GL_041918

12 | April 19, 2018 | The glenview lantern news
glenviewlantern.com
For Pareja, leadership is only ‘natural’
GBS senior class
president wins Youth
of the Year award
Sarah Haider
Freelance Reporter
Glenbrook South senior
Christian Pareja will take
home the
title of 2017
Youth of
the Year at
the 51st annual
Glenview
Civic
Awards Pareja
on Friday,
April 20, at Delta Hotels,
1400 Milwaukee Ave. in
Glenview.
During his time at GBS,
Pareja served as senior
class president, Interact
Club president, Key
Club member, track and
field athlete, variety show
stand-out and an organizer
for the student-led walkout
honoring the victims
of the school shooting in
Parkland, Fla.
According to Pareja,
involvement in any club
takes a “huge commitment,”
especially with
his numerous leadership
roles, but the sacrifice is
one he happily makes.
“When I [first] joined
service clubs, it really
opened my eyes that, even
as a high-schooler, I could
make a positive impact on
someone, on the community,
and that’s something
that has always stuck with
me,” Pareja said. “The
reason I stayed involved
was because I found a
passion in the things I am
involved in, and when I
found that passion, the
natural thing was for me
to take a leadership position.”
In their nomination
letters, Pareja’s teachers
commended his commitment
to service and
dedication to leadership
throughout his time at
GBS.
For Pareja, his inspiration
has stemmed from his
upbringing as an immigrant
to the United States.
At the age of 8, he moved
to Glenview from the Philippines
with his family.
“[My parents] took their
life from the Philippines
and moved to America for
a better life for me ... and
that’s one of things that really
motivates me to push
myself to be as good of a
person as I can be, as good
of a student, as good of a
leader,” Pareja said. “My
parents did what they did
to provide me an opportunity
that I wouldn’t have
had, and I wouldn’t want
to waste an opportunity
for me to become a better
person overall.”
According to a nomination
by Chinese teacher
Yvonne Wolf, Pareja inspires
others do just that,
stating “he lights the way
for others, quietly and
humbly.”
In a second nomination,
math teacher and Interact
Club sponsor Mark Gallagher
wrote “he is one the
best leaders I have seen in
26 years.”
“He has a very infectious
sense of spirit,” Gallagher
said after Pareja
won the award. “His
spirit is always so pure, so
bright and so selfless. He
inspires people who work
with him on a daily basis
to think outside of themselves
and to think about
how they can make someone
else’s day, week or
life better.”
According to Pareja,
he qualified for the award
simply by doing the things
he loves.
“It not something I expected
that I would get,”
he said. “I know the people
who have won this
award before and, honestly,
I question whether I am
up to par, but I would like
to say thank you for nominating
me and thinking
so highly of me because,
although it is something
that I never would have
expected, it’s something
that I do truly appreciate.”
Martin adds another title with Citizen of the Year
Sarah Haider, Freelance
Reporter
Everyone
knows Jim
Martin.
T h e
longtime
Glenview
resident
Martin
is recognized
around town as the
past president and current
board member of
the Glenview Chamber
of Commerce, a threedecade
member of the Lions
Club, board member
of the Park Foundation,
an original member of the
Alliance to Control Train
Impact on Neighborhood,
a Glenview community
church-goer, and a past
little league baseball
coach.
Next week, the list will
get a little longer when he
receives the 2017 Citizen
of the Year award during
the 51st annual Glenview
Civic Awards on Friday,
April 20, at Delta Hotels,
1400 Milwaukee Ave.
“If you like where you
live, you want to make it
better so that everybody
else feels like they like
where they live as well,”
Martin said. “You can’t
do that by just getting up
in the morning and driving
to work. You have
to go out and find ways,
because there is always
somebody doing something
that’s going to improve
the village.”
Martin solidified his
presence in the community
after deciding to raise
his family and open his
business, Corporate Print
Source, in Glenview after
retiring from serving at
the Glenview Naval Air
Station during Vietnam.
Martin credits his continuous
involvement in the
community to raising his
kids in the area.
“Having kids actually
brings you into different
areas of participation
where you have to volunteer
to be a soccer dad
or coach Little League
baseball like I did,” Martin
said. “The kids have a
way of leading you into
things that need your help
and are a good way of
finding it.”
Martin received numerous
nominations for the
award, which he states is
“highly undeserved and
greatly accepted.” Many
of the nominations echoed
his dedication to making
the community a better
home for Glenview residents
and inspiring those
around him to do the
same.
“He’s always putting
himself second,” said
Tom Zanzoni, president
of the Glenview Lions
Club. “He’s always putting
other people and their
needs in front of his own.
This is an award for what
you’ve done for the community,
and he has done
quite a bit. He’s a fixture
here in Glenview that everyone
knows. He’s just a
great guy.”
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D225
From Page 8
“At our April 23 meeting,
we will have recommendations
the community
can see.”
Parent group continues
strong opposition to
transgender policy
During the public comment
portion of the meeting,
Glenview resident
Glen Farkas told the board
that he had two “requests/
demands: 1, to meet privately
with the policy committee
and Dr. Riggle to
address the transgender issue;
2, to hold a town-hall
type school board meeting,
at which members of the
community can ask questions
directly.”
Farkas, who has a teenage
son and teenage daughter,
is the leader of the
group that is vehemently
opposed to the transgender
policy on restrooms and
locker rooms that was enacted
by the board in January.
The restroom policy
allows students to use restrooms
appropriate to their
consistently expressed gender
identity and the locker
room policy is meant “to
ensure that all individuals
who identify their gender
differently from their sex
assigned at birth do not
encounter discrimination
based on that identification.”
“They’re still mad as
hell,” Farkas said of his
group. “You’re not answering
written questions and
you’re not responding to
our requests for a private
meeting and a public forum.”
Farkas has been in the
news before. In the November
2012 election
for the 9th District State
Senate seat vacated by
Jeffrey Schoenberg, he
was the Republican candidate
who was defeated
by Daniel Biss, and in the
spring of 2013, he failed
in his attempt to get on the
ballot for the District 34
Board of Education election
because of an application
technicality.