RBR junior and VPA student Morgan Brunson, Tinton Falls, was recently inducted into the prestigious National Society of High School Scholars. She is pictured above with the organization’s founder and Chairman, Claus Nobel.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
Red Bank Regional (RBR) Visual & Performing Arts’ (VPA) major Morgan Brunson of Tinton Falls is a young Renaissance woman. She sings, dances, plays the flute, paints and takes challenging academic courses while maintaining honor roll.
No doubt these gifts, her extracurricular activities and community service earned her a rare invitation to join an elite group of students known as the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS). She was recently inducted into the organization by its founder and Chairman, Claus Nobel, who sought to continue his famous family’s legacy of recognizing and rewarding outstanding achievement and inspiring the world’s youth.
Nobel states, “On behalf of NSHSS, I am honored to recognize the hard work, sacrifice and commitment that Morgan has demonstrated to achieve this exceptional level of academic excellence.” He added, “Morgan is now a member of a unique community of scholars—a community that represents our very best hope for the future.”
As a member of the RBR VPA, Morgan plays the flute in the school’s band & orchestra. She also sings in the Concert Choir performing in many community and school presentations including the December Tribute to Frank Sinatra at the Count Basie Theatre. Morgan, who has a passion for history, is the Vice President of the RBR History Club and a member of the high school’s Mock Trial, Key Club and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She has performed in the VPA Drama productions “A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum” and “The Little Mermaid Jr.” While a VPA student, she takes advantage of the schools challenging academic curriculum with Honors, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses. The latter has inspired her to possibly study International Relations in college. She was recently notified of several other accolades and has been invited to participate in the National Youth Leadership Forum in Washington D.C. in February as well as the National Student Leadership Conference in Washington D.C. next summer.
Morgan has been very active outside school; she has been a Girl Scout since she was six. She has studied ballet since the age of four with the Asbury Park Technical Academy of Dance of Asbury Park. Morgan is a member of the Performing Arts Ensemble of Red Bank and has performed at major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Disneyworld. Additionally, she studies with Ballet Hispanico and the Joffrey Ballet. She also studies visual art in drawing and painting.  Raised in a very community-minded family, Morgan participates in many community service projects including fundraisers, book, food and clothing drives, teaching ballet to young dancers, and routinely reads to young children at the dance school.
As a NSHSS Ambassador, she is encouraged to engage in a community service project in addition to her core responsibilities. Morgan’s’ first project will be to develop an anti-bullying campaign. As one who has been the victim of bullying prior to attending RBR, Morgan is passionate about finding solutions to this issue. Since becoming a student at RBR, she has found warmth, support and acceptance within the RBR family. In particular, RBR’s Youth Based Services Program, The SOURCE has helped her to overcome these obstacles and challenges.
She states, “I have met with RBR’s anti-bullying specialist, and would like to share the successful strategies that RBR practices with other schools.”
As a member of the NSHSS, she is eligible to apply for college and educational program scholarships as well as participate in special programs and events sponsored by NSHSS numerous affiliates. For more information on NSHSS visit their website at http://www.nshss.org.
