Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • August 14, 2013 Allendale Dworkin awarded National Eagle Scout Scholarship Gregory Dworkin of Allendale Boy Scout Troop 59 was recently awarded a National Eagle Scout Association 2013 Merit Scholarship of $1,000. More than 5,000 NESA scholarship applications are received each year, and fewer than 225 are awarded across the country. Dworkin, a life-long Scout, earned the Eagle rank in 2012 during his junior year at Northern Highlands High School. Along with earning the required merit badges and serving in various troop leadership roles, he completed an involved service project. Dworkin planned and designed a garden pergola for the Westwood Spectrum for Living adult day care facility, and led other Scouts in the con- struction. Dworkin’s Scouting activities have included High Adventure Trips with a 10-day backpacking trip at the National Boy Scout Camp in Philmont, New Mexico and sailing trips to the Florida Keys and Bahamas with Troop 59 and fellow Boy Scouts in Ho-Ho-Kus Troop 54. He attended the 2010 National Jamboree in Virginia with Troop 508, which included Boy Scouts from Allendale, Upper Saddle River, Fair Lawn, and Elmwood Park. In 2011, he attended the World Jamboree in Sweden with Troop 70006, which represents the tri-state area. In addition to his Scouting activities, Dworkin served as student ambassador for incoming Northern Highlands freshmen, participated in DECA, and played basketball and lacrosse throughout his high school years. In September, he will attend Stetson University in Deland, Florida as a marketing major. Eagle Scout Gregory Dworkin. (Photo courtesy of Troop 59.) Highlands teachers have contract The Northern Highlands Education Association now has a contract for 2.3 percent annual raises through 2015 retroactive to July 1, 2012. Each side praised the other for cooperation at the July 29 meeting when both sides concurred. The teachers had been working without a new contract for about a year while negotiations continued. NHEA President Brian Belluzi said in a prepared state- ment that the NHEA appreciated the way the board expe- dited the signing once the NHEA ratified the negotiated contract in late June. He said he recognized the cooperation of the board’s negotiating team during a long and arduous process. School Board President Barbara Garand said that the agreement took a lot of time and involved compromise. J. KOSTER