good evening everyone good evening good evening all right Welcome to our April performances here at school 51 as board president my continued vision is to promote Community engagement and to unite board members at as a team with each board member contributing to a specific initiative throughout the year during the month of January board vice president Stanley neron sponsored National mentoring month in February board member Jerry Jacobs sponsored Black History Month and in March board member Maria cavalo sponsors women's History Month as we continue to board initiatives throughout the school year we will experience how important each init initiative is to learning experience for our students staff and school communities for the month of April we are pleased to have board member Ilana Chev sponsoring autism acceptance month I have had the privilege of serving as board on the board besides Ilana for the past five years during her time on the board she has been a strong advocate for special education and her participated in several activities supporting our students with special needs and their families before I introduce Ilana and allow her to come up I would like to just recognize our board members who are here I would like to recognize board member Jerry Jacobs for being here board member Stephanie Sana for being here board member Diane Barbosa for being [Music] here I also want to recognize our councilwoman at large Patricia Perkin Augustine thank you I also would like to thank all of our teachers our principes staff our parents and our students for being here this evening to celebrate our autism acceptance month thank you and I would like to also recognize board member Rosa Marina Oro as well at this time I'm going to allow um our board member Ilana Cheves who will be introducing all of the performances this evening in honor of autism acceptance month Elana thank you Madam president good evening I am Elana chz and it is my honor to serve the Elizabeth Community as a member of the Elizabeth Board of Education as a parent of a child with special need I strongly identify with our district for believe that all a student can learn and achieve a high levels during this month I am proud to sponsor initiative dedicated to student reaching their full potential in honor to atis accept and month I look forward to visit our students who participate in our autism program I will be join our district division special services in hosting parents Workshop that help support our student with autism and other special need and their families I also will join our dedicated partner from Union County Board of County Commissioners at the annual autism azen celebration at matano Park on April 20 to celebrate the unique personality of our youth affecting by btis additionally I I am excited to sponsor a new District initiative that teaches our student listen in personal safety our school counselor met early today to start training on and officially launch our partnership with the Monique B Foundation Ang Goya Foods the program provide our student with the tools to help create and maintain a safe School environmental giving them the freedom to be their best very best the Elizabeth board of education is commitment to promote equally inclusion and welcoming environments in our schools and I am proud to sponsor this initiative my hope is the lesson our students and family learn will hold support and improve the life of all our student who attending Elizabeth public schools including our student with special needs and their are families too during the month of April April Elizabeth public school celebrating many special observance in addition to atis as setc mon which will be reflected in our performance tonight and recogn including National poetri Mo and just appreciation Mo to beginning the evening and performance I would like to welcome our student from Elizabeth High School FR JC carella Academy and introduce principal Mike C Michael Com to say a few words about their performance thank you [Applause] thank you so much good evening everyone it is my honor to introduce to you this evening of the award-winning Elizabeth High School jazz band but before I do that I would like to bring up um three exceptional students to tell you a little bit about the art projects they've been creating and to introduce the the Jazz Band themselves um we are we're delighted to be here and when we were given an option as to which month we would like to celebrate at our school it was obvious to all of us that we would really appreciate the opportunity to do um autism acceptance month for the the reason that we have a new autism program at our school this year and it has been absolutely a joy for all of us so um without any further Ado I'd like to introduce you to um dos Mary Morel Diaz and then I have Alana McBride and Mariah Deus in the cooporation with the music department we created pieces of art that Express creativity and and [Applause] individuality here to help us celebrate is the Elizabeth High School just band [Applause] [Music] Mary and e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for e [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] I [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you Elizabeth High School Fran JC carel Academy for your wonderful performance [Applause] okay beautiful performance next let's welcome our student from J Christian boish financial academy and principal John burn who I would like to call forward to introduce their school performance thank you so [Applause] much okay okay sounds good thank you so much for having us here today I'm just going to get it lined up a little bit so having students with autism attend J Christian bage Finance Academy is a Paramount importance as it Fosters a diverse and inclusive learning environment that reflects the reality of our society these students bring unique perspectives talents and capabilities that enrich the educational experience for Everyone by embracing neurodiversity we cultivate empathy understanding and acceptance among all students preparing them for the complexities of the world beyond the classroom additionally integrating students with autism into mainstream education promotes tolerance and breaks down societal stigmas associated with disabilities fostering a culture of respect and support we are very proud to have such a fantastic group of Educators working with our students with autism I'd like to introduce Mr Todd lecher and Miss shiff Miss Jennifer schiffl to talk about an outstanding project and some of the great things that are going on at J Christian boage Finance Academy thank you um we are very excited to be here Jen you can come on up UNO M Sam well why don't we do this really quick before first off we want to thank the akiri family for donating all the materials that we could have to um to build these projects let me tell you getting pieces of wood hammers Nails into these students is wonderful they're captivated by it and it's such a wonderful activity and we love building projects you could ask any of our students when when the gym teacher gets a weight system I say don't put a work order in just don't tell anyone because my students and I will put it together most likely we love using our hands for things and this is a wonderful project that we could all do um so there you go and while Mr lecher is U making his magic with the kids in his room on our side we're doing some writing we're doing some eating or some creating um so while they're making these amazing bird houses we were creating poems and writing uh paragraphs about what we actually put together so I will let the kids speak for themselves and they can show you just how amazing they truly are Samy good evening my name is Samuel aruri Jr Welcome to our spring is in the air presentation thank you you can here as long as you want excellent job Sam would you like to read okay all right hello my name is Jesse Rivera I'm the student of the J Christian bullet Finance academy one of the students of the Todd Le Mr Leer's room 20 I would like to introduce you to the my birdh house that I made my birdh house has design of the mor part racing franchise well as you know every side of the birdh house is red green and blue has symbols from every Mario Kart on the front on the front of a birdh house has a Mario symbol with a mushroom underneath the roof roof even if it's white or red plus that's okay that's okay so on the left and left right sides of the birdh house there are a boomerang and a green shell on the top of the roof there is a fireflower and the Mario driving a cart and I painted this design each part of The Birdhouse is exactly the way I want it to be I would like to put at my bird house outside so that the birds can enjoy it too and that's how that my bird house is what it looks like thank you have time for one [Applause] more I painted my bird house like an actual house the bird house is blue and the roof is yellow I painted seven windows on the bird house there are pretty flowers all around it birds will be probably never live it because I want to put it in my room good job thank you very much [Applause] thank you so much it's such a pleasure having these students and such welcoming also the the families since the support we receive from the families and we have the best teachers I think in the district doing this so I'm so [Applause] proud what about we got one more one more real quick Anthony really would like to read Anthony is the oldest student in our program when I first started teaching in the autism program it was Anthony and myself and we had a blast right ready yeah I'll hold it my birth house by Anthony y I made my birth house look like what I would want my house to look like I love watching TV so I made every wall a different network the walls are yellow and the network logos I chose are TNT CN WB and TBS the roof is green I made my bird house for myself Birds won't live in it because I am going to keep it inside my house and birds are not allowed inside excellent that is perfect great job excellent job all right beautiful another round of applause thank you J Christian B Academy for your wonderful performance our next group to Welcome to the performance stage this eveny are from Victor mareli School number 21 i' would like to call forward principal My Wo to introduce the school number 21 video [Applause] performance good evening everyone thank you for coming out to celebrate our autism students we have four AU ISM classes at school 21 and it's a thrill for me to see some of my former students up here I must say it's a privilege to be part of your life to have been part of your life and part of your education um you truly hold a special place in my heart parents I know some of you personally how much you love your children I see it with my own eyes outside of school and I must tell you that we care for them just as much at school 21 so without further Ado um I don't know how I could top those other performances at school 21 we take pride in um integrating our autism and Genet population that's spearheaded by Mrs abbar Mrs abbar can you stand up please thank you Mrs abbar is the elder Statesman now in the autism program and um she has done like I said a wonderful job of making sure that our um jened students have an opportunity to interact with our autism population um theyve put together a special video which um you're going to see in a few moments um it's uh they're they're going to sing along uh to DJ rafy's a I'm telling you once you hear this song you're not going to be able to get it out of your head and we also have um some students that we're going to honor after the video presentation um i' just I'd like to thank Mr kulick he he right here there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes and Mr Kulik um helped us out in a pinch the other day and I really really appreciate it you have no idea how much I appreciate it Mr kol so thank [Music] you hello my name is this performance will showcase the social interaction between PE learning how to interact with others will help students with Making Friends building relationships learning from others and developing new interests socialization skills will help students socialize with their peers thank [Music] you here we go is the of we go high this is [Music] here we go this is the time of our [Music] Liv here we go this is the time of our Liv I wonder can this be real it's like I'm living a dream but it's how everyone feels we all Unite with one feeli so let's wave our hands we can sing We Can Dance we are strong Hold On Tight from afar we Unite Here we go this is the time of our Liv ah yeah ah yeah here we go a yeah this is the time of our this is the time of here we go this is the time of our here we go this is the time of our life I love this moment right now no one can take it away so let it Happ and it's why I cherish it each day so let's wave our hands we can sing We Can Dance we are strong Hold On Tight from afar [Music] weite here we [Music] go here we go this is the time of our Liv a y a y here we go a this is the time of our life here we go this is the time of our lives ah yeah ah y here we go a y this is the time of our Liv what we see Destiny realize now we are know the greatest [Music] [Music] here we go this is the time of our lives we this is the lives okay so at this time I'd like to recognize some of the students who participated in that video when I call your name please come up to the podium to receive your certificate Valentina [Applause] Rodriguez congratulations remain standing lesie gimenez [Applause] Josephine [Applause] Leman congratulations Josephine stay up here and last but not least Mrs sabahat Akbar Mrs zbar has also organized a beautiful breakfast for our parents um on Tuesday of next week [Applause] [Music] oh Happ thank you Victor marvela School number 21 for your section of video performance and thank you for the Youth to be part of that wonderful video for our last performance of the night we would like to welcome the student of Elora School number 12 principal Melissa Kulik and vice principal Gabriela aona who we invite to coming forward to introduce their performance [Applause] even how are you good evening superintendent Huger assistant superintendents Board of Education Commissioners central office administrators School administrators teachers students and guest we thank you for this opportunity to allow us to highlight our beautiful School School om moral School number 12 for the past 5 years we have dedicated the month of April to to raise awareness and acceptance by educating our students and entire community on the topic of autism through educational presentations media music art dance and wearing blue and other colors of the spectrum this month always brings us together and reminds us to be kind respectful and accepting of others our students at school 12 worked in collaboration to research autism and its impact on the world next Friday our entire School body will come together to create a human rainbow to demonstrate Unity acceptance and respect for everyone this assembly is dedicated to our special needs students in our school as well as the entire world thank you to to our autism acceptance committee third grade teacher Crystal Rodriguez our speech teacher Vanessa Rodriguez fourth grade teacher Betsy Duda our special needs teacher Taylor lantean and personal assistants y Santos and Gabby sanes we hope you enjoy our presentation a small snapshot of our acceptance Unity Day celebration that will take place next Friday thank you [Applause] these are five things every autistic child I would like you to know autism is shown in different ways and every person presents it differently autism does not affect a person's ability to feel emotions but rather the way in which it may be expressed um first and foremost a shout autism is just one aspect of my character please be kind communication can look different for all of us focus and build on what I can do rather than what I can't do please remember to always be kind these known people inspired individuals and communities around the world regardless of their diagnosis Donald triplet was the first person diagnosed with autism he was born on September 8th 1933 in Forest Mississippi Donald triplet showed the world he was a person first and autism was just one aspect of his character Armani Williams is an american professional race car driver he was born on April 14th 2000 in Gross pointy Michigan he went to college and studied mechanical engineering and continued to inspir others like him these individuals were made to stand out our students will share an all about me [Music] hello hello my name is hi my name is biaa I'm 5 years old I love my booty back [Music] [Applause] Sonic hi my name I I want [Applause] [Music] toles hi my name isi I am 6 years old I have two [Applause] to conclude our performance we will sing I have a voice to demonstrate Unity alone it comforts me it is my home although it's small I'm not afraid for I am strong in it Embrace no one can say what I have seen or understand where I have been for what I found inside myself belongs to me and no one else if I were blind and had no wi to see still I would hear the voice inside of me I wish that you I wish that you could hear it [Music] too I have a voice clear it speaks the truth trth to he it gives Mees me it gives me I have [Applause] a thank you thank [Music] you was amazing thank you Elora School number 12 for your wonderful performance we really appreciate that and to conclude with that we conclude the performance for tonight but we continue with the celebration I want to call B our board president commissioner Charlene B thi thank you thank you um board member Iana Cheves for sponsoring this month uh I'm I'm sure everyone enjoyed this evening and our performances I just wanted to also recognize the board members who are um who are also here we have board member um Isaiah Rivera here here and board vice president Stan naron here so thank you I just wanted to say that I love the creativity of all of the schools that were here this evening thank you for thinking outside the box and doing something very different um I love the the diversity of the Jazz Band and the different uh solos that were there so thank you to our Elizabeth um high school students at Frank sarel uh we loved your performance thank you you can give him another round of applause I definitely wanted to thank uh Chris bit's Academy Finance Academy and their special bird project thank you for sharing your creativity with us thank you for letting us know what you're going to do with your bird house and you going to keep them home or leave them outside thank you for that creativity we truly appreciate that so thank you again if we can have give him a round of applause I loved School 21's performance in regards to making friends building skills and interacting with our peers I don't remember the aah aah here we go aah this is the time for our lives thank you for sharing that um in the midst of that song it talked about we have to sh cherish every day in the moments that we have as individuals so thank you for sharing that positive message with us so give them a round of applause and last but not least I thank School number 12 for your neurodiversity um performance and how you talked about demonstrating Unity um allowing our students to talk about that I am strong what I have found inside of myself belongs to me and allowing them to you know use their voice to share kindness so thank you School number 12 as well at this time we are going to be allowing our schools to come up and um with their certificates the certificates were given to the principles and the schools already but we would like to take a picture if that's okay so I'm going to start with the order that they came up so we can have Elizabeth High School Frank Carell Academy and the students come up so we can take a picture with the board members we would appreciate that as they come up again I would like to always thank all of the people who always attend and those who um make things happen we couldn't do anything anything here without our Tech Team um thank you for all that you do online on YouTube thank you to Eric everyone loves Eric Kulik uh you know so thank you to Eric again again I would like to thank our principles um all of our administrators who are here our family and friends who are here thank you thank you thank you to our security guards thank you for being here as well and if I forgot anyone please don't blame it on me blame it on I just forgot at this time I'm going to have my board members come up and our superintendent if you can come up and take a picture with us we would appreciate that and also thank um our Frank Mr Frank qua yes and thank you to our custodians for assisting with the chairs e thank you Frank sarell students we appreciate you at this time if we can have Jay Christian Bo Finance Academy students come up and take a picture with their certificate we took one already right did we not no okay all right excellent they can come up piure the bird you know you took a picture of the bir hous right we didn't take a picture of [Applause] the e thank you J Christian boish F Finance Academy at this time we can have our students from the Victor magag mavag School number 21 come up please with the school principal oh we took one one oh we took one the board members we took one okay we took one all right y' thank you but give him another round of applause excellent and last but not least again we'll have um School Amura number 12 orora school number 12 come up with their students and their certificates please for e e e again I want to thank everyone for coming out this evening and celebrating our autism acceptance month thank you and God bless and have a wonderful [Applause] evening for