LP_112217

18 | November 22, 2017 | The Lockport Legend LIFE & ARTS
lockportlegend.com
Kelvin Grove students
featured in ILMEA Festival
Submitted by Kelvin Grove School
On Nov. 4, the Illinois Music Education
Association Elementary and Junior High Division
held its annual District I Music Festival
at Lincoln-Way Central High School in
New Lenox.
Kelvin Grove students Rileigh Rubar
(Alto Saxophone - band) and Evelyn Moan
(Soprano - chorus) auditioned and were selected
to represent Lockport School District
91 at the festival. The festival involved more
than 500 students selected from more than
60 schools throughout the southwestern metropolitan
Chicago area.
More than 1200 of the total 5840 Illinois
schools participate in the 26 ILMEA fall festivals
throughout the state each year. More
than 24,000 students in Illinois perform in
these yearly festivals.
The Festival Band conducted by William
Jastrow, the Chorus conducted by Robert
Boyd and the Orchestra conducted by Michael
Hopkins presented a public Festival
Finale Concert held in the Lincoln-Way
Central High School Field House at 3 p.m.
that day. Appearing in concert were the
150-member festival band, the 100-piece
festival orchestra, and the festival chorus
numbering more than 150 voices.
Making
their mark
Lockport Woman’s Club
statue relocated to library
Kelvin Grove students Evelyn Moan (left)
and Rileigh Rubar represented Lockport
School District 91 at the Illinois Music Education
Association festival. PHOTO Submitted
33C
From Page 17
and eighth-graders in the
kitchen, said she believes
this partnership helps the
students not only learn new
skills but learn to become independent.
“They can absolutely
utilize this in life [and] at
home,” Kuczkowski said.
“Everybody needs some
type of passion and understanding
of how to feed
themselves, so this program
really introduces different
skills as far as measurements
and they can equate
it to math. As they get older,
it promotes more independence,
as well.”
Since working with the
students in September, Kuczkowski
has helped them
make chicken and waffles,
meatballs, homemade pizza
dough and sauce from
scratch.
“You don’t want to give
them too much, but you
don’t want to hold them
back, either,” Kuczkowski
said. “You want to challenge
them. That’s how they learn,
by challenging them.”
Before the program started,
Kuczkowski and Cortesi-
Caruso brainstormed together
an individualized plan
for the students in regard to
learning in the kitchen. It
has given Kuczkowski a lot
of hope moving forward in
terms of children with special
needs and the activities
they can do on their own.
“To see how far that they
come from start to finish,
even with just the few lessons
that they’ve come and
done, they’re already picking
up different skills on
how to measure and equating
it to daily life skills,”
Kuczkowski said.
The program will continue
through April, when
the students will prepare a
luncheon for their parents
at their last visit to St. Coletta’s.
Jen Hesek, who is
the special education teacher
for the seventh- and eighthgraders
at Homer Jr. High,
said seeing her students excel
in the activities they do
and get so excited about is
rewarding for her.
“Even from the first time
to now, it’s like little things
they’re picking up, and I like
to see that growth and even
their confidence, too,” Hesek
said.
The visit to St. Coletta’s
once a month is on their
classroom calendar, and the
students are always eager to
know when they get to go
next.
“Starting Monday, it’s all
we heard about was St. Coletta’s
on Wednesday,” Hesek
said.
Before the students arrive
at St. Coletta’s, Hesek asks
each of them to identify a
goal they would like to accomplish,
and when they return
to school after the day
is over, they identify a goal
they would like to accomplish
at their next visit.
“For me, just seeing the
students be successful and independent,
that’s really what
it’s all about,” Hesek said.
Cari Clarida, who is the
special education teacher for
the fifth- and sixth-graders
at Hadley, said that the goal
she has for the program is
for the students to see that
what is taught in school is
always used outside of the
classroom.
“It enhances the skills that
we’re already teaching in the
classroom,” Clarida said.
The vision is to continue
this program for next year
and for years to come. Annette
Skafgaard, who is the
executive director at St. Coletta’s,
said that Homer Jr.
High and Hadley are the first
schools to partner with them,
but other schools are now
interested and will partner
with them soon.
“I’m progressive, and I
like to think outside the box
in terms of our special needs
kids,” Cortesi-Caruso said.
Submitted by the Lockport Woman’s
Club
The Lockport Woman’s Club donated
a statue to the City of Lockport
to commemorate the 100th anniversary
of the club.
Donated in 2002, the statue was
recently relocated from Central
Square to the White Oak Library
District Lockport Branch Library.
This is fitting because the LWC
was instrumental in the establishment
of a public library more than
100 years ago.
Lockport Woman’s Club President Chris Wallace
stands next to a statue donated by the club to the
City of Lockport. Photo submitted
St. Coletta’s Rita Sherrill (right) works with fifth-graders Saja Heshneh and Nicky Vargas to
assemble LEGO blocks together as one of their learning activities at the nonprofit. Jacquelyn
Schlabach/22nd Century Media