Past News / Events

July 1, 2016-

December 16, 2008 - You wouldn’t know it to see Haddonfield’s Middle School students, but on Tuesday they watched Dirt and loved it. Courtesy of their PTA, the 7th and 8th graders were treated to Dirt, a unique assembly by John Morello, an actor, comedian, educator and survivor of a high-risk childhood. Mayor Tish Colombi commented “this one man show about substance abuse and choices illustrated the many faces of addiction and delivered a very serious message with humor”. Principal Dr. Noah Tennant elaborated on the Mayor’s point, “we want the students to laugh a little and learn a lot”, during Mr. Morello’s presentation. It is the hope of the school district, the Mayor and Haddonfield’s Municipal Alliance, that Dirt will open the door to frank discussions about substance abuse between the students and the adults in their lives.

John Morello	Top Row: Dr. Noah Tennant, John Morello, Chris Biddle, Luke Rosen  Front Row: Abby Finkenauer, Katie Jones, Mayor Tish Colombi, Will Tomlinson

Haddonfield, NJ -- December 8, 2008 -- Nearly 700 shoe boxes, containing gifts from Haddonfield Middle School children, were collected today for needy families in communities throughout South Jersey.

This year marks the 10 year anniversary of the Shoebox Project which began after a 7th grade class trip to a local farm to work side by side with migrant workers. What started as a way to demonstrate the physical demands of picking fresh produce, quickly evolved into a life lesson.  "Those Middle School teachers and students were so moved by the workers's conditions, that they felt compelled to organized a service project" reveals John Toto, Middle School counselor. 

Games, toys, jewelry, clothes, toiletries and candy are bought by the students and assembled in the shoe boxes, then the boxes' contents are identified according to gender and age before they are wrapped.  "I try to imagine how I would feel opening the box Christmas day, stated Morgan Sehdev, I know what would make me happy, so that's what I bought". 

Mr. Toto points to the Peer Leaders as the key motivators and trend setters for making this year's project so successful.  He goes on to explain, “There are two levels of Peer Leaders in Middle School in 7th grade, they are part of the NJ Peer to Peer Initiative and serve as role models to 6th graders, as they use their influence to convince the 6th graders not to begin to drink or abuse other drugs. In 8th grade, the students become part of FutureAct, a Rotary program, and add service to their commitment. The Shoebox Project is one of two services which involve both grades working together to motivate their peers to participate. These kids know how fortunate they are and in their own way, want to make the lives of those less fortunate, a little nicer during the holiday season”. Through the years, Haddonfield Middle School student have delivered about 6,000 boxes.

(Left to right) Lauren Roberts, Jack LaMaina, and Isaac Anderson	(Left to right - top row) Grace Baccare, Miranda Toci, and Ali LaMaina (Left to right - bottom row) Catherine Manning, Molly Bolinger, and Nicole Sanchirico	(Left to right)  Lauren Roberts, Sophie Martin, Morgan Sehdev, Bridget Yako, and Gina Graf

The Borough Commissioners reconstituted the Municipal Alliance during the summer of 2007, following a number of serious incidents that involved teens and alcohol. Prior to that time, the Alliance was essentially a school-based group. Now it has representatives from the Borough (including the Board of Commissioners and the Police Department); the School District (including the Board of Education, the administration, and the student body); the PTA's; Council of Churches; Civic Association; Rotary Club; and the community at large.

The Alliance meets at 7pm on the fourth Monday of each month in the High School library. All members of the community are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Click Here to download the Power Point Presentation for the April 16 event. (436 KB)