At our next meeting

All Optimists and all Watchung residents should be interested in hearing about the planned school construction projects. Invite your friends and neighbors to hear representatives from the Board of Education, at O'Connor's on Monday, June 18, 7:00 PM

Good Sports

At our last meeting, on June 1, Russ Schumacher and Bob Beckert hosted the annual Sports Awards Dinner, honoring the Watchung Hills athletes whose performance and attitude best exemplifies the Optimist Creed. This years winners were:

Boys Cross-Country	Jason Kellogg	Girls Cross-Country	Kate Kober
Boys Soccer	Dan Palla	Girls Soccer	Beth Haddican
Boys Swimming	Dave Berlin	Girls Swimming	Jen Guerriero
Boys Tennis	Jon Byk	Girls Tennis	Jenny Milliman
Boys Track & Field	Dave Donio	Girls Track & Field	Amanda Chesshire
Boys Golf	Adam Schaffler	Girls Field Hockey	Stephanie Fine
Boys Baseball	Tim Coker	Girls Softball	Kim Blackadar
Boys Football	Michael Sasso	Girls Basketball	Michelle Kim
Boys Wrestling	Mike Cain

Bill Pavlak, Director of Wrestling at South Plainfield High School, spoke about his life in sports, and how the experiences he had as a young athlete shaped his attitudes about coaching and about life. College Athlete of the Year, Lauren Reynolds, 2000 Gold Medalist as a swimming in the Paralympics, spoke about how she succeeded as a swimmer, despite her disability, and showed a video of her medal-winning performance at the Paralympics in Sydney, Australia.

Focus On Optimism

Also illustrating the Optimist Creed were the Valley View student photographers who participated in our "Focus On Optimism" photo contest. This years winners were:

First Place	Jared Lubetkin	"To forget the mistakes of the past ..."
Second Place	Gia Gulotta	"To think only of the best ..."
Third Place	Laura Gross	"To be too large for worry ..."
Honorable Mentions	Liz Trenk	"To be so strong ..."
	Chis Tomlinson	"To make all your friends feel that there is something in them"
	Ann Urinoski	"To look at the sunny side ..."
	Eric Michelson	"To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others ..."

Valley View Photography Club advisor, Robert Murphy, again did a great job in helping the kids with their photography skills. Heinz Otto once again served as our judge.

This year, we also held a District Photo Contest, but due to conflicting schedules we were unable to get the Watchung photos to the District. However, since Watchung is where this contest began, Gov. Bill Woodard insisted that one of the District prizes be set aside for the Watchung First Place winner, so Jared Lubetkin took home a Sony Discman CD Player, courtesy of K-Mart Corporation. I spoke to Mr. Murphy about holding the Watchung contest a little earlier next years so we'll be ready for the 2002 District contest.

Friday Night Hang-Out

Cathy Ilchert reports that the Friday Night Hang-Out Teen Dance held on May 18th, 2001 was a big hit! Unfortunately, the second one, scheduled for June 15th was cancelled due to a conflict with another 8th grade event. Here's are excerpts from Cathy's report (it's so much easier to write this newsletter when everybody sends me stuff. Keep up the good work!): Wanted to review Friday night's Dance at the Senior's facility in the Watchung Public Library...
The Dance was co-sponsored by the FRIENDS of the Watchung Public Library and the Optimists Club of Watchung. The two groups agreed to split the costs. We were going to charge $5.00 admission fee, but the Library Director and the FRIENDS felt that as all events held at the Library facility are free, this event should be free to the community as well.
Our D.J. was Watchung resident and 10th grader at Watchung Hills Regional High School, Jason Silagi. Jason arrived at 6:00pm with his team of four, including his Dad. They set up while I got the pizza at Marino's: eight plain pies, 4 big bottles of Coke and 3 of Diet Coke.
Catherine and Rich Ilchert and Bob Beckert chaperoned, along with Bob's son Brian, age 3 years, who served as our muscle in case the crowd got out of hand. Luckily we didn't need his help, as our kids were wonderfully well behaved and really enjoyed themselves.
This was a another successful evening with a total of 35 happy teenagers enjoying a safe, fun place on a Friday night right in Watchung. We hope to schedule more of these Friday nights for next year.

Swing and a miss!

The following report is from Doug Walker, who attempted to get our club involved in the Optimist Junior World of Golf tournament:
"We were unable to get into the 2001 Tournament as the available slots filled long before we were finally able to get a date for our Qualifier Tournament.

Big thanks to Al Ellis for being able to finally secure a few slots at Twin Brooks CC and we will look to using them next year.

I've had many conversations with Arnold Stewart (NJ State coordinator) regarding our Club's participation and unfortunately the few (72 total state) were taken and no chance for the stand-by list. I am slated to go on the State Org committee starting next year (hopefully) and will be a Marshall at this year's tournament June 5th. Our team will be there in spirit and both Coach Dan Smith @ WHRHS & Bob Murphy @ Valley View were supportive of next year's participation.

Net net, we will get some positive exposure and also hopefully make our Watchung '02 Tournament a huge success!"

Where in the World?

Sheila Duyckinck gave me the following info on the May 22 Geography Bee at Bayberry, chaired by Bernadette McDonald: "Thought you might like to know I attended and helped read questions for the Geography Bee at Bayberry school today. The event was very successful and was even easier than last year. Shelia Duyckinck, Bernadette DeCastro McDonald, Susan Diana, and Marie Baumle were on hand to help out.
Parents were asking about having a Geography Bee for Valley View. Bernadette said she would look into it for next year."

Congratulations!

Best wishes to newlyweds Rick Dobkin and Lois Rittenhouse.

A taste of wine

The date for the Wine tasting fund-raiser is September 22. It will be held at the home of Myra and Jack Gibson in Watchung.

What a Diehl

I received an email in May, from Glen Diehl and thought this would be the best way to share it:

Joe,
Thank you for continuing to keep me on the mailing list for the newsletter.
It is good to hear news about the Watchung area from time to time.
Things are going well out here for me. I DO enjoy the weather and the recreational activities. This is the land of the San Diego hardbodies...(I'm working on that too). Might even take up golf. My home is on the second tee of the Chula Vista Golf Club. Every day I wake up to something like...thwack!!! "FORE!!! FORE!!! Oh Shit! " Because I live on the course, my greens fees would be under $20. That makes it a bargain.
I have joined the Bonita CA Optimist Club. It is an active group that meets every Thursday morning at 7:00 AM...There is always 30 to 40 members at each meeting. Like the Watchung club, it is made up of business owners, professionals, retirees, and just plain folks. The total membership is supposed to be about 150, but a bunch are inactive or have one or two events they come out for...just like the Watchung club.
Best Wishes to all,
Glen

June Birthdays

Jerry Goldstein(6/2) and John Pennet (6/8) don't look any older, despite having celebrated birthdays this month.

Online Optimists

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