Chocolate Competition
On February 11, the Academy for Culinary Arts and Hotel Administration held its 7^th annual chocolate competition.  Each year has proved better than the last and this year was no exception.  The hustle of reporters, photographers, parents, faculty and judges that took over the Grill was nothing to sweat over for the competitors. With delectable combinations of chocolates, nuts and fruits radiating from every corner the students anxiously awaited the judge's approval.  Every miniscule reaction of each judge was studied as he took his first bite.  The pressing question could be answered with the slightest movement… is it as delicious as it looks?
How can you choose between a raspberry mousse and an espresso one? Somehow, however, the decisions were made.  For the Juniors, their first year in the competition was especially impressive.  For the Seniors each extravagant creation was better than the last.  The Grand Prize winner and her both aesthetically and palate pleasing creation will be going on to represent Bergen Academy in the Philadelphia Restaurant School Regional Chocolate Competition.
Additional awards were given for best in taste, most creative and extraordinary effort..
Chef Mary Beth Brace and Chef John Branda were key in the success of each creation. They provided assistance, but more importantly supported each stressed student.  Now that the competition is over students begin to rest easy. That is until the NJ SkillsUSA competition in early May, their next obstacle and next chance to go bigger and better than last year. 

MATH BOOSTERS
February has been a busy month for the math team. The team attended the Harvard/MIT Math Competition in February. Our Division A Team placed third overall. Two of our Division B Teams came in first and second in the team rounds. Many of our students placed in the top ten in the individual categories. In the AMC A our team placed second and in the AMC B they placed first. Following three rounds of the Mandelbrot, our National Division team is in second place. Two of our Eastern Division teams placed first and third. We continue to be in first place in the NJ Math League.
The math team will be attending the ARML competition at Penn State in June. The bus will leave on June 3, and will return on June 4. Parents who would like to volunteer to chaperone the trip can contact Sue Ton at suhneu.ton@verizon.net. Everyone will be staying in the dormitories at Penn State. This is a good opportunity to see what your son or daughter is involved in and network with other parents.
We will need parents to help plan, publicize and conduct the BCA Math Competition for fourth to eighth graders, which is being planned for October 2005. This will be our third event and is an excellent fundraiser. Please contact David Drucker at ddrucker@stratag.com to volunteer.
If you would like to receive Math Booster updates please send your name and email address to Fay Sharit at faydave@optonline.net. Thank you to the many parents who have donated money to the team. If you haven't sent a donation, you can send one to David Drucker, 14-05 Ellis Ave., Fair Lawn NJ 07410.

Best wishes, Fay Sharit

A NOTE FROM A.E.D.T.

For the second year in a row, the AEDT acknowledged National Engineering Week (EWeek), with a variety of events in February. The Sophomore class got to visit a state-of-the-arts computer and communication facility -- a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity thanks to the dedication of a parent volunteer. The Senior class hosted a "Blast Off to Senior Year" social where each student received an "award" (of sorts!) and where the "wrench" was ceremoniously passed to representative members of the Junior Class. Good luck seniors!
Thanks to parent generosity, all our AEDT students received keepsake T-Shirts acknowledging EWeek '05 and proclaiming "You know you are an engineer if..."
Every AEDT student also enjoyed the second annual AEDT lunch where they not only got to exchange thoughts with their own classmates, they also got a bit of mentoring from professionals in the field. We would like to thank the Engineer Professional parents and colleagues who joined our AEDT students at the "Take an Engineer to Lunch" event to share their work and education experiences. It was an unparalleled success with students and parents engaging in wonderful discussions while enjoying the delicious lunch served by the Culinary students. A good time was had by all and our students and guest benefited from this rewarding experience.
Thanks as well to parents who donated food to the luncheon: Kathi Lenrow, Barbara Beger, Maria Walsh, Nancy Lagomarsino, Jenny Biscottini, Nella Solovey, Tatiana Mouravieff, Linda Alesandro, Madhuri Shukla, Robin Gordon, and Ansar Batool. Through contributions by these parents and others these events were possible. We look forward to even bigger and better events next year!
Finally, a big thanks to BCA administration, in particular Principal Pat Cosgrove and Linda Eickmeyer for their strong support of this event.

Asset of the Month

Research strongly supports the fact that the more of the 40 Developmental Assets young people have, the less likely they are to engage in high-risk behaviors.  The asset that we will focus on for the month of March is #17:  Creative Activities:  Resilient young people spend three or more hours per week in lessons or practice in music, theater, or other arts. Parents can be open to a wide variety of arts-related experiences.  Children can be encouraged to keep you informed about school plays, concerts, and artistic endeavors.  Consider attending them as a family.  For more information, contact Victor Truscelli, Guidance Counselor, at victru@bergen.org.

Sports and Writing Go Together for this AMST Senior

When selecting my Senior Experience, I initially looked for any position in the media environment, including print or broadcast journalism.  Because most broadcast positions require interns to be at least 18 years of age, I decided to look into a major newspaper and The Record seemed like an obvious choice for me, considering the fact that it has a large circulation throughout the county and deals with issues in an area I am familiar with.  Even better was the fact that this position was in the local sports department, where I would be able to spend my Wednesdays immersed in something both fun and engaging. Not only would I be dealing with sports all day on Wednesdays, but I would be surrounded by the fast-paced buzz of a daily newspaper's newsroom, viewing the frantic work and tight deadlines that went into producing it.
The focus of my internship was to experience the world of sports journalism at a local level.  My responsibilities at The Record varied, from taking box scores for the next day's paper and writing about football match-ups in the fall, to simpler tasks such as distributing mail, making and receiving calls, and maintaining databases.  Writing about football games was the most involved task I participated in, requiring me to become an instant expert on all ten teams in the BCSL (Bergen County Scholastic League) American division several weeks into the season.  I had to rely on several weeks' worth of stats, as well as the word-of-mouth of several journalists, to quickly orient myself enough to write effectively.  The internship was an opportunity to help develop my interpersonal skills, in a professional sense, requiring me to talk to coaches and athletic directors from schools all over northern New Jersey, and to communicate effectively with my co-workers.

Fifth Grade Isn't What it Used to Be According to This Senior AVAGC Student

In junior year, I went on several interviews for my Senior Experience, including one for an advertising job, as well as one for a non-for-profit art organization.  I started thinking about education when I realized that I liked to teach, and then when it came time to choose an internship, I decided that an elementary school would be a very interesting place to explore this field and decide whether or not it was a field that I could see myself working in.  I contacted one of my brother's teachers at the elementary school, and asked her if she would be willing to take me on as an intern.  She accepted, and I started working there in September. 
As an intern at the Warren Point Elementary School, I worked in the classroom closely with the fifth graders, assisting when help was needed in the classroom. I also had the opportunity to teach several lessons, ranging from art to descriptive writing.  My mentor allowed me to learn about teaching through both observation and actual hands-on experiences. After I started, I quickly realized just how much work and thought goes into preparing lesson plans and how quickly teachers must adapt to changes in the lesson plan when students may need more time.  I began to see how my own teachers taught their lessons to us.  Needless to say, it was a strange feeling to experience education from both sides, as a student and teacher.
While I brought to my internship all the knowledge I had acquired over my 12 years in school, I soon realized, however, that education changes very rapidly. The contrast was especially evident in math, where the current pedagogy is drastically different from the way I had learned my multiplication and division.  In order to teach, I soon found out, I needed to relearn some old lessons and learn some new ones.  I now know that while lessons can be planned, not all lesson plans can be followed exactly according to plan.  Teaching is a dynamic activity that requires a meaningful exchange between teacher and student.
In addition to assisting with math, reading, science and social studies lessons, I also participated in out of school activities, such as Back to School Night and field trips.  I really feel that I have learned from observing, and experiencing first-hand the interactions within a classroom. My one day away from the Academy, taught me innumerable lessons about education from a teacher's perspective.

For This AEDT Senior, the Principles of Engineering Come to Life
For the past ten years I've had an interest in how things worked.  I would tinker with objects and pull them apart to discover how they work.  As I grew more knowledgeable, I would try to apply this knowledge to repair items.  Even today I continue this process.

What I hope to accomplish in the future is to become an engineer or inventor.  During the beginning of my senior year, I wanted an internship that would be hands on and demanding.  I didn't want to just follow around an engineer all day or file papers in an office.  What I wanted was an internship that I could get involved with in a direct hands-on way.
When I chose to intern at the Mercedes-Benz Quality Evaluation Center, I was motivated by a desire to have a better understanding of how engineers work in the real world in order to get a glimpse into my possible future career.  More importantly, however, what I wanted out of this internship was to better understand the engineering process in practice. Because of these goals, Mercedes-Benz USA was the perfect choice for my Senior Experience. My responsibilities and duties as an intern at Mercedes Benz's Quality Evaluation Center (QEC) were gradually increased over time.  I first began by learning the basic procedures of how the facility is run.  I then had to become accustomed to these procedures before I could continue.  Currently, I am working toward becoming a component tester of the tire pressure sensors.  Up until this point, I have been rotated around the QEC department.  I've worked with engines, tire pressure units, air-mass sensors, differentials, and transfer cases.  When I examine a part, I have to first make sure that the part is within certain specifications.  For example, a certain part may have to be made between certain days or be logged into the QEC at a certain date.  Also, if a part has evidence of physical damage from shipping, it will be dismissed
What I brought to the QEC was my small background in engineering, my interest in automotive engineering, and my enthusiasm to learn.  What I have learned through my internship is how engineering works in the real world and how specific parts in an automobile work.

This ATCS Senior Takes A Glimpse into College Life
Last year when I was looking for an internship, I decided I wanted one that I could truly learn from and still have fun doing. The opportunity at Stevens Institute in its Physics Department caught my eye because I had always been interested in physics and I was keen to get a chance to see the practical side of physics. My two goals were to experience research in a university lab and to be exposed to college life a bit earlier.
In the Physics Department, my mentor assigned me to work with his graduate students who are conducting plasma research, classified formally as Non-Thermal Plasma Science and Technology. Plasma research consists of two types: first, plasma is used to break down and study substances at their smallest physical sizes; second, plasma itself is studied to better understand its characteristics in various forms.
I primarily shadowed one graduate student in particular, and my responsibilities varied from the occasional clerical work,

to the designing of an experimental setup. Over time, my mentors trusted me more and more with important tasks, and, consequently, assigned me more tasks. For example, I created experimental setups so research could be conducted, and I helped in laboratory preparation.  More importantly, I participated directly in various plasma experiments that were conducted; as a result, I was able to observe experiments conducted in a magnetron and with plasma for UV light.
Over the course of my internship at Stevens, my knowledge of physics grew in meaningful ways. I began to understand the various experimental devices used in the labs and the principles of physics that made them work. In general, I learned about the inner workings of a university laboratory and, unlike many high school seniors, I had the unique opportunity to walk on a college campus on my Wednesdays at Stevens.

Another Take on Graphic Design for An AVAGC Student
For my Senior Experience, I chose a graphic designing internship to see if it was, indeed, what I wanted to do in my professional career.  With the opportunity of a yearlong internship, I also wanted to perfect my skills in different art programs, such as Adobe PhotoShop and Quark Xpress that I have used nearly every day here at the Academies.  It seemed that an internship at Bauer Publishing, and specifically Twist magazine, was a perfect fit for me.
As an intern for the Art Department, I had the opportunity to work hands-on with a variety of projects.  Specifically, I resized images, meaning that I changed the percentage size of the images in QuarkXPress and Adobe PhotoShop.  This is an important step in the process because even if the image is resized in QuarkXPress, its size is still 100%. Sometimes, I was asked to do web images where I used a template and placed different images in it to post on the Twist website.  At times, my mentors would ask me to convert images from jpeg to eps form for the magazine; other times they would ask me to archive past issues.  When there wasn't a lot of artwork to be done, I helped the editors and the photo department with various tasks.  In addition, I was able to do a few layouts for sections in the magazine. As in most internships, of course, there was some "grunt" work, including emptying the purple art folders (which are rough print outs of the sections of the magazines: stories, pictures and all) and job bags (which are big folders of the almost-final drafts of the sections). 
While I learned a great deal during my internship, I also came to it well prepared with a set of skills in graphic design. My mentors at Twist were actually surprised that I knew how to use PhotoShop. But, in fact, I used PhotoShop nearly every day in school for the last three years.  Because of my vast background and knowledge, I was able to be

productive in the graphic design field as an intern. While I enjoyed the experience, my internship at Twist has also made me reevaluate whether I want to pursue a career that requires one to sit in front of a computer for ten hours a day.

An ACA Senior Takes An Inside Look at the Hospitality Business
As a Culinary student, I naturally gravitated toward the hospitality industry when considering my Senior Experience.  My goal was to learn as much as possible about this growing industry and, more specifically, to be able to understand the business principles behind running a successful hotel.  Therefore, I chose to intern at the Marriott Glenpointe, a member of Marriott International, Inc., in Teaneck.
My internship was structured on a rotational basis, and I could choose from working in either Human Resources, Accounting, Event Operations, Front Desk, Housekeeping, the Kitchen, the Restaurant, Engineering (Maintenance), Security, or Audio/Visual Technology.  I chose four departments to work in: Human Resources, Housekeeping, Front Desk, and Event Operations.  One quickly learns that maintaining a professional image is important in the hospitality industry. As such, I am responsible for wearing the specific outfit of each department.
Generally, I follow the same procedures when I go to my internship: first, I report to the manager on duty in the department and he/she instructs me as to what needs to be done.  At some time during the day, before I leave, I see my mentor, who reviews my learning log and discusses how my day went and what I accomplished.  So far, I have rotated through two of the departments: Human Resource and Housekeeping.  Human Resource deals with all employee aspects of the hotel: from hiring new employees and training them, to medical/dental benefits for employees, to organizing special events to boost morale. 
Working in Human Resource is not as hospitality-specific as other rotations in the hotel, so this rotation is good for general business majors who may or may not wish to specialize in hotel management.  After Human Resources, I was transferred to Housekeeping, which was an entirely different experience.  This rotation is more hands-on; I take calls from the guests or Front Office (another department of the hotel) and relay them to the housekeepers or the floor men via two-way radio or Nextel phone.  (Eventually I will be transferred to Front Desk, the part of the hotel that greets guests, and I will finish my internship at Allie's, the restaurant built into the hotel.)  This internship was truly unique because it has given me the opportunity to see the hospitality industry up close and personal.