PARSIPPANY — At age 25, Anthony Justo could pass for a staff member at NewBridge Jobs Plus, but in fact he is a 2016 graduate of the alternate education program, a decade after his life plunged into drugs and crime.

“Going back to school at age 24 wasn’t easy, but everyone at NewBridge Jobs Plus made me feel welcome,’’ the Morris Township resident said. “They helped me earn my high school diploma and start a new chapter of my life.”

Justo was among 35 young adults to don a cap and gown Thursday night at the NewBridge Jobs Plus Class of 2016 graduation, held at the Wyndham Worldwide headquarters. More than 200 parents and friends cheered as graduates took to the podium and shared tales of overcoming hardships endured in high school before finding their niche at NewBridge Jobs Plus.

NewBridge Jobs Plus is the longest-running alternative education program in Morris County and has helped well over 1,000 young adults earn their high school diplomas and prepare for college, trade schools and careers since 1983. The program, located at the NewBridge Parsippany Center, is free to young adults living in Morris, Sussex and Warren counties, and transportation is provided to Morris County residents.

“I’d missed a lot of school because of sickness, and I wasn’t going to graduate with my class at Roxbury High School because I was really short of credits,” Meghan Graham said. A family friend recommended she enroll at NewBridge Jobs Plus. “I feel it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

Not only did Graham get help preparing for the state high school exam, NewBridge helped the 18-year-old sort through her college options and apply for financial aid. Graham has decided to pursue a career in social work, and will enroll at County College of Morris for the fall semester.

Alyce Haygood, 17, couldn’t get through her freshman year at Mount Olive High School. After her mother researched NewBridge Jobs Plus, Haygood enrolled in February.

“I used to feel like I was the only one who struggled in high school, but here I discovered I wasn’t alone. And the teachers helped me learn how to learn,’’ she said. As Haygood prepares to study massage therapy at Fortis Institute in Wayne, she has inspired her 21-year-old sister, Kaylen to attend NewBridge Jobs Plus to pursue her high school degree.

Justo, who earned his diploma in December, already has six college courses under his belt and a 3.2 grade point average. He is attending County College of Morris, pursuing a career in social work. This summer, he is training to become a peer recovery specialist to help people who have overdose on opioids.

Just a few years ago, all that seemed impossible. Justo suffered severe injuries when he was hit by a car 10 years ago. “After that, I felt like I could die at any minute,” so he did whatever he felt like doing, including reckless behavior. Justo drank and took drugs, including heroin, and dropped out of school. “Things started to unravel, and it wasn’t pretty.”

He was arrested several times for stealing and drug offenses. In 2014, he was sentenced to a year in the Morris County Jail and was admitted into drug court, a program, which “played a huge role in saving my life,” he said.

“We at NewBridge are so proud of how far these young men and women have come, and are confident their fortitude will propel them to successful, fulfilling lives,’’ NewBridge CEO Robert L. Parker said.

NewBridge Jobs Plus associate Jaquorah Marrow received the $1,000 Lakeland Bank Scholarship Award and Yesenia Alize Stocky received the $1,000 James Ryan Memorial Scholarship Award, given in honor of the NewBridge founder.

This year’s graduates hail from Parsippany, Boonton, Butler, Elizabeth, Jefferson, Kinnelon, Mendham, Montville, Morris Plains Morristown, Mount Olive, Randolph, Roxbury, Wayne, West Orange, and Wharton. Jay LaPaglia, the beloved former educational coordinator at NewBridge Jobs Plus, gave the keynote address. LaPaglia said students often arrive at NewBridge Jobs Plus with a lot of baggage, but undergo “incredible transformation, gaining confidence to move forward.”

NewBridge Jobs Plus receives funding from: the Workforce Investment Board of Morris/Sussex/Warren Counties; Affinity Federal Credit Union; John Bickford Foundation; Community Foundation of New Jersey; Lakeland Bank; Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Provident Bank Foundation; TD Bank Charitable Foundation; Charles Emil Thenen Foundation; United Way of Northern New Jersey; Wells Fargo; and Wyndham Worldwide.

PARSIPPANY — On behalf of the students, parents, and staff members involved with Project Graduation for the Class of 2016 we would like to thank the supporters for their continued support to this activity. All contributions are used to defray the costs of supplies, rental fees, and entertainment.

It is because of your continued support that Project Graduation in Parsippany is a success. The parents, students, and staff of the Class of 2016 thank you for your continued support!

Acorn Home Improvements, Inc.
Advocare
Parsippany Pediatrics
Aires Jewelry
Allstate Can Corporation
All-Ways Advertising
Anthony & Sons Bakery
Anthony Francos
Anthony’s Pizza Morristown
Any Excuse for a Party
Applebees
Arthur’s Tavern of Morris Plains
A’Viance Hair & Nail Salon
Bagel City Grille
Baldwin Bakery and Bagels
Baldwin News & Food Store
Baldwin Pizzeria & Restaurant
Bel Paese Pizza
BJ Wholesale of Ledgewood
Blink
BowTie Cinema
Buffalo Wild Wings
Kafé Mozart
Caggiano Orthodontics, LLC
Cerbo Lumber & Hardware
Chipotle of Parsippany
Christine J. Karpack, State Farm
Class Act Embroidery
Custom Decorators Workroom, LLC
Cutting Edge Landscaping of NJ, LLC
D & B Chinese
Denville Dairy
DePasquale The Spa
Dunkin Donuts – Lake Hiawatha
Eclipz Salon
Empire Diner
Family Vision Associates, LLC
Fazzolare’s Restaurant
Foodtown
FRWD Logistics, LLC
Fuddruckers
GAF
Golden Age Club of St. Peters Inc.
Gripp Plumbing & Heating, LLC
Habit Burger
Harley Davidson
Garden State
Hart Personnel, Inc.
Hills of Troy Neighborhood Association
Home Depot of Rockaway
Houlihan’s
Howard’s Bagels
Hunan Taste
I.B.E.W. Local Union No. 102
IHOP
Incentive Gourmet
Jersey Mike’s Subs
Joy Nails
Kabab Paradise
Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany Foundation, Inc.
Knollwood School PTA
Lakeland Hills YMCA
Long Horn Steakhouse
Loretta A. Gragnani
Maddy’s Mexican Restaurant
Mancino’s Pizza
Marco’s Pizzeria
Massage Envy
Eccola
Councilman Michael J. DePierro
Morris County Building Trades
Mount Holleran Towne Tavern
Ned Stevens Gutter Cleaning
Northvail School PTA
Outback Steakhouse
Par Troy Council of PTA’S
Parsippany Foot & Ankle LLC
Parsippany Troy Hills Board of Education
Parsippany Troy Hills Mac Foundation
Parsippany-Troy Hills Elks Lodge No. 2078
Partridge Run Apartments, Inc.
Pep Boys
Photo Zone
Plaza Nails
ProHaircutters
PTF Sports
Public Works Management LLC
Pure Restaurant
Qdoba
Randy A. Spector, Family Medicine of Morris
Red Stone Tavern
Retro Fitness
Robert J. Iracane
Rockaway Meadow School PTA
Memorial Radiology Assoc LLC
Rotary Club of Parsippany-Troy Hills
RPA Insurance Services
Saint Peter the Apostle Church
Sal’s Haircutting Salon
Shop Rite of Greater Morristown
St. Christopher R.C. Church
Staples
Stephen J. Priola, Priola Funeral Service, Inc.
Stop & Shop
Sunrise Shoprite of Parsippany, LLC
Super Scoops
Susan J. Kroeger
Suzi’s Salon Morristown
Tabor Pizzeria
Tabor Road House
TGIF’s
The Arena’s at Woodbridge
The Great Wazu
The Michael Konner Corporation
Thom-Mist, Inc.
Tilcon New York Inc.
Trophy King of Parsippany
Veterans of Foreign Wars-Post 10184
Victory Nails
Virginia A. Hendrickson
Zinburger

PARSIPPANY — It’s the last day of school — drivers, heads up, many schools will have early dismissal.

Next school year doesn’t start until September 7, two days after Labor Day, and that means the school year will be as short as it’s possible to be.

With Christmas recess, Spring recess and other holidays there will be only 186 days of school before June 22, 2017, and there are four snow days built in.

Click here to view the 2016-2017 school calendar.

PARSIPPANY — Members of the Parsippany High School Environmental Club volunteered their time and effort to the Slam Dunk the Junk-Keep Morris County Litter Free educational campaign on May 5.

This state-wide campaign was held by the New Jersey Clean Committees Program and was sponsored by the Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority (MCMUA).

MCMUA supplied the event with gloves, bags and a campaign banner. The PHS Environmental Club, advised by Nancy Lennon, organized the campaign along with other students to beautify the school grounds.

The students collected garbage that covered two acres of PHS grounds. This resulted in many bags of garbage as well as recyclables after 2 hours of hard work.

Snacks and drinks were provided by the PTSA and delivered by Roberta Cooper, President of the PTSA.

This program provided a $500 grant for the club to purchase recycling supplies.

Pictured is Gerard Burder, Sujay Busarajan, Shamshrita Pandey, Zully Delgado, Sarah Noonan, Teniya Manu, Sean Callaghan, Stefanie Konboz, Iris Chon, Abby Smith, Winterlyn Curley, Khushi Patel, Matthew Haeussler, Peter Tran and Kyle Meth.

PARSIPPANY — The Goddard School, 311 Smith Road held it’s Class of 2016 Pre-Kindergarten on Monday, June 20.  Twenty-one students were presented with their Diplomas by Olivia Higgins. The graduation was held at Central Middle School Auditorium.

Graduating students are Priya Bhatt, Sophia Gandhi, Tyler Gould, Spencer Guzman, Robert Jeffords, Bhargav Joshi, Vaagai Parthiban-Kavithamani, Abdullah Khan, Anisha Kondapalli, Penelope Kyle, Daksh Mohan, Derek Olsen, Aanya Patel, Aryan Patel, Sara Pisal, Abhyuday Prajapat, Ramcharan Rajavarapu, Maaz Shaikh, Arush Sunkari, Ishant Swarna and Kayan Vadher.

The graduates sang “God Bless America,” Meses de ano (months of the year); “The World is Rainbow,” “Now I Know My ABC’s” and “Kindergarten Here We Come.”

Along with friends and parents was Council Vice President Robert Peluso who congratulated all the students.

PARSIPPANY — Officers of the Parsippany Hills High School Key Club visited the Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany during their weekly breakfast meeting at Empire Diner to discuss this years progress.

Key Club, which stands for Kiwanis Educated Youth, is the world’s oldest and largest service program for high school students.  Key Club was founded in 1925.  It has its own system of government lead by students, with adults as advisors only.  New Jersey has over 150 Key Clubs and nearly 13,000 members.  This year, over 2,500 of these Key Clubbers will graduate.  Per capita, New Jersey has the second highest Key Club membership rate in the world.  Morris County has 17 Key Clubs with nearly 2,000 members, giving it among the highest per capita Key Club membership in New Jersey.  Among many other projects and initiatives, New Jersey Key Clubs have raised nearly $350,000 for a Kiwanis and UNICEF campaign to eliminate Maternal/Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) from the world.  Kiwanis recently reached its goal of raising $110 million in cash and pledges for this purpose.  Since the campaign started, MNT has been eliminated from 20 of 40 countries where MNT was prevalent, and another 13 countries are expected to be MNT free by the end of 2017.  Thanks to this project, 25 less babies die in the world each day.

For more information on Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany, click here.

PARSIPPANY — Eight hundred and eighty students were named to Susquehanna University’s dean’s list for the spring 2016 semester. The dean’s list recognizes students who achieve a grade point average of 3.4 or higher out of a possible 4.0 for the semester. To qualify, students must complete a minimum of 12 semester hours.

Ashley Burroughs is a communications-digital multimedia-broadcasting major in the class of 2017. A 2013 graduate of Parsippany High School, she is the daughter of Don and Arletha Burroughs.

Susquehanna University is a selective, residential liberal arts college that provides a solid background in the liberal arts and sciences, as well as professional experiences. Students develop critical thinking, writing, teamwork and communication skills which, combined with internships and research opportunities, prepare them for a lifetime of personal and professional success. The university is recognized nationally for its commitment to off-campus study through the Global Opportunities program. Small classes enable faculty members to serve as mentors, as well as teachers. Ninety-four percent of Susquehanna students are employed or in graduate or professional school within six months of graduation.

PARSIPPANY – Harmony Chau, a 2013 Graduate of Parsippany Hills High School will perform at Kafe Mozart on Thursday, June 23 at 7:00 p.m.

Harmony is a Music Education major at Montclair State University, and studies classical piano under the tutelage of Dr. Youn-Hee Bang Kim. At age 5, she began learning classical piano and continued until high school. It was not until late high school that she decided to pursue music as a career, and auditioned for music colleges. During freshman year of college, she entered the John J. Cali School of Music as a vocal major, but later decided to switch to piano as she rediscovered her love of the instrument.

Some of Harmony’s latest solo piano performances include repertoire by Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Prokofiev, and Schubert. She has also performed Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite for Two Pianos and accompanied in a Baroque chamber ensemble. She often performs at Jed Leshowitz Recital Hall at Montclair State University and has visited Glenfield Middle School for a guest performance. Additionally, as of 2015, Harmony became the organist for Mine Hills Presbyterian Church and accompanies their church service every Sunday.

Currently, Harmony is also learning jazz piano with the accomplished Dr. Jeffrey Kunkel, whose musical endeavors focus on the unique styles of Brazil. She aspires to follow the footsteps of jazz greats like Bill Evans, Wynton Marsalis, and Thelonious Monk.

Kafe Mozart is located at 2900 Route 10 West, Powder Mill Plaza West, Parsippany. For reservations please call (973) 998-7788 or visit www.kafemozart.com.