Schools
Westfield Students Bring Smiles To Cranford Flood Victims With Special Performance
Roosevelt School in Westfield put on a special performance of 'Alice in Wonderland' for students of Brookside Place School in Cranford.
Each fall, Westfield's Roosevelt Intermediate Middle School puts on a play, but this year’s performance of “Alice in Wonderland” was extra special. Their last rehearsal before last Friday's opening night would typically have been quiet, but instead, they had a much larger audience than normal: the students, parents, and teachers of Brookside Elementary in Cranford were all in attendance.
The damage Brookside Place sustained from Hurricane Irene forced officials to close the facility until at least February and the students were relocated to three different schools in the Cranford School Distict. With brothers, sisters, friends and teachers dispersed to different schools, the staff at Roosevelt wanted to make them feel welcome and at home.
Under the leadership of Jenny Jarulzeski, the public relations coordinator at Roosevelt, she worked with both schools to coordinate the free performance. Kim Jonny, the director, along with teacher coordinators Terese Guerriero and Kristine Zimmermann spearheaded the efforts of preparing the students for the show. Guerriero, whose son Frank played the White Rabbit in the show, said it is terrible what happened to Brookside School, but hopes the performance will bring everyone together.
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Blake, an eighth grade student, who played the Mad Hatter in the show, has acted in every show in the past three years. As a thespian his desire to be on stage is always there, but he was especially excited to put on the show for the Brookside students, he said.
“I think it’s good because they had a lot of bad stuff happen to them,” Blake said. “I like to think that Roosevelt will always be a step up.”
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Between 50 and 60 smiling parents, teachers and children filled the auditorium for the play. After being separated from each other all year, the students of Brookside were finally together.
“I think it’s fantastic,” said Ann Winn, who was there with her 8-year-old son Jake and her 6-year-old daughter Hannah. “It should be good to see everybody.”
In the past week, the boosters and advertisements for the show have raised money for the Brookside school. Additionally, there will be more cans and boosters available during the performances over the weekend to support the school.
