Each month, Montgomery High School Athletic Director Kris Grundy polls local coaches to select a female and male scholar athlete to spotlight on this page. In addition to a feature article, each athlete receives gift certificates to The Tiger’s Tale and Beniamino's Cucina and Pizza. Emma Seamon and Gavin Fong are the February 2026 Athletes of the Month for The Montgomery News.

In this age of increasingly specialized athletes – year-round practices for the same sport – Montgomery junior Emma Seamon is a reminder of how kids should approach athletics. A star forward for the Cougars’ soccer team and starting goaltender for the Hopewell- Montgomery co-op team, Seamon has become an invaluable part of each program.

Wrestling never stops for senior Gavin Fong. He has risen through the ranks that the late-great John Moyle started, beginning in the youth program, and a decade later, he is a team captain for the Cougars and closing in on the illustrious 100 career wins mark.

Rocky Hill watercolor artist Hank Bristol will unveil some of his recent landscapes at the Present Day Club in Princeton, beginning this month. Bristol grew up sailing and swimming at the Jersey Shore. In college, he studied art history and black and white photography. Later in graduate school, he studied architecture.

Part of the cultural tradition in African-American churches is to use a fan as a way of honoring an individual, an event, or as part of a fundraiser. In an era without central air, fans staved off the heat and became a feature of self expression when a preacher “turned up the heat on his sermon.”

Hillsborough police arrested Priyatharsini Natarajan, 35, on Jan. 13 for allegedly murdering her two sons, ages 5 and 7, in her Hillsborough home, according to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. This is the second time in about four years that a mother was charged with killing her two young children in Hillsborough.

Sabina Patel brings an extraordinary background that combines classical training with a modern approach to music education. Now accepting students, her Hashtag Music Academy offers piano, violin, and voice instruction for serious music students of all ages and ability levels. The academy emphasizes an immersive, curriculum-based approach.