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DEMAREST – This year’s graduation for the 267 seniors at Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest is a win for students, who almost didn't have a graduation at all because of coronavirus restrictions.

But the ceremonies scheduled for July 8 and 9 may result in some moms and dads not being able to attend due to the start time of 9 a.m. on both days.

Particularly parents who have work schedules that would not accommodate them attending a weekday morning ceremony.

There are two ceremonies to allow for parents and seniors to be in the same place to meet the state’s 500-person limit for outdoor gatherings.

Jonathan Reiss, whose has a son graduating from the school, said he would like to see graduation held on the weekend or even on a weeknight so that it would enable parents to attend like his wife Jodi, who works as an anesthesiologist and has a work schedule that would pose a problem for her to attend.

Reiss said school administration and the Northern Valley Regional High School District Board of Education are aware of his suggestion.

“I thought it was really important for parents, particularly healthcare workers and people who have been furloughed and are just getting back to work and have no flexibility in their schedule,” Reiss said.

Reiss said he and other parents have been told that the reasons for the morning time is that the afternoon or early evening would be reserved in case of rain and that the heat would be worse during a ceremony later in the day.

Kathy Aiello also has a son graduating and thinks holding it on either weekend or weeknight would work better for her family.

“My husband works for the New York City Department of Education and would have to request time off,” Aiello said.

She added, “I have been to graduation for my other four kids who went to the high school and these events have always been around 5 p.m. I don’t think there’s a big difference in the heat from those other times.”

Both Reiss and Aiello said there was support from some school board members to hold the ceremony at a different time.

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James Santana, the superintendent for the Northern Valley Regional High School District, confirmed the reasons for the 9 a.m. start time on both days was due to later times being reserved in case of rain and to not expose students to as much heat.

He also said the morning time was to allow sufficient time to sanitize the field after the first day's ceremony, and if the state somehow reduces the outdoor gathering limit then there's time for extra ceremonies to accommodate all graduates. A ceremony on Saturday and Sunday was ruled out because of religious conflicts and the possibility that some parents will not be able to attend on those days.

“They’re very specifically designed, it was not arbitrary, but very thought out to account for many variables,” Santana said.

Santana said he is aware of the group of parents advocating for the time change, and understands their concerns while trying to balance out what other parents want.

“I can tell you that we have had lots of emails from the other side of it and complaints from parents about us even considering changing direction at this point,” Santana said. “It’s a very divisive issue in our community right now that we are trying to work through.”

He also said the two-day ceremony could possibly change depending on the results of a survey sent out to parents and students that ends on Friday asking if they still want the two-day ceremony with parents or a one-day event with just students. But he said there must be a 65% response to the survey for the results to be considered.

Ricardo Kaulessar is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

DEMAREST — Taylor Miller made the difference, and Demarest is back to being a sectional champion in girls volleyball.

Miller spiked the winning kill – her 32nd of the match – in Tuesday’s North 1, Group 2 final against River Dell. The No. 3 seed Norsewomen rallied for a 27-29, 25-12, 25-9 victory and their ninth sectional title since 2011.

No. 4 River Dell came back from an early 6-2 deficit in the first set and nearly climbed out of a 9-1 hole in the second, getting as close as 9-7 before Miller and Netta Saban got the Demarest attack rolling.

“A 29-27 game can knock you down, and you could go out in two,” Norsewomen coach Beth Powell said. “So, the fact that we were able to come back in the second set and then own the third, that is going to keep us up for the next round.”

Demarest (21-4) advanced to Thursday’s NJSIAA semifinals and will face North 2 champion Montville.

What it means

This is the Norsewomen’s first sectional crown since before the pandemic. Their last Group 2 championship came in 2019 and was their 11th all-time under Powell.

Demarest and River Dell (17-5) both reached the final by defeating the teams that knocked them out of last year’s tournament (Old Tappan and Sparta, respectively).

Miller and her fellow seniors finally got to hoist some hardware after falling in the 2020 sectional final and 2021 Bergen County final.

“We were very mentally prepared for this game,” the Marist commit said. “We went into this with the mindset of, ‘No one is beating us in our gym. This is our game, we want it’.”

Key points

Demarest nearly won the first set on a Miller spike, but it was ruled just out, tying the score at 27. A Helena Marcus ace and a Julia Ryan kill then gave the Hawks the lead in the match.

But senior Claire Song served the final five points of set No. 2, then kept setting Miller and Saban (9 kills) for a combination of hard spikes and tip-kills.

“In big moments, I know that if I put the ball anywhere, I can trust Taylor to put it away and make the smart decisions,” Song said. “Same thing with Netta… she started swinging away in the third set, and that was the difference-maker.”

By the numbers

6: Aces served by five different Demarest players: Kara Kim (2), Syrena Sayid, Isabella Villa, Miller and Saban.

6: Aces served by River Dell, 2 each for Marcus, Leah McHale and Erin McCabe.

5: Different categories in which McCabe, the versatile Hawks senior, recorded a stat: 5 kills, 3 blocks, 4 digs and 1 assist to go along with her aces

20: Digs by Miller, a match high

They said it

Powell was asked if winning a match like this can make her team think a state-title run is possible.

“It does put the idea in their head when you have to battle like that – and you know that it’s a high-quality [opponent] and it’s a high-quality section” she said. “We came through Old Tappan, River Dell, Jefferson – those are big, good wins for us and hard matches. So hopefully, we’re gaining some grit and backbone.”

This Christmas will be the last for the popular show Lights on Evergreen in Demarest after it became a local phenomenon during the past five years.

Daniel Eisenberg, the Demarest teen who started the yearly tradition of elaborate light shows as a tribute to his late mother, announced on the show's Facebook page that this is the last Christmas season to see the vibrant display because he and his father will be moving to Florida in the summer.

"The support has been overwhelming. It's truly insane to see how many cars come nonstop during the night during the holiday season." Eisenberg said.

Eisenberg, 18, began putting up elaborate holiday light displays after his mother, Elena, a lover of Christmas decorations, died of a heart attack in October 2010, when he was 10 years old. She was 46.

“This happened so close to Christmas. We were so sad that year, we didn’t have many lights,” Eisenberg told NorthJersey.com in 2017.

Shortly after her death, Eisenberg and his father bought light displays that synchronized with music playing from a speaker in an effort to regain their Christmas spirit. Over the years, the light show gradually improved to a display programmed by Eisenberg himself that is perfectly synchronized with a low-power radio broadcast from his basement playing high-tempo remixes of classic Christmas music.

Although the flashing reindeer and lighted archway provide a spectacle for the cars that file past on Evergreen Place, Eisenberg has also been collecting donations in which half of the proceeds go to the improvement of his equipment and the other half go to the American Heart Association.

Last year, Eisenberg raised over $9,000, and the total is more than $31,000 from the past four years. As of Dec. 26, roughly $7,100 of Eisenberg's $10,000 goal has been raised this year.

"With the thousands of dollars we’ve raised for the American Heart Association, it makes all the hard work and months of setup so worth it." he said.

After he completes his senior year at Northern Valley Demarest, Eisenberg will make the move to Florida and hopes to attend the University of Tampa or work for the Florida East Coast Railway, which has been a dream of his.

As for what's next for the lights, Eisenberg has had thoughts about bringing the tradition to his new home.

Although he is leaving, Eisenberg is grateful for the reception of those who have come to see his light display as it has evolved over the years, creating a special tribute to his mother. He wrote on the Facebook page: "I know my mom is smiling down, watching all the lights nightly."

BACKGROUND: With elaborate Christmas display, Demarest teen turns tragedy to light

The lights usually come down Jan. 1 or 2, but because this is the last year, Eisenberg has mentioned on the show's page that he is leaving the lights up until at least Jan. 5.

Email: [email protected]

Lights on Evergreen

To see the lights display, head to the Eisenberg residence, 38 Evergreen Place in Demarest, and tune in to 98.1 FM. It starts daily at 4:30 p.m. and lasts until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

DEMAREST — Council President Gregg Paster announced at Monday night's Borough Council meeting that he is resigning from his seat on the Council, effective Wednesday.

Paster decided not to run for re-election with his term expiring at the end of the year and said that he intends to give newly-elected councilwoman Janice Kurys a head start on her term before it was initially set to begin in January.

"Once the election results were in, we spoke about it." Paster said. "It only makes sense."

Kurys, a Demarest native, agreed that it was a good idea, saying on Monday that although she already knows some of the council members but an early start would help her hit the ground running once her term officially begins.

Councilwoman Daryl Fox will assume the role of Council President, as the borough's most senior council member, Paster said.

Paster was elected to his seat to complete the last year of an unexpired term of former Council President Blake Chroman, who resigned in 2013. Paster was reelected for another three-year term which he has decided to cut one month short.

DEMAREST – The "Guinness World Records" book declared the honey badger to be the world’s most fearless animal. Which means NV/Demarest’s Emma Miller must be the honey badger of goalkeepers.

“You have to have a certain type of personality to want people to kick things at you,” Norsewoman coach Chris Eftychiou said. “Emma has that grit you need to be like, ‘Yes … I want to be the last person in line that everyone’s counting on.'”

This fall, Miller led NV/Demarest to a 15-3-3 record, its second division championship (the Big North Patriot) and the NJSIAA North 1, Group 2 final. Earlier this month, she committed to play for the University of Colorado in Boulder.

“One thing I use to my advantage is that I’m fearless,” Miller said. “I’ll go out and put my body on the line, because that’s what you have to do when you’re a keeper.

“People ask me, ‘Are you ever scared when the ball’s coming at your face?’ Miller added. “No.”

Miller, who earned first-team All-Bergen County honors earlier this month, has demonstrated that fearlessness since she started playing soccer in seventh grade. Before that, she was the Demarest travel basketball team’s standout center and best known for her jumping and rebounding.

At that point, a friend of Miller’s parents suggested that Emma put her skills to use as a goalie for the Vikings Soccer Club. Miller’s father Andy said he “hadn’t watched a second of soccer before that” and had no expectations when his daughter joined up.

“They put her in goal and I figured that was because she was the worst player on the team,” Andy Miller said. “I thought they were getting her out of the way so she didn’t screw up the game.”

Eftychiou, also the Vikings Soccer Club’s director, saw it differently. He was intrigued by Miller’s size and athleticism and said she had “a level of determination that we don’t see that often.”

“One thing about (the Vikings) is we’re always making sure we have goalies in the pipeline,” Eftychiou said. ‘We always want to have strong athletes coming up in that position.”

Miller said she “fell in love” with the position instantly. She worked diligently to learn the technical aspects of goalkeeping and moved up through the Vikings’ system at a rapid pace.

Eftychiou expected Miller to be NV/Demarest’s backup goalie as a freshman before taking over the starting job. Those expectations were altered before Miller’s freshman year when the Norsewomen’s starting goalie, senior Kelly LaMorte, tore her ACL.

“I said, ‘Hey look … if there’s ever a time for Emma to work hard in training, this is it,’ Eftychiou recalled. “She’s was stepping into a position with huge pressure on her shoulders.

“To be 14 years old, standing out there with college-bound, Division I athletes smashing balls at you … that’s a tough spot to be in.”

While most incoming freshmen might’ve been scared or at least nervous, Miller was excited.

“I was so happy,” Miller said. “I knew I had a lot of work to do and I was ready for it. I wanted to go out there and impress everyone. I wasn’t scared … I took it as a challenge.”

That summer, Miller went into overdrive in terms of training. She moved on from the Vikings and joined the first of what’s been a succession of high-level club teams, always looking for the best fit to maximize her progression.

Miller stepped into the NV/Demarest net as a freshman and has been one of Bergen County’s best ever since. She played every minute of every game for her first three years before giving up some non-critical minutes this fall as Eftychiou readied her successor.

“We scored a lot of quality goals this year,” Eftychiou said. “But there were lots of times we scored and we’d be saying, ‘If Emma was in goal, she would’ve saved that.

“Luckily the other team didn’t have her and we did.”

Next fall, Colorado will be the lucky one. The Buffaloes have an outstanding senior keeper in J.J. Tompkins and Miller figures to be her apprentice before moving into the spotlight as a sophomore.

As always, Miller is excited about the opportunity and not the least bit nervous.

“Colorado is a place where goalies excel,” Miller said. “They start with raw athleticism and go beyond where they ever thought they could.

“I know this is only the beginning for me,” she added. “I have a lot of improving to do but I’m ready for the challenge.”