Oak Leaves

OPRF science team undefeated; six straight wins

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:52:01 -0500

A first-place win May 20 at the sixth annual Northwestern University High School Project Showcase capped an undefeated season for Oak Park-River Forest High School science students. Of the six competitions that the school’s Investigative Research in Biomedical Innovation class entered, students placed first either individually or as a team in all six. For its latest overall win at Northwestern symposium, the class beat out tough competition from Adlai E. Stevenson High School and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. Individual First place wins went to McCabe Barrett, Sean Hickey and Connor Kotte. IRBI students have a full year to …

National Achievement Scholars announced

Thu, 16 May 2013 06:25:29 -0500

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced the names of about 800 outstanding African-American high school seniors who have won Achievement Scholarship awards through the National Achievement Scholarship Program. These awards, totaling more than $2 million, are ﬁnanced by grants from 34 corporate organizations and professional associations and by the Evanston-based National Merit Scholarship Corp. Local winners include: Stephanie Richardson, Oak Park, Trinity High School in River Forest. She has won a $2,500 scholarship. She plans to study physical therapy. Cairo J. Lewis, Westchester, Fenwick High School in Oak Park. He also received a $2,500 National Achievement Scholarship. He plans …

Driver education sign-up starts May 8 at OPRF

Thu, 02 May 2013 06:28:45 -0500

OAK PARK — Registration for Driver Education Summer School at Oak Park-River Forest High School begins Wednesday, May 8, and continues on Wednesday, May 22, Students must attend both nights. Summer School for high school students will run from June 10 through July 9. There will be one morning and one afternoon session, each three hours in length, each day. The first session will begin at 9:15 a.m.; the second at 12:45 p.m. The first part of registration will begin at 7 p.m. in the North Cafeteria. At this time, the student will fill out an application for a Learner’s …

Trinity News: Registration open for summer camp programs

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:04:00 -0500

Registration is now open for summer camps for girls interested in attending Trinity High School, 7474 W. Division St., in River Forest. Three main camps are offered: Senior Blazer Camp (third-eighth grade girls), Junior Blazer Camp (girls ages 5-10) and Blazers Summer Sport Camps. Trinity’s Senior Blazer Camps (Two weeks offered). Week One will take place June 17-20. From 8-10 a.m. the following camps are available for Week One: Third- through eighth-graders can join the Mixed Media Masters Camp where they recreate famous works of art using graphite, chalk, ink, watercolor, acrylic paint and collages. Sixth- through eighth-graders can join …

Trinity student headded to state oratory contest

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 05:55:24 -0500

RIVER FOREST — A Trinity High School sophomore will compete in the state Optimist Club Oratorical Contest in May. Marisa Maite reached the finals, to be held May 4 in Urbana, based on her first-place finish at the local level and then a second place showing in the girls division at the regional level. The regional competition was held April 6 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Des Plaines, where Maite competed with nine other students from area schools. Maite will be competing for a $2,500 scholarship. …

Fenwick fashion show at Oak Brook Terrace April 25

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 05:54:57 -0500

OAK PARK — The Annual Fenwick Mothers’ club Spring Fashion Show and Dinner will take place on Thursday, April 25 at Drury Lane in Oak Brook Terrace. The evening begins with a shopping boutique at 5:15 p.m., followed by dinner and fashion show at 7 p.m. Fenwick students and faculty will model the latest spring fashions. The cost for this evening of friends, food and fashion is $65 per person. Reservation can be made through Fenwickfriars.com; follow the “Celebrate the Night” link. Or send an email to baojensen@yahoo.com or aaarts4@aim.com. Since the late 1970’s,the annual spring fashion show has been …

Fenwick teacher among Golden Apple award finalists

Sun, 19 May 2013 06:06:53 -0500

Oak Park A teacher at Fenwick High School has been named a finalist for the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. John Paulett teaches creative writing, film and moral theology at Fenwick, 505 W. Washington Blvd. Paulett is the only teacher who works in three departments at the Oak Park school. He also coaches the chess team, moderates the school’s literary magazine, directs the spring musical (this year’s performance was of “The Wiz”) and is the musical director for “Banua,” Fenwick’s annual musical comedy review. All that, and he is the high school’s webmaster. Paulett began his teaching career …

Lutheran school accepting applications

Sun, 05 May 2013 06:09:08 -0500

St. Paul Lutheran Elementary School, 846 N. Menard in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, is now accepting applications for the 2013-2014 school year. St. Paul offers a quality education for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. For more information, call (773) 378-6644 or visit the website at stpaulaustin.com. …

Fenwick stages ‘Wiz’; Trinity holds fundraiser

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 06:19:14 -0500

Fenwick ‘The Wiz!’ is spring musical March 15-23 The yellow brick road is being paved at Fenwick High School in time for the spring production of “The Wiz!” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 15, and Saturday, March 16, then in a matinee performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 16, and again at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 22, and Saturday, March 23, in the school auditorium at 505 W. Washington Boulevard, Oak Park. This retelling of The Wizard of Oz is set in an urban environment for a modern take on the classic story. The 60-plus cast members are being directed …

Magnetic theme draws students to science fair

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 06:39:43 -0500

RIVER FOREST — Hearing a student say “Whoa!” after seeing how his experiment worked during the Willard Elementary School science festival, Dr. Timothy Ozga grinned and said he gets that a lot.

Camp kept students’ minds busy on day off from school

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 06:11:38 -0500

OAK PARK — Inspired by the viral YouTube video “Caine’s Arcade,” about a dozen middle school students team up to create an arcade out of appliance-sized cardboard boxes, Christmas lights and Velcro. While they get to work in the cafeteria at Percy Julian Middle School, others are busy over in the auxiliary gymnasium. There, fourth-graders Annika Ferguson from Whittier Elementary School and Esteban Linarez from Mann Elementary School create micro-mini putt-putt courses out of LEGOs and play with clubs that actually are cake toppers. Meanwhile, Longfellow Elementary School third-grader John Vincent creates a board game out of pizza boxes and …

Julian, Brooks robotics teams headed to national competition

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 06:41:47 -0500

OAK PARK — As the snow fell fast and furious last week, officials at Percy Julian Middle School canceled all after-school activities. But nothing was going to prevent Serious Black, one of the school’s robotics teams, from perfecting their robot. Parent Kris Yokoo helped seventh graders Tyler Yokoo, Jacob Spangler and Bennett Tucker pack up the 18-inch cube-shaped device so they could work on it at his home with teammate Ben Pooley, who was expected to arrive later. It’s not the first time the team has worked on the robot at home. The Yokoos even replicated the field on which …

Four Oak Park elementaries to get new playgrounds over summer

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 06:03:59 -0500

OAK PARK — Eight years ago, a group of parents got together at Irving Elementary School to develop a plan to build a safe playground to replace part of the 100,000 square feet of the hard blacktop for the older students. Their children have moved on, with some now attending Oak Park River Forest High School. But Laura Crawford, co-president of the school’s PTO, is determined that her daughter, second-grader Maxie Langenberg, will have the advantage of using the playground that was decades in the making. “The time for it was right. There was a lot of momentum behind it. …

Oak Park ‘young scientists’ event brings comets down to earth

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 06:41:10 -0500

OAK PARK Kate Benson stirs water and dirt in an orange bowl lined with a kitchen trash bag. Shive Opal squeezes in carbon in the form of corn syrup from a condiment bottle, and “Scientist Sally,” as Dr. Sally Laurent-Muehleisen calls herself, adds ammonia from a spritzer. The dozen kindergartners and first-graders break up a block of dry ice by each taking five whacks at it with a mallet, and Laurent-Muehleisen adds the fragments to the concoction in the bowl. As a finishing touch, the Illinois Institute of Technology astrophysicist creates a “tail” by pouring a cup of room temperature …

Understanding challenges of Muslim students

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:47:53 -0500

OAK PARK — Elham Al-Hindi’s 7-year-old son, like many Muslim children, attends Arabic school on the weekends. There, he learns to read right to left. On weekdays, however, he attends a mainstream school where students are taught to read left to right. The minor confusion he faces as he masters each language is a temporary glitch many Muslim children may face in mainstream schools. However, teachers often mistakenly recommend to immigrant parents that they speak only English at home — a request that often isn’t possible in families where some members have not yet mastered their new country’s language. “At …