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Glen Rock NJ, on October on Thursday October 22nd at 5:23 p.m. a Glen Rock Police officer on patrol was flagged down by an official at the Sikh Temple who reported to her that an unknown male had entered the temple, refused to remove his shoes (which is their custom) and began taking pictures inside the building. The man was then asked to leave and fled the area.
Continue reading Ridgewood Teen Caught Disrespecting Glen Rock Sikh Temple
July 12,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), theHumane Education Network (HEN) and the Palo Alto Humane Society officially announced today the winners of the 2017 A Voice for Animals contest. The annual contest provides high school students aged 14-18 with the opportunity to win monetary awards for essay, video, or photography submissions advocating against animal cruelty and for prevention of animal suffering.
“We are proud to announce the winners of the 2017 A Voice for Animals contest,” said Regina Terlau, executive assistant at AWI. “Through the contest, we aim to inspire youth to raise awareness about animals in need through a creative medium. We received a lot of phenomenal submissions from students addressing mistreatment of an animal species, prevention of an animal’s extinction, or solutions to reduce animal suffering. The chosen student submissions truly embody the mission of the contest and we congratulate the students selected.”
Ridgewood teen Myriam Burger won a first place prize in the 2017 A Voice for Animals contest for her video entry, “Save a Baby, Save a Species.” Her entry, which earned her a $650 prize, describes her school fundraiser to sponsor an elephant.
The winners of the 2017 A Voice for Animals contest include:
“Every year, we are impressed and encouraged by the commitment that young people show to animal issues through their submissions,” said Jenness Hobart, chair of the board at the Humane Education Network. “We are already looking forward to next year’s entries and continuing to foster students’ interest in showing respect and caring for animals.”
For more information on the A Voice for Animals contest and this year’s winners, visit https://www.hennet.org/contest.php.
May 11,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, When a bright, happy preteen evolves into a self-absorbed or anxious teenager, apprehensive parents can’t help but wonder, “What’s wrong with my child?”
The answer could be “nothing,” other than the typical struggles adolescents have always faced, says Jeffrey Leiken, author of “Adolescence is Not a Disease: Beyond Drinking, Drugs and Dangerous Friends – The Journey to Adulthood” (www.Leiken.com).
As CEO of Evolution Mentoring International, Leiken provides mentoring for teens and young adults, going beyond the typical work of a therapist by building a relationship so that they come to see Leiken as a trusted confidant who answers their late-night text messages and isn’t quick to label them.
“I don’t start with the premise that there is something wrong with them that needs to be fixed,” Leiken says. “The teens and young adults I work with often are saner than the system they are in – a system that seems to forget we are raising humans, not building robots.”
Parents sometimes get caught up in that system, too, but in many cases they just need to chill, he says.
Leiken says parents who want to prepare teenagers for the day they will venture out on their own should:
• “Great advice, wrong source” – Enlist the aid of other adults. Parents are puzzled when they give excellent advice that their teenager promptly ignores. But adolescents often discard words of wisdom from their parents that they would embrace if the guidance came from someone else. That’s why it’s important to enlist the help of other adults who can offer coaching, training and guidance to the teen.
• Avoid letting fear be the guide. Too many parents are on edge, worried that if their teen isn’t in the top 1 percent of the high school class, they will be denied hope for economic prosperity, status and independence. Their anxieties can rub off on young people who become hesitant to take risks for fear of endangering their future. Instead of scaring them, parents need to encourage teens to step outside their comfort zones and take risks that will help them grow into confident, well-rounded adults.
• Help teens eliminate choices. One popular bit of advice parents hear is they should encourage teenagers to keep all their options open. That sounds like a good strategy, but isn’t. In reality, parents need to encourage teens to eliminate options – such as for colleges or careers – that aren’t and never will be right for them. The teens’ decision-making abilities will increase as a result.
“Parents also need to realize they don’t have to become experts in raising teenagers,” Leiken says. “They just have to become expert in raising their own teenager.”
About Jeffrey Leiken
Jeffery Leiken (www.Leiken.com) is the CEO of Evolution Mentoring International and is co-founder of HeroPath International. Leiken also is author of “Adolescence is Not a Disease: Beyond Drinking, Drugs and Dangerous Friends – The Journey to Adulthood.” He has presented at TED in Athens, Greece; guest lectured at Stanford University; and facilitated programs for teenagers on three continents and in seven countries, among other accomplishments. He has a master’s degree in educational counseling.
FEBRUARY 12, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD – Members of Ridgewood High School’s (RHS) Project Interact (PI) group showed a video on Feb. 9 of former student Julia Leonard requesting to meet talk-show host Ellen Degeneres and hoping to get a new wheelchair.
A graduate of RHS, Class of 2015, Leonard has gone through a lot in her relatively short life, surviving a rare form of spinal cancer and adapting to an ordinary life as best she can.
Despite the trials and tribulations that come with dealing with such health complications, Leonard retained her sense of happiness by watching her favorite television shows, including “The Ellen Degeneres Show.”
It was by watching the television program that Leonard regained her desire to dance, thanks to seeing Ellen Degeneres cavorting around her set during her shows.
“Cancer almost took away my love for dancing, until I saw your show,” Leonard said in the video. “You inspired me to dance every day when you shake down the stage. I love to dance in my wheelchair.”
Leonard initially made her own video for Degeneres, but decided to accept the help of PI when it offered.
Nancy Reilly, a science teacher and one of the staff involved with PI, explained that while she was impressed with Leonard’s original video, she thought the student group could help make an even better one.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/students-faculty-rally-behind-teen-with-video-1.1510921
By Maria Guardado | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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on August 22, 2015 at 7:38 PM, updated August 22, 2015 at 11:50 PM
Open-water swimming sensation Charlotte Samuels made history on Saturday by becoming the first person to swim 21 miles across the New York Bight.
NJ teen prepares to make 20-mile swim from Long Island to Jersey ShoreCharlotte Samuels, of Ridgewood, is preparing to swim 20 miles from Long Island to the Jersey Shore. This should be no problem after what she accomplished last summer, swimming the 28-mile Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, the 20-mile Catalina Channel and the 21-mile English Channel. (Video by John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
Samuels, 17, began her journey at approximately 7:20 a.m. on Long Island’s Atlantic Beach and finished on the northern edge of Sea Bright, N.J., at 4:50 p.m. Though the Ridgewood teen had estimated that the swim would take 12 to 16 hours, she ended up cruising to a sub-10-hour finish.
While 10 hours in the water may seem daunting, it was a relatively smooth ride for Samuels, who last year completed a pair of 20-hour swims en route to becoming the world’s youngest Triple Crown swimmer.
https://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/08/ridgewood_teen_becomes_1st_to_swim_20_miles_across.html
Charlotte Samuels after her record-breaking swim across the English Channel.
Ridgewood teen all smiles after teary-eyed swimming triumph
SEPTEMBER 9, 2014, 4:23 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014, 11:06 PM
BY CHRISTOPER MAAG
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Charlotte Samuels cried her way across the English Channel.
She cried because she is small and her challenge was big: A 16-year-old girl chasing a world record, swimming for miles in open water through the blind dark night.
She cried because she was lucky: Most channel attempts require a year of planning and worry, but somehow she hired a boat and a crew in weeks.
She cried because she is loved: As she sprinted the final three miles to France, her parents chanted encouragement every time she lifted her head for air.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-teen-all-smiles-after-teary-eyed-swimming-triumph-video-1.1084208#sthash.iMzjfmG5.dpuf
photo posted by the crew of her guide boat, Anastasia.
Ridgewood teen becomes youngest to complete Triple Crown swimming attempt
September 7, 2014, 1:19 PM Last updated: Monday, September 8, 2014, 1:14 PM
By CHRISTOPHER MAAG
staff writer
The Record
Charlotte Samuels, a 16-year-old from Ridgewood, made history today by becoming the youngest person ever to achieve the Triple Crown of open-water swimming. After circumnavigating Manhattan in July and swimming the 20-mile Catalina Channel off the coast of California in August, she swam across the English Channel in 20 hours, 44 minutes and 27 seconds.
Landing on the shore of France at about 5 p.m. (11 a.m. New Jersey time), she became the youngest person to complete the Triple Crown, smashing the previous record set just last month by an 18-year-old Australian.
Dixie Martin/special to the record
Charlotte Samuels aboard an inflatable boat Monday after completing her swim.
Charlotte faced challenges throughout the journey. Temperatures fell through the night — by 1:30 off the coast of Calais the water temperature dropped to 64 degrees and the air to 60. For long stretches she faced headwinds of 10 to 15 miles an hour.
Several ships crossed close to her path, including a large passenger ferry and two tankers. A French fishing trawler that passed within 600 yards of her position.
Charlotte was protected throughout by the tracking boat Anastasia. The boat’s crew guided her route in accordance with the tides alongside her parents, Suzanne and Steven Samuels, who were also onboard.
Ridgewood teen seeking record with swim across English Channel
SEPTEMBER 7, 2014, 1:19 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2014, 3:08 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG AND JIM NORMAN
STAFF WRITERS
THE RECORD
She spent the night alone with the water and the moon. Somewhere behind her in the darkness was a small boat, which carried food, and her parents, and a captain hired to keep her safe.
But nine hours into her swim across the English Channel, this is what 16-year-old Charlotte Samuels experienced as she lifted her mouth from the water to breathe:
Wind hitting her in the face at 8 miles an hour. Waves nearly a foot tall. The lights of the Nord de Calais, a 520-foot passenger ferry, passing at 20 miles an hour directly in her path.
And the water, always the cool salt water, pushing and tugging her in a zig-zagging S-curve across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
If she crosses the Channel successfully, Charlotte won’t simply break a world record. She’ll shatter it. At 16 she hopes to become the youngest person ever to complete the Triple Crown of open water swimming, coming in two years younger than an 18-year-old Australian who broke the record just last month.
Click here to follow Charlotte’s swim in real time (via her guide boat Anastasia’s GPS) https://www.lovechannelswimming.com/swims
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/update-ridgewood-teen-seeking-record-with-swim-across-english-channel-1.1082700#sthash.fOEx55Qy.dpuf
Charlotte Samuels begins her swim, which is now scheduled for 6 p.m. UK time – 1 p.m. in New Jersey
Ridgewood teen plans to swim English Channel for Triple Crown today
SEPTEMBER 6, 2014, 12:32 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2014, 2:29 AM
BY ALLISON PRIES
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Charlotte Samuels, the 16-year-old Ridgewood girl who wants to be the youngest person to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, will attempt the final leg on Sunday by swimming across the English Channel, her mother, Suzanne Samuels, said today.
Originally she planned to begin the 21-mile swim from England to France at 5 a.m. London time—midnight in New Jersey. But every swimmer in the Channel must be accompanied by a guide boat, and the boat assigned to Samuels was running late, pushing her start time back approximately four hours, said Suzanne Samuels, Charlotte’s mother. Her mother later said they rescheduled the swim for 6 p.m. in the UK – 1 p.m. in New Jersey.
“Delays of this sort are not unusual,” Samuels said, adding that the wait was caused by a British athlete attempting to swim across using the breaststroke. “Charlotte is understandably disappointed, as are we. But at this point, the weather conditions seem to be favorable for her swim.”
Last month, exhausted by an arduous 20.2-mile swim from Catalina Island to the coast of California, Samuels said she would not attempt the English Channel crossing this year.
Catalina Channel Swimming Federation
Ridgewood teen says California swim ‘very lonely’ and required another gear
AUGUST 5, 2014, 8:26 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2014, 8:39 PM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
She saw the sun going down, and worried she might be pulled from the water because she was out of glow sticks and would be invisible to her father and companions in nearby boats guiding her in inky darkness across the Catalina Channel. The previous night of swimming, she said, felt like a dream, and she experienced an emotion that she never before felt while in the water.
“It was very lonely,” she said.
Charlotte Samuels, a 16-year-old open-water swimmer from Ridgewood, said she found another gear near the end of her 20.2-mile swim from Catalina Island to the Southern California coast almost as if she was able to “turn on a switch.” Her legs quivering, she stumbled over rocks and onto the shore after spending 20 hours, 20 minutes and 44 seconds in the water, taking a giant step toward becoming the youngest person ever to swim what is known as the Triple Crown of open-water swimming. The youngest to date was 20 years old.
One day later, as she rested Tuesday at a California house rented by her parents, she reflected on her accomplishment during a telephone interview. She described some of the anguish she felt, the taunting California coast that was farther away than it looked, the unexpected three-foot swells and currents that pushed her off course, and her determination to swim through feelings of uncertainty and the sharp pain of jellyfish stings that felt like electric shocks to her face, arms and legs.
She said she was sore and “mentally” exhausted after completing a swim that took about eight hours longer than she anticipated, and has decided to put off the third leg of the Triple Crown, a 21-mile swim across the English Channel, until next year because “I want to rest.”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-teen-says-california-swim-very-lonely-and-required-another-gear-1.1062642#sthash.xg73t2mF.dpuf
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Ridgewood teen ready for 20-mile open-water swim in California
JULY 13, 2014, 5:00 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JULY 14, 2014, 8:06 AM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Charlotte Samuels, 16, has literally swum around Manhattan, around Cape May and from Battery Park to Sandy Hook. But her open-water event next month will be quite different from those races: She’ll have to contend with sharks and whales, and will start swimming at pitch-black midnight.
Samuels, who will be a junior at Ridgewood High School this fall, is going to the West Coast to swim the 20.2-mile Catalina Island Channel in California on Aug. 4. Earlier this year, she completed the long Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, a 28.5-mile course.
The brunette teenager is also hoping to get a slot to swim the English Channel this fall, 21 miles. The Manhattan Island, Catalina and English Channel are the “Triple Crown” of open-water events, Samuels said, and she’s aiming to conquer all three.
“If I do it in the next four years I’ll still be the youngest person to ever do it: The youngest person right now is 20,” Samuels said.
On Sunday, Samuels returned to her home in Ridgewood after spending several days at a swimming camp at West Point, N.Y. Open-water swimming is her passion, one she has pursued since she was 12 and her paternal grandfather, Herb Tanenhaus of Eureka, Calif., gave her a copy of “Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer” by Lynne Cox.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-teen-ready-for-20-mile-open-water-swim-in-california-1.1050649#sthash.PRbFTTrJ.dpuf
