Newark's Canal View Family Restaurant Receives NCSD's 2021 "Friend of Education" Award - Newark ...

Newark’s Canal View Family Restaurant Receives
       NCSD’s 2021 “Friend of Education” Award

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             ecause of its outstanding, ongoing support of Newark High School
             students, especially during the last school year, Newark’s Canal
             View Family Restaurant was named the 2021 recipient of Newark
Central School District’s “Friend of Education” award at the opening assembly of
the September 1st Superintendent’s Conference Day.
      Superintendent Susan Hasenauer congratulated and commended Canal
View Family Restaurant for its remarkable and outstanding support of Newark
students.
      Then NHS Principal Nick Ganster happily expounded the numerous
reasons the award was being given to Kortni Calabrese, owner of the popular 247
W. Union Street eatery since NHS has been its most recent benefactor.
      The “Friend of Education” award is given annually to an individual,
organization or business that goes the extra mile to support Newark education.

Rehearsing and being filmed in a scene from “We Will Rock You” in the Canal View Family Restaurant last Spring were from
  left: Isabelle Figueroa, Calabrese’s daughter, Dylan Burley and Jaston Brooks.

      Ganster gratefully enumerated how the business had more than met that criteria.
      “Canal View has supported our students in countless ways, especially during the 2020-21
school year,’’ he said noting Calabrese:
      • Allowed members of the Class of 2021 to paint decorations on the restaurant’s windows for the Christmas
and New Year’s holidays
       • Donated $5,000 of its profits to the Class of 2021 to help defray the costs of senior activities.
       • Allowed the NHS Drama Club to film scenes in and outside the restaurant for its “We Will Rock You”
Spring film/musical
      • Participated in fundraisers that netted $1,000 for Operation Graduation.
      “ We so appreciate the Canal View Family Restaurant for its amazing support of our school district,’’
Ganster raved.

Rehearsing and filming another scene last Spring inside the restaurant was
the cast of “We Will Rock You.”

We are so humbled to receive this award,’’ said Calabrese,
                                                                               whose daughter, Isabelle Figueroa, was a member of the
                                                                               Class of 2021 and son, Gabriel Figueroa, is a Perkins School
                                                                               second grader. “I’m so glad we were able to help the Class of 2021.
                                                                               We look forward to continually working with the school district.
                                                                               Besides Isabelle, Jaston Brooks and Brenna Stepfanides, members of
                                                                               the Class of 2021 worked here and all three have gone on to college.
                                                                               We now have five NHS students working at the restaurant. We plan
                                                                               to do a senior night fundraiser to benefit the senior class at the
                                                                               restaurant each year.
                                                                                       Emily Howard, who is the Drama Club Advisor and
                                                                               directs the fall drama and directs and choreographs the Spring
                                                                               musical, said Calabrese is very deserving of the award.
                                                                                       “Canal View Family Restaurant has been a wonderful supporter
                                                                               of the NHS Drama Club and spring musical for many years. However,
                                                                               in the spring of 2021, Kortni and her team went above and beyond when
                                                                               she allowed us to film scenes for our spring musical inside the
                                                                               restaurant. Due to COVID restrictions, we had to be extra creative
                                                                               about how to produce theatre and decided to create a film version of our
                                                                               show. We needed a venue that could serve as the "Hard Rock Cafe".
                                                                               When I asked Kortni if we could use Canal View, she immediately said
                                                                               ‘yes.’ That kind of community partnership is what makes living in a
                                                                               place like Newark truly special. In a year in which nothing was
Above: Kortni Calabrese, left, with daughter, Isabelle Figueroa after          normal, having the experience of filming "on location" and singing and
Commencement in June; her husband and Isabelle’s father, Isidro Figueroa and   dancing in Canal View is something our cast and crew will never forget.
their son, Gabriel Figueroa.                                                   Kortni's daughter Isabelle Figueroa (Class of 2021) was an active
                                                                               member of the drama club and music department at Newark.”