2011-2012 District 113 Accomplishments - Township High School ...

District 113
Deerfield &
Highland Park
High Schools

Ten District 113 students
were selected as
candidates for the United
States Presidential Scholar
Program.

DHS students Haley Kaplan, Samra
Lazarus and Jack Dessent were
named All-State musicians by the
Illinois Musical Educators Association
(IMEA).

Last year, more students took
AP Science than any other
time in HPHS history.

Student Senate hosted another
fantastic Charity Drive and brought
the school together to raise more
than $170,000 for the Leukemia
Research Foundation.

District 113 debuted four
prototype classrooms at
DHS and HPHS. The rooms
were outfitted with state
of the art technology and
flexible furniture.

HPHS 2012 graduate Kellon
Svetov was selected as an Intel
Science Talent Search Semi-
Finalist. Kellon spent last
summer completing protein
crystallography research at
Texas Tech University. Kellon
named his physics teacher,
Kunal Pujara as a recipient of a
$1,000 prize.

DHS student Valerie Schwarz won 1 st
place in the painting category of the
Great Frame Up Lisa (Life is Simply
Art) Best of the Best Art Show at the
State of Illinois Building. Her
painting was picked out of 140.

Twenty-three DHS DECA students
participated in the State
Conference. Twelve students
qualified for the National
Competition. Eight students
participated in the International
Competition. Scott Boorstein and
Alec Pighetti were state champs.
Martin Lopez earned a Top Ten Finish
during the International
Competition.

The Illinois Association of
Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance
selected HPHS Department
Chair Andy Butler as the PE
Administrator of the Year.

Michael Moran and co-sponsor Stacy
Wood were honored with the
NSSED Association of Parents &
Staff (APS) Best Practice Award for
their club Warrior Buddies. Warrior
Buddies sponsored the 1 st annual
Valentine’s Day Dance.

A group of Latino students
spray painted a new mural on
Vine Avenue in Highland Park
that represents their
heritage and values.

The Highland Park High School Wind
Symphony, which included 65
students, was invited to perform at
the Young Prague 2012 International
Music Festival. They were awarded a
gold medal rating by an
international panel of judges.

The Troubadour received a rank of
Superior in the NCTE Program to
Recognize Excellence in Student
Literacy Magazines. Only two other
schools in Illinois received a Superior
rating.

Tyler Kaplan received the Physical
Education Principal’s Award at
DHS. John Sullivan was named
the IHSA Sectional Coach of the
Year for Girls Swimming and Doug
Foerch was recognized as the
IHSA State Coach of the Year for
Diving. Doug was also inducted
into the Lake County High Schools
Sports Hall of Fame.

HPHS hosted a group of students from
Northern Ireland during a program
called TABU, which is sponsored by
the high school and the Highland
Park/Highwood Rotary Club. Every
other year, students from HPHS visit
Northern Ireland to learn about
conflict resolution. Last year,
Northern Ireland students visited us.

Deerfield and Highland Park High
School students dominated the
38 th Annual National High School
Model United Nations Conference
in New York City. Two hundred
schools from around the world
competed. The HPHS Model UN
team came in 1 st , DHS came in
2 nd .

HPHS has two Iron Men. In
addition to graduate Aaron
Lidawer, math teacher Jeremy
Runyan competed in the
Madison, WI Iron Man.

David Burke (HPHS Applied Arts)
received the 3M Star in the
Classroom Award. This award
recognizes educators who have
incorporated economics education
in the classroom. David will be
recognized at the Econ Illinois
Annual Economic Educator Day
Awards Luncheon in Chicago on
October 25 th .

PE at DHS rolled out the POLAR
wireless heart rate system.
We’re one of six schools in
Illinois and a handful nationwide
to use this technology. An
average of 1330 students used
the system every week during
their workouts.

HPHS students in the Green
School Initiative set up a
chip bag recycling
program that recycled
thousands of chip bags.

Highland Park High School
launched its Learning Center. It’s
staffed by two aides and a group
of rotating teachers to help
students outside the classroom.
It also pairs students who are in
need of support with student
tutors.

Buffy Sallee and Elliot Hurtig piloted a
culminating Senior Symposium at DHS.
Students met at Heller Nature Center
and presented their senior projects to
classmates, teachers and community
members.

The Deerfield High School
Freshman Physics Program
increased enrollment in AP
Physics B and AP Physics C
by 235% for this year.

District 113 Foundation
awarded 12 education
programs at DHS and HPHS
schools around $25,000. The
money helped support and
enrich programs that might
not have been funded.

HPHS celebrated the 15 th
Annual Chicano College Bowl.
DHS participated for the first
time. Twelve schools
competed at Highland Park,
amounting to about 250
people. The HPHS CCB Junior
Varsity Team took 1 st place!

Mercedes Ladron de Guevara, Ryan
Rockaitis and Kristina Santillan
presented a session on “60 Treats for
your Bag of Tricks,” at the fall
Illinois Council of Teachers of
Foreign Language Conference. It was
selected as the “Best of Illinois” and
will be presented at the Central
State Conference.

The DHS Class of 2012
included six National Merit
Finalists and 124 Illinois
State Scholars.

HPHS brought 16 students to
DECA’s International Career
Development Conference in Salt
Lake City, Utah.

The Counseling Support Services Team
organized a Suicide Prevention
Program that was provided to
seniors during homeroom for the
first time at DHS and trained Senior
Homeroom teachers to facilitate the
sessions.

The Illinois Association of
Health, Physical Education
Recreation and Dance
selected Josh Hess as the
Outdoor Adventure Teacher
of the Year.

Students in AP Environmental
Science at HPHS worked alongside
many local professionals in
rebuilding habitats around the
area. Students helped restore
Millard Ravine and Red Oak
Woods. This year, the school will
raise fingerling trout that will
then be released into Millard
Ravine.

WDHS placed at the Student
Television Network’s Spring
Nationals Competition, won top
honors from the National
Academy of Television Arts &
Sciences and at the 19 th Annual
Chicagoland High School Video
Festival.

Joe Navickas’ Entrepreneurship class
at DHS teamed up with local
restaurant Tom & Eddy’s to create
and market a new hamburger for the
menu. Proceeds from the event
were donated to lung cancer
prevention.

HP Robotics team 3785, the Beastie
Bots, returned from the Global FTC
Robotics Championship in St. Louis
with a 3 rd place finish from 128
teams.

Robin Gapinski piloted the new
TI-Nspire graphic calculator in
her AP Calculus BC classes at
HPHS with great success.

The Class of 2011 had 12
students earn a perfect 36
on the ACT.

Beth Ahlgrim (DHS) published her
book. Beth along with three
colleagues wrote the book
Friending Literature: Bridging
the Generational Divide by
Creating Critical Thinkers
Beyond the Quiz and the Essay.

HPHS teacher Howie Hill was
recognized by the White House
Council on Environmental Quality
and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency for the
Presidential Innovation Award for
Environmental Educators 2011-2012.

Deerfield High School’s AP
Statistics classes participated
in an online Statistics
Competition. Several
students earned high marks
including Jason Brown, who
placed 1 st .

HPHS student
Miguel Lara
was named
the NSSRA
Athlete of the
Year!

District 113 recruited more
than 100 community
volunteers to participate
in six study groups that
analyzed and prioritized
the needs of DHS and
HPHS.

2012 DHS graduate Jon Goldberg
won a series of awards for WDHS
including a crystal pillar from
the local chapter of the National
Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences. His public service
announcement about the
consequences of drunk driving
will run this year.

HPHS student Jonny Cohen
received a number of awards
last year for his work with
GreenShields. He also got to
speak to students at Harvard
University about the project.

Rotary Interact Club launched
at HPHS. Students involved
helped run the care package
drive to send to our troops.
They also went to the Ronald
McDonald House to prepare
and serve a picnic lunch.

Jam for Justice, the
music and human
rights festival at DHS,
had a magnificent
turnout. It not only
raised awareness
about various forms of
modern slavery and
human trafficking but
also raised money for
Link Community
Development.

Melissa Zientara spearheaded
a “Spread the word to end
the word” campaign along
with her peer mentors. They
held a huge high school rally
that marched from HPHS to
HPNova promoting the cause.

Deerfield High School 2012
graduate David Lichko made
school history when he
qualified to participate in the
United States Mathematics
Olympiad. Only 500 students
qualified nationwide. David is
currently studying math at
California Institute of
Technology.

District 113 students dominated
the 38 th Annual National High
School Model United Nations
Conference in New York City.
HPHS Model UN received the
highest honor of 1 st place-
Delegation of Distinction. DHS
came in 2 nd with Delegation of
Excellence.

Deerprints earned a slew of
awards from the Northern
Illinois Scholastic Press
Association including the
Golden Eagle, which is
awarded as an overall award
for the top three school
papers in each division.

HPHS grad Ariel
Small’s
experience with
Tourette’s
syndrome was
featured in the
PBS documentary
Different is the
New Normal.
Parts of the
documentary
were filmed at
HPHS.

Congrats to Kunal Pujara (HPHS) on
being named a “Star Teacher” by
Chicago Ideas Week. Star Teachers
are recognized for their exceptional
accomplishments and impact,
distinguished through innovation in
the classroom.

Deerfield High School hosted
the 2012 Special Olympics.
150 athletes traveled to DHS
to compete. Another 135
Deerfield students and staff
volunteered to help. The
event was a huge success!

Both Deerfield and Highland Park High
Schools were selected to perform at
the Illinois High School Theatre
Festival. HPHS performed “On Stars
Not Falling” and DHS showcased
“Black Comedy.”

The Class of 2015 Board at HPHS
joined forces with Community
Partners for Affordable Housing to
repair a house for its new family.
40 freshmen volunteered their
Saturday to plant bushes and
trees, move bricks, clean debris
from the basement, tear down a
wall and build a fence.

DHS students hosted several
“fine dining” lunches in the
cafeteria. Students dressed
up, catered in food and
enjoyed an afternoon of
elegance together.

District 113 drastically expanded
its wireless network. The
upgrade bumped the high
school’s wireless access points
from 110 to 175. The network is
projected to be able to power
10,000 simultaneous wireless
connections in the District.

Hundreds turned out for
Deerfield High School’s
Valentine’s Day Dance
hosted by Warrior Buddies.
Special Education students
from DHS, HPHS and
neighboring high schools
packed the gym for an
evening of fun.

HPHS teacher Victoria Otto
was named the Midwest
secondary PE teacher of the
year and was honored as a
National secondary PE
teacher of the year finalist.

Deerfield High School was
the 2011 recipient of the
American Association of
School Librarian’s
Collaborative School
Library Award.

The HPHS Congressional
Debate Team took home the
IHSA State Title for the
second year in a row with
Jared Molk taking 1 st place
out of 150 competitors.

Deerfield High School
raised more than $97,000
during last year’s School
Chest fundraiser for
Invisible Children.

District 113 staff members
and students are truly
remarkable!