulfilling their hours for graduation. With more than 20 community service clubs in the school and many more outside in the community, students are given a plethora of options to choose from when deciding how they want to complete their hours, and as part of that process, students may find a passion for a service project. They might continue pursuing that passion for the rest of high school, and maybe even carry that passion beyond, building a strong foundation for students to carry with them into the real world.

While the premise of mandated community service infringes upon the intrinsic nature of what community service is meant to be, its positive impacts can be seen reflected upon the school and community. Students can find boxes of canned goods filled to the brim, elementary children refining their musicality after school, and empowering posters to spread awareness on issues in the PHS hallways. These actions of the student body come as a result of a simple graduation requirement, and while the main intention is to tick that box, the process of reaching that point often leaves a positive mark on our school community, expanding our worldview and making new connections.

College apps or kind hearts: the truth behind community service

“It almost looks,” wrote Sigmund Freud in “Analysis Terminable and Interminable,” his dark, sobering final paper, “as if analysis were the third of those impossible professions in which one can be sure beforehand of achieving unsatisfying results. The other two, which have been known much longer, are education and government.” It’s a strange claim for the man credited with founding psychoanalysis — a field which defines what Freud called “neuroses” as results of unchecked unconscious desires — to make: imagine a teacher ending the school year with a lecture about how their class had been predestined to disappoint. And yet the impossibility of fully satisfying the psychoanalytic patient was at the center of Freud’s theories. To understand why — and to understand whether Freud’s ideas, and the discipline that arose from them, matter at PHS — we have to talk about transference.

Don’t let its academic aura fool you: the theory of transference is, quite simply, a theory of love. In his “Observations on a Transference-Love,” Freud proposed that the “layman’s” conceptualization of love as a pure, quasi-spiritual force was shortsighted. This conclusion, characteristically, comes from a deep personal failure: in the early days of his practice, Freud pushed away a string of patients (most notably the pseudonymous Dora) who had become inexplicably attracted to him. His attempt to understand the roots of the pattern, despite being tainted by sexist misconceptions and unscientific assumptions, ended up producing t h e seminally important idea of transference: Freud posited that we bring the emotional expectations and desires of our childhood with us wherever we go — including, of course, to the analyst’s couch.

Today, analysts agree almost unanimously (a rare thing, in the fraught world of psychoanalytic institutes) that doctors can allow nothing to arise from a patient’s love. But this is not because the patient’s love isn’t real — it has the same transferential roots as any other of their romantic attractions. The rule exists simply because an analyst’s office is an inappropriate and manipulative context for genuine romantic intimacy.

Perhaps I’ve failed to explain how lonely and terrifying Freud’s theory is. Janet Malcolm, in “The Impossible Profession,” does it more justice: “even… romantic love is fundamentally solitary, and has at its core a profound impersonality. The concept of transference… destroys faith in personal relations.” Or, more succinctly: “we cannot know each other.” And yet the idea is vital to the psychoanalytic encounter, in which the analyst is often tasked with “knowing” their patient. As it turns out, only by recognizing and “harnessing” countertransference — feelings from the doctor towards the patient which arise from what Malcolm calls “early blueprints” — can an analyst ensure that their patient’s unconscious urges (and the analyst’s own) don’t destroy the possibility for a productive and genuinely helpful process. Some psychoanalysts would object to my language here. Thankfully, I’m not a psychoanalyst, and I have no institutional reputation to uphold. What I am is a high schooler — one who thinks that the classroom, too, should be productive and genuinely helpful, and that student teacher relationships form (of course) an inappropriate context for romance.

Don’t get me wrong: focusing on the erotics of a high school classroom is unhelpful and weird. And Freud — sexist, self-centered, pseudoscientific Freud — hardly seems like a figure you’d want helping teachers at PHS to relate with their students. But a general understanding of transference, as I see it, should help rectify (or at least explain) some of the expectations we form (consciously or otherwise) of the classroom.

As the analyst Leo Stone explained in 1967, rather than casting teachers as lovers, we recognize in them the “caretaking functions of the original parents.” Deadlines at school and curfews at home are subject to the same set of tangled emotional push-backs. But the same time, students crave the teacher’s parental love: we want to be cared for. Of course, openly addressing transference in the classroom would be, as Merve Emre puts it in “Are you my Mother?,” “its own variety of pedagogical failure.” Classes have neither the time nor the moral obligation to become therapy sessions. Still, students would do well to remember that a teacher is not obligated to love them — or even care about them on an individual level — in the same way a parent might. Often, instead of wanting to be taught, we yearn for the teacher to seek out our own knowledge: in a class with 30 other students, though, an educator failing to do so is a practical choice rather than a personal slight.

I’ve also come to believe (with significantly less authority, never having been a teacher myself) that PHS teachers can learn from the way an analyst deals with the urge to reciprocate their patient’s “transference love.” Caring for students is, of course, important, but replacing constructive rigor and challenge with either a doting, carefree environment or one where the teacher feels as though they must make the class wildly, unhelpfully difficult in order to reaffirm their own authority, is harmful for everybody involved. It’s hard, as someone who finds a perhaps embarrassing amount of joy in the classes I take here at PHS, to agree with Freud that education is an impossible profession. But it seems that students who want to please or defy their educators at all costs and teachers who seek to become surrogate parents or all-knowing kings each fall prey to the same misguided assumption: that the high school classroom could ever be truly satisfying.

Teachers and transference: does Freud matter in high schools?

   On October 7, 2023, Hamas, the Muslim authority of the Gaza Strip, invaded the state of Israel. In response, the Israeli cabinet vowed “to wipe… Hamas off the face of the Earth.” In the following weeks, the world watched the attack become the bloodiest war in Israel’s history. According to the New York Times, as of November 7, there have been over 1,400 Israeli and 10,000 Palestinian civilian and militant casualties, as well as 422 Israeli hostages and 1.5 million internally displaced Gazans. 

  The war has also come with inflammatory speech and calls for violent protest. The Anti-Defamation League has recorded a 388 percent rise in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. between October 7 and October 25, compared to the same period last year. Similarly, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, reports of Islamophobia were up 182 percent in the U.S. between October 7 and October 24, compared to the average 16-day period last year. Educational institutions have been particularly rife with confrontation. For instance, at UMass Amherst, a student was recently arrested for assaulting a fellow Jewish student at a vigil. Stanford has also been investigating possible hate crimes committed against a Muslim student. And at Harvard, a group of pro-Palestinian students received widespread condemnation after “holding the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all ongoing violence.” 

   Other, less extreme responses have also contributed to the deafening noise. One such reaction is performative activism on social media, and the rush to take sides; this is often caused by the widespread lack of empathy for others and a general lack of understanding of this nuanced situation. You have probably seen it online; a binary stance, or lack thereof, becomes a part of one’s character. This pressures people to hop on social media to share a quick something about the war and get it over with. A global conflict becomes a box they can check off, a guilty feeling they think they can dispose of with a simple click. This leads to a common sentiment — when people lack compassion and time and space for reflection, the results are horrendous. In October 2022, AP News conducted a poll that found that around 75 percent of adults in the U.S. agree that misinformation leads to violent views and behaviors.

   Incorrect, radical, and often conflicting messaging related to the Israel-Hamas war can make it difficult to discern the truth and process our reaction to it. However, instead of trying to easily address the situation with a simplistic perspective or opinion, the most effective solution is to take time to develop a complete understanding and keep empathy at the center of thought.

   While not all responses to the war have been peaceful, we are fortunate that at PHS, we have had thoughtful and constructive opportunities for reflection. On October 17, PHS invited Rabbi Merow from The Jewish Center to help students process their reactions. On October 20, PHS hosted a Gathering for Peace and Hope, in which the Muslim Student Union, the Jewish Club, and the Middle Eastern Students Association came together to recite Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb.” 

   Rather than making rash and violent decisions or participating in performative acts without a true understanding of the issue at hand, we should continue to encourage each other, and ourselves, to take time in making decisions and keep an open mind. It’s not an easy topic. That’s not to say that one may not have an opinion on the subject; individual opinions are encouraged and valued, but it is essential to maintain an anti-violent and open-minded approach when developing them. This war, and our reactions to it, are anything but a justification for hatred. If we want true unity, true resolution, and true peace, the best reaction is a thoughtful and empathetic one. 

Embracing empathy amidst the conflict in Israel and Palestine

  In the past, celebrities were shining stars: singers, dancers and politicians only seen by fans on the black screens of television. Now, in the age of unrestrained usage of social media, the distance between celebrities and fans is stripped. From convincing fans to purchase a product they endorse to imposing their views on important world events and issues, celebrities and public figures now hold the power to influence an impressionable audience with the click of a button. 

  After the senseless killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement saw a massive influx of attention on various media. From trending Twitter “blacklivesmatter” hashtags to the 28 million Instagram users who participated in “Blackout Tuesday,” publicly proclaiming support on social media for BLM was deemed the right thing to do, and keeping silent was perceived as immoral and almost racist. Brands and celebrities rode on this social media wave, blacking out their social media profile pictures and professing their support to the movement in posts. While these popular gestures were intended to show solidarity with the movement, it set a larger precedent that activism simply meant announcing one’s alignment with a cause without the intention of further support. 

  Mass distribution of misguided statements is the central cause for the spread of misinformation, an all too common consequence of celebrity “activism.” A study conducted by researchers at Reuters Institution in 2022 found that 20 percent of posts containing misinformation about COVID-19 were created by influencer profiles. Even more damaging, because of their large monopoly on social media, celebrity posts on important issues often overshadow expert opinions and helpful resources posted by lesser known accounts, devaluing the function of professional journalism. The often performative nature of celebrity activism becomes clear upon nuanced situations such as the Israeli-Palestinian war, which saw much less celebrity engagement. Given the extreme nuance of the conflict, there was no longer a clear-cut, “politically-correct” side to side with or to jump on the bandwagon for. Many fans blasted their idols upon observing their “silence,” questioning why they weren’t using their platform to weigh in on the situation. However, celebrities shouldn’t be pressured to “speak up” on political issues that they have no background in when expert opinions hold more importance in informing the public. 

   The influence celebrities have on impressionable fans regarding social issues often unfolds on an emotional level rather than from factual evidence, resulting in unacceptable behaviors by hot-tempered fans that attack individuals who speak out against the misguided ideologies spread by biased public figures. For example, in April 2020, the actor Woody Harrelson shared his claim regarding the 5G network being the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic to his two million followers on Instagram. The time frame of his claims correlated with at least 20 cell tower polls being burned to the ground in the UK. Telecom employees were also harassed on the streets while attempting to set up 5G fiber optic cables. Kanye West, also known for his anti-vaccination stance, told Forbes that he believed COVID-19 vaccinations would “put chips inside of us” during the pandemic. This proven-false conspiracy theory snowballed and soon became a popular statement spread by anti-vaccine groups. Furthermore, the misinformed statements of celebrities are often regurgitated in popular media in order to generate more clicks, consequently exacerbating the spread of their falsified claims.

   As teenagers, the demographic most susceptible to celebrity influence, PHS students should be mindful of avoiding valuing their favorite celebrities' opinions over expert opinions in order to make informed decisions. In a time where rampant false information is spread online, it’s important to realize that the power of reliable research to uncover truths is longstanding and undeniable. 


Stop relying on celebrity activism

First dreaming about becoming a history teacher in the first grade, this fall marks Social Studies Teacher Elizabeth Taylor’s 13th year teaching at PHS. Growing up in Wichita, Kansas, Taylor debated between journalism and teaching history in high school, but the difficulty of attending a journalism college and the lack of a newspaper at her high school compelled her to choose education as a more secure option. 
After receiving her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston University, Taylor taught United States and World History at Westford Academy in Massachusetts for nine years before she and her husband moved to South Jersey, where it was closer to family. Budget cuts caused by the 2008 Recession led to fewer available teaching positions, with the only one being PHS at the time. She took the offer to work at PHS knowing the challenge and reputation of the district.

“I chose education over journalism [because] I thought that I had a more secure job as a teacher. I shadowed a reporter at a local newspaper for a day during my senior year and remember them telling me that to get a job as a reporter, … you had to have worked on your high school newspaper. My school didn’t even have a newspaper, so I figured I didn’t really have a chance,” said Taylor. “I liked history; I was good at it, and I had several great history teachers. My mom was also a teacher, as was an aunt and a cousin, so I could easily picture myself as a teacher.”

Taylor strives to create a learning environment that is both intellectually engaging and inspires students to consider different perspectives. In order to keep students engaged, as well as make each year different for herself, Taylor adjusts her curriculum each year to incorporate current events and new resources that fit the needs of the new class. 

“Current events definitely help to make each year unique; this has especially been true over the last several years. Also, getting a new group of students, with their own interests and personalities; realizing that students in one period aren’t as engaged by a topic as students in an earlier period were, and moving on more quickly,” Taylor said.

In addition to social studies, Taylor also teaches Sociology Accelerated at PHS. Because of her limited knowledge on sociology and the time she had to allocate to her baby at home, Taylor was initially reluctant to adopt the new course. However, after five weeks of teaching the subject, Taylor fell in love with the creativity it allowed as well its applicability to students’ lives.

“Professionally, it is the best thing that has happened to me. … I love that it’s a rigorous course without the pressure of an AP exam,” Taylor said.

Having been regarded as a tough but fair teacher by previous and current students, Taylor finds that both of her courses teach students study skills and time management habits, which they can continue to apply in high school and throughout college.

“‘Tough but fair’ sounds about right. I hope to create an environment that is intellectually engaging and where students feel supported as they try new things and perspectives,” Taylor said.

Through her teaching, Taylor hopes to develop students’ desires to keep up with current events and become active members of society. Emma Liu ’26, a student in Taylor’s AP U.S. History class, appreciates her commitment to helping her students.

“She provides a lot of support for her students and really tries to help them succeed whether [that’s] in the classroom or for the AP Exam,” Liu said.

Outside of the classroom, Taylor strives to find a balance between work obligations and spending time with family.

“The demands on teachers are simply too great, and it definitely got much harder once I had kids,” said Taylor. “The best I have done is to ignore anything PHS-related during the summer, and to instead focus on the rest of my life as much as possible, … but during the school year, teaching takes up the majority of my time and attention.”

In her limited free time, Taylor enjoys gardening, dancing, and reading. Having been a dancer her whole life, she finds that her weekly tap dance classes give her the opportunity to unwind from the stresses of teaching.
“I take an adult tap class now that is probably the best hour of the week for me, because I’m just focusing on something that I need and not what my students need, or my kids need, or my husband needs,” Taylor said.
As her two children grow up, Taylor notes how she’s been able to relate much more to her students and their ambitious high school classes and extracurriculars as she learns to deal with her own children’s ambitions.
“I see high school students who are just trying to do it all. … They want to take five AP classes, be president of this club, etc. … and as a teacher, there’s just not enough hours in the day to do all of this, right?” Taylor said. “Now as a parent, I’m struggling to make those same types of decisions because it’s not like we’re pushing them into these things … and it’s really hard as a parent to say no when it’s something that they’re passionate about, because you want to encourage their passions, but you also don’t want them to burn out. … So, I definitely have more sympathy for my students as I watch my children navigate this themselves.”
For incoming and current APUSH students, Taylor hopes that they recognize that the class is much more than just learning history. She stresses how all of the challenges that come with taking APUSH are what makes a student’s journey in her class so special.

“A lot of it is about the journey that they go through over the course of the year. APUSH is a really hard class, but at the end of the year, students overwhelmingly tell me how worth it it was and how they learned so much more than just US history, and even more than just how to be a historian,” said Taylor. “I like seeing the journey from how they first approach the class, and what they think their goals are, what they think they’re going to get out of it, and then seeing at the end of the year, how much that has evolved.”

PHS Profile: Elizabeth Taylor

   This year, Princeton High School welcomed the first cohort of Princeton Middle School students who took part in the Community Park Elementary School’s Dual Language Immersion program. Having been recognized as a model program for Spanish Dual Language Immersion by the New Jersey Department of Education, CP’s full DLI program engages students in the Spanish culture and language from a young age with half of the core instruction taught in English and the other half taught in Spanish. While this program has gained much praise since its inception in 2015, it has also been met with some criticism, as it provokes the more general issue of overcrowding in the other elementary schools in the school district.
   With over 1,000 new housing units projected to be completed in Princeton by 2026 resulting in consistent growth in enrollment, expansion has always been a discussed topic in the community. In recent years, concerns have been raised by many parents, especially those whose children must be rerouted around the unfilled CP elementary school that is currently exclusively for students in the DLI program. 
   “DLI has become an issue [as] … it's not popular enough to consistently fill a whole school. If you don't want to do DLI, you have to go to another school. So we’re busing kids all over the place. kids that would walk to CP, we're busing them to Johnson Park,” Bouldin said.
   Sharing the same view as Bouldin is District Supervisor of World Languages Priscilla Russell, who explains that while CP is indeed experiencing a lack of students in the DLI program, the district’s other elementary schools are not overcrowded, but full. 
   “We need to be careful — [the other schools] are full, but they're not overcrowded,” said Russell. “[CP] does have some empty classrooms … but our goal had always been to create a dual language immersion school, which we were doing pretty well until the pandemic hit and changed just a whole lot of things.”
   CP Principal Dineen Gruchacz further describes the hindering factors brought by the pandemic, detailing how they have contributed to a lower-than-expected number of students in the DLI program.
   “[During the pandemic], lots of people shied away from anything different than a very basic education program,” said Gruchacz. “The recovery time to build back the numbers in the [classrooms] … is definitely something that needs to be addressed.”
   A DLI program at CP was first proposed in 2013 with the hopes of strengthening bilingual and multicultural learning in the district by taking advantage of Princeton’s extensive diversity. Rather than supplementing English classes with a single world language class, the DLI’s aim was to create a more holistic approach to language and culture, immersing students by teaching half of their subjects in Spanish instead of English. 
   DLI programs have become increasingly popular across the country in recent years due to the cognitive benefits associated with learning more than one language from a younger age and in response to the undervaluation of foreign languages in English-speaking countries. In fact, according to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the universality of English is one of the main reasons why English is the most commonly taught language worldwide by a factor of 20, a discrepancy that DLI programs hope to address.
   “Princeton is not a huge town, but it's a town [made up] of really diverse community members and perspectives … [and] a large international community,” said Kimberley Tew, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. “We want to make sure that we're honoring that being bilingual and biliterate is a superpower … in an increasingly globalized world. [That] is the goal of the program, not just to develop [linguistic] skills, but to develop cultural competency.”
   Along with welcoming DLI program alums at PHS for the first time, the district has extended the DLI program past the elementary and middle school levels by introducing a new horticulture class tailored to teach basic biology principles in Spanish, taught by science and research teacher Mark Eastburn. Eastburn, who is fluent in both Spanish and English, reflects on the tremendous positive impacts that learning a new language can have on a child’s cognitive abilities and consequently believes that many more people should be signing up for the program.
   “I remember, many years ago, the evidence being overwhelmingly strong that dual language immersion programs are a way of supercharging childrens’ brains,” said Eastburn. “The evidence has only gotten better over time, and why we can’t get more people to sign up in a community which truly cares about education is baffling to me.”
   While the district does offer Spanish classes in the traditional route in all the other elementary schools, many parents believe that language education in the traditional method of language learning is not sufficient for students to gain fluency, leading them to choose DLI. Nicole Pezold, a current CP parent, believes that foreign language education is not prioritized in the traditional curriculum. 
   “I think it’s kind of an American approach to learning foreign languages to just not prioritize them at all. And I think that our schools in Princeton are trying to prioritize it way more than schools elsewhere in the nation, but we still are approaching it from an old perspective of language learning. I think immersion is the future, or one potential road for the future of language learning for people who really think that that's an important part of a rounded education,” Pezold said.
   Some parents who compare the immersive education of their children to their own experiences with the traditional method point out the effectiveness of DLI over the traditional method. Georgette Stern, who currently has three kids enrolled in the DLI program, shares her satisfaction with her kids’ improvement in the language. 
   “My husband and I both took Spanish throughout middle and high school, but you don't get the same level. I often speak to [my kids] in broken Spanish and … it’s great to see the level of comprehension,” said Stern. “It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to have your kids hear another language for half of their day, and also get core instruction in those languages.”
   In addition to offering enhanced opportunities for students who may not speak a second language at home to become bilingual, the DLI program intends to aid the large Spanish-speaking population in Princeton by helping them strengthen their bilingual skills and learn about their heritage more deeply.
   “One of the original goals of the program was to close the opportunity gap,” said Tew. “A lot of times when students move to the school district or move to America, they lose some of the foundational skills and pieces in their heritage languages … so we [are] targeting our [Spanish speaking] multilingual learners so that they can strengthen their knowledge base in both languages.”
   Olu Ogunyankin, a CP parent and a native of Guatemala, shared that the main reason her family chose to move to Princeton from South Brunswick was for the DLI program.
   “[Before starting at CP], even though we speak Spanish at home, [my son] would reply in English because he was in a Pre-K where they just spoke English. And [although] it’s been two months since the classes started in kindergarten, I see a huge difference in the amount of Spanish that he uses at home. He’s giving me sentences in Spanish, he’s replying in Spanish, and soon he’s gonna write in that language too,” Ogunyankin said.
The program is intended to help both native Spanish speakers and the already multicultural and multilingual families in Princeton who may not speak Spanish but want their children to continue learning in different languages.
   “We're targeting any family or child who believes in multiculturalism, biliteracy, and bilingualism. We have a lot of families who don't speak Spanish at home, but they might already be a trilingual or bilingual family, and they want their child to have that experience in school as well,” Tew said.
   PHS freshmen who took part in the first cohort of the DLI program highly recommend it for incoming elementary students at CP, finding that in addition to learning a new language from a younger age, the cultural immersion provided by the program has given them a different perspective of the world around them.
   “I feel like you're connected to a different culture. You're more immersed [and] you have a better ability to understand things around the world because you get to know people who were specifically part of that culture,” said Charles Baglio ’27, a member of the first DLI cohort. “[CP] did it really well … and it'’ an experience that you’ll take with you for the rest of your life.”
   For the parents who aren’t considering the DLI program, Milania Kapoor ’27, another freshman who participated in the DLI program, recommends that parents try the program for their children before they make a decision, expressing that the program will provide profound benefits.
   “I would say try it because you can always switch out of it … and ask to go to a different school,” said Kapoor. “It was an incredible experience for me. Not only are you learning a language but it's just a different experience … because you learn math in Spanish, you learn science in Spanish, … and you [become] so smart as a young kid.”
   With a growing Spanish-speaking population in the United States and an increasingly globalized world, learning a second language will become an important skill for future generations. How Princeton schools will balance an immersion program and potential overcrowding issues, however, may require compromise. 
   “It's a matter of everyone getting along and understanding each other better, and then building those bridges to actually move everyone forward as a society, which Princeton has the opportunity to do,” said Eastburn. “We really need to hammer that home to the public, because [an immersion program is] such a unique and important thing that we can offer as a district.”

Eight years on, PPS’s DLI program continues to bridge language gaps

   On November 16, Princeton Public Schools’ English Language Learner and Title 1 families gathered in Princeton Middle School for the third annual Parent Community Night. The Night included Interactive workshops on family financial planning, technology assistance, and K-12 academic support that hoped to provide a way for attendees to connect and learn about available resources.

   “[Trinidad] Rodriguez and I decided to create this event after noticing many of our ESL families requesting outreach to help understand and know of all the offerings within the school system in the United States,” said Vanessa Bernal, a co-organizer of PPS’s Parent Community Night along with Rodriguez. “Both of us [grew] up with families who immigrated from other countries, [so we] felt this was so important and necessary to do.” 

   At the event, student volunteer translators from PHS were available to assist non-English speaking parents in registering their children for school athletics, the Dual Language Immersion program, and specific school counseling. Several local Princeton organizations — including the Princeton Public Library, Community House, YMCA, the Princeton Health Department, HiTOPS, and Corner House — were also invited to share out-of-school resources with attendees. From providing free academic tutoring for low-income students to helping attendees schedule flu and COVID-19 vaccinations, the variety of community offerings all work towards ensuring that families can have their needs addressed. 

   As an effort to build a sense of community among families, a free shared dinner was hosted at the event with the help of a $1000 Princeton Regional Educational Support Staff Association grant. Following the meal, attendees listened to a keynote speaker, Levi Geurrero, share tips on how to support their childrens’ education, as well as his experience in K-12 and higher education as an immigrant student. 

   “I [want] to be a voice for people that don’t have a voice,” said Guerrero. “I feel like if [people] see someone that looks like them, speaks their language, and comes from the same background, [then] they can relate to them. It’s great to have families engaged in [their] kids’ educational future.”

  Growing up speaking English as a second language in PPS, Guerrero understands the importance of creating a school environment that fosters cultural inclusion and enrichment. As a multicultural school district, PPS’s English Language Learners Program plays an integral role in bridging connections between students who are learning English and their peers. Having at least one ESL teacher in each school, the growing program develops student English proficiency in four fundamental skills: reading, listening, speaking, and writing. 
	
   “[School] districts are required to provide programs taught by ESL certificated teachers if there are ten or more [ESL] students,” said Priscilla Russel, the District Supervisor of World Languages, ESL/Bilingual, and Dual Immersion Programs since 2004. “Our ESL students contribute to the demographic and cultural diversity that characterizes our schools.”

   Individualized classes for ESL students are based on their English screening performances, a language proficiency assessment required for non-native English speakers upon registration in the school district. At PHS, students with limited English proficiency can enroll in Welcome Center I, II, or III, ESL English, History, Science, or Math, where they develop English vocabulary through specialized instruction.

   With the goal of eventually integrating ESL students into mainstream classes, students are taught and expected to complete grade-level history, science, literature, and math assignments in English, allowing them to strengthen their English proficiency while progressing alongside the school curriculum. While classes are primarily taught in English, ESL instructors put emphasis on creating an environment that promotes bilingualism and respects linguistic diversity. 

   “We always emphasize the importance of home languages,” said Ted Holsten, an ESL teacher at Littlebrook Elementary School. “All studies show that students who continue speaking and learning in their home languages have an easier time learning English.”

    At PPS’s elementary schools, ESL lessons combine grade school activities with formal English instruction, with students playing games, singing songs, and writing Halloween stories. 
 
  “I like to let students shape their learning when possible. Some beginners want to start trying to speak right away; some are quieter and are not comfortable trying to speak,” said Holsten. “I try to be sensitive to each student’s personality and interests. I enjoy seeing the way that students are motivated by wanting to communicate with each other and help each other.”

   Opportunities for enrolling in adult ESL classes, or English Conversation Groups, at Princeton Public Library were also offered at the Parent Community Night. 

   “What helps the families the most this evening is just being able to connect, to see themselves in the speaker and the teachers, and to see their children be in the school building and connecting with other students,” said Bernal. “That sense of community is really important.”

Families gather for annual ELL Parent Community Night

On October 22, the PHS community received an email from the Board of Education stating that Dr. Carol Kelley would be resigning from her role as PPS Superintendent following a nine-month leave of absence. In a later email to parents and guardians, Kelley offered her own words of explanation.

“This week, after much consideration, I made the difficult decision to resign as Superintendent of Princeton Public Schools. For personal and professional reasons, I must take some time to reset and recenter myself so I can later return to public education and continue to positively impact students,” Kelley wrote in an email.

Following Kelley’s announcement, Rebecca Gold stepped in to serve as Acting Superintendent and Dr. Kathleen Foster was appointed as Interim Superintendent ten days later.

Gold and Foster are both long-time administrators, in Princeton and elsewhere. Gold served for more than 25 years in Lawrence Township, serving in various leadership positions, such as the Director of Personnel. She currently serves as the Interim Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources in PPS. The temporary role of Acting Superintendent added to her current responsibilities.

When asked to describe the role of Gold and the Interim Superintendent, Dafna Kendal, President of the Board of Education, said that it was important to have someone to “sign the checks,” or in other words, act as a formal authority in the district decisions made by the administrative team.

“The board wants someone in charge; even though we have a really strong administrative team, we just want that one person,” Kendal said.

Deeply familiar with Princeton’s educational landscape, Foster most recently served as the Interim Principal for Princeton High School following the dismissal of Frank Chmiel. Prior to that, she held a longstanding administrative position in Robbinsville before joining the PPS district in December 2021 as the Interim Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. On November 13, the board approved her appointment as Interim Superintendent, which is expected to last for the rest of Kelley’s contractual term. 

According to Foster’s contract, the Board wants to “enhance administrative stability, financial security, and continuity within the schools while the Superintendent is on a leave of absence.”

Rashone Johnson, the assistant principal at PHS, believes that PHS is used to these types of changes and can adapt well to them.

“[The] high school administration is still going to do everything in our power to make sure that things still run smoothly for all of our students and staff,” Johnson said.

As PPS changes administrators, students and staff have found ways to continue to achieve the goals of the district, namely quality education. Kendal agreed that students and staff are at the core of the district.

“I think what makes our district great is our teaching staff. And, I know there have been a lot of administrative changes … [but] our teachers just continue doing their jobs and focus on teaching and learning. So while I think it’s important who we have as a leader of the district, I think we’re led by … [what is happening] in our buildings,” Kendal said.

Student Artists

The Tower