Area JROTC cadets honored
Swallow Cliff Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, participated in recent JROTC awards ceremonies held at Shepard High School in Palos Heights and Richards High School in Oak Lawn.
Navy Lt. Commander Keira O’Brien (Richards) and Air Force cadet Julia Alvarez (Shepard) each received the DAR JROTC Award for their outstanding ability and achievement while demonstrating qualities of loyalty, patriotism, dependability, leadership and good character.
Evergreen Park’s Flores earns Seneca apprenticeship
Angelo Flores has become the first Evergreen Park Community High School student to be awarded an apprenticeship with the Seneca Foundation, which creates deliberate, early on ramps into the tech industry for Black and Latino recent high school graduates via paid software development apprenticeships.
“It’s pretty cool, honestly,” Flores said. “It’s an honor to hopefully help open up opportunities for other kids interested in pursuing this as a career.”
Seneca Foundation apprenticeships provide coding training for more than 6 hours a day, including professional development education, real-world software development experience, college application assistance and college tuition, all while being paid above minimum wage.
Flores was accepted, in part, due to a glowing letter of recommendation written by David Pierce, one of his teachers at EPCHS.
“This is pretty awesome for Angelo,” said Pierce, who has taught Flores in webpage design and computer concepts classes and coached him in football and wrestling at EPCHS. “He’s one of our really hardworking students and a very good kid.”
Upon graduation from EPCHS, Flores will begin a 12-month program with Seneca in which they will help him land a full-time job in the industry upon completion.
“I’m looking forward to gaining some experience in coding, having lots of fun meeting new people, and working with them to pursue my career in coding and developing software,” Flores said.
Summit Hill’s scholastic bowl team places fifth in state
The Summit Hill Junior High School’s scholastic bowl team took fifth place in the IESA AA state tournament earlier this month.
While appearing at state for the first time, the team completed a 13-4 season overall.
Lemont places 20th in math competition
Lemont High School placed 20th among 57 teams at the 2022 Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics Division 3AA State Finals, posting top 20 finishes in two events.
The team’s top finish in state finals competition came in the Pre-Calculus Written Team competition, where seniors Christopher Sojka, Jacob TerMaat, Molly Thornber, Nathan Valyaneth, Isabella Wilton and Annette Winterland combined for a 17th-place finish.
The Algebra I Written Team, which included freshmen Juliana Duran, Alexander Lazarowicz, Vikram Oberai, Om Patel, Leonardo Rafacz and Nora Thornber, was 20th in its competition.
Chicago Heights’ Gibek receives National Merit scholarship
David Jason Gibek of Chicago Heights, a senior at Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School, will receive a National Merit $2,500 scholarship. He intends on studying mechanical engineering in college.
Area choir students to tour Germany and Czech Republic
Frankfort’s Brianna Ebenroth and New Lenox’s Ben Radeke, Jessa Simon, Grace Strache and Sarah Walton are part of the Augustana College Choir which is touring Germany and the Czech Republic through June 7
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The choir has six musical engagements during the tour, most at historic churches.
Frankfort’s Urcino helps Trine University win BUV competition
Manuel Urcino of Frankfort, a senior mechanical engineering major at Trine University in Angola, Ind., helped his school win the Basic Utility Vehicle competition in April.
In the BUV competition, each school designs a simple, low-cost vehicle that could hypothetically be used in a developing African country to perform daily tasks over rough terrain. The vehicles must be capable of pumping water onto their vehicle from a pond, successfully navigating a muddy 2.2-mile course and returning the water to the pond. The team that transports the most water during the allotted time period is declared the winner.
Orland Park’s Benz-Weeden presents research
Orland Park’s Anna Benz-Weeden recently presented “Radical Halogenation Using Photocatalysis” at Carthage College’s annual Celebration of Scholars event in early May.
University of Alabama Students Blue Key Honor Society inductees
New Lenox: Marie Moore, Josie Schmitt
Bob Jones University spring graduates list
Hannah Jawor, Frankfort
Bob Jones University spring president’s list
Frankfort: Hannah Jawor; Mokena: Rhys Fuller; New Lenox: Bethany Charleston; Tinley Park: Janine Alyssa Mendoza
Concordia University, Nebraska spring graduates list
Stephen Lewis, Matteson
University of the Cumberlands spring graduates list
Paxton Hoop, Oak Forest
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