HP_052418

hplandmark.com School
the highland park landmark | May 24, 2018 | 13
For all you do
Elm Place celebrates school nurse Donna Kirk in honor
of National Nurses Week starting May 6
Elm Place Middle School nurse Donna Kirk with all the goodies brought by appreciative students
and staff. Photo Submitted
Club packs boxes for military children
HPHS’s Rotary Interact donates 100 boxes for local children whose
parents are in the military
A group of Highland Park High School students pose with their donations. Photo Submitted
School News
Highland Park High School
Big year for Key club
The 2018 Key Club featured a
great group of students who were
committed to community service
and who supported local efforts in
so many ways.
In addition to many local service
projects in our community,
students volunteered weekly at
Nuestro Center, Moraine Township
Food Pantry and Jordan’s
Corner and led a new mentoring
program at Sherwood Elementary
School.
The group also supported Blessings
in a Back Pack at Elm Place.
Key Club is a service organization
serving HPHS and the community.
It is affiliated with the
Highland Park/Highwood Kiwanis
Club and supports their fundraising
efforts.
Key Club sponsors school, community,
national and international
projects with fundraising activities
in order to contribute to various organizations.
Key Club members are committed
to helping with a specific activity
as well as fundraising events.
Harrigan takes second as chess
team competes at national tourney
The Highland Park High School
chess team competed in the USCF
National Chess Tournament in Columbus,
Ohio, over the April 27
weekend.
As HPHS loses several members
to graduation, its goal for the tournament
was to improve the level of
play, coaches said, adding that the
majority of the team played in sections
that were significantly more
challenging and against players
who were rated much higher.
Regardless, both, of HPHS’s
teams that competed in the Championship
section (most challenging)
and in the U1600 finished in
14th place.
As a result, nearly everyone’s
individual chess rating increased
significantly. Individually, Joey
Harrigan finished second in the
U1600 by winning six out of his
seven matches. The chess team
consists of: Luca Acquasaliente,
Chris Arzac, Michael Chiflikyan,
Matthew Dennison, Eli Elder,
Miguel Espinoza, Joey Harrigan,
Arda Sonmez, Alex Soutos and
Eric Starkman.
Robotics club wins international
honors at Detroit ceremony
Highland Park High School’s
Robotics Team Vertigo was one of
five finalists — out of 128 teams
— for the Rockwell Collins Innovate
Award at the first World
Championship April 27-29 in Detroit.
The award celebrates a team that
thinks outside of the box and has
the ingenuity and inventiveness to
make their designs come to life.
This was the first time in seven
years an HPHS team has been acknowledged
as a finalist for an
award.
Vertigo built a robot with laser
cut designs, a bright green wheel
intake, and flashing blue and red
lights that captured the attention of
the judges.
Vertigo team members were:
Ben Cohen (captain), Brenden
Chay (captain), Daniel Bergman,
Joe Beresheim, Jackie Hirsch,
Adam Kramer, Hawk Peterson,
Kurt Plonsker, Doug Smith and
Anais Zoub.
DECA team earns accolades
The school’s DECA International
Team was among 18,00 students,
staffer and business leaders around
the world April 21-24 in Atlanta.
In the competition, Highland
Park won the following awards:
• 3rd Internationally for Virtual
Business Sports (Jordy Mazza,
Dylan Weiskirch, and Sam
Dincin);
• Top 10 Internationally Marketing
Communication (Natalie
Laky);
• Top 20 Internationally Financial
Services Team (Harrison
Menaker and Mitchell Svetov);
• Top 20 Internationally Business
Finance (Jacob Hersh);
• Top 10 in Role Play #1 Marketing
Communication (Natalie
Laky); and
• Top 10 in Role Play #1 and
Role Play #2 Business Finance
(Jacob Hersh)
Compiled by Editor Erin Yarnall,
erin@hplandmark.com