Students at Cherry Hill's Beck Middle School are nurturing relationships, being celebrated for their positive behavior, conducting food and toy drives and incorporating valuable character traits into their curriculum.
Those are a few of the reasons the school was one of eight named a Camden County Middle School of Character for 2025-26, Suzanne Golt, Camden County Technical Schools’ admissions and development officer, announced last week.
The award has been given each year since 2009 to Camden County middle schools that have programs teaching students at least three of the following skills: character, education, respect, trustworthiness, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship, Golt said. All 75 middle schools in Camden County can apply for the award, she said.
"The skills also build a sense of community and common language among the students, so that we can help them resolve normal things like peer conflicts and utilize the same language and the same approach and understand that school is a place for everybody," Rebecca Metzger, the Beck principal, told 70and73.com.
Michelle Gentek-Mayer, Camden County Court surrogate judge, noted: "When we support our students with patience, guidance and clear expectations, they rise to the occasion, developing the character traits that will help them to succeed with school and beyond."
Staff and student leadership groups play an active role in determining which programs are used to teach the skills within the Cherry Hill Public Schools, Metzger said.
Although district students, parents, faculty and staff engage in the work necessary to win the award, students benefit the most from it, said Neil Burti, Cherry Hill Public Schools’ director of secondary education.
"You never set out to do the work in order to win an award," Burti said in an interview. "You do the work because it is the right thing to do for the children we serve."
Metzger said this was the first time that she was aware that Beck applied for the award. She added that Rosa International Middle School received the award in 2022.
A panel made up of the award's sponsors – Camden County, Camden County College and Camden County Technical Schools – chose the winning schools.
Besides Henry C. Beck Middle School in Cherry Hill, the others named were:
- Bell Oaks School, Bellmawr. Principal: Anthony Farinelli. Superintendent: Danielle Sochor
- Dr. Henry H. Davis Family School, Camden. Principal: Danielle Montague. Superintendent: Katrina T. McCombs
- Mary E. Volz, Runnemede. Principal: Steve Pili. Superintendent: Mark Iannucci
- Samuel S. Yellin School, Stratford. Principal: Caitlin Holloway. Superintendent: Renee Egan
- Somerdale Park School, Somerdale. Principal/Superintendent: Robert Ford
- Woodland Middle School, Barrington. Principal: Michael Silvestri. Superintendent: Anthony Arcodia
- Woodlynne School, Woodlynne. Superintendent/Principal: Jackie Walters
