RAHWAY, NJ – Wednesday, Sept. 3, was the first day of school in the Rahway Public Schools. It was also the day that the new gym floor was formally unveiled at Rahway High School. Prior to the start of the girls volleyball team’s opening game against Union High School, a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place, celebrating the new gym floor.
Along with the teams and coaches, those in attendance included acting Athletic Director Tricia Volino-Reinoso; Mayor Raymond A. Giacobbe; Superintendent Aleya Shoieb; Director of Curriculum and Instruction Tiffany Beer; Director of Human Resources Roseann Walker; Rahway Board of Education President Joseph Toma; other members of the BOE; and Rahway Public Schools faculty and staff, among others.
The RHS cheerleading squad even performed, setting a school-spirited mood for the activities to come.
The gym floor, which serves as the home court for both basketball and volleyball, features a new Rahway logo at the center, which Volino-Reinoso, in her welcoming remarks, addressed.
She noted, among other interesting features, that the logo, while adhering to the style and symbolic import of the district’s previous emblems, was intentionally designed devoid of the traditional Lenni Lenape feathers, in consideration of the fact that the logo would be one, unlike those on walls or signs or letterhead, that would appear beneath the feet of the athletes as they practiced and competed.
Additionally, the logo is unique for its creative blending of both basketball and volleyball in the design, with one half of each sport’s ball forming an original whole.
Giacobbe also spoke briefly, expressing his pride in the newly finished floor, noting movingly that he himself is a “Volleyball Dad” because his late daughter, Bella, was a player and a coach.
Toma wrapped up the formal speeches just prior to the much-anticipated ribbon-cutting itself.
Then it was time to bring out those traditional oversized scissors. Shoieb did the honors, as a who’s who of Rahway notables from both the schools and the city gathered around her.
The designers of the new logo are Kenneth Bell and Camara Edwards, of Halsey and Oak Design, both RHS graduates, who have worked on previous projects for the district.
They expressed pride in the design they came up with and were especially pleased that so many of their ideas and creative initiatives were accepted in the final product, as they worked collaboratively with Shoieb, Volino-Reinoso and other members of the district.
“We were really taken aback when we saw the final product,” they said. “It’s great to see our work out there.”
Article by David Brighouse.
