Some Southland students are learning at home, while others are back on campus at their various schools, but no matter where they’re spending their days, the pandemic isn’t slowing them down one bit.
Take the Dancing Celtics from Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, for example, who brought home a Class 1A state championship trophy last week in competitive dance after an abbreviated 5-week season.
“Words cannot describe the feeling of this huge accomplishment,” coach Stephanie Coglianese, who has led the team to the IHSA state finals four times, said in a news release. It was Providence Catholic’s first title. “We never thought after the ups and downs of the entire season, this would be the outcome. Our competitive season was short. We didn’t place in the top three in each competition, but we didn’t let this push us down. We used it as motivation to make each practice count. We wanted to execute a routine that was clean, rewarding, and showcased all of the girls in the best light.”
Team member Payton Ward, a senior from Homer Glen, said in the release, “Winning the state championship this year means so much to me because it proved that we overcame all our hardships and pushed the team to our fullest potential.”
Her teammate Kathryn Hamilton, a senior from Orland Park., agreed.
“We saw how much all of the hard work paid off, and I know as a team, we all truly believe God was with us every step of the way.,” she said. “I hope the younger girls embrace every moment they have together because it really does fly by. Dancing on this team will give you a forever family.”
Midlothian area students join Police Teen Academy
Meanwhile in Midlothian, a group of students from Bremen High School and other area high schools got a look behind the scenes at how a suburban police department works at the Midlothian Police Teen Academy.
Larry Rafferty, the department’s deputy chief, worked with Bremen criminal law teacher Chad Augustine to set up the annual event in an effort to get students interested in law enforcement.
The day began with a visit from Midlothian Mayor Gary L’Heureux, according to a news release from District 228. Students spent the rest of the day with Midlothian police officers in activities such as exploring police equipment and a squad car, learning about traffic stops, DUI sobriety testing techniques, criminal investigations, evidence processing and equipment used by the South Suburban Response Team. The academy day was capped by a visit from two K9 officers from the Cook County Sheriff’s Department.
“We appreciate the Midlothian Police Department being able to offer students such an authentic experience, ultimately giving them a better working knowledge of policing,” Augustine said.
County commissioner congratulates speech champs
Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, D-6th, presented a County Board resolution earlier this week honoring Southland College Prep Charter High School speech competition winners Nyah Ware, Bri’Yon Watts along with all the south suburban students who competed in the 2021 Illinois High School Association speech championships.
The resolution noted “their excellent results are a testament to the hard work of students and faculty and the parents who supported them,” according to a release from Southland College Prep.
Ware and Watts are finalists in the Chicago August Wilson Monologue competition and also will compete this summer in the National Speech and Debate Association tournament.
Ware, 18, of Matteson, is a champion in speech and in the sciences who took first place in Impromptu Speaking, Prose Reading and Special Occasion Speaking events and was the runner-up in several other events. Southland’s senior class president, Ware has been accepted to a number of schools including her top choices of MIT, Yale, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt. She plans to major in biomedical engineering.
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Watts, 17, of Richton Park, is president of Southland’s National Honor Society chapter and has been a member of the speech team for four years, including the 2019 IHSA state championship Performance in the Round group. He earned a full scholarship from the QuestBridge National College Match program and will attend Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he plans to major in psychology or perhaps double major in psychology and theater.
Dog rescued from icy Will County water
In non-student news, emergency workers in Will County were lauded recently for rescuing a dog that fell through ice after chasing geese earlier this month at Monee Reservoir.
According to a news release from the Forest Preserve District of Will County, Rocco the dog, of Frankfort, made it about 250 out on the ice before breaking through and falling into the frigid water late afternoon March 5. His owner had unhooked the dog for a moment to untangle the leash when Rocco bolted after the birds, the release said.
After a 911 call, Forest Preserve police Officer Dan Rankovich and firefighters from the Monee Fire Department arrived and Rocco was pulled from the lake, cold but alive, about an hour after he had plunged in.
The credit for the rescue goes to the firefighters who entered the water, Rankovich said.
“They just kept suiting up guy after guy to get to the dog,” he said. “They were running out of guys on shore.”
Four firefighters entered the water in ice rescue suits and Rankovich and others on shore were holding ropes that were tied to the rescuers.
Rankovich, a former Mokena officer, said conditions were rough because the ice was too thin to hold the weight of the firefighters, but it was too icy to swim through so it was tough going. So they had to break their way through the ice to get to Rocco.
“Those firefighters really worked their butts off to get to the dog,” Rankovich said.
Rocco’s owner, Kim Jones, said he spent most of that night warming up by a toasty fire and required no extra care. He and Rocco have made personal stops at both the Monee Fire Protection District fire station and the Forest Preserve District’s police station to thank all involved.
Procession to honor fallen Chicago Heights officer
Visitation is Friday and funeral procession will take place Saturday for Chicago Heights Police officer Gary S. Hibbs, who died last week after collapsing while responding to an emergency.
Visitation will be from 1 to 8 p.m. Friday at Panozzo Brothers Funeral Home, 530 W. Lincoln Highway, Chicago Heights. A law enforcement walk-through is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the public is welcome to attend.
The funeral procession will leave from the funeral home at 9 a.m. Saturday and proceed to St. Kieran Church, 724 E. 195th Street, Chicago Heights. The funeral mass is limited to family and sworn personnel but officials hope people line the procession route.
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