FS_031518

frankfortstation.com life & arts
the frankfort station | March 15, 2018 | 25
Frankfort Square Park District’s
dance program wins awards
Submitted by Frankfort
Square Park District
The Frankfort Square
Park District introduced the
Braemar Dance Center’s
(BDC) company classes in
the fall of 2015, and has
more than 70 dancers that
now compete at local and
regional events.
Since the inception of
Company Classes, the BDC
performers have been recognized
at every competition,
taking home trophies
and awards, and can boast
high scores in all categories.
Most recently, BDC participated
in the Applause Talent
Dance Competition at the
Batavia Fine Arts Center,
held March 2-4. All BDC
dances were awarded platinum
or double platinum
awards, and also came away
with the coveted Studio of
Excellence Award, where in
addition to high scores, our
dancers also exhibited good
character through the entire
weekend, a requirement of
this award.
BDC is now preparing for
their next competition, the
Rainbow Regional Dance
Competition, held in Elgin
April 20-22.
The success of BDC can
be attributed not only to the
dancers’ ability and their
dedication to dance, but
most importantly to talent
of its phenomenal instructors
and choreographers.
Donnette Cannonie leads
the talented dance staff that
includes Kari Jensen, Melissa
Bravo, Michelle Cannon,
Michael Thomas and
Tricia Evans.
The Frankfort Square
Park District is proud of
its talented dancers and
instructors and extends
its congratulations for
the hard work and dedication
that earns them
these accolades at all their
competitions.
Providence Catholic High School’s Anatomy and Physiology class viewed a live heart transplant surgery March 7 at
Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Photo submitted
Providence students witness open heart surgery
Submitted by Providence
Catholic High School
On March 7, Providence
Catholic High School’s
Anatomy and Physiology
class traveled to Chicago’s
Museum of Science and Industry
to view a live heart
transplant surgery.
The students went live
into an operating room and
watched and listened via
video conference as a surgical
team performed a heart
transplant at a Chicago
based hospital. Trained museum
educators facilitated
the video conference and
the students had an opportunity
to communicate with
the surgical team to learn
more about heart health and
medical careers. The surgical
team included the head
surgeon, anesthesiologist,
surgical nurses and a physician
assistant. This STEMbased
experience has been
available to PCHS students
for 15 years thanks to science
teacher Frank Cavallone.
“Many of our students
choose careers in medicine
and science,” said Cavallone,
“and this is a great
opportunity for them to see
first-hand top medical personnel
in action.”
The group of students
were sophomores and seniors
that have demonstrated
their passion for the
medical field, human anatomy,
and understanding of
human structure and function.
This is just one of two
trips teacher Frank Cavallone
takes the students. At
the beginning of the year,
he also took a group of students
to the Cadaver Lab at
the National University of
Health Sciences, located in
Lombard, Ill.
Frankfort insurance
agent receives Spirit of
the Silver Lining Award
Submitted by West Bend
Mutual Insurance Company
West Bend Mutual Insurance
Company recently
presented the Spirit of the
Silver Lining Award to two
of its agents in Illinois. Additionally,
West Bend also
donated grant funding to
the two nonprofit organizations
supported by the
recipients of the Silver Lining
Award.
The Spirit of the Silver
Lining Award honors West
Bend agents and the nonprofit
organizations they
support for their dedication
to delivering a silver lining
to those in need.
The Illinois recipients of
the 2018 Spirit of the Silver
Lining Award are Jim Smith
of Gnade Insurance Group,
Inc. in Frankfort and Kevin
Lesch of Árachas Group,
LLC. The nonprofit organizations
Smith and Lesch
support will each receive
a $10,000 grant from West
Bend Mutual Insurance’s Independent
Agents Fund.
Smith was presented the
Spirit of the Silver Lining
Award for his involvement
with the Midwest BBQ for
the Brave. In 2012, Smith
and his wife Gayla hosted
the first of what is now an
annual BBQ that raises
money for catastrophically
injured service members.
The BBQ raises money to
support the Stephen Siller
Tunnel to Towers Foundation,
which builds specially
adapted, custom designed,
mortgage-free smart homes
for catastrophically injured
service members returning
home. The grant funding
from West Bend will be used
to build one of these homes
for America’s heroes.
Lesch was presented the
Spirit of the Silver Lining
Award for his involvement
with Young Hearts for Life.
Young Hearts for Life offers
free Electrocardiography
(ECG) tests to detect conditions
that may cause Sudden
Cardiac Death (SCD)
and educate the community
about SCD. After the passing
of a former colleague’s
daughter from Cardio Myopathy,
Árachas Group has
supported Young Hearts for
Life. Young Hearts will use
the grant from West Bend
towards the Elizabeth Grace
Kunce Memorial Fund.
“At West Bend, we have
a proud tradition of giving
back to the communities in
which we do business,” said
Kevin Steiner, president and
CEO of West Bend. “The
Spirit of the Silver Lining
Award is a unique program
that allows us to express
our gratitude to our agent
partners on whom we rely
to identify the causes that
matter most in our communities.”
Since 2006, West Bend
has awarded more than
$1.2 million in grants for
sustaining support, special
projects, or capital projects
to nonprofit organizations
representing a broad field of
interests, including, but not
limited to, arts and culture;
education; the environment;
family, youth, and elderly;
health and human services;
medical research; and community
development. Grants
are made to organizations
within West Bend’s core
geographic operating territory
that includes Wisconsin,
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Michigan, and Minnesota.