Celebrating the Arts - Dwight-Englewood School

Erica takes a bow after her performance for a
meeting of the New Jersey State Legislature’s
Tourism and the Arts Committee.
With an event as successful
as the Englewood Idol
competition, you can bet
that a number of people are working
pretty hard behind the scenes. Judy
Mitzman Aronson ’78 is one of them.
Aronson is a history teacher at both
Dwight-Morrow High School and The
Academies @ Englewood who helps
to put on the event every year. (She
is also a proud graduate of the Class
of 1978, and counts D-E Alumni
Director Maria Sanchez-Gardner ’78
and D-E parent Linda Reiter ’78 “as
some of my good friends.”) While
music is a passion for the contestants,
Aronson’s passion is clearly
community building, which is
a huge aspect of Englewood Idol.
Aronson explains that Englewood Idol
was the brainchild of community
visionary John Landes, former president
of the Englewood Area Community
Foundation. It was originally designed to
bring together students from three area
high schools: The Dwight-Englewood
School, Dwight Morrow High School, and
the Academies @ Englewood. Today it is
open to all high school students in
Englewood. Says Aronson, “Englewood
“You Raise Me Up” and “America the
Beautiful,” Assemblyman Matthew
W. Milam, the committee’s chairman,
joked that he wished Erica could be
available at regular 15-minute
intervals to sing during the remainder
of the meeting, to “keep the
committee inspired.”
Contestants in Englewood Idol perform
not just for the love of the stage, but
also for prizes donated by local
vendors. Past first place winners of
the Englewood Idol competition have
been granted an all-day recording
session at Bennett Studios in
Englewood coupled with cash prizes
supported by the Englewood Area
Community Foundation. In addition,
this year’s Englewood Idol and 1st and
2nd runners up will be awarded a Dr.
John Grieco Scholarship. The “Idols”
later perform both together and as
soloists at local area community
centers, schools, and senior centers.
Idol is more than a musical competition;
it is a way for Englewood’s high school
students to get to know each other on
a different level, outside of school, and
on their own terms. This event has
become a great way for performing arts
students and staff to get to know and
trust each other.”
Englewood Idol is also the largest
annual fundraiser for the Dr. John
Grieco Scholarship Fund, which is
named after the Englewood public
school superintendent who spearheaded
the creation of the Academies @
Englewood as well as other initiatives.
Aronson is the founder and advisor to
the fund. Organizers of the Idol event
are students in the Dr. John Grieco
Scholarship Fund elective and club,
which focuses on teaching students
all aspects of event management,
from creating budgets to designing
marketing plans to ticket and T-shirt
sales to event production.
Aronson, who lives in Tenafly with her
husband, Mark, and children Jacob, Sam,
Lizzie, and Molly, says that many people
deserve credit for Idol’s success, notably
Dwight-Englewood English teacher and
D-E Well Represented
at Idol Competition
Judy Aronson ’78: Passionate for the Englewood Community
At the 2011 Englewood Idol event, Erica
Butler took top honors, but plenty of other
D-E students performed at the show.
Impressive performances by Gina Marie
Enriquez ’14 and Brian Park ’12 placed them
among the 11 semi-finalists. Lexi Byron ’11,
Kara Byron ’13, Zoe Oz ’13, Taylor Gilroy ’11,
Danni Chalfin ’13, and Erica Klein ’11, who
call their group SixChix, also performed as
dancers and won the title of “Best Dance
Crew.” In addition to these performers, Ethan
First ’11 provided musical accompaniment to
Erica Butler; Michael Hajjar ’11 served as
co-MC; and Alexander Koren ’12 and Andre
Amirsaleh ’13 provided intermission juggling
entertainment. Alan Brown, D-E Upper School
Dean and one of the many enthusiastic fans
in the audience, called the performances
“absolutely electrifying. This was a great night
for Dwight-Englewood School!”
Dance Club advisor Vicky Frankel, who
lends her choreographic talents to the
competition. She says, “The program
[continues to thrive] with incredible
support from people like Vicky Frankel,
and both donated and in-kind support
from organizations such as the Bergen
PAC, Englewood Area Community
Foundation, The Community Chest, TD
Bank, Bennett Studios, and a number
of other local, dedicated organizations
and businesses.”
The approximately $5,000 raised by the
event this year is indeed a big reward, but
it’s not the only one for Aronson. She
relishes the idea that Idol brings students
together. “When performers are on stage,
it is of course great fun for them, but it’s
also a blast to be cheering from the
audience,” she says. “At the end of the
evening you vote for the winner. An
invisible bond forms as the evening goes
on. Kids realize that even though they
attend different schools they have a lot in
common. There’s this magic that takes
over as the evening goes on, and by the
time the Idol is crowned, everyone is on
their feet cheering for the winner, no
matter what school they go to. I love
that moment.”
Spring 2011
19