Sports
ALJ Field Hockey Team Honored at Board of Education Meeting
Team won fourth straight title with rankings no lower than second in the county.
In recognition of Arthur L. Johnson's field hockey team, the Board of Education presented certificate of accomplishments to each member for earning its fourth championship in four years.
Johnson finished the season with a record of 19-6 and a second consecutive North II Group 2 sectional state championship in what was another successful campaign for the team.
"I don't know all the rules for the game, but I do know that at the end of the contest, it's our girls on top," said Athletic Director Gus Kalikas. "They dominate and have the best run of any athletic program."
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This is the third sectional championship, along with one Union County championship, which placed the team no longer than second place in regional ranking lists.
Kalikas thanked the board on behalf of the team for an "administration that knows the importance of athletics."
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One by one, each member of the field hockey team came to accept a certificate from Superintendent of Schools Kenneth Knops, who congratulated the girls on their accomplishments, though he admitted he didn't know what was going on during the game.
"What's a tackle?" he asked the team, knowing that it was a term used in the game even though there is no physical contact.
He requested for someone to teach him the details of the game before next season so he can follow along.
At the meeting, the board also recognized a group of seventh and eighth graders, who received perfect scores of 300 on the NJASK in mathematics when they took the tests last year.
The standarized exam tests students in language arts and mathematics in a multi-grade assessment which tracks students' performances as they move through elementary school to middle school.
A student who scores 250 to 300 on the test is considered advanced proficient. Scores 200 to 250 are proficient; anything less than 200 is below proficient.
Every state is required to administer annual standards-based assessment of all children in grade 3 through 8.
The students who scored a perfect 300 in sixth grade are:
- Meaghan Gallagher
- Ryan King
- Sailesh Prasad
- Eric Velasquez
The students who scored a perfect 300 in seventh grade are:
- Amanda Banek
- Roman Chiarello
- Yuqing Feng
- Colin Heaning
- Konrad Kosiek
- Anthony Rizzuto
- Georgia Stavrakis
- Stephen Villaverde
