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Like most kids growing up in Hinsdale, Ella Horstman spent part of each summer at the village's parks, the community pool, and of course, attending the Fourth of July parade. It wasn't until this summer that she took a peak behind the curtain to see the work and planning involved with making those activities available. "Seeing how everything works is really interesting," said Horstman, who is about to complete her summer internship with the Hinsdale Parks and Recreation...
There wasn't enough room for Reagan Scott and the stacks of unpacked boxes as her family transitioned to their Hinsdale home in the summer of 2021. The Theatre of Western Springs's High School Repertory provided an escape for the then-freshman. "I did the summer stock performance of 'Something Rotten!' like a week after I moved here," related Scott, now a Hinsdale Central junior. "They were all so nice, and I just decided to stay." Which means she's in the cast of the...
Sharon Taylor knew little about Hinsdale before she and her late husband, Ira, settled into the village 36 years ago. But on Princeton Road, the Taylors found the place they would all call home. "It's been fun ever since," Taylor said of her time in Hinsdale, a place she said she will continue to consider home even after her impending move to be closer to her son and three of her five grandchildren. The move to Naperville takes her just 15 miles away, which means Taylor can...
Hinsdale's Dylan Singla wanted to produce a podcast to explore the intersection of sustainable practices and artificial intelligence. He set up a website and had a couple contacts. But would any highly placed experts in the educational, conservationist and business realms really sit down with him for a 30-minute discussion? Absolutely. "I thought I'd be lucky to get five of them to reply," Singla said of his outreach efforts. "If they're passionate about their job and you're p...
Tyler Hamman has learned a lot as owner and founder of Ty's Treats, including the fact that his young customers prefer their SpongeBob ice cream treats with gumball eyes rather than chocolate ones. "When they replaced the gumballs with chocolate, kids started buying them less," said Hamman, who opened Ty's Treats at the Hinsdale Community Pool this summer. Hamman got his first job working behind the front desk of the pool when he was 15. The next year, he worked for Sauced...
"I go to Peirce Park everyday," remarked Garett Skiba. The local dad's not on a mission get his steps in, but rather ensuring the integrity of the town's baseball program in his capacity as Hinsdale Little League president. "If I'm not there for games, it's to work on the fields," Skiba said. "What we have at Peirce is probably one of the best complexes in the area because of the hard work of volunteers keeping it going." Last Saturday he delighted in watching players and families fill the grounds for World Series Day, when...
Both of Samiksha Gupta's parents work in computer science. But it wasn't until she took a class in the subject that Gupta discovered her own fascination with the field and its application to what she considers two of her greatest passions - exercise and giving to her community. "You could create an entirely different world using this language," Gupta said of the computer coding she learned and used to create an app that allows users to link a commitment to fitness to...
Josh Lundmark has learned to be resilient in the face of adversity. The recent Cornell University graduate and standout golfer said his last four years has stretched both his outward-looking perspective and personal perseverance. "I feel like I'm more comfortable in uncomfortable situations now," said the Hinsdale native, who received his bachelor's degree in computer science last month. He parlayed his course exploits at Hinsdale Central into a key role on Cornell's golf...
There was a time when dance was nowhere near Tricia Fishbein's list of favorite activities. As a child, she said, she hated dance class. "Sometimes you find your passions later in life," said Fishbein, who in high school performed in several musicals as part of the Hinsdale Central drama club and became captain of the school's poms team. By then, pom captain was just another line on her dance resume. Fishbein started dancing on stage as part of StageDoor Fine Arts at age 11...
An early awakening. Out the window the sun has yet to make its rise. But a single light from the nextdoor neighbor's home suggests someone else is already stirring. Those prosaic morning observances helped illumine the imagination of Hinsdale Central senior Analise Budziak, whose subsequent short story, "A Trick of the Light," took first place in the inaugural Randall Albers Young Writers Award contest, sponsored by the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. "It's very exciting,"...
Every relationship begins with a first impression, and without a good one, the chances of developing a successful friendship, business partnership or romance are greatly decreased, said Joe Brocato, Hinsdale resident and author of "Hit It Off: 21 Rules for Mastering the Art and Science of Relationships in Life and Business." "The essence of the book is really teaching readers how to develop what I refer to as unique relationships - those that are difficult, if not impossible,...
Hinsdale Central's Ben Monahan was fired up about his junior year in the fall of 2021. As the Red Devils' starting quarterback, he was attracting considerable interest from college football programs, fueling his dream of one day playing in the National Football League. But the season took a nightmarish turn when he broke his leg in the opening game. "That obviously crushed me," related Monahan, now a senior. His will to overcome, however, remained intact. "Through all...
Carolyn and Chris Hart bought a house in Hinsdale in 2021, not knowing at the time that it would soon be home to a family of three. After a lengthy renovation project during which the Harts lived in Carolyn's brother's basement just next door, they moved in in February 2022, leaving them several months to settle in and prepare for the next big event in their lives - the birth of baby Ashley. Hart became a mother on June 29, 2022, and will celebrate her first Mother's Day as a...
Last summer, Hinsdale's Chase Ackerson was enjoying an evening of music at Ravinia with family when he bumped into a woman he knew through his former violin teacher. Having just graduated college with a degree in music but working in banking, Ackerson was keen to keep his instrumental skills in tune. "She was a member of the DuPage Symphony Orchestra and said, 'We're always looking for more people,' " he related. After sitting in on a rehearsal, Ackerson quickly became the...
The role of Monroe School Parent-Teacher Organization president is a big one. Co-presidents Lara Massouras and Dana Reko work together to get the job done. "I knew how thoughtful and resourceful she was from our interactions there," Massouras said of her PTO partner. Already a PTO board member, Massouras recruited Reko to be the board's vice president of communications. "She was, of course, a great fit and I am so grateful she stepped up to be co-president with me this year,"...
It was Valentine's Day six years ago, and Hinsdale's Bob Klinger had just recovered from prostate cancer surgery. He eagerly anticipated his first post-op outing: Wellness House's annual Valentine's couples dinner. Mother Nature had another agenda. "It was a blizzard, so they called all the couples and said, 'We might cancel the event,' " Klinger recounted. "I told them, 'I will crawl there in the blizzard because I need this.' They said, 'OK, well, I guess we'll have it.'...
On Saturday, April 15, 100 or more volunteers will descend on homes throughout Hinsdale as they distribute thousands of grocery bags for the 10th annual Seeds of Service food drive. Ensuring that each of those bags gets to its intended recipient is Hinsdale resident and St. Isaac Jogues church member Edward Pound. "I've been involved from the get-go," said Pound, who uses his extensive background in operations to divide the village into 31 routes for volunteers to follow on...
In the second half of Gargi Girotra's freshman year at Hinsdale Central, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Amidst the tumult and tragedy, Gargi found herself drawn to issues concerning mental health, joining the Operation Snowball and Strong Minds Bring Change clubs, which later merged to become Evolve. "Being a leader and going on the clubs' yearly retreats and seeing the impact we were able to have amongst our peers and community is what really sparked my interest,"...
Hinsdale Central High School senior Meghna Mitra will serve as liaison to the Hinsdale District 86 school board for just a few more months, but it's a job that she said will follow her into college and beyond. "I'm interested in studying public policy and politics on the pre-law track," she said. One day, she hopes to use all that she's learned to affect health and environmental policy. As the liaison between the Hinsdale Central Student Council and the school board, Mitra...
Kelci Bednar relishes the scenes around The Community House that accompany summer's arrival. "It's great to see the building so full," she said, noting the many activities also are held outside in adjacent Robbins Park. "Parents come and go, 'My kid's here for camp.' And we'll answer, 'Which one?' because we'll have, at any given day, like 15 camps going on." Bednar was recently hired as program director, returning to the organization she served as recreation supervisor from...
Hinsdale's Grace Carstensen and the Nazareth Academy girls basketball team had an IHSA 3A state title in their sights, and winning their first five games by an average margin of nearly 38 points projected the unstoppable will of a champion. Then the Roadrunners met an actual champion in the form of Notre Dame Academy, two-time defending rulers of Wisconsin's hard courts. It didn't go so well. "After we had that one loss to Notre Dame, I think we all started to realize that we...
Hinsdale Central senior Shannon Stover is in no rush to leave the scholastic world. "I wouldn't know what to do without school. It gives me structure," she said. Her studiousness also recently gave her membership to Illinois High School Association's 2022-23 All-State Academic Team, the top academic honor for student-athletes. It took a classmate to let her know. "My friend saw the (school) tweet that said, like, 'Congrats to Shannon Stover for winning,' " Stover said. "I...
Long before she ever set foot in the village, Shilpa Upadhye knew she would one day live in Hinsdale. While studying at the University of Michigan, she became friends with a fellow student who raved about her hometown in the western suburbs of Chicago. "I just heard her talk about Hinsdale all the time," Upadhye said. But she would move many times and live in many states and two countries before realizing her dream of residing in the town that her college friend described as...
TIME for Kids reporter Celsey O'Hare was about to conduct her first big interview, a Q&A by Zoom with Ugandan climate activist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Vanessa Nakate. The Hinsdale Middle School sixth-grader had permission to interview from school and was ready to go. As the time approached, she suddenly realized her school computer didn't permit recording. "I was like, 'What do I do?!' " Celsey recounted. Smartphone to the rescue. "I just had to record off of my...
If you ever gazed into the window displays at the State Street Marshall Field's store back in the early 2000s, chances are good you were admiring the work of Hinsdale resident Molly Haworth. While working for the Chicago department store, Haworth also decorated several homes in Hinsdale. "The town stayed in my memory," Haworth said, and when she and her family decided to become suburbanites, the village became her home. Haworth designed window displays for Macy's and Saks Fift...
