Two years after avoiding budget cuts that threatened its existence, the school-based youth services program at Red Bank Regional High known as The Source is again facing “devastating” cuts, Superintendent Lou Moore told the school community Thursday.
Funding for school-based youth services programs such as the Source at Red Bank Regional High won’t be eliminated after all, state Senator Vin Gopal said Thursday evening.
The Source provides counseling and other services to hundreds of students and families annually, supporters say. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The in-school social services program dubbed The Source at Red Bank Regional High School faces extinction if a plan to eliminate state funding is not reversed, supporters said.
Under cuts to 91 school-based support programs statewide, the Source would lose about $277,000 in annual state funding, they said. That’s the full amount provided by the state, and its removal will have “devastating consequences,” Superintendent Lou Moore wrote in an announcement to the RBR community Friday.
SOURCE Director Suzanne Keller (left) with Corey Van Huff, first recipient of the Sean Macon Memorial Scholarship, presented to him by Sam, Tiaunna and Lynn Macon.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
Recently, The Source in-school program at Red Bank Regional High School hosted its 17th annual year end reception, a celebratory event to award student scholarships and honor the Community Partnerships that enable its mission, “To remove all obstacles that impede the success of young people in our community.”
The Dental Team at Red Bank Smiles — pictured left to right, Diane Davis, RDH; Heidi Whelan, RDH; Dr. Benjamin B. Klayman and Joanna Kondek, RDA — recently offered a free dental clinic to the students of the RBR SOURCE Program and their families.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
The importance of good dental health is becoming more and more accepted in society as a medical necessity, versus the luxury of having sparkling white teeth. Medical research links poor dental hygiene to such health issues as cardiovascular disease, stroke, pneumonia, diabetes and low birth weight — and yet some people either cannot afford dental services and lack access to dental benefits, so they go without the services of a dentist.
For one day this past February, the team of professionals at a borough-based family dentistry practice opened its doors to the students of The SOURCE, the School-Based Youth Services program at Red Bank Regional High School, as well as to their families.
Committee members for the upcoming Casino Night fundraiser benefiting The SOURCE program at Red Bank Regional include (back, left to right) Anna Lichnowski, Sheila Olt, Claire Harbeck Izzo, John Addonizio, Stacy Poliner, Emily Doherty, Joanna Mozino, plus (front, left to right) Lori Lopez, Alexis Keller, and SOURCE Director Suzanne Keller. Not pictured are fellow committee members Gregg Abella, Cathy Balto, Regina Cochrane, Bob Curley, Arden Dean, Jill Quaranta, and Cindy Webster.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
The SOURCE Foundation, the school-based youth services program at Red Bank Regional High School, will hold its seventh annual Casino Night on Saturday, April 1.
Taking place from 7 to 11 p.m., the event will once again be hosted at the Oyster Point Hotel on Bodman Place. Proceeds will benefit the 501©3 organization program whose mission is “To remove all obstacles that impede the success of young people in the community.”
Pictured are student models from last year’s very successful Latino Scholarship Fashion Show, sponsored by Red Bank Regional’s school-based program The SOURCE. This year’s show takes place 12 p.m. on February 26, at the Oyster Point Hotel.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
The Andrew Kroon Memorial Scholarship Fund, operating under the auspices of The SOURCE at Red Bank Regional High School, is helping to make dreams come true through its scholarship program. Founded over ten years ago, this program assists qualifying Latino students at RBR in affording their dream of college.
To benefit the scholarship, the foundation is sponsoring a fashion show and gift auction on Sunday, February 26 from 12 to 3 pm, at the Oyster Point Hotel, 146 Bodman Place in Red Bank.
Pictured above with a mountain of donated gifts from Red Bank Regional staff and parents are (left to right) BUC Backer member Judy Noglows, RBR SOURCE Youth Development Specialist Lori Lopez, SOURCE Liaison Claire Harbeck Izzo, and SOURCE Director Suzanne Keller. Below, RBR teacher Cassandra Dorn displays some of the many presents collected by staffers and students for the Tinton Falls nonprofit Linkages.
Press releases from Red Bank Regional High School
The Red Bank Regional (RBR) School District conducts numerous community service activities during the holidays, from helping homeless families in Monmouth County, buying livestock to address world hunger, creating holiday cards for kids in hospitals and sending stockings stuffed with sweets to our troops in the Middle East.
But at the same time they also look inward — and through a partnership between the in-school program The SOURCE and the BUC Backer Foundation, RBR helps fill wishes for families within our own school who would otherwise not know such happy holidays.
Author, performer and internationally renowned internet celebrity Sam Killermann gave a well-received presentation on Gender Identity to the Red Bank Regional student body during the Week of Respect.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
In observance of the recent Week of Respect, Red Bank Regional High School partnered with makeitbetter4youth.org to bring a special multi-disciplinary artist to RBR for a an engaging and insightful presentation on the topic of Gender Identity.
Samuel (Sam) Killermann is an author, performer and internationally renowned internet celebrity on matters of social justice. Students from Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School’s Gay Straight Alliance, as well as the Collier School, were also invited to the presentation.
Mr. Killermann explained to his audience that his fascination with gender had personal roots which crystallized in college, when he learned that his prospective girlfriend assumed that he (a heterosexual male) was gay. This misperception of his sexual identity seemed to occur often in college; so he sought counsel at the college’s LGBTQ center. He was told that people were confusing his sexuality for the way he expressed his gender.
The SOURCE director Suzanne Keller and Lunch Break exec director Gwendolyn Love are pictured at the launch of the expanded Red Bank Regional Community Tutoring Program at Lunch Break.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
This school year, the Red Bank based nonprofit Lunch Break has graciously offered its facility to the Red Bank Regional High School District, for the expansion of its popular Community Peer Tutoring Program. Dedicated to a mission of “Removing all obstacles that impede a students’ academic success,” the program is operated by The SOURCE, RBR’s School Based Youth Services Program.
Fifty freshmen will meet at the newly renovated Lunch Break dining room every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m., for homework help with their teachers. RBR upper classmen from the school’s National Honor Societies, Key Club and International Baccalaureate program also provide tutoring support for the students under the teachers’ supervision.
Checking out their high school schedules for the first time are incoming Red Bank Regional freshmen Erin O’Kane and Marissa Auriemma, both of Little Silver.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
The first day of school isn’t until this coming Tuesday, September 6 — but on August 24, Red Bank Regional High School welcomed the newest members of its student body: the incoming freshmen who represent the Class of 2020.
The students were greeted by upper classmen student-to-student peer leaders, who directed them around their new high school, assisted them in opening their lockers, answered their questions and created a friendly atmosphere with “ice-breaker” activities. Each member of the Class of 2020 was gifted with their first official RBR t-shirt, courtesy of the RBR BUC Backer Foundation. They also received their student I.D., as well as an email account for their student portal.
Incoming freshman Erin O’Kane from Little Silver felt the preview day for freshmen was most helpful, stating that “I learned where my classes were from upper classmen and got the scoop on my classes and my teachers. It was helpful to get a feel for the school.”
Left to right: Citizens for a Diverse and Open Society founders Gilda Rogers and Sid Bernstein were joined by performing artist and writer Lorraine Stone as special guests of the Summer Slam program at Red Bank Regional High School.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
During the height of summer, the Red Bank Regional High School building is a busy place, with a myriad of educational programming designed to better prepare its students for September. As the largest of those activities, Summer Slam saw 110 students attending a four-week session (operated by school-based youth services program The SOURCE) which infuses academic topics (Math, English, Science, Global Studies) with special events like an athletic team-building challenge coordinated by The Community YMCA, as well as visits from influential community members.
This summer’s two-time guest speaker was educator, author and community activist Gilda Rogers of Red Bank, who during her first visit introduced the students to the ongoing project to renovate the historic T. Thomas Fortune House. She returned the next day to discuss ways students could combat racism; accompanying Gilda for that second meeting was Sid Bernstein of Lincroft, a retired businessman with whom she co-founded the group Citizens for a Diverse and Open Society (CDOS).
The Red Bank Regional students selected as winners of this year’s Andrew Kroon Memorial Scholarship Award are pictured with members of the selection committee. Left to right: Manuel Sandoval Valverde and Wendy Galdamez; committee members Dan Levine, Coni Lefferts and Chris Rumph; and Javier Veliz.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
At the 16th annual Source Foundation Awards Reception, Red Bank Regional High School Source Director Suzanne Keller introduced the school-based youth service program’s mission as “removing all obstacles that impede a student’s success” — and on the evening of June 2, several community members were recognized for doing just that.
Motivational speaker Matthew Stevens was honored for his work with Source clinician Sean Macon’s Boys 2 Men program, in inspiring father and son relationships as well as a “dress for success” motivational program.
Three other community volunteers — Jessica Kostenblatt of the Monmouth County Mental Health Organization, Monmouth University student Gianna Cusanelli, and RBR alumnus Luke Roskowinski — shared the Community Partnership award for answering a sudden need that developed in the RBR community.
The Encourage an “A” Program from The SOURCE at Red Bank Regional celebrated its graduating seniors and gifted them with items they can use for college next year. Pictured (standing, left to right) are Lexi Buffaloe, Olivia Nooney, Cecilia Gunderson, Jazmin Graham, Annmarie Melfi, and (seated, left to right) Dominique Bryan, Aliyyah Muhammad, Vandeka Rodgers, Day-Maris McMillan.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
Recently, a newly appointed dining room at Red Bank’s nonprofit Lunch Break facility hosted this year’s Encourage an “A” Program, operated by The SOURCE at Red Bank Regional High School.
Now in its thirteenth year, the program encourages educational excellence in their students, awarding such gifts as flat screen TVs, HP computers, wireless headphones, a GoPro Camera and many gift cards to eligible students who earn from two to eight “A” grades in their third marking period. This year, 63 students qualified for the incentives, with the value of the gifts increasing with the number of As earned.
Founded with a mission to remove all obstacles that impede students’ academic success, The SOURCE at Red Bank Regional High School has done much to make dreams come true for the young people of the community; a mission that’s been facilitated by such fundraising vehicles as a February Fashion Show scholarship benefit at The Oyster Point Hotel.
On the evening of Saturday, March 19, the hotel on the Navesink River is the setting once again, as The SOURCE Foundation holds its sixth annual Casino Night event, with proceeds dedicated to the School-Based Youth Services Program at RBR.
Working to plan the annual Andrew Kroon Memorial Fashion Show are (left to right) Rita Banfield, SOURCE intern Quinn Batcho, SOURCE Youth Development Specialist Regina Cochrane, Michelle Lane, SOURCE intern Salcia DeJesus, and SOURCE Director Suzanne Keller. Not pictured are committee members Anita Caamano, Linda Ensor, Beatriz Oesterheld, Rose Powers and Dede Rumph.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
Founded as a School-Based Youth Services Program whose mission is to remove all obstacles that impede students’ academic success, The SOURCE at Red Bank Regional High School has done much to make dreams come true for the young people of the community. Ten years ago, the foundation inaugurated another successful stepping-stone to connect qualifying Latino students with access to a college education, through the establishment of the Andrew Kroon Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Named in memory of the son of Mary Jane and Rick Kroon of Rumson (a noted environmentalist and global traveler who passed away in 2005 at age 24), and operating under the auspices of The SOURCE at Red Bank Regional (RBR), the Andrew Kroon scholarship is funded in part each year through a fashion show and gift auction event that presents its 2016 edition on the afternoon of Sunday, February 21.
Pictured (left to right) at Red Bank Regional High School are RBR SOURCE Director Suzanne Keller, Youth Development Specialist Regina Cochrane, and RBR BUC Backer Foundation member Claire Harbeck Izzo, with the many donated gifts for RBR families in need.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
Every year, The SOURCE Foundation at Red Bank Regional High School works to make the holidays brighter for its families in need. This year, partnering with the RBR BUC Backers Foundation, The SOURCE was able to quadruple its efforts through the Virtual Giving Tree program. Over $5,000 in gifts was donated within a two-week period that will benefit over 30 families.
“Our clinicians know the needs of our families and we obtain specific information on what our families can use for the holidays,” explained SOURCE director Suzanne Keller. “We would ask for donations among our staff and the school community, by placing the requests on a ‘Giving Tree’ in the school.”
Enter Claire Harbeck Izzo — a BUC Backer member and administrator for the Constant Contact email service — who thought that people might be more inclined to give if the process was simplified online. Through an amazing tool called Sign-Up Genius, Mrs. Izzo created a virtual list of all the specific needs requested by the SOURCE families and linked it to the BUC Backer email list. The slots were quickly and almost completely filled.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
Parents who arrived at the most recent Buc Backer Foundation meeting at Red Bank Regional High School were greeted by an unexpected sight: a queue of shoes, lining the walls and snaking around the halls to their meeting room.
The shoes, as the parents soon found out, were part of a presentation that was designed by the founder of the nonprofit Attitudes In Reverse (AIR), to create a haunting but poignant statement on the topic of suicide.
The display featured some 233 pairs of shoes, representing the number of young people in New Jersey who took their lives in just the two years between 2010 and 2012. The project was coordinated by the Buc Backer Foundation in conjunction with The SOURCE, RBR’s School Based Youth Services Program.
Suicide has grown to be the second cause of death for young people aged 15 to 24 in the United States. Every 15 minutes someone commits suicide, while every 40 seconds someone attempts it. According to the AIR website, “Unless you have walked IN THEIR SHOES you would never know the overwhelming feeling of sadness, anxiety and hopelessness that cause hundreds of young people to end their lives.”
Left to right: Monica Urena, Jocelyn Rojas, Mariela Reyes, Veronica Perez, Itzel Perez and Carlos Aparicio were among the Red Bank Regional students who were present at last year’s Latino Scholarship Fashion Show, and who benefitted from the fundraiser which greatly supplements their college tuition. Volunteers are sought to help run the 2016 show, which takes place on Sunday, February 21 at the Oyster Point Hotel.
“I have my Associates Degree in Psychology and Political Science because I love the community and want to help the people in it. None of this would have been possible without the Andrew Kroon Memorial Scholarship.” Brookdale graduate, Red Bank Regional High School (RBR) alumna and current New Jersey City University Undergraduate student, Itzel Perez.
“Immigrants come to this country to find their dream and to better themselves…. If not for these people, I don’t know where I would be.” Brookdale graduate and RBR alumnus Andres Perez
“I benefited from this wonderful, wonderful opportunity, and thank you for making my academic journey possible.” RBR alumnus, Brookdale graduate and current New Jersey City University undergraduate Carlos Aparicio.
These are three of dozens of grateful Red Bank Regional High School immigrant students who realized their dream of attending college, only because of the generous scholarship provided by the Andrew Kroon Memorial Scholarship for over a decade. One of the main events that support the fund is the Andrew Kroon Memorial Fashion Show, which takes place on Sunday, February 21, 2016, at the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank. It features fabulous gift baskets, a 50-50 raffle, an accessories boutique and local shop fashions modeled by RBR students.
Author, performer, TED Talk sensation and mental health activist Kevin Breel recently brought his important message of teenage depression and awareness to Red Bank Regional High School.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
As the six-foot-six captain of the basketball team, the life of the party and a natural stand-up comedian, the teenaged Kevin Breel lived two lives. One was the confident and outgoing persona that he presented to the world — and the other hid itself away, only to surface in the privacy of his room.
“It was exhausting;” he told a captivated audience at Red Bank Regional High School. “The lie was getting bigger and bigger and harder to change.”
One day, when he felt he had hit rock bottom, he decided to end the charade and picked up his pen to write his suicide note. That was his wake-up call, and somehow he summoned the courage to do the unthinkable: break the taboo, and talk about it to his family. Five years later, the 22-year old author, performer, TED Talk sensation and mental health activist Kevin Breel is still talking; bringing his important message of teenage depression and awareness to audiences from coast to coast — a calling that brought him to Red Bank Regional for a recent assembly.
Breel’s visit was sponsored by The SOURCE, the School-based Youth Service Program at RBR. It was the only high school stop on the current North American promotional tour for his book Boy Meets Depression: Or Life Sucks and Then You Live; published by Random House and released in September of this year. It was also a visit that was prompted by a poignant invitation from RBR senior Julie Cocker, a member of the Youth Council Executive Committee for Society for the Prevention of Suicide in Freehold. Incredibly engaging, funny and self-deprecating, Breel commanded his audience’s attention on a very heavy subject; informing his audience that “This generation not only has the power to change the conversation, but to change the culture.”
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
What is your vision for the future of Red Bank Regional High School? The RBR School Board wants to know, and encourages you to participate in the creation of a five year plan which will guide our school’s future. All students and parents (present and future) teachers, alumni and community members are invited to lend their voice as we go through this important process. The meetings takes place at the RBR Media Center located at the school campus at 101 Ridge Road in Little Silver.
During National Suicide Prevention Week, Red Bank Regional students Bridget Kelly and Julie Coker engaged their peers with a small gesture of distributing Life Savers candies wrapped with the number for the National Suicide Prevention Hot Line.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
During the second week of September, which is designated as National Suicide Prevention Week, students from Red Bank Regional High School were engaged in furthering awareness on what is the second leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 15 and 24.
Bridget Kelly, an RBR senior and athlete on RBR’s running teams, was recently shocked when a talented runner she used to compete against, committed suicide at the elite Ivy League university she was attending.
“This is the age when people are so vulnerable and may become susceptible to thoughts of suicide,” Bridget explains. “I wanted to do something to further awareness during this week.” Bridget’s simple but brilliant idea was to distribute Life Savers® candies to her peers during their lunch period. The candies were packaged in wrappers that read “Be a life saver, call 1-800- 273 TALK (8255);” a reference to the National Suicide Prevention Hot Line number.
The 2015 SOURCE Scholarship winners from Red Bank Regional High School include (left to right) Lance Vanglahn, Leidy Fabiana Villegas, and Jorge Benevides, all of Red Bank.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
Its mission is “to remove all obstacles that impede the success of young people in the community.” At its recent 15-year anniversary awards reception, the SOURCE program at Red Bank Regional High School celebrated many of the ways in which it has done precisely that.
SOURCE Director Suzanne Keller welcomed the many community partners, RBR students and their parents to the 15th anniversary event, stating that over $40,000 of scholarship money was awarded to RBR students through these partnerships and the fundraising efforts of the dedicated SOURCE Foundation. Ms. Keller also credited RBR’s Principal Risa Clay for having the vision in establishing The SOURCE, RBR’s School Based Youth Services Program 15 years ago.
One of the programs established by Mrs. Clay and the SOURCE five years ago was the Andrew Kroon Memorial Scholarship Award, which enables Hispanic students who have achieved academic success despite great obstacles, to attend Brookdale Community College. Two of those students, Itzel Perez and Carlos Aparicio, who took advantage of the scholarship and graduated from Brookdale College, were also celebrated. Both have distinguished themselves at Brookdale and are currently pursuing their baccalaureate degree at New Jersey City University in Jersey City. They were gratified to learn that their benefactor, The Kroon family, would be extending their support toward their continuing education.
Carlos Aparicio brought tears to the collective eyes of the audience when he told Mr. Kroon, “Like Batman or Superman, you are my childhood hero; that is what you mean to me. I benefited from this wonderful, wonderful opportunity, and thank you for making my academic journey possible.”
The SOURCE director Suzanne Keller presented Red Bank Regional senior Riana Katz of Red Bank with a Chromebook laptop for scoring six A grades in the third marking period.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
Fifty students from Red Bank Regional High School were recently treated to an Italian dinner at New Corner Pizzeria in Red Bank as part of a special “Encourage an A” academic incentive sponsored by The SOURCE, the in-school program at RBR.
Now in its 12th year, the incentive program presents gifts to students who earn A grades for the third marking period.
Left to right: Red Bank Regional Principal Risa Clay is pictured celebrating her being honored as a Partner in Education by the Community Affairs and Resource Center with her colleagues, RBR Interim Superintendent Tom Pagano, SOURCE Director Suzanne Keller, and SOURCE academic specialist Joseph Cerbone.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
On the evening of April 24, Red Bank Regional High School principal Risa Clay was honored by the Community Affairs and Resource Center (CARC) with their Partner in Education Award, during the organization’s fifth annual Black & White Gala reception at the Sheraton Eatontown Hotel.
Mrs. Clay, who is bilingual in English and Spanish, was honored for her work with RBR’s Latino students who are served by the SOURCE, the school based youth service program which she established 15 years ago. She also created an award winning- model program for English Language Learning (ELL) instruction and success. The program was responsible for RBR’s continued very high attendance and graduation rates among its ELL students, many of whom were able to afford college through a scholarship program she established with a private benefactor, The Andrew Kroon Memorial Scholarship, and a program with Brookdale College.