Grayslake
Special visit: Grayslake Central High School’s Jacob Kamen invited state Rep. Sam Yingling, (D-Grayslake), to attend his group’s classroom presentation on the state legislature. After the presentation, recently, Yingling talked about the day in the life as a representative and answered the students’ questions.
Gurnee
Seats: Woodland District 50’s Board of Education seated three Board Members on May 1 for four-year terms: Terry Hall, CPA; Kellie Pappas and Chris Schrantz. Once seated, the new Board elected officers for two-year terms including: President Chris Schrantz, Vice President Tony DeMonte, and Secretary Vince Juarez. Outgoing member was Dr. Mark Vondracek, who retired his seat on May 1. Vondracek had served on the Board of Education since 2007.
Mundelein
Seats: Four members were seated recently at Hawthorn School District 73 Board of Education meeting following a recent election. The following were elected to serve four-year terms: incumbents Jeffrey Bard and Jayson Tran, along with newcomers Robin Cleek and Sonali Patil. All are residents of Vernon Hills. Board President Bard has served on the school board since 2007 and Vice President Tran has served since 2010.
Vernon Hills
Winners: Eighteen Hawthorn School District 73 students in grades 4 through 8 will have their writing selections published in the Cook Memorial Public Library after their pieces were chosen from among 111 entries in the 2015 Creative Writing Contest. Winners were chosen based on creative, interesting entries. All of the winning entries will be published in a special library journal.
Penny Wars: Hawthorn Middle School South students in Vernon Hills have raised over $100 for All For Books, a program that gives money to schools to purchase books for their libraries and for children who cannot afford to buy books.
Waukegan
Grant: Students at Jack Benny Middle School (JBMS) will soon experience music making in a whole new way, thanks to a grant from the school’s namesake’s foundation. The Jack Benny Family Foundation for Music announced a $5,000 grant to JBMS. The funds will be used to help students explore the relationship between music and technology. Members of Jack Benny’s family contacted JBMS unexpectedly, earlier this year, with the hopes of making a donation to the school through the California Community Foundation, with which the Jack Benny Family Foundation for Music is affiliated. JBMS plans to use the funds to purchase keyboards that can be synced with computers to help students learn to compose, arrange and record music.
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