BHS seniors take on 2 causes

When the Bayonne High School senior class was asked to be an example for the rest of the district, the students stepped up to the responsibility and decided to honor a recently deceased classmate in the process.

When the Bayonne Board of Education announced plans for an effort to collect school supplies for the young victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast states, the senior class was asked to lead by example.

Yesterday the senior class council members presented their contributions to Carol Christie, a school secretary and volunteer for the Operation Interdependence group that organized the fund-raiser, and Leonard Janes, the father of Bayonne High School senior Daniel Janes, who died suddenly a month ago.

"This was a way of honoring his memory and, at the same time, a way of helping those people that lost a lot," said Gloria Pazmino, a senior class council member.

Joseph Barbero, the senior class advisor and Daniel Janes' homeroom teacher, said "the turnout was great."

That was evident yesterday as his homeroom was filled to the brim with backpacks, crayons, notebooks, folders and other educational tools that senior-class students and teachers purchased for the effort.

"We felt a need to give back and what better way to help them than through education with the supplies," said Mabinty Youla, another senior council member.

Irene Rosenthal, a math teacher, said she was very successful in soliciting goods from various craft and supplies stores, in addition to the supplies purchased by students and the funds collected by senior homeroom teachers.

"I would just go in and tell them (the stores) what we were doing and many of them donated very generously," she said.

Leonard Janes said he was pleased with the tribute to his son and is also encouraged by donations made so far to the Daniel Lawrence Janes Scholarship Fund, which the school has helped him organize.

Janes said that $1,200 has been raised through the school and also through Unique Books, which he owns.

The fund will award a $250 annual scholarship to a senior who is planning a career in writing or journalism. His goal is $10,000 he added.

"I think a lasting memorial would be the scholarship, but this is definitely nice," he added.