Hungarian Conservative

An in-depth interview with Enkő Gorondi, founder and headmaster of the Aprókfalva Montessori Preschool and learning pod, a unique Hungarian daily educational institution in Piscataway, New Jersey; and her daughter, who, as a teacher, scout leader and folk dance teacher is also an active member of the local Hungarian community.

The staging of the musical version of one of the most popular young adult fiction works ever written in Hungarian, titled Be Faithful Unto Death, was a major undertaking and a dream come true for the initiator of the project, Bernadett Csizmadia. The show was performed on the 50th anniversary celebration of the Széchenyi Hungarian School and Kindergarten of New Brunswick, NJ.

Lili Balogh and István Dániel Molnár of the Angyalföld Vadrózsa Dance Ensemble came to the United States as Kőrösi Csoma Program scholars to teach Hungarian folk dancing in New Brunswick, New Jersey. We spoke with the young Hungarian couple, now engaged to each other, about their motivation, their goals and their US experiences.

‘I’m the Executive Director, but I also know that if there’s garbage, somebody must take it out. Similarly, I’m six feet tall, so if something in the back or on the top needs to be reached, I do it. When I was locked in the elevator once, the repairman showed me how to fix the elevator if I ever got stuck in it again. I am the chief bottle washer or the brain, the archivist, the curator when needed. I wear all these hats. Since I’m approachable, everybody feels they know me from different events in town. For some, I even became the face of the Hungarian community in New Brunswick.’

Denisa Bott-Varga has been an active member of the 110-year-old Hungarian American Athletic Club in New Brunswick and leader of the local Csűrdöngölő Folk Dance Ensemble since the early 2000s, when she arrived to the US from Slovakia. In 2023, she received an Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic for her work in Hungarian diaspora culture and folk dance. In the interview she talks about her passion for folk dance and her efforts to build and preserve the Hungarian community in New Brunswick.

‘As a PhD student, I was very shocked to see that Harvard has had chairs of all sorts of relatively small nationalities (Slovak, Greek, Ukrainian, and so on), except Hungarian. These departments and chairs can only be created through international cooperation and the involvement of the business world, that is would need advocacy and money. We would need Hungarian academic departments and Hungarian professors in North America again.’

The Széchenyi István Hungarian School and Kindergarten in New Brunswick (New Jersey) celebrated its 50th anniversary. The welcoming speeches were followed by an award ceremony, where former school principal Gyula Varga was awarded; then, former principals shared their experience and thoughts on preserving our language and culture.

Gabriella Vajtay, an active member of the Hungarian community in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is the director of Reconnect Hungary. The interview with her revolves around the Reconnect Hungary Birthright Trip, a programme of the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF), which enables North American young adults of Hungarian descent to visit Hungary.

A grand celebration was held at the Hungarian American Athletic Club in New Brunswick to mark the 70th anniversary of the Bornemissza Gergely Boy Scout Troop no. 5 of New Brunswick.

‘My whole life has always been guided by a sense of duty to my family. Now we might as well go home, but we wouldn’t be any happier there…Here we are part of our family and can help if needed. We live in a Hungarian community; we are happy here. If only we didn’t miss Hungary so much…’