Orland Park’s Matariyeh wins Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Award
Orland Park fifth grader Seham Matariyeh was awarded a 2023 Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Award for her work “Second Generation Daughter.”
Matariyeh and other winning poets will be celebrated Saturday during a ceremony at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. Winners will recite their poems for friends, families and teachers. Illinois Poet Laureate Angela Jackson also is attending and will read a new poem written in honor of the winning students. The ceremony is open to the public. RSVP at www.ilhumanities.org/events.
Matariyeh will receive a monetary prize provided by Illinois Humanities as well as a gift bundle that includes poetry anthologies from the Library of America, a certificate and a commemorative chapbook to celebrate and inspire a budding writing practice.
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St. Coletta’s of Illinois leader Skafgaard retires
Annette Skafgaard, who has been advocating for children and adults with developmental disabilities since joining St. Coletta’s 17 years ago, retired as the organization’s executive director at the end of August. Heather Benedick, the organization’s chief operating officer, was selected to take her place.
Based in Tinley Park, St. Coletta’s of Illinois provides educational, residential and vocational training services to more than 300 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“God has blessed me with many wonderful colleagues, community partners, board members, donors and families through the years,” Skafgaard said. “I am grateful and proud to have served alongside all of them, furthering the mission that the founders of St. Coletta’s of Illinois, the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, created 74 years ago.”
Skafgaard, who started her career in public accounting, joined the organization in 2006 after seeing a job posting for finance director. She was working in health care finance at the time and was intrigued by St. Coletta’s service-driven mission shaped by the Franciscan values of service to marginalized people.
“I was looking for something mission oriented,” she explained. “I wanted to do something greater by finding a job with purpose.”
She not only found one, but one in which she excelled.
OLCHS teacher accepted into National Review Institute program
Oak Lawn’s Frank Biga, a 21-year veteran of the social studies department at Oak Lawn Community High School, has been accepted into the National Review Institute Burke to Buckley Program in Chicago.
Biga will be exploring the foundations of conservative thought, the Constitution, and other topics while building a network of contacts throughout the nation. The program follows a syllabus and fosters a rigorous examination of conservative principles and how they apply to the issues of the day.
Oak Forest’s Barba commissioned as Army second lieutenant
On Aug. 20, the Illinois Army National Guard’s 129th Regiment (Regional Training Institute) Officer Candidate School commissioned 19 new officers as U.S. Army second lieutenants, including 2nd Lt. Javier Barba of Oak Forest.
EPCHS students recognized by College Board
Evergreen Park Community High School students Erin Wade and Xalani Mitchell earned academic honors from the College Board National Recognition Programs.
Wade received the National African American Recognition Award and Mitchell received both the National African American Recognition Award and National Hispanic Recognition Award.
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