Our 2024 Judges
We had a fabulous group of STEAMFest volunteers who helped us create and judge all of our 2024 STEAMFest challenges. We couldn't have done this amazing event without all of them!
MOLLY
EISERT
Film Challenge
Molly Eisert is very excited to be judging for the second time this year. She is the former president of the Maplewood Strollers theater group. Molly had been nominated for a Perry award for her work in stage management. She lives in Millburn and owns an appraisal firm. In her free time, she volunteers with Many Paws animal rescue, NJCAR, and lives with her tolerant partner and two fur children, Tava and Poirot.
MOLLY
KOHL
Film Challenge
Molly Kohl is currently the Director of the Theater Program at Winston Prep in Whippany. She is a founding member on the board of Drama of Works, a Brooklyn-based puppetry company that creates original works and re-imagines classics. She is also a founding member of In Strange Company in Albuquerque. Previously she was the Artistic Director of Equilibrium Theater Company (VSA North Fourth Arts Center in Albuquerque), a theater company for artists with disabilities, which focuses on advocacy. She also worked behind the scenes for many years at The Public Theater/NYSF and as assistant to the producer of Joe’s Pub. She has performed with various companies in black box theaters around NYC. Recently, Molly worked with NYC-based Outside Voices, a theater company dedicated to disability justice. She studied theater at Eugene Lang College at The New School. Molly lives with her theater-lovin’ family in Millburn, NJ.
ZEV
MARINOFF
Film Challenge
Zev Marinoff is an award-winning filmmaker whose works have been selected as exemplary by NYU Tisch, The YoungArts Foundation and The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. He is currently in post-production on "Who Are You to Judge," a short film featuring Moonrise Kingdom's Jared Gilman slated for film festival distribution later this year. He is a sophomore at Tisch.
Marian
raab
Film Challenge
Marian Raab is the chief executive officer of Ridge Street Productions, a Maplewood, NJ-based company focused on creating movies and documentaries about the American Mafia. A former investigative journalist and nonpracticing attorney, Marian’s passion and expertise drive Ridge Street’s mission to produce films and documentaries that delve into the rich, complex history of organized crime in the United States. Ridge Street Productions’ latest achievement—“American Godfathers: The Five Families”—will be released this summer on the History Channel. Narrated and executive produced by Michael Imperioli, this 6-hour documentary will provide viewers unprecedented access into the history of the most notorious criminal organizations in the nation. Marian resides in Maplewood, NJ with her husband and two sons. Her oldest son is a film studies and production major at Hofstra University and her youngest is a junior at Columbia High School.
Cari
Strassberg
Film Challenge
Cari Strassberg is a network television producer who has won nine News & Documentary Emmy Awards, as well as multiple Cine Golden Eagle International Journalism Awards, Edward R. Murrow Awards, Gracie Awards, and three Peabody Awards. In her position as the Entertainment Producer for ABC’s Good Morning America, Cari worked with legendary movie critic Joel Siegel, covering the film industry. In this capacity, she viewed over 200 films every year, occasionally as many as four a day. She has interviewed every global celebrity under the sun and attended 15 years’ worth of Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and Academy Awards. Cari has lived in Millburn since 2004 with her three sons: Matt, Alex, and Zach, all proud graduates of Millburn High School.
DAVID
LAZARUS
Virtual Chess Tournament
After a successful career as programmer and software developer, David began his seventh decade in September of 2016, teaching and coaching at Deerfield Elementary and South Mountain. David continues to teach and coach at South Mountain and taught classes and coached at Deerfield through 2020. In 2017 David introduced chess at the newly opened Washington School in Millburn and in 2019, his team won the league title. David has also coached at schools in Summit and New Providence. In addition to his teaching and coaching duties, David has worked at the Westfield YMCA's Sunday tournaments and is also co director. David has directed Virtual Chess Tournaments for Millburn Education Foundation since 2021.
Nikita
Sharma
Math Contest (K-5)
Nikita Sharma helped with the K-5 math contest. She has been a Millburn resident since 2019. By profession, she is a seasoned marketing consultant for global healthcare companies with a strong engineering and math background. She is passionate about math and believes that math is not just about learning mathematical formulas or number crunching; it is about developing critical thinking and logical problem-solving skills. Nikita is the MathKangaroo program manager for South Mountain Elementary School and is an active volunteer for Washington School Math programs as well. She believes math is useful for every child and aims to promote a growth mindset through MATH (Mistakes Allow Thinking to Happen). With this approach, she is excited to design and judge these math contests with the goal that children enjoy math and are not intimidated by it.
Priyanka
Porwal
Math Contest (6-8)
Priyanka Porwal helped with the math contest for grades 6-8. She is the Director and Owner of Eye Level Learning Center and has a double masters degree in Statistics and Computer Science. She has taught a variety of subjects to school children of all ages. She has also taught Statistics and Computer courses to adults and has worked with the elderly in technology and computers. Being passionate about education and after researching the Eye Level curriculum for over a year, Priyanka concluded that Eye Level was the best curriculum for her own daughter! So she decided to run center in Summit for all the children in our area. After all they are our future!
SitalaKahmi
Seshadrinathan
Math Contest (9-12)
Sitalakahmi Seshadrinathan helped with the 9-12 math contest. She is a math graduate and has been teaching math for over 5 decades. Since she moved to the US 8 years ago, she has been tutoring middle and high school kids on mathematics, both in-person and virtually. She devised unique teaching methods which became very popular with the student community at school and college level. Hundreds of students have been motivated by her unique style of inculcating love for Mathematics. With her penchant for continuously improving math appetite for children, she made an in-depth study of Vedic Mathematics and wrote a book on that topic. She has addressed students in schools and colleges giving lectures on speed Math using Vedic Mathematics principles. She has also been creating interest in this field through her articles in popular magazines.
Anya
Parker-Lentz
Coding Challenge
Anya Parker-Lentz is the founder of Landau Agency, a digital marketing company for modern entrepreneurs. She studied applied physics at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and completed many coding projects during her computer science classes and multiple hackathons. Anya enjoys seeing – and playing – live music in NYC and skateboarding or climbing outside on sunny days.
Ana
Sepetovska
Coding Challenge
Ana Sepetovska is a software engineer at Microsoft. She studied computer science at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and worked as a teaching assistant during her time there. In her free time, Ana enjoys hiking, bullet journaling, and seeing live music near her home in Seattle.
GENsay
SAZCI
In-Person Chess Tournament
Gensay Sazci, currently 24 years old, started learning chess at the age of 5 and entered his first regional tournament at 6. Living in Istanbul, Turkey, he gained regional recognition. In his high school years he became the chess champion in Istanbul International Schools Chess Championship for 3 consecutive years. In his last year of high school, the Sazci brothers came to Millburn, New Jersey. In his time in Millburn High School, for the first time MHS won an award in chess, by becoming second as a team in the New Jersey Chess Varsity tournament. With Bilgen and other two players, they also won the Top High School team title in The U.S . Amateur Team East Chess Championship 46th Anniversary in 2016. He has been teaching chess professionally for over 6 years. He graduated Rutgers University with Summa Cum Laude.
BILGEN
SAZCI
In-Person Chess Tournament
Bilgen Sazci, currently 22 years old, started chess when he was 4.5. He became a prominent chess player fast, by attaining Istanbul Chess Champion title for many times. During his participation in the national championships, he became a member of the national team. He represented Turkey in Georgia, Greece, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Czech Republic, Romania, and other places with international success. U-9 category he became 4th in World Scholastic championship in Greece. As mentioned above, with his success Millburn High School became successful in chess. As he moved to Millburn from Istanbul Turkey at the beginning of his high school career, he became the champion in the 46th National Chess Congress Philadelphia in U2000 section and the champion in the 48th National Chess Congress Philadelphia in U2200. In his junior year of high school, the high school chess team became the national champions with his major contributions. With his rating above 2250, he is a National Master of chess. He is currently studying in Rutgers University.
Abigail J.
Schumer
Environmental Challenge
Abigail J. Schumer, is the founder of The AJS Music Studio in Chatham, NJ. She is a highly trained piano and organ player. She studied organ with Walter Klauss (CUNY), David Enlow, (The Julliard School of Music), and Alan Morrison (Curtis Institute of Music). She continued her education at the Conservatoire de Reims, France, at perfectionnement level (post-graduate equivalent in French conservatories), and was awarded the privilege of playing a recital on the grand orgue of Cathedrale de Reims. Ms. Schumer holds a PhD in organ performance.
Dorothy
Kelly
Environmental Challenge
Dorothy Kelly is the director of Caring Kids, a Millburn district-wide program that teaches character building to students in grades K-5. She is a familiar face to students and staff, having presented lessons on empathy in the Millburn elementary schools for the past 8 years. Ms. Kelly is also a trustee of the Millburn Free Public Library, President of Friends of the Millburn LIbrary, and Chief Curator of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society Museum. For the past 3 years, she has led a summer internship program, offering high school students the opportunity to gain experience in the field of museum studies and a deeper understanding of local history.
Anjali
Wadhwa
Environmental Challenge
Anjali has been passionate about drawing and painting since she was a child – always learning, experimenting and creating. She has worked in various paint mediums - Oil, Acrylics, Pastels, Watercolor, mixed media and Graphite. Anjali's art journey started in India many years ago. She continued to learn under some of the most talented Russian and Chinese teachers in Singapore and she continues to learn and explore currently in the US. Over the years, she has painted in various styles including impressionism, realism and semi-abstraction. She enjoys making still life, landscapes, figures and portraits. Her artwork is showcased in a private gallery in Singapore and she was also one of the chosen artists for a virtual gallery in Singapore in December 2020. She has been teaching art to all age groups for many years because she loves bringing art into people's lives! In her free time, she likes to travel, spend time with family and friends, go hiking, cook gourmet meals and sit in nature sketching and painting what she sees.
Odarka
PolanskyJ
Stockert
Environmental Challenge
Odarka Polanskyj Stockert, a classically trained yet experimentally inclined harpist & poet, plays eclectic repertoire w/ Celtic & Ukrainian/Eastern European overtones. Odarka performs on the Celtic and Electric Celtic Harp and was a long time student of celebrated harpist, the late Leone Paulson, with whom she performed as a member of the Paulson Harp Ensemble. She spent several summers in Dublin, Ireland, participating and placing O’Carolan Irish Harp and Granard Harp Competitions. She is also a long time artistic collaborator of the Yara Arts Group, resident at the La Mama, ETC experimental theater in New York. She now has an active teaching studio and is director of “HarpAntics” a Harp Ensemble of Many Harps
And is a founding member of Slight Imperfection a Singer/Songwriter Acoustic Duo.
reshma
Gorde
Reshma Gorde is a resident of Millburn/Short Hills. Her personal journey in art has been surreal. She is a self-taught artist who started by capturing images of travel diaries and portraits on canvas. Over time, the work evolved into more abstraction. Her research and expression of the world, through art, has intrigued her enough to leave a successful corporate career behind and has truly changed the way she perceives life. She says "Nature is a tremendous inspiration in my most recent works, which are a celebration of colors and the rhythms of nature. The choice of textures on canvas enables me to express the complexities of the realms of nature. My interest is to communicate the emotional as well as physical essence of each landscape I capture in an authentic way. I wish that each piece of my art will strike a conversation for the viewer and evoke profound connection to themselves and the captured image"
reshma
Gorde
Reshma Gorde is a resident of Millburn/Short Hills. Her personal journey in art has been surreal. She is a self-taught artist who started by capturing images of travel diaries and portraits on canvas. Over time, the work evolved into more abstraction. Her research and expression of the world, through art, has intrigued her enough to leave a successful corporate career behind and has truly changed the way she perceives life. She says "Nature is a tremendous inspiration in my most recent works, which are a celebration of colors and the rhythms of nature. The choice of textures on canvas enables me to express the complexities of the realms of nature. My interest is to communicate the emotional as well as physical essence of each landscape I capture in an authentic way. I wish that each piece of my art will strike a conversation for the viewer and evoke profound connection to themselves and the captured image"
reshma
Gorde
Reshma Gorde is a resident of Millburn/Short Hills. Her personal journey in art has been surreal. She is a self-taught artist who started by capturing images of travel diaries and portraits on canvas. Over time, the work evolved into more abstraction. Her research and expression of the world, through art, has intrigued her enough to leave a successful corporate career behind and has truly changed the way she perceives life. She says "Nature is a tremendous inspiration in my most recent works, which are a celebration of colors and the rhythms of nature. The choice of textures on canvas enables me to express the complexities of the realms of nature. My interest is to communicate the emotional as well as physical essence of each landscape I capture in an authentic way. I wish that each piece of my art will strike a conversation for the viewer and evoke profound connection to themselves and the captured image"