ROTARY PRESENTS YOUTH AWARDS
Eight eighth-graders who attend Hinsdale Middle School, Clarendon Hills Middle School and Notre Dame Parish and two seniors from Hinsdale Central High School received the Rotary Club of Hinsdale’s Youth Merit Award April 17.
This award recognizes extraordinary high school and middle school students for services to their community and classmates, leadership qualities and academic achievements.
The following students earned the award this month.
Brynn Bauer, HMS
Kevin Coan, HMS
William Gaffney, CHMS
Miette Morris, CHMS
Vivian Sweeney, CHMS
Luca Davies, CHMS
Elizabeth Lahmann, Notre Dame
Brendan Perkins, Notre Dame
Lorenzo Jennings, Hinsdale Central
Tess Klygis, Hinsdale Central
“The Rotary Youth Merit Awards recognize and honor middle and high school students who are pace-setters among their peers,” Rotary Club President Thomas Norton said. “Their all-around excellence in academic performance, community service, the arts and athletics is amazing and inspiring to our club members and deserves recognition in the broader local community. We are proud to be able to acknowledge these promising young leaders.”
CMF AWARDS COVID-19 FUNDS
Community Memorial Foundation has awarded $249,750 to 26 local nonprofit partners who are addressing the COVID-19 outbreak in the western suburbs.
Among the recipients was The Community House in Hinsdale, which was awarded $4,000 to provide behavioral telehealth services.
HCS Family Services in Hinsdale received $3,750 to provide milk and eggs for its food pantry for the next three months.
Midwest Health Foundation was given $7,500 to provide emergency care boxes of household essentials for patients of the Family Medicine Clinics at AMITA Health Adventist Medical Centers Hinsdale and La Grange, both of whom serve vulnerable populations.
“The foundation has been listening to our grantee partners to understand how this pandemic is impacting our local communities,” said Greg DiDomenico, president and CEO. “Our Urgent Response Fund is one way that we can be flexible and responsive to our partners’ needs, while continuing to support equitable health and human services during this challenging time.”
HCS EARNS FOUNDATION GRANT
The DuPage Foundation has deployed an additional $200,000 in COVID-19 response fund grants to aid nonprofits.
HCS Family Services in Hinsdale received a $10,000 grant under the food and emergency financial assistance category.
Since the fund’s inception on March 19, a total of $500,000 in grants have been distributed.
To date the foundation has raised $770,000 for its COVID-19 Response Fund thanks to the support of generous lead partners, including the Birck Family, the Hyett Family, the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund, two area private foundations wishing to remain anonymous, the Shebik Family and grants from the Gustafson Family Foundation and Snodgrass Family Funds of the DuPage Foundation.
“We have been in awe of our community’s generosity during this time of crisis,” said Mike Sitrick, the foundation’s vice president for advancement.
He noted applications continue to come in, with pending grant requests at $650,000.
“This amount is certain to increase in the coming weeks and months, so additional support will be critical as we work to address the fallout from this emergency.”
HMS STUDENTS WIN VIDEO CONTEST
Four Hinsdale Middle School students received first prize in The Environmental Film competition sponsored by the Redford Center.
The students — Sara Malysz, Adhvay Arvind, Lana Almansoori and Isla Prame — created a film to tell an environmental story important to them: waste management in school cafeterias and their goal to minimize styrofoam waste.
After speaking with the head of D181’s food service provider, Quest, and D181 Superintendent Hector Garcia, they found that the best solution was to switch from styrofoam trays to reusable plastic trays and paper plates in the cafeteria. The documentation of this process was captured in their film, “One Step Closer.”
The students spent hours writing the script, conducting the interviews, creating the animation, and capturing and editing all of the footage.
Teacher Theresa McGee and Jane Fetty said they could not be more proud of the students’ efforts and the final result.
Students were told they won the top prize during a Zoom meeting with their teachers, Dr. Garcia, Alex Schulze (co-founder of 4Ocean) and Jill Tidman and David Castro of The Redford Center. The prize is a care package from 4Ocean and a full-day experience at 4Ocean headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. (when it’s safe to travel).
CENTRAL RANKED NO. 11 BY U.S. NEWS
Hinsdale Central High School was ranked No. 11 in Illinois and No. 310 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.
The ranking evaluates schools’ performance on state-required tests, graduation and how well they prepare students for college. Central earned an overall score of 98.26 out of 100.
The Advanced Placement participation rate at the school is 65 percent, the scorecard states, with 60 percent of students passing at least one AP exam. Central’s graduation rate is 94 percent.
The school has a total minority enrollment of 31 percent, and 6 percent of students are economically disadvantaged, the report states.
Hinsdale South earned a score of 90.85 to rank No. 75 in Illinois and No. 1,628 in the country.
