HARRINGTON PARK, N.J.—Michael, David, and Steven Ciccoricco have set up a nonprofit foundation, established a named scholarship, and kick-started a regular lecture series in honor of their parents: longtime residents of Harrington Park and esteemed New Jersey educators Holly and Edward Ciccoricco.
The “Edward and Holly Ciccoricco Award for Inspiration in the Arts and Special Education” will help support early career teachers in northern New Jersey become inspired educators. The award was set up alongside a biennial lecture series, which will feature presentations by renowned scholars in the field of special education.
As David Ciccoricco, current chair of the foundation, said, “We needed to settle on a topic that would really honor the unique contributions of both of our parents. Art education and special education is a wonderful common thread.”
Still a prolific artist, Holly taught art and computer education for 18 years at the Alpine Public School where she was Teacher of the Year in 1992. She was Art Director for the Northern Valley Summer Camp at Harrington Park for 40 years. For 24 years she was on the faculty of the Art School in Demarest, New Jersey and taught special education classes there for 15 of those years. She also conducted monthly art and crafts workshops for children at the Harrington Park Public Library for 15 years.
In 1974 Edward founded and co-directed Pre-school Instruction for the Exceptional (PIE), a program for pre-school children with special needs. Twenty years later he helped establish and co-directed the Valley Program for children on the autism spectrum from pre-school through grade twelve. For 25 years he served as regional Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Northern Valley Regional High School District and its seven sending districts.
The project was coordinated over much of the past year across time zones and hemispheres, with Michael residing in New York, David in New Zealand, and Steven in California. The foundation’s website, which was launched in early October, was created by visual artist (and wife of Steven) Natalie Ciccoricco, and features Holly’s own watercolor paintings in its design.
Edward Ciccoricco said that finding out about the foundation was quite a surprise: “The project was revealed upon completion to Holly and me in a video conference with family in New Zealand, California and Brooklyn. It is such a special and perfect way for us to be so honored because, by choice and interest, we both have been very involved in a variety of ways with the arts and with children with special needs.”
The foundation was developed in partnership with the Valley Program Foundation for Children with Autism in Norwood, New Jersey.
Director of the Valley Program, Kathy Vuoncino, said, “It was an absolute pleasure and honor to be involved in this wonderful project to recognize not only two amazing educators but two amazing people. Ed and Holly have been role models for all of us here.”
The inaugural lecture for the Ciccoricco Family Foundation is scheduled for June 4, 2020. The featured speaker is Professor Ralph James Savarese of Grinnell College in Iowa. Savarese is the author of two books, “Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption” (2007), and “See it Feelingly: Classic Novels, Autistic Readers, and the Schooling of a No-Good English Professor” (2018). He is well known for introducing the concept of neurodiversity, and for his work with non-speaking poet and memoirist Tito Mukhopadhyay.
See the Ciccoricco Family Foundation website for details: www.ciccoriccofamily.org.
Photos courtesy ciccoricco family