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It feels like old times with Hinsdale Central athletes readying for full schedules free of masks. Gymnasts are eager to show their talents, while water polo players are taking advantage of opportunities for growth in the new Don Watson Aquatic Center. In this second installment of a four-part series previewing the Red Devils spring sports scene, coaches of the boys gymnastics and boys and girls water polo teams offer their expectations and visions for the 2022 seasons of...
Name: Erin Milligan Year: senior Hometown: Hinsdale What drew you to track? I've liked to run since I was little. It was just a sport that I thought was really fun, and I actually started track in middle school. How have you evolved since freshman year? I think I've gotten a lot more confident racing. I've always been competitive, but I believe in my training more now and can put myself in better position now than when I was a freshman. You've transitioned from sprints to...
Hinsdale Historic Preservation commissioners expressed anger during a public hearing March 2 on the application to demolish the 1927-built Italianate residence at 720 S. Elm St. and build a new house, having learned that the home's previous owner had held a pre-demo sale, illegally stripping it of items such as a furnace and flooring and rendering it uninhabitable days before it sold last summer. "It does not sit well with this commission when we're charged with trying to...
College biochemistry student Carrie Hooper arrived home one day with bombshell news. She had just come from her part-time job nannying for the family across the street and had an epiphany while helping one of the little girls with her math homework. "All of sudden I was like, 'This is inspiring. I love this!' " related the now Carrie Molinero, who nervously proceeded to tell her parents she wanted to switch her major to education. Her mom began to cry. "She goes, 'I'm not...
Developer Ryan Companies has again downsized its proposal for a senior living project on roughly 32 acres in Hinsdale's northwest corner. But residents in the adjacent Fullersburg community contend the plan still poses a threat to their neighborhood. The issue was on the agenda as a second read for possible referral to the plan commission, with the first reading back on July 13 when Ryan submitted a plan for a 285,000-square-foot, 225-unit assisted and independent living...
What does an assistant stage manager do? Theater was Sharon Sobotka's passion from a young age, as she longed for moments in the limelight. But a lack of roles while pursuing a performing arts degree at Loyola University flipped her script from acting to stage management. "I wasn't on stage as much as I had hoped," Hinsdale's Sobotka related. "You need an army of people to do all the tech work. So I learned tech, and I loved it." Those backstage skills will get a workout as...
Denied a postseason last year due to COVID-19, Hinsdale Central's boys swim and dive team made the most of its 2021-22 campaign, capping one of the best runs in its storied history with a second-place finish at last weekend's IHSA state final. "It's the best season that we've put together for dual meets, invitationals and postseason," varsity head coach Bob Barber said. And it was a true team effort. "We didn't have one individual that we said, 'You have to score in the top...
When life deals a pandemic, you can be sure The Community House Players will tease the humor out of it. The veteran troupe is back with its 2022 Community Revue, "Hinsdale Unmasked," on stage at 6:45 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, March 4-5 and 11-12 at The Community House, 415 W. Eighth St. The musical parody of the village's vagaries and hot-button local issues may be just the tonic people need after a crazy two years of hardship and polarization, according to producer and...
Paul Jepsen answered a lot of calls during his decades with the Oak Park Police Department. Now the retired sergeant is responding to a different calling that connects him with prospects instead of suspects. Jepsen serves as team chaplain for the Chicago Dogs, a four-year-old independent professional baseball franchise in Rosemont. "I'm a layperson, I'm not an ordained minister," he's quick to point out. That didn't stop Dogs' manager Butch Hobson last year from approaching...
Super Bowl Champion! Hinsdale's Brian Allen said that truth still seems surreal even days after the Los Angeles Rams' starting center and his teammates earned the title Sunday with a 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. "It still hasn't sunk in yet. I'm kind of just in a disbelief," Allen said Wednesday morning as he readied for the victory parade through the city's downtown. The outcome was in question until the closing minutes, when...
In the early part of the pandemic, the Hinsdale Humane Society and its then-business development director Jacki Rossi took extreme measures to meet the spiking demand for rescue pets from homebound residents. "I was literally, on the weekends, driving to Kentucky to meet our partners in the south to get animals," Rossi said. Finding forever families for so many animals was rewarding. But with veterinarian offices closed or limited during lockdown, the rate of spaying and...
Full-day kindergarten is poised to launch this fall in Community Consolidated Elementary District 181, at least for some. At Monday night’s meeting, board members were apprised of the proposed D181 Rising Stars Extended Day Kindergarten pilot program for students needing additional academic support. “(The program) is intended for any student in our seven elementary schools who has been identified as having additional needs in the academic areas of literacy or mathematics,” said Kathleen Robinson, assistant super...
Community Consolidated District 181 students returned to in-person learning on Tuesday without a mask requirement following an emergency virtual closed session of the school board Monday night. The meeting was held to determine the district’s response to a judge’s Feb. 4 temporary restraining order halting Gov. JB Pritzker’s mask mandate in the roughly 170 schools named in the suit, including District 181, as well as the quarantining of asymptomatic close contacts. Monday was declared an emergency remote instruction day t...
Monday can be a weekly weak point when it comes to expressions of endearment. And with Valentine's Day 2022 also coming the day after the Super Bowl, it's enough to slow anyone's romantic roll. So think beyond Feb. 14, just as local attractions and businesses have done, with their offerings of special outings taking place over the extended Valentine's Day weekend. Here are few certain to kindle the right mood. Date night At the Mac College of DuPage's McAninch Arts Center,...
As an enterprising undergrad at Arizona State University, J. Ford Sunderland was a quick study recognizing he could leverage his background working in his father's jewelry business to help cash-strapped co-eds obtain funds. "I would buy from students that needed money for the weekend," Sunderland related. "And I also sold jewelry to sororities and at flea markets during the Christmas season." Today, the Hinsdale resident operates the Sterling & Knight Jewelry and Pawn store ch...
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics opens tomorrow (wake up at 5:30 a.m. to watch the ceremony live or wait for the taped coverage at 7 p.m.). The Hinsdalean asked Hinsdale Central coaches, the staff at King Keyser and a local collegiate hockey player what be events they'll be tuned into over the next 16 days. Christina Brodell, boys water polo coach Favorite event: freestyle skiing. As a skier, I love seeing people do insane jumps and tricks on skis. I'd like to try: bobsledding...
What have you learned about performing improv? Improv actors have to be quick on their feet and possess at least a working knowledge across a broad range of topics. But occasionally they're stumped, like Hinsdale Central junior Hayley Cashman was while rehearsing for the school's ComedySportz Improv Show that runs tonight through Feb. 5 (see Page 18 for details). "We had to make puns about something, and the suggestion we had to make puns about was 'disc jockey,' " Cashman...
In response to residents’ complaints about increased airplane noise, Hinsdale has joined with other communities in proximity to Chicago’s airports to find ways to address the nuisance. At Tuesday’s village board meeting, Hinsdale trustees approved intergovernmental agreements with the city of Chicago to participate in the advisory noise compatibility commissions for both Midway and O’Hare airports. “Most of the noise complaints we’ve gotten are related to Midway, right?” Village President Tom Cauley asked of village staff. Vi...
Name: Jake Quast Year: senior Hometown: Hinsdale How's the season been going? It's going great. It's been a lot of fun. It's good being back. What's your earliest basketball memory? The first time I even played basketball was the Jodie Harrison league when I was in elementary school. I think of playing with grandpa because he was always my coach, and playing with my brother Mac. What do you enjoy about it? I love the way that, individually, you can work and get better at the...
Ready to party like it's 4720? Feb. 1 is the start of a new year in the lunar calendar, a timeline that doesn't adhere to the A.D./B.C. system and is celebrated by the most populous nation on the planet. Known widely as the Chinese New Year, the occasion, according to Jade Dragon owner Ken Mei, is his native land's biggest holiday. "We are wearing new clothes, and children get money from older people in red envelopes," he said, recalling his youth in China and drawing a...
Hinsdale Central’s director of counseling and social work Jen Regnier said her department has processed almost 6,000 college applications from among the school’s roughly 650 seniors. That’s higher than a typical year, and she suspects the current test-optional policy that a majority of U.S. colleges and universities have adopted during the pandemic is a big reason. “It does seem like some kids are applying to more schools than normal,” said Regnier. “It’s allowed kids to reach for more schools that maybe they wouldn’t have...
Hinsdale President Tom Cauley said last week he wanted to make public a 36-page report completed more than a year ago on the investigation into the death of Nicole Hladik, a 25-year-old village firefighter/paramedic candidate who took her own life in July of 2020. But Hladik’s family and friends made clear at the Jan. 18 village board meeting they don’t accept the legitimacy of the village-led investigation, which Cauley said found that “nothing inappropriate happened” against Hladik, the sole female firefighter on the for...
In 2019, Sarah Prisby had a small part in Stage Door Fine Arts' production of "Newsies." The experience left a big impression. "Even though it was just a tiny little role, everyone worked together as hard as possible. It was fantastic," the Hinsdale teen said. Prisby continued to put in her own work, and now, three years later, has a considerably larger role in Stage Door's "All Shook Up" the next two weekends at The Community House (see Page 34 for details). Inspired by...
Hinsdale's Steve Foster took a good friend to Wrigley Field last Labor Day to watch his beloved Cubbies. Suddenly a foul ball sailed their way and landed just behind their row. Steve was quick to retrieve it. "Just as quickly he handed the ball to me with a request to give it to the young girl siting across the aisle from us," according to an account by that friend, relayed by Steve's brother Jim at a Nov. 13 memorial service. Jim held back tears as he read how the girl's...
An angry exchange between Hinsdale High School District 86 Board members Erik Held and Jeff Waters after a meeting was a “bad moment” and should underscore the importance of public officials behaving respectfully toward one another, according to an investigation into the Oct. 28 incident. In presenting the report of the investigation at the district’s Jan. 13 school board meeting, attorney Dana Crumley of the law firm Franczek P.C. said the intent was to “give everyone a bit of grace.” She said board policy had not been viol...
