At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, the Hilltopper’s old advisors, Ms. Yaeger and Mrs. Malandrino, teachers of English at Morris Hills High School for multiple decades, retired. But, their legacy is still carried on today with the new advisors, Ms. Petrosino and Ms. Salisbury.
Ms. Petrosino graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master’s in K-12 English Education. She is currently teaching English 9 CPA, English 10 CPA, and AVID English 9 Honors classes and is working towards her second Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Administration at Montclair State University. Ms. Petrosino balances her work and school life by tackling difficult jigsaw puzzles and spending time with her family and friends. She loves to shop and watch television, with some of her favorite TV shows being Grey’s Anatomy, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: Organized Crime, Wheel of Fortune, and Friends.
Ms. Petrosino has a younger brother and is proud of him for becoming a lawyer. He is set to graduate from law school in May and already has a job waiting for him. Speaking of family, Ms. Petrosino would love to visit Malta again as her grandparents were born and raised there. If she could travel anywhere in the world, she would want to visit Australia.
Morris Hills became a second home for Ms. Petrosino. She loves how supportive the administration is of the staff and she feels she can truly be a part of creating a school culture that values respect, cultural diversity, and academic excellence. She knows that Morris Hills is truly a great place to work and learn.
So why the school newspaper? Well, Ms. Petrosino was Editor-in-Chief of her school newspaper in high school. She really enjoyed all the opportunities and experiences of being part of the school newspaper and knew that she would eventually want to become a school newspaper advisor. If she could write one article in the school newspaper, she would want to write about the new staff, an article that creates an environment that is welcoming for the new faces at the school. Ms. Petrosino would love to start and teach a Multimedia/Journalism class in the future here at Hills.
Let’s also introduce Ms. Salisbury, Structured Learning Experience (SLE) Coordinator here at Hills. She helps guide seniors in work experiences. Ms. Salisbury graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University and she is only one class away from completing her Master’s of Education in Educational Technology.
Ms. Salisbury has a loving family of 3: a husband who is a high school vice principal and two children. She loves to go watch her kids play sports and spend time relaxing in the sand on a sunny day at the beach. Going out to dinners with friends is something Ms. Salisbury enjoys looking forward to. She also loves to put in her headphones and listen to audiobooks while exercising at the gym or going on walks.
A fan of Seinfeld, Ms. Salisbury loves to binge her favorite show on her couch at home. Her favorite food is anything she does not have to cook! She would also love to go on a Mediterranean cruise, relaxing, visiting the numerous islands, and eating lots of food.
She joined the Hilltopper community because she feels like she is a part of something important and special. Still new to the school, she loves the diverse community of students and programs offered at Hills and she wants to be a part of that. Her major responsibility for the newspaper is to manage and design the website (mhhilltop.org) and the layout for our print newspaper. It has also allowed her to meet a number of students.
The staff at the Hillopper welcomes Ms. Petrosino and Ms. Salisbury with open arms to the club. They would like to thank them for their guidance and the opportunities they provide for the staff to improve their journalism skills and outreach in the community. Thank you and we cannot wait to see this next chapter of the Hilltopper.