Highland Park Planet (http://highlandparkplanet.org/author/phersh/)
From a third to half of students fell short of grade-level expectations for the fall — and the numbers were even starker in some racial and income groups. READ MORE
Since so many members of the Highland Park community are connected to Rutgers University as faculty, staff students, alumni, or participants in Rutgers events, it is important to print a letter from Rutgers University’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Antonio M. Calcado, who provided information on significant changes on campus related to COVID-19. “I am writing to you today (January 4, 2022) to inform you of important changes to how we will start the new semester, including the temporary use of remote instruction where possible, critical new vaccine requirements, and other important updates to our operating status. These important changes will affect you and every member of the university community. It is essential that every member of the Rutgers community be familiar with this information. The data and the science surrounding the surge in COVID-19 cases, and the dramatic spread of the Omicron variant, require that we adapt to the evolving situation without sacrificing our goal of returning to a campus experience that is robust, rewarding, and safe. READ MORE
FOR ALL INFORMATION GO TO WWW.NJEDA.COM
Express Interest in the First Autonomous Vehicle-Based Urban Transit System
Firms can submit to the Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) to inform the design, build-out, and operation of a safe and equitable automated vehicle transportation system for Trenton. The Trenton Mobility & Opportunity: Vehicles Equity System (MOVES) Project will provide safe, equitable, affordable, and sustainable high-quality mobility through the deployment of autonomous vehicles. Following the solicitation of the RFEI, there may be formal Requests for Qualifications or Proposals. The deadline for the RFEI response is February 11th, 2022. Submit a Proposal for a State-Owned 26-Acre Property
Businesses and individuals can submit a proposal to purchase or ground lease a New Jersey Economic Development Authority-owned 26-acre property located on Route 1 in North Brunswick. READ MORE
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) is projected to receive approximately $30 million, establishing a critical partnership with the larger National Institutes of Health-funded RECOVER initiative to study long-term and delayed impacts of COVID-19 in children and lead a national collaboration with the potential to recruit from any state to investigate these outcomes. Impacts of infection with the virus SARS-CoV-2 that present or persist more than 30 days are collectively referred to as post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). Among the first PASC recognized is Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a severe acute inflammatory illness, which typically begins unexpectedly about a month after the initial infection. Children with MIS-C have fever and other symptoms that may include inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, circulatory system and skin that sometimes mimic another rare illness, Kawasaki’s Disease. Beyond MIS-C, children are also susceptible to what is commonly referred to as “long COVID.” A team of researchers at Rutgers have studied COVID-19 and MIS-C from shortly after it was first described in the United States. “Children and adolescents are susceptible to long-term symptoms. Some have brain fog. READ MORE
Highland Park is seeking feedback from people who live, work, shop, and eat in the borough for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP). An online survey will help determine the projects and priorities designed to revitalize and rejuvenate the borough’s Woodbridge Avenue corridor and its adjacent residential neighborhoods. The goal is to create to a more welcoming gateway into the Highland Park community and to nurture economic development. In October, Highland Park was awarded a five-year NPP designation which includes an initial $125,000 grant to generate visible, tangible change in the Woodbridge Avenue District driven by local residents and business owners. It is anticipated that the Woodbridge Avenue District will receive up to $125,000 a year for five years to assist with economic and community development. READ MORE
Prior to a recent performance of the American Repertory Ballet’s (ARB) The Nutcracker, I heard no one mutter ‘break a leg, the theatrical, ironic, ‘good luck’ wish to performers. I did overhear, however, one presumptive father tell his daughter: “Go out there and wow the audience. Prove to Mr. Covid that there’s no stopping you.” The young woman smiled, put on her mask, and bounded into the theater. I did a lot of smiling as I watched my granddaughter Lily perform in two routines – dances performed by my daughter on the same stage for the same ballet company decades ago. Although as a grandmother I was focused on Lily’s flawless (of course) performance, I also was stuck by the profound difference between the show of 1987 and that of 2021
‘Mr. Covid’ was this year’s invisible participant, lurking in the minds of the performers,’ instructors,’ and producers’ minds, but thankfully not within the dancers’ bodies. Covid was the Grinch that stole the show last year, but not this year. READ MORE
Highland Park’s downtown tree lighting will be Nov. 27, with a visit from Santa on a fire truck. An additional treat is that Highland Park’s gingerbread house competition returns this year. From 7-8 p.m. all are welcome at the Welkovitz Pavilion next to 212 Raritan Avenue for the annual tree lighting, complete with music, caroling, hot chocolate, candy canes, and Santa on a fire truck. The Gingerbread Houses will be on display at the Saturday Nov. READ MORE
Rutgers University and Tel Aviv University (TAU) today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in mid-November 2021 that will further the collaboration between the two research universities and establish a presence by TAU at the NJ Innovation & Technology Hub, a 550,000-square-foot, $665 million project in New Brunswick, N.J. The Hub will be home to a new Rutgers Translational Research facility and the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The MOU was signed in Tel Aviv, Israel, by Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway and Ariel Porat, president of TAU. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy joined the ceremony virtually. “I traveled to Tel Aviv to sign this memorandum of understanding in person because this is an important initiative that reflects Rutgers’ commitment to excellence and our recognition that there is no limit to the power of partnerships,” Holloway said. Rutgers and TAU have previously collaborated on projects, including a monthly series of joint scientific symposia exploring research topics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, drug discovery, cybersecurity, gene therapy, nanomaterials and ancient and modern identities in Yemen. The MOU will amplify the universities’ alliance by establishing a research grant program to seed what are expected to be enduring collaborations across disciplines between Rutgers and TAU. READ MORE
Princeton Ballet School presents The Nutcracker Suite: Scenes from a Holiday Classic, a one-act suite of dances inspired by The Nutcracker. This unique outdoor production, features Princeton Ballet School students and pre-professional Trainees, plus professional dancers from American Repertory Ballet on Saturday afternoon, November 13, 2021.Click here for tickets to the 1:00 pm or 3:30 pm performances $15 General Admission $10 student/seniors password: PBS10Highland Park is particularly fortunate to obtain this taste of The Nutcracker event that preceeds the American Repertory Ballet’s full production of The Nutcracker in upcoming weeks at theaters throughout New Jersey.The Highland Park show will be outdoors at the Welkovits pavilion in downtown Highland Park, next to Main Street Highland Park at 212 Raritan Avenue. Chairs will be provided, but feel free to bring your own if you have more comfortable ones!This event is made possible thanks to the generous support of:* Miller’s Rentals * New Jersey State Council on the Arts * Middlesex County Cultural & Heritage Commission
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Jonathan Scott Holloway, whose tenure is being shaped by a profound political reckoning and other global challenges, told an audience gathered for his inauguration as Rutgers’ 21st president that he believes education paired with public service can save democracy as he announced initiatives to make the university a leader in serving the common good. “Our daily news cycles have left us with a national rhetoric about politics, knowledge, citizenship and service that seems to take delight in mocking efforts to shore up institutions, to pursue ideas, to disagree civilly, to serve the common good and to share in our wealth,’’ Holloway said in his address, which was livestreamed at watch parties on the Rutgers-New Brunswick, Rutgers-Newark, Rutgers-Camden and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences campuses. “I despair at this state of affairs, but instead of seeing colleges and universities as a manifestation of all that is wrong in our society, I see them as all that can be right.’’
Holloway highlighted his belief in the excellence that exists at Rutgers and his plans to build toward something even greater as he outlined his vision that focuses on access, research and service. “When I look at Rutgers, I want to see a place that aspires boldly to be both a leading engine of world-changing research and a vehicle for social mobility for students across the socioeconomic spectrum,” Holloway said. “This is what excellence looks like.”
Holloway’s inauguration, traditionally the official installation of the president, took place more than a year after he joined Rutgers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. READ MORE