Happy New Year! The cold winter months of January and February find the Harbor School students keeping warm by staying active with our adaptive physical education and dance programs.

Our adaptive physical education program under the direction of Ms. Suzanne Neumann features swimming, intramurals for basketball, soccer, floor hockey, baseball and softball, in addition to developing and refining specific skills for each student. Students may also participate in various specials including cheerleading, pep squad, pompoms, flags and tumbling.

Our dance program under the direction of Ms. Santhe Bielk, a certified dance instructor, features instruction in tap, ballet, lyrical, jazz as well as the theatre arts. This program is structured to encourage physical fitness, discipline and self-expression as well as an appreciation of music and movement.

Upcoming on March 9, 2012 we are pleased to announce the premiere of “I Am An Artist” a documentary film featuring students from the Harbor School. Following the movie premiere we will provide a free workshop with two supervisors from DDD who will speak on a variety of topics. Please plan to join us for this special day!

Students from the Harbor School and the Rumson Country Day School have worked together over the past two years on a collaborative art project. During the 2009-10 school year, our students worked together to present “Imagine: A Magical Musical Revue” based on the music and poetry of the Beatles. This musical review was a culmination of the relationship that has developed between the two schools. Students of all ability levels worked together and learned form each other. This year’s activity involved having our respective students create works for a contest sponsored by the Genocide and Human Rights Education Center at Brookdale Community College. Students from both schools interacted with Ms. Claire Boren, a holocaust survivor, who shared her artwork and described how it reflected her experiences growing up in Germany under the Nazi rule. Two of our Harbor School students won awards for their art work depicting human rights issues and were honored at a ceremony at the college on May 12th. We continue to seek out opportunities for our students to interact with their non-disabled peers in a variety of cooperative learning experiences.

Carolyn J. Young has been working as a physical therapist for the past twenty-eight years including twenty-one of these years in special education programs. “Carrie” as she is most known by, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Kean College ( University) in May 1980, and completed a Master of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Columbia University in May 1983. Carrie arrived at the Harbor School in September 1995 and brought with her a unique background of experience working with children and adults with special needs. She began her career as a staff physical therapist in July 1983 at Monmouth Medical Center. Carrie started her school based experience in 1990, working for the Shrewsbury and Middletown Public Schools. During her years at the Harbor School , Carrie has shown herself to be a master clinician as she continues to seek out the most updated clinical assessments and techniques in the physical therapy field. Her expertise is also evidenced in her treatment sessions, as she designs, develops and implements highly individualized therapeutic programming. Carrie is also instrumental is assisting with the design of various seating systems and orthotics/splints for her students. In recognition of her outstanding work and expertise, Carrie Young is the recipient of the 2011 Ruth K. Newman Award for Excellence.