PHS’s Spectacle Theatre brought a classic comedy to life this year with “Groundhog Day: The Musical” from March 13–15 in the Performing Arts Center. Based on the 1993 film of the same name, the musical follows Phil Connors, a weatherman who finds himself reliving Groundhog Day over and over again in the small town of Punxsutawney. Directed by drama teacher Julianna Krawiecki, the show highlighted the talents of the students involved through acting, music, dancing, and stage management.

“Last year, after we did “Beauty and the Beast,” I sat down and thought about what is a great contrast to this musical ... how do we make sure we give them a very different experience but do something that’s new and challenging and exciting, and “Groundhog Day” [is] very different from anything we’ve done,” said Krawiecki.

Bringing “Groundhog Day” to the stage required months of dedication from the cast, orchestra, and crew. With its fast-paced musical numbers, and intricate technical elements, the show posed unique challenges for everyone involved. From vocal rehearsals with PHS Choir Director
Vincent Metallo to going through scenes under the direction of Krawiecki, students in the cast and PHS Orchestra gave their all to perfect their performances while the tech crew spent hours building the set.

“Basically, as soon as the fall play was over ... we started
building the [set for the] musical because we knew that
it was going to be a huge undertaking. We’ve never done
a turntable before, so there was a lot that we wanted to
get figured out early. So we’ve been working on this [for]
eight to 10, 12, [or]14 weeks at this point,” said Jeffrey Van
Velsor, Set Designer and Technical Director for the show.

Being a member of the musical required dedication and
time management skills, as students spent a lot of time
after school rehearsing.

“The most challenging part [for me was] the amount of
time it [took]. Rehearsals [started] at 5:30 p.m. but they
often [went] past 8 p.m., and while it [was] a lot of fun, it
[could] be really time-consuming,” said cast member Ivy
Cordle ’27.

Music was a key element of the musical, with the orchestra
playing a central role. The PHS Orchestra rehearsed alongside the cast members, ensuring a seamless integration
of live music and performance that brought energy and
excitement to the show.

“Groundhog Day is a contemporary show. The genre
of the music is very upbeat pop [and] rock pop, so it’s [a]
very unique style, and that contemporary musical, more
modern musical, [brought] new challenges,” said Metallo.

PHS Orchestra, which provided a live soundtrack for the
show, faced the challenge of coordinating with the action
on stage as they were playing.

“There’s a lot of effort required ... to keep track of the
actors’ movements and lines. It’s hard to focus on just the
music when there are so many other things to consider,”
said Emily Leng ’27, a flautist in PHS Orchestra.

With months of hard work behind them, the cast, crew,
and orchestra delivered a performance that captivated
audiences over the three-night run. From the high-energy
musical numbers to the emotional character moments,
Groundhog Day was a testament to the dedication and
talent of PHS’s theater community.

Photo: Katherine Chen

Maxime DeVico ’27, Julia Scibienski ’27, Noa Zacks ’25, Sebastian Bongiovi ’25, Milania Kapoor ’27, Elena Barreto ’27, Judy Pwee ’27, Sanya Bhatt ’28, Sophie Mueller ’28, Daniel Spitkovsky ’27, Tara Venkatesh ’28, Sylven Waldman ’25, Ash Nieman ’26, and Anna Kaufman ’26 perform the number “Day One — Punxsutawney Phil” in “Groundhog Day.”

Cast, crew, and orchestra shine in “Groundhog Day” musical

The annual Black History Month Assembly took place during a 60-minute homeroom on February 27, where students experienced a snapshot into Black culture. Student leaders from the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) and Pride, Unity, Leadership, Sisterhood, and Esteem (PULSE) were heavily involved in the planning for this event, after various concerns about the assembly were brought up to the PHS administration by these students.

“In terms of actually planning for this year, it’s been since the beginning of the school year. The students met with Ms. Birge and had to advocate for it to happen during the school day and we got approval for that in October,” said Bethany Siddiqu, the advisor of PULSE.

The discussion centered around concerns from the administration that previous assemblies had limited educational value and created issues with student attendance. In a response to an email from *The Tower*, Princeton Parents for Black Children (PPBC), a group aiming to advance equity for Black students, criticized PHS administration’s comments about the assembly.

“The administration made unfortunate and inaccurate comments about the relationship of the cultural assemblies to student absences and academic performances,” said the organization. “The comments seemed to be excuses to validate eliminating or diminishing the assemblies... It simply perpetuated the difficult environment students have complained about for years.”

Following negotiations with various student groups, including PULSE and MSAN, PPBC acknowledges the administration’s willingness to work with students.

“We understand that the planning has gone through many ideations and iterations as the PHS administration has become more aware of its importance. We believe PPBC’s meeting with Ms. Birge and vocal student advocacy has helped the administration gain some perspective,” PPBC said in a statement.

As a student organizer of the assembly, Will Ponder ’25 has overseen several changes aimed to make it more interactive.

“[We will add more] scripts and more acting and we’re also adding a little bit of a fashion show, so we’re gonna be able to incorporate more things than last year [because] we have more time,” said Ponder.

President of PULSE, Lena Hamilton ’25, emphasized that continuing to have vibrant cultural assemblies is critical in ensuring students, especially minority students, feel more seen.

“It’s really important that schools have assemblies like the Black History assembly, because especially in our current political climate, it’s important to celebrate our differences and our various cultural values and share that we’re not all the same, [which is] kind of a good thing. [We] can celebrate how we’re different and how we each contribute to the foundation of society,” said Hamilton.

Patricia Manhart, a racial literacy and social studies teacher at PHS, agreed that while the Black History Month assembly celebrates and represents Black history, teachers need to continue to do work within their curriculum to be representative and inclusive.

“There’s way too much history for it to just to be one day, right? It is the job of teachers to make sure that our curriculum is representative, inclusive, and covers all of U.S. history, and it doesn’t just sort of cherry-pick or take a white, Eurocentric approach,” said Manhart.

Siddiqu echoed Manhart’s sentiments for continued and increased representation of Black history in school curricula.

“I think the ... ultimate goal would be for Black history, and any other cultural history, to just be embedded in everything that we do here at the school. I think that’s the long-term goal,” said Siddiqu.


Photo: Charley Hu

Arianna Malave ’26 and Marissa Moreno ’26 rehearse a dance to “Wade in the Water” by Ramsey Lewis.

PHS hosts Black History Month Assembly

The Congressional Art Competition, sponsored by New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, is a yearly event that recognizes artistic works produced by high schoolers. An exhibit is held in Trenton until the end of May and this year, several Princeton High School students from different levels of art classes were selected to have their pieces showcased. Among these students were Charlotte Regnault, Grace Waldman, Kyuyoung Chung, Luis Santos Solares, Rebecca Zhang, Ngozi O’Keke-Agulu, Drew Trenfield, and Sylvia Schreiber. Winners from each district, recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington D.C., will have their art displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year.
Works of varying mediums were selected,  and each artist sought to express themselves in a unique and individual way. Most of the works submitted by PHS students were “identity prints,” meaning that they conveyed the artist’s individuality; how they perceive themselves, or how they are perceived by others.
“[The art] was all about [the artists’] identity, and how they really express themselves as people and the symbolic aspects of how they represent themselves,” said Judy Buckley, an art teacher at PHS who has taught some of the students selected, as well as encouraged them to participate in the competition.
Grace Waldman ’25 ended up choosing to submit a collage that was part of a series of self-portraits on self-reflection that she created for the competition.
 “I hope to convey the different layers that there are to an identity. We're all wildly different individuals, I wanted to convey the internal and external layers of myself; represented by the words, phrases, and select images combined with my print,” Waldman said.
Waldman sees the competition more as an opportunity for young artists, from varying backgrounds and with unique ideas, to share what they have created with each other and learn from others as opposed to a contest where there is a designated winner.
“Art is something that we all have inside of us. And we all express it in a different way so it’s really great to be a part of that creative experience and share what you do with other kids,” said Waldman.

PHS Students compete in Congressional Art Exhibit

Latinos Unidos is one of many culture-centered clubs at Princeton-High-School. On June 3rd, the club hosted their annual festival to celebrate Latin American culture. The event, which took place on the PHS front lawn, offered traditional food, music, and activities from different parts of Latin America, for PHS students as well as parents. The festival, along with the club in general, is a way for members of the PHS community to connect on a cultural level while learning more about Latin American cultures.
“We hold events such as these to bring the community together and encourage others to get insight on what our club does and what it is about,” said Valeria Trullijo, a member of the club.
Leaders and members of the club must be able to overcome the obstacles that come with the process of the event’s organization, one of these being complications regarding the matter of funding.
“Everything costs money. And we were trying to fundraise. Luckily, the PREA, which is the teacher union, really sponsors us. And we're grateful for that. But finding that support is always a challenge,” said Spanish teacher Idania Rodriguez-Mejia, a leader of Latinos Unidos.
Latinos Unidos tries to organize at least one big annual event, typically at the end of the school year, in order to draw attention to the club for the coming year. The event also aims to make members of PHS’s Latin American community feel more welcomed within Princeton. 
“[Princeton is] a white dominated [town]. So as a Latino, I'm super grateful to be able to speak both languages, Spanish and English,” says Osbaldo Moralez, the club president. “But [for a] Latino who only knows Spanish, it's really hard to get access to things. [Latinos Unidos] is able to show them that they have support. I hope they can see that there are people that are behind them that are able to support them to make sure that they're not alone. And that for me is the goal [of the event].”

Behind the scenes of this year's Festival Latino

Born and raised in Cranbury, New Jersey, Jennifer Li served as a Peer Group leader, a trumpet player in Studio Band, and participated in various community service activities as a student at PHS. Now, having worked as a math teacher at PHS for six years, Li teaches Pre-Calculus Accelerated, Applications and Modeling of Math, and AP Calculus AB and BC within the classrooms she used to sit in as a student. 
Li credits much of her initial desire to pursue a job in the educational field to the meaningful relationships she built with PHS teachers as a high schooler. Continuing her heavy involvement with PHS’s community and extracurriculars, Li currently serves as Student Council Advisor and has worked as a Music Mentoring program substitute teacher and Speech and Debate coach in the past. Through these activities, Li hopes to serve as a mentor figure for students both in and outside of her math classes.
“The different things I experienced as a student here make me a teacher that is more approachable. [It] gives me [a] unique connection to students in that I went through the same things [they] did,” said Li. “I had a lot of different inspiring teachers [here], and the connections I had here with my teachers made me want to come back and teach here. Mr. Bongiovi actually had a great influence on [me] and made me feel like [teaching] would be a fun career.”
Within the walls of her own classroom, Li strives to create an environment where students are not afraid to ask questions or make mistakes, especially in classes with curriculums that students often feel intimidated by, such as Pre-Calculus Accelerated. To address students’ unfamiliarity with new and complex concepts, Li tries to explore the practical application of them.
“Math is in so many different things in the real world, even if we don’t realize it. Everybody’s using that in their daily lives,” said Li. “In my Applications and Modeling of Math class, we’re working on a project on how to buy a car. That’s [something] people actually experience in real life, so I think that’s important to be able to learn about that now.”
To help maximize student engagement with course material, Li creates colorful in-class presentations and answer keys for study reference, drawing from her long time hobby of bullet journaling and calligraphy. However, throughout her time and experiences as a teacher, Li has learned that maintaining a patient attitude in the classroom is the best way to address student disengagement.
“Being a teacher, you often have to reteach things or be okay with kids who aren’t always paying attention and give them the chance to learn again [at] other times,” Li said. 
Li’s patient approach to teaching is noticed by her students. Carina He ’26, a student in Li’s Pre-Calculus Accelerated class, appreciates Li’s ability to create a learning environment that fits the needs of each student. 
“She puts a lot of effort into the work that she does, and she’s a really kind person,” said He. “In class, she pays a lot of attention to student participation, comprehension, and engagement.” 
Li always planned to have a teaching career. Growing up, Li’s father, an avid tuba player, encouraged her initial dream of being a music teacher, fostering her love for music. Taking after her father’s musicianship, Li began experimenting with instruments, playing piano, then the violin and later the trombone at Cranbury Middle School before ultimately choosing to play trumpet at PHS. Driven by her skills in multiple instruments and her participation in Studio Band, Li applied to various music programs including those of the Berklee College of Music, University of the Arts, UMass Amherst, Penn State, and Duquesne University. 
“I did not get into music school. Auditions were always something I was really bad at,” said Li. “My dad actually wanted me to keep pursuing music school and take a gap year to practice more, just to get more comfortable with that whole process.”
However, Li decided that continuing her education in college the following year was more important, and, drawing from her affinity for math in school, Li decided to major in math and received her bachelor’s degree from UMass Amherst. Li combined her plans to enter an educational career with her college education and taught as a teaching assistant for undergraduate college classes. 
“When I was a teaching assistant, I really liked helping my peers understand the content and being able to have that moment of ‘oh, I get it’,” Li said.
After bumping into her former physics teacher, Mark Higgins, at the gym, Li learned about an open position in PHS’s math department. Seeing it as both an opportunity to fulfill her aspirations for teaching and reconnect with her alma mater, Li ended up applying for and receiving the position of math teacher at PHS. 
“I’m actually super happy with the path I ended up on, because I wouldn’t be able to work here at PHS if I continued pursuing music,” said Li. “The culture at PHS is so different from a lot of typical high schools.” 
In her limited free time, Li enjoys playing at Tuba Christmases, a holiday gathering of tuba players, with her father during the holiday season. Despite her teaching schedule, Li still makes time for maintaining her physical health and frequents the gym, often attending gym classes and initiating workout sessions with other teachers in PHS’s math department. 
“I love the relationships I get to build [here],” said Li. “It’s crazy that I’ve seen a few rounds of students starting as freshmen and then graduating here now, and some of them I’ve still kept in touch with after graduation. I love people and being able to work with people, whether it’s my coworkers, colleagues, or the students that I get to teach.”

PHS Profile: Jennifer Li

From April 12­–14, PHS’s Ethics Bowl team traveled to UNC-Chapel Hill Campus in North Carolina to compete in the 2024 National High School Ethics Bowl Championships, an annual competition where two teams face each other to discuss and evaluate case studies with moral questions or dilemmas. Facing 24 teams from across the nation, PHS’s Ethics Bowl team engaged in a series of riveting discussions on ethical dilemmas, placing fifth overall and winning the Judges’ Choice Award. 
In order to qualify for nationals, each team had to win their respective regional Ethics Bowl competitions. Back in November, the PHS Ethics Bowl team began preparing for the New Jersey High School Ethics Bowl competition that they won in February. During their preparations for nationals, the Ethics Bowl team scrutinized numerous philosophical topics and practiced employing analytical strategies that they have developed throughout their past meetings. 
Unlike other discussion-based competitions, such as debate, where judges are instructed to discard their biases, ethics bowl judges may bring in outside knowledge or their own opinions during the rounds. As a result, co-captain Amanda Sun ’24 explains that the questions posed by judges and opposing teams during the tournament rounds are idiosyncratic, often making them challenging for the team to answer on the spot. 
“Personal opinions can influence the judges’ decisions when asking us hard questions or giving lower points ... but we just have to try our best and just present what we came to the table with,” Sun said. 
In addition to addressing judges’ varying moral beliefs, the team members also had to discuss differences in their own ethical values in order to reach a consensus on a moral framework to apply to potential cases during the national tournament.
“We [spent] so many hours on the plane, in the hotel rooms, in the classrooms, just talking to each other about the cases and just trying to figure out how to resolve each of our individual beliefs and disagreements,” Sun said. 
While competing with students from across the nation, PHS’s team also noted that the geographical origin of other teams influenced how they approached the same moral questions.
“We got to see other people’s perspectives for the first time on these new cases and be exposed to new ideas, as opposed to just kind of agreeing with ourselves over and over again,” said Sun. “The teams were more diverse geographically. People in the South have different concerns than those in the West and the East for example, so it was interesting to see how philosophy is taught in different areas.”
The geographical diversity of the competing teams was paired with a diverse set of judges with different areas of focus in philosophy. 
“One judge got really detailed with John Locke’s specific language for the social contract, which we hadn’t foreseen,” said Nikolai Margulis ’25. “One of our cases focused on the morality of speculating about Taylor Swift’s sexuality. We were asked if pop stars and politicians should be held to different standards in regard to publicity with their private lives.”
The team not only treated the tournament as a chance to broaden their perspectives on ethical viewpoints but also to explore local eateries and events, attending a bluegrass concert and dining out at fro-yo spots. For Margulis, the highlight of the entire experience was the down-to-earth atmosphere during the competition.
“We were all amazed by the spirit of genuine interest in discussion that seemed to fill every match. There was definitely an air of gratitude and excitement among each team,” Margulis said.

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