BASIE AWARDS HONOR RBR’S JOE RUSSO
Long-time Red Bank Regional High School faculty member Joe Russo was honored at the 2015 Basie Awards with the Basie Lifetime Achievement Award in Arts Education. The school’s first and only drama teacher and theater director retires this year, following a distinguished 32-year career with RBR’s Visual and Performing Arts Academy. Pictured are: RBR art teacher Claudia O’Connor, senior Justin Giegerich, senior Noah Beller, Joe Russo, junior Patrick Monaghan, senior Eliana Swartz, Katherine Kennedy, and RBR tech teacher Carl Grillo. Monaghan and Kennedy also won Basie Awards for Best Actor and Actress in a drama, during the May 20 ceremony in Red Bank.