The recent Advanced Spanish trip, from January 19th to January 25th, marked the program’s eighth visit to Cuba since its start in 2015. This trip was designed for students to experience a unique culture, engage in community service, and live through an authentic connection with the local community. PHS Spanish students participated in various activities that ranged from painting murals in Havana to gifting local students donations fundraised by PHS students.


The trips to Cuba began as an assignment in Spanish IV A and Spanish VI A teacher Martha Hayden’s El Cine Hispanohablante class, where students were instructed to write letters to a Cuban artist. One student chose Manuel Lopez Olivia, sparking a lasting friendship between Olivia and Hayden. In 2015, when Obama lifted the travel ban to Cuba, Hayden decided to visit Olivia and give students the opportunity to experience Cuban culture firsthand.


“I said to Manuel, I’m definitely coming now. I really want to go to Cuba. I don’t know why it just felt like it was so important to now actually meet him in person because he kept writing to me for all those years,” said Hayden.


Hayden initially designed the itinerary for the trip with a tour company; however, Olivia disliked it and offered to redesign it from an authentic Cuban perspective with art as the focal point of the trip.  
“He thought that it was a terrible program and ... not really totally Cuban ... And he said ‘I really want it to be through art.’ So they [created] this whole program for me so that we could actually travel there. But I gave it a name, ‘Seeing Cuba through the eyes of the artist,’” said Hayden. 


However, traveling to Cuba required flexibility due to differences in living conditions between Cuba and the United States. For example, essentials such as toilet paper, soap, and even toothbrushes were not always readily available in Cuba. Additionally, limited internet access meant students had to put aside their phones and social media. 


“There was very, very limited WiFi at the homestay, so we could call our parents and maybe send a few texts, but that was about it. But most of us had saved music, and I think it kind of added to the experience ...  like when we were on the bus, the only entertainment was just to talk and listen to music together and stuff,” said Leopoldo Gessner ’27, a student on the trip.  


This year, as in past years, students and teachers alike enjoyed various  activities like bus tours, museum visits, and eye-opening community service events designed to help local kids. 


“We put a lot of effort into collecting and then distributing a lot of the supplies that these people needed … I would say it was a big part of the trip, and it was really amazing to see especially when we were helping out kids … It’s just really nice to see how appreciative they are … and it was so amazing being able to help out,” said Gessner.


Cuban art was an espeically important part of the trip. Cuba has many schools for the arts that were installed by former the communist  dictator Fidel Castro during the Cuban revolution in the 1950s. However,  according to Hayden, Cubans later utilized art to protest against the communist government by creating pieces that resonated with the people, leading to several crackdowns on Cuban artist. 


“The fine arts is just unbelievable. It really is. The history behind it and the talent is so incredible. It’s different than any museum that I’ve seen around the world. And I’ve traveled a lot,” said Hayden.

 
 PHS assistant Principal Lauren Freedman, one of the  chaperones on the trip, said that the many ways the trip was made to be as authentic as possible improved the overall experience, leading to lifelong memories for everyone on the trip. 


“This is like an authentic, real life. We’re going to be with the people, like it’s not a fake touristy trip. And that makes this trip, I think, extra unique and special too, because it’s like you’re going to visit family. It felt like we were with family,” said Assistant Principal Lauren Freedman. 


PHS Spanish students go to Cuba

As a published author and the creator of the Mandarin
curriculum at PHS, Shwu-Fen Lin has taught Mandarin
for over 30 years. Growing up in Taiwan, Lin dreamed
of becoming a Mandarin teacher ever since she was a
young girl.

 “I think [being] a teacher is a powerful job. You can
teach somebody something new,” said Lin. “I think [it
is important that] you teach a student [so that] they can
see, they can read, they can speak, they can talk.”

 Lin’s journey as an educator began in Taiwan, where she
taught high school Mandarin for 3 years before moving
to the United States. She initially taught elementary and
middle schoolers in the Highland Park School District.
She ultimately found herself drawn to PHS because of
the students and the quality of the district.

 “I’m here because Princeton High School [is in] a very
good school district ... they have very nice students ... I
love to teach here,” said Lin.

 Lin employs a number of teaching methods that involve
simulating real-world situations to help students become
more confident with their Mandarin.

 “We can ‘shop’ in the classroom. So some students
become the vendor, some students become the buyer ...
[this is] very practical, how to shop in the real world,”
said Lin. “[I also use the] bicycle-chain [method] every
day. So all the students [stand] ... in the center of the
classroom [and talk about] different topics every day
[with a] friend [until] they rotate like a bicycle chain.”

 Another particularly unique method she uses is called
“ban zhang,” which means class captain. Being ban zhang
allows students to model the lesson for the day, setting
an example for their peers.

 “All the students can become a ban zhang for one
week ... to help ... the student’s self-confidence,” said Lin.
 Outside the classroom, Lin has also co-authored
books on Mandarin, from basic levels all the way to AP.
Her effective teaching style has led her to give talks at
multiple large teacher conferences.

 “The past 19 years ... I [gave] a lot of good [speeches]
in very huge teacher [conferences], like [the] National
Chinese Language Conference, and ACTFL, a very big
World Language teacher conference,” said Lin.
 Thomas Basso ’27, who has been taking Mandarin for
three and a half years, appreciates Lin’s energetic teaching
style and the enthusiasm she brings to class.

“She ... tries her very best to get everyone to participate
and will often cold-call on people who she thinks aren’t
participating enough, which in a way forces everyone
to pay attention and stay engaged ... I’ve been learning
Spanish since kindergarten, and I still feel like I know
more Mandarin than Spanish,” said Basso. “Mrs. Lin
sometimes makes jokes in class to make us laugh and is
happy to answer any questions that we have.”

 Lin believes that the end goal of learning Mandarin
is to connect with Chinese culture. To help spread
and showcase Asian culture throughout the Princeton
community, Lin established the annual Asian Festival
at PHS in 2007, an event featuring performances and
booths from several Asian culture clubs.

“Every year, we have around 500 people that come
together to celebrate [and] learn Asian culture. This is very
important [as] people need to talk to people, [because]
if I understand your culture, I will respect your culture,”
said Lin. “So I say language is communication, the tool,
but most important that you use this tool in real life, and
be able to use language not only as regular conversation,
but also as a skill to develop.

 Lin believes that learning a new language is not
something that can happen in a classroom alone, but
requires skillful practice throughout one’s life.

 “I like to help my [students] become life [learners],
not only in my classroom ... so they can continue to
learn, even in society,” said Lin. “When you graduate,
you will continue to learn your whole life. I think that’s
very important.

PHS Profile: Shwu-Fen Lin

The gym falls silent as Blase Mele ’25 squares off with his opponent on the mat, eyes
locked. He shifts his stance, a subtle bounce in his step, tension building in the audience
with every move. He goes for a single leg takedown, causing his opponent to go down,
and the crowd roars. He just won against a top-ten nationally-ranked wrestler, and his
victory is a moment that has encapsulated the years of perseverance and sacrifice that
Mele has offered to wrestling. 

Introduced to the sport at a young age by his father, Mele found his calling early. He
attributed his success to his parents, recalling that they encouraged him to do the right
things and had a great support system throughout his whole career.

“All [my family] talks about is wrestling, so I’m in an environment where it’s easy to stay
focused,” said Mele.

Jess Monzo, the PHS boy’s wrestling team
coach, was immediately impressed when he
saw Mele’s skillset as an incoming freshman.
 “I was excited. I knew he could do really,
really good things by what he brought to the
program and to the team,” said Monzo. 

Despite his success at both the state and
national level, where Mele placed sixth at
the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedic State
Wrestling Championships, making him
the third PHS student to ever place, Mele
constantly strives for improvement. 

“My club coaches are starting to implement
a lot of techniques from foreign wrestlers and stuff that was used at the Olympics,” said
Mele. “I am just trying to focus on getting bigger, getting stronger, getting better.”

Blase is not only able to train hard, but he works hard at school as well. Blase credits his
parents and family for raising him in an environment that worked for him.

“I think being a good student makes me a better wrestler, and I think being a good
wrestler makes me a better student,” said Blase. 

However, his success did not come without adversity. He had faced multiple injuries
over his career that caused him to take time off of practice. 

“I dealt with some knee problems. I had to have two knee surgeries. It was fine in the
long term, but at the time, it was really frustrating,” said Mele. 

Despite a rough setback, Mele believes part of overcoming challenges is to have faith
and recover as diligently as possible, while also taking time off as needed.

“When you sign up to go play sports, you’re not signing up to automatically win. You’re
signing up to test yourself,” said Mele. “You have to be prepared for things to go wrong,
and you have to be ready to put yourself back on track.”

This tenacious mentality has allowed him to rank in the top 20 nationwide while
placing at the state level. Monzo saw Mele grow as both an athlete and person, especially
during his Junior year after Mele won one of his biggest matches.

“He always believed in himself, that he could be that guy ... from that day forward ... he
saw it was true. He believed it into fruition, and he knew he belonged at that level,” said
Monzo. 

During the season, practices are demanding and many students quit the team before
the end of the season. Mele affirms that even though it’s difficult to stay motivated because
of the long season, by the end, those who stuck around are good friends and work even
harder together.

“Blase is always on everyone
about working hard and putting
forth your best,” said Mele’s fellow
teammate Chase Hammerschlag
’25. “He is both assertive and
supportive ... I admire his work
ethic.”

After his strong junior season,
Mele committed to Princeton
University to pursue a degree in
economics while fulfilling his
dream of competing at the Division
I level. His successful career is the
result of long years of consistent
hard work and dedication.

“[Consistency] allowed me to
accomplish a lot of my goals. I do not think I would have done that without wrestling,”
said Mele. “I’ve encountered a lot of failure in my career — both failure and success in my
career. And through it all, I’ve been able to remain consistent and just pursue my goals.

Mele is able to find this consistency for practice because of his love for the journey. 

“The process of achieving a goal is just as fun and just as rewarding as achieving the
goal itself,” said Mele. “When you start to find enjoyment in the [process], then your
performance will increase, and you’ll just feel better about where you are as an athlete.”

Before going to college, Mele has been able to refelect on what wrestling has given him.

“Wrestling taught me the importance of consistency. [Consistency] allowed me to
accomplish my goals,” said Mele. “I don’t think I would have done that without wrestling."

Blase Mele ’25: wrestling

Getting the 3,800 students in the
Princeton district to and from school
would cause a considerable amount
of traffic in Princeton if not for the
district’s transportation system. As the
Transportation Supervisor of PPS, Donna
Bradin ensures that all students are able
to attend school and events safely and
on time.

In order to coordinate transportation for
over 30 other schools in addition to PPS’s
six public schools, Bradin starts months
ahead of the first day of school to prepare
for the upcoming school year. She begins
with private schools, drafting routes in
April and May, before planning routes for
public schools in July, and sending them
to contractors by August.

“We have 26 contracted routes, which
consist of mostly our public schools
and some of our [private] schools. The
challenging part is everybody [has]
basically the same dismissal time, so I have
to be really creative with how I do these
routes,” said Bradin.

Bradin also helps to coordinate athletics
and events. A contract with Irvin Raphael,
a school bus company, allows flexibility in
coordination with Princeton drivers. This
allows Irvin Raphael to do nighttime or
weekend trips when Princeton drivers are
unavailable. She also helps to coordinate
transportation for Princeton events such
as the Princeton High School Marathon,
Community Diversity Day, and even Teen
Travel Camp.

“I’m very busy, always busy. I have a
list of things each month that need to be
done, whether it be reports or not, and I
enjoy doing it all. It’s like a big puzzle, I
have to put it all together,” said Bradin. “I
always say that anybody can come to my
office and visit just to see how we work.”

With nearly 30 years of experience,
Donna Bradin has worked her way through
the transportation ladder, from driving
buses to becoming a trainer for CDL and
a third party tester, before finally landing
in the transportation office of PPS.

“I started doing this almost 30 years ago
as a school bus driver, and I came from
Pennsylvania. And when I started, my
two children were young, and I was like,
‘I gotta get a job.’ Never thought of making
it a career, to be honest with you, but here
I am,” said Bradin.

As a former bus driver, Bradin says that
being a driver is easy for the most part, but
may encounter many challenges, including
traffic, road closures, or bad weather.
Nevertheless, Bradin believes the positives
of her job outweigh the negatives.

“I know from my own experience, you
get to watch kids grow. I try and keep the
same drivers on the same run ... I’m a
firm believer [in that] because you build
a relationship with families and you get to
watch students grow up,” said Bradin. “I’m
a people person ... I’ll run into somebody
that I drove many years ago, and they’ll
have families, and they’ll be like, ‘Hey, you
were my bus driver,’ so that is rewarding
in itself.”

Bradin stresses the importance of being
able to connect with new students and their
families who may not be used to taking a
school bus every morning.

“I know we have a lot of families that
come from other countries and their
children may never have been on a school
bus,” said Bradin. “I’ll say [to them] ‘Why
don’t you come here with your child? We’ll
take them for a bus ride and show them.’
I love doing that.”

PHS Investigates: coordinating transportation

### Bill Urias

Every day, students who enter PHS through the
Tower entrance are greeted by Bill Urias and asked for
their IDs. However, this quick interaction does not
reveal much about his interesting life before PHS or
his adventurous hobbies outside of his work.
After finishing high school in South Jersey, Urias
joined the military for four years before going to college.
He attended both Rutgers University and The College
of New Jersey, where he studied accounting. He then
traveled to California in hopes of pursuing a master’s
degree in business.

While in California, Urias instead worked for a
private company where he cut trees due to his passion
for adventure and nature. However, after eight years
of living in California, his wife’s parents fell ill and the
couple decided to move back to New Jersey.
Although Urias formerly studied accounting, he
decided to become a foreman for the Township of
Princeton.

“I had a crew of 45 men and women, and every
morning we would make the assignments on what
we were going to do. We had crews that took care
of the trees, took care of the signs around the town,
maintained the parks, [and] cut the grass,” said Urias.

Not long after retiring from his position as a
foreman, Urias was recruited to become a part-time
security guard and building monitor at PHS. He has
been working at PHS for the past five years. His job
includes checking student IDs when they enter the
building, pointing visitors in the right direction, and
filling in for other missing staff.

His passion for the outdoors not only influenced
his career choices but also how he spends his time
outside of work. One of his favorite pastimes is riding
motorcycles.

“I have three motorcycles. We do tours [and] take
people up to Lake George and Lake Placid. I don’t
bring [the motorcycles] to work,” said Urias. 

### Tracy Hart

Keeping students fed is an integral yet complex
process at PHS. As one of several cafeteria workers
who make sure this process runs successfully, Tracy
Hart ensures that all students are well-fed and ready
to learn.

Growing up in Hopewell, Hart has been working
with Pomptonian Food Service, PHS’s new food
service provider, for three years. She has worked all
over New Jersey in multiple school districts with
Pomptonian, but started at PHS this July.

“I know that the community is interested in farmto-tray and locally sourced things like that. My father’s also a farmer in the Hopewell area. I was really excited
when we [started at PHS] because I can incorporate
a lot of things that are locally grown that I’m familiar
with from this area into the menu,” said Hart.

 Prior to Pomptonian, Hart worked for several other
food service providers, but she enjoys working with
Pomptonian as the company focuses on delivering
services exclusively in schools, whether K-12 or
community colleges.

“I went to Rutgers, and I have a degree in nutritional
science, and I was hired by Sodexo, a food service
company, right from class. I was with them for 20 years.
I also did country clubs involved in food service, and
started as Grimace at McDonald’s and got involved in
food service, then I went to Strayer [University] for
my Master’s [in] Business Administration,” said Hart.

Outside of work, Hart enjoys taking her four kids
tent camping, going to Hershey Park, and tending to
her backyard chicken. She is also helping her father
as he opens a brewery in Pennington.

### Nick Cream

Armed with a ten-year tenure as a police officer,
Nick Cream now uses the security skills he gained in
his role as PPS’s attendance officer and PHS’s security
officer. With this year marking his 34th in the district,
some of Cream’s responsibilities include maintaining
building security, monitoring the cafeteria during
lunch, breaking up physical confrontations between
students, conducting wellness checks for chronically
absent students, and conducting residency checks.

“If [PPS] suspects that somebody may be living
outside of Princeton, but attending the schools illegally,
I investigate those maps,” said Cream. “And if a kid’s
missing a lot of school, sometimes … I’ll make a home
visit.”

Cream’s interest in pursuing a career relating to public
security stretches back to college. After he graduated
from Lawrence High School in Lawrence Township,
Cream studied criminal justice at The College of New
Jersey. Following his college graduation, he trained to
become a police officer and ultimately joined the
Trenton Police Department.

“I left the police force after I had a couple back
surgeries. I’ve been with this school ever since,”
said Cream.

Cream’s role in the district started as a part-time
job as an attendance officer conducting occasional
residency checks. As the demand for security in
schools increased, Cream’s position evolved into the
full-time job he currently holds, where he serves as
a security officer for PHS on top of his attendance
officer duties.

“I’m fortunate that the students are great here,
which makes my job a lot easier,” said Cream.

Outside of keeping PHS’s security in shape, Cream
likes bike riding and exercising. As big fans of the
shore, Cream and his wife also enjoy visiting their
beach house in Brigantine. Cream enjoys visiting his
grandchildren in Florida and Pennsylvania as well. 

The Tower

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The Tower