To see a complete list of prizes or to purchase tickets, which cost $50, please visit the Juniors’ Web site and click on the Mardi Gras icon.

One lucky visitor (14 or older) will win the chance to experience circus magic from a unique perspective — as a full-fledged, baggy-pants clown. Get made up by an actual Ringling Brothers clown, be outfitted in an authentic clown costume and make the audience roar with laughter, as you perform with Clown Alley during the All Access Preshow at the Prudential Center on Friday, March 2 at 6:30 p.m. The lucky winner will also receive a family four-pack of tickets to that evening’s show. Other prizes include an original work of art by the “Pachyderm Picasso” of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey and family four-packs of tickets to the Greatest Show on Earth.

From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. all weekend long, the museum’s garden and galleries will be transformed into a three-ringed extravaganza. Kids can learn to juggle, spin plates in the air, take a turn on a trapeze and even walk a tightrope as they learn the theories of balance, centrifugal force, motion and gravity. This is a very popular weekend, so if you’re going to go, you should get there early.

There will be Ringling Bros. clown shows at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., and magic shows at 12:30, 2:30 and 4:40 p.m. Admission to Circus Science, including either the
clown or magic show performance, is $10 for adults and $6 for seniors and children under 12. Tickets for additional performances may be purchased for $3 each. Members are admitted free of charge. All Museum workshops and exhibitions, including guided tours are free and open to the public. Tickets for programs and performances are provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Groups of 25 or more may call 973-596-5150 for advance ticket purchase.

Students are eligible for the list if they earn at least a 3.2 grade-point-average on a 4.0 scale while taking 15 or more letter-grade credit hours. They are also eligible if they earn a 3.5 grade-point-average while taking at least 12 letter-grade credit hours. Students must have no grades lower than a “C.” On a 4.0 scale, “A” equals 4, “B” equals 3 and “C” equals 2.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill appears on more than 20 national lists of schools, programs and specialty areas newly ranked for 2011 by U.S. News and World Report for the 2012 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” It is ranked first among the 100 U.S. public colleges and universities that offer students high-quality academics at an affordable price as ranked by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. In the fall of 2011, UNC enrolled 4,026 first-year students from a record 23,753 applications. Eighty percent graduated in the top 10% of their high school class, and they posted an average 1300 on the SAT.

There are two free information sessions available to find out more:

Tuesday, February 7, 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
Saturday, February 25, 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

The six week sessions cost $110 and the Y is offering free nursery care for children whose parents are attending.

If you have any questions, call Cynthia Garcia at the Geyer Family YMCA: 973-415-6124

photo courtesy of miskan/ Flickr

The Verona-Glen Ridge Hockey Team will host its annual “Friends and Family Skate” at the Codey Arena on Sunday, February 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. Admission is free to all Verona and Glen Ridge residents, and you can rent skates for just $3. Donations for VGR Hockey will be accepted at the event.

Bands like Angmar, Feux Johnny, Fusion, Leo’s Arrow, The Loop and Where Eagles Dare from Verona, and NaH from Little Falls (they have cousins in Verona). Take a minute to get to know the bands, and the artist who won the contest to design this year’s logo.

THE ARTIST
VHS senior Tim Hatcher took his first graphic arts class this year, and it turned into him becoming the winning artist for the competition to design the Cops & Rockers logo.  “I started out trying to make something with a skull and crossbones and it looked awful,” he says. The final design evolved from random sketches of instruments–amply critiqued by his friend and fellow senior Kate Percevault.” As Hatcher and the other graphic students finished their work, it was posted to an internal Web site where students could vote anonymously for their favorites. Hatcher’s design advanced, but he didn’t think much of it. And then one day he got called down to the office of VHS Principal Glenn Cesa. “I show up and a police officer is there,” says Hatcher. “They asked me, with straight faces, to sit down,” he recalls. “And then they both started laughing and told me I won the competition. It was priceless.” Hatcher’s design was used on the tickets and posters, and you can buy it on a T-shirt tonight at the show.

THE BANDS

ANGMAR
If you were at last year’s show, you remember Angmar, a wild, loud ride of heavy metal and heavy showmanship. If you know your Tolkien, you’ve already guessed that the band’s name comes from Lord of the Rings:  Angmar is the mythical place where the Witch King resides. Though the bands in the Cops & Rockers were only required to perform one original song, all of Angmar’s are its own creations. The titles are “Fallen, Forgotten”, “As Shadows Rise”, and “Tiamat”. When not at Cops & Rockers, band members Conor Lawless, Brian Fong, Tyler Butkovsky and Ryan Cardoza perform anywhere they can, including most recently Champions Bar and Grill in Trenton. You can download the demo of “Fallen, Forgotten” here.

FEUX JOHNNY
“Feux” is a French term used before the name of someone who has passed on. We’re not sure who Johnny was, but Feux Johnny is Giancarlo Cordasco, Alex Campbell and Patrick Cichetti. Inspired by California funk, the band likes to play funk covers like tunes from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

FUSION
The name is Fusion, as in a melding of musical interests and they were the winners of last year’s Cops & Rockers.  “We were impressed that we won,” says vocalist Austin Williams. “We were the only band that had any freshmen and we were almost entirely freshmen. In addition to Williams, now a sophomore, the band includes Steve Wynen, Andrew Capuano, Nick Celfo and Ryan Yeates.  They are going to be performing an original song “I Want To Be” and covers of “The Anthem”, “Dying in your Arms”, and “Monkey Wrench”. Since winning Cops & Rockers 2011, they have performed at the Presbyterian church in Montclair, Battle of the Bands in Sparta, Our Lady of the Lake’s Kinderfest and some private parties. As a result,  the band is promising an amped-up stage presence this year. “We’ll be doing much more of a performance than a list of songs,” says Yeates. And the band, several of whose members perform in the regular VHS band, has focused on getting their music tight. “All that training from Mr. Lynch comes in handy,” says Williams. (Listen to a song)

Angmar: Tyler Butkovsky, Conor Lawless, Ryan Cardoza, Brian Fong,

LEO’S ARROW
Watching Evan Yee, Mike Bartell, Matt Bartell, Patrick Sullivan and Torsten Kolind on stage, you might not think that, around VHS, they are thought of as quiet guys. The band, which got its name after a flash of cell phone messages about lions, draws its inspiration from groups as diverse as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Vampire Weekend, Weezer, and even a Japanese band they discovered through YouTube. Their original song is entitle “Home”. “Mike came up with a good guitar line and we decided to build a song around it,” says Yee. They’ll be doing covers of “My Own Worst Enemy”, “Dammit” and “Handlebars”. This is their second Cops & Rockers, and they are gunning for the big prize. “If people haven’t seen us perform, they should,” says Sullivan.

THE LOOP
The Loop loops together musicians from middle school through through college: Theresa Courter, Joey and Nick Fierro, Chris Ehrich and Chris Buneo. The made a splash at Kinderfest last fall after performing at summer parties around town. Their original song is called “Drowning in Reality” and Courter says the lyrics were inspired by her first semester at college. “I was overwhelmed, but it all ends on a good note”, she says. Their covers will be “I Love Rock and Roll”, “The Ocean” (band members are big Led Zeppelin fans) and a rock version Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”. Courter, who goes by the stage name Tersa, just recorded a demo at a studio in Montclair. Look for it on iTunes.

NAH
NaH got its name during an 8th grade talent show in their home town of Little Falls. “We were interviewed,” recalls member Ben Shooter, “and upon being asked if we had a band name, one of us replied ‘nah’.” The band’s members all attend Passaic Valley High School, and play in its band and jazz band programs. Their original song tonight is “The Best Of You” and it was inspired by Guns n’ Roses and Saigon Saloon. Their covers are “Monolithic” and “The Time Warp”, from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Shooter and band members RJ Challice, and Zach Thomas, have played at Waynestock, Hey Jude and The Fine Grind in Little Falls, and the Canvas Clash in Boonton.

 WHERE EAGLES DARE
The band’s name? It’s the title of a song by Iron Maiden and The Misfits, and last year, they dared to take their first try at Cops & Rockers last year. Comprised of seniors Isaac Rubins, Dom Gagliano and Mike Basil and sophomore Nick Celfo, the band says that what they learned from that experience is that, says Gagliano, “it’s all about having fun and playing good music.” Their original song is called “Lunch Break”, written by Rubins and a follow up to an instrumental the band wrote last year, “Bathroom Break”. Their covers are “Am I Evil?”, “A Passage to Bangkok” and “No Remorse”.

Seven teen bands will take the stage (two were lost to illness and school commitments). You’ll get to hear them all and vote, by cell phone for your favorite. You can get ready to vote right now by following MyVeronaNJ.com’s Twitter page, where we’ll be broadcasting all the voting. (If you don’t have an unlimited texting plan on your phone, standard message rates will apply.) The doors open at 5 p.m. and the music starts at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door.

Tufts University, located on three Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville, and Grafton, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions.
A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across the university’s schools is widely encouraged.

The contest rules are as follows:

* Writers must be Essex County residents who are 60 years of age or older.
* Entries should be original stories focusing on a special person, a life-altering experience or a significant period in your life.
* The suggested maximum length is 1,500 words.
* Stories must be typed or legibly hand-written on 8.5-by-11 inch paper.
* Entries must have a cover page with the author’s name, date of birth, address and telephone number.
* The story title with no identifying information should appear on the first page of the story text. All identifying information about the author is removed when stories are judged by the review committee.
* Seniors may submit only one entry.
* Previously published stories may not be submitted.
* Seniors should keep a copy of the story. Entries will not be returned.
* The deadline for entries is Monday, March 19, 2012. Late entries will not be accepted.

Stories should be sent to the following:

Essex County Division of Senior Services

Attn: Legacies Contest

900 Bloomfield Avenue

Verona, NJ 07044

All writers who submit stories will be invited to the Division of Senior Services Legacies Luncheon Celebration in May 2012. Awards will be presented to the authors of the winning and honorable mention stories. These stories will be published in the Essex Advisor.

For a complete list of contest rules or for more information, please call the Essex County Division of Senior Services at 973-395-8375.

Good luck and happy writing!

The hunt at those locations will continue on Tuesdays February 7, 14 and 21 and Thursdays February 9, 16 and 23. Ten hunters will be deployed at the Hilltop and former Essex County Hospital site, the largest group at any location because the county believes that the deer population remains so large there.

The Hilltop will be closed to hiking and recreation on hunt days, as will much of Eagle Rock (you can still get to the Highlawn Pavilion). Fairview Avenue will be shut from Durrell Street to Myrtle Avenue in Cedar Grove, so watch for detour signs.

Cummings has played in 11 games for the Hillbilly girls’ basketball team this season, and she has come away with points in all but two. In Verona’s victory over Cedar Grove last week, Cummings put up six points of the 30-28 final score.

Basketball isn’t the only sport she has played at Verona High School, where she has also been a fairly consistent presence on the honor rolls, too. Co-Captain Cummings was a key part of the defense for the Verona girls soccer team that went all the way to the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 1, Group 1 title. Along the way, she had a hand in nine shutouts.

During the 2011-2012 school year, the Verona Sports Boosters will be recognizing a different senior athlete at Verona High School every week. The Boosters support male and female athletes in all VHS sports through a variety of fundraisers and recognition events.