DUI Lawyers in Fair Lawn, NJ

The question was posed from one member of the Fair Lawn brain trust to another.

Coach Mike Carti wanted to bring on an assistant who knows his system inside and out after playing and working for him in club lacrosse.

However, there was something he needed to clear up with senior captain Sydney Murri. Would she mind playing for her older sister Samantha or push back at spending more time with her current roommate?

"I was jumping up and down," Sydney said. "He was worried that some siblings aren't as close as us. But I was so excited when he told me. I knew before she knew."

In their first season together, the Murris – Samantha, 22, and Sydney, 18 – have put their hometown team back on the proverbial map. The Cutters are 6-4 this spring with Sydney as one of the county's top scorers and Samantha tapping into her experience as a former player at Fair Lawn and Kean University.

If that wasn't enough, younger cousin Jade Lang is catching passes and helping run the offense from the midfield.

So the family culture that high school teams love to embrace is more than just a slogan at Fair Lawn. It's fueled the rise of a team with four freshmen starters.

"I always wanted to coach at Fair Lawn," Samantha Murri said. "Coming back and coaching at your high school is like a dream especially when you have a sister on the team, a cousin on the team. That's pretty exciting and special."

Growing up five grades apart, the Murris never got the chance to play together. Their plan to start an alumni game this year may solve that.

For now, lacrosse chatter at home is often "short and sweet." Some days, it's fun to re-live a big win. Other times, Samantha wants an escape.

"Sammy is as hard on Syd as I am on Syd," Carti said. "There's no favoritism there. It's coach/player and they respect that boundary."

On the lacrosse field, Fair Lawn is pushing toward higher boundaries. After finishing 7-12 last season, the Cutters are in the No. 11 seed at the upcoming Bergen County tournament.

In the center of the offense and the draw circle is Sydney Murri, who's racked up 25 goals and 10 assists despite missing one game with a fever. As last Tuesday showed, faceguarding her can have its limitations. Her teammates took advantage of their extra touches by scoring a season-high 17 goals in victory.

Breakout seasons from sophomore Abby Sullivan (32 goals) and senior Aimee Lieman (79 saves) have loomed large.

"We have six other girls who are stepping up for us [on offense]," Sydney said. "Carti coming in last year changed everything. It brought a positive energy."

It isn't a total coincidence that home games at Sasso Field have become mini-reunions. Sports are a way of life for the Murris, whose family photo from the gym each Christmas has become a household tradition.

And for Sydney and Samantha, their introduction to the high school scene came well before earning the first varsity letter. With parents Dennis and Stephanie working as teachers and three-sport coaches, the sisters got used to tagging along at practice rather than cycling off to daycare.

"I grew up with both my parents coaching," said Samantha, now a teacher herself at Cresskill High. "They've always been such an inspiration for me. I wanted to have those feelings of coming home and winning a championship and how they create all these bonds with those student-athletes."

The bond between the Murris is unmistakable.

When Samantha started lacrosse in fourth grade and stepped on a college field years later, her little sister was inspired to do the same.

When Sydney commited to TCNJ, her sister showed up to Signing Day in Lions garb – as weird as it felt to promote an old conference rival.

Not everything is parallel, though. Especially in their personas.

"I'm more like dad," said Sydney, whose more fiery persona prompted the nickname "D3" or Dennis III in some wrestling circles. "But we're really close. We do a lot of things together. We're always hanging out."

Of course, Sydney has to catch herself every now and then when it's tempting to snap back like a little sister. A new dynamic doesn't fully erase 18 years of history.

"As sisters, it happens all the time," Sydney said. "But on the field, she's my coach and I have to have that respect for her, which I obviously do."

Soon after Oradell's Kelly Castro learned that her son had autism, she began hearing the tough truth from other parents: School programs and other support for autistic children largely disappear after kids turn 21.

"No matter where I was, no matter who I was speaking to, every single [parent], they all described it the same way: Once they turn 21, they fall off a cliff,” Castro said. “I didn’t understand at first, but one mom told me, ‘Everything your son gets right now, that all goes away.’”

Instead of accepting that fact, Castro has set out in her own way to change the status quo. On Saturday, she'll open her second business designed to provide work opportunities and training to adults with autism. Her new Fair Lawn bakery, Just a Taste of New Jersey, will hold a ribbon-cutting at noon on Saturday, after a soft opening last month. The store at 25-05 Broadway not only works with adult students with autism, it also features goods and products from other local businesses that employ people with disabilities.

“There’s all this focus on these individuals in school, or early intervention before they are even in school, on 'how do we get them to progress?'” Castro said. “It’s all about progress, and then they turn 21 and don’t have anything to do with the skills they worked so hard to get.”

Just a Taste is an expansion of the operation she started out of her home in 2023, Carson’s Cookie Dough, which also trains students with autism. The business was inspired by Castro's 8-year-old son, Carson, who was diagnosed with autism at an early age.

His mother was "terrified" after hearing about the diminishing prospects for kids like Carson once school support runs out.

But that changed at a retreat where Castro met the owners of Maplewood-based Beloved Bath, two moms whose adult sons have autism. Their bath-products company employs many who have autism.

“A lightbulb went off in my head," said Castro, who thought, "I could do that."

She started renting time at a kitchen in the Westwood Community Center, where she would work with two to three adult students with autism at a time, helping them learn to prepare and make her cookies. But scheduling became difficult, as the kitchen was shared with other people.

Castro searched for a bigger space to call her own and found something unexpected: a former bakery in Fair Lawn that provided both a kitchen and a storefront. Instead of just making cookies, she realized, she also could sell products of businesses with a similar mission.

She called the venture Just a Taste because it's meant to give customers “a taste of what these adults are able to do,” Castro said. Products on sale include popcorn from Piscataway-based Popcorn for the People, coffee from Little Falls and Morristown cafe Ethan & the Bean, honey from Pony Power Therapies of Mahwah, socks from Long Island-based John's Crazy Socks, and body lotions and candles from Beloved Bath.

“Every product that we have in there is made by a company which specifically hires adults with autism, Down syndrome, and differently abled adults,” Castro said.

Having her own storefront has been a “complete game changer” for Castro's efforts, she said. About 20 adult students can now participate five days a week to learn job skills, such as speaking with customers, making coffee or running a register. The volunteers are people ages 18 to 21 who attend autism programs at Cresskill public schools, Northern Valley Regional High School and the Park Ridge school district and in Little Falls.

“Our mission for both companies is to support adults who are differently abled with the ultimate goal of hiring these adults,” Castro said, noting that the organization is still in its infancy. “In the meantime, while we aren’t able to hire anybody yet, we are able to work with these adult students from various adult programs throughout Bergen County.”

The Just a Taste kitchen is set up with the students in mind. Its accommodations include step-by-step instructions near the cash register and in the kitchen. Castro learns something new every day with her workers, she said, as each brings different skills and personalities to the bakery.

“I think ‘if this person is having difficulty with this task, what can I do to make it easier for her?’” she said. “Maybe we can add a different seating option, put new signage or have picture messaging. Our kitchen is set up very specifically and labeled very specifically. We want the adults to not only succeed at the tasks but also interact with each other to build socialization skills that can also be challenging.”

“It’s cool to see their confidence,” she added. “You can see them interacting with the customers, and they are so proud of themselves. That’s an unexpected element we’re beginning to see.”

Melissa Van Cleft, a job coach from the Cresskill school district’s Community Steps to Independence program, said three of her students visit Just a Taste twice a week. They enjoy the feeling of growing independence.

Castro "really makes them feel so comfortable and so welcomed," Van Cleft said. "One boy goes in and has learned how to make the dough himself. It’s really a nice thing she’s doing for her family and the community.”

Castro hopes her example will encourage other employers to be more inclusive. Her goal for Carson’s Cookie Dough and Just a Taste isn’t to have employees who work there for 20 years; she wants to be a launchpad that helps students gain skills to work at other businesses as well.

“The unemployment rate is over 80% for adult who are differently abled, with autism, and it’s such a staggering number,” she said. “I thought, ‘People don’t want to hire someone just because they have autism?’ I see how hard my son works and how hard his classmates work. I think this hasn’t been on anybody’s radar. When you do realize it, you think, ‘What steps could I do to add these individuals to our workforce?’”

Just a Taste's initial hours of operation will be Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Castro said the hours will expand in the coming weeks.

“These individuals are such a delight,” she said. “They make anybody smile. The town of Fair Lawn has been absolutely incredible. We’ve had a very warm welcome across the board.”

Stephanie Noda is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: noda@northjersey.com; X: @snoda11