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time,” Mike said.<br />
The leadership phase is<br />
the last three weeks of training<br />
during which the candidates<br />
are assigned a regiment<br />
of different classes below<br />
theirs to guide through earlier<br />
phases of training.<br />
“I think being able to lead<br />
the different classes under<br />
you at that phase is awesome<br />
because you’ve already been<br />
through it all, and you can<br />
mentor them and give them<br />
guidance and help them<br />
out,” Austin said.<br />
Austin graduated from<br />
OCS on Nov. 21. He became<br />
the only member of his class<br />
chosen to go into the Naval<br />
Supply Corps, which deals<br />
with areas such as supply,<br />
logistics, combat support,<br />
readiness, contracting and<br />
fiscal matters for the Navy.<br />
He said this position will fit<br />
him best because of his degrees<br />
in marketing and busi-<br />
lockportlegend.com news<br />
the Lockport Legend | January 17, 2019 | 3<br />
Homer 33C takes precaution in suspected mumps case at Goodings Grove<br />
Thomas Czaja<br />
Contributing Editor<br />
LTHS graduate finishes naval officers school, begins further education<br />
Bella Zarlengo<br />
Editorial Intern<br />
From Friday, Jan. 11<br />
Austin Mastela comes<br />
from a military family.<br />
His father, grandfather<br />
and great uncle all spent<br />
time serving their country<br />
in the United States Navy.<br />
Mastela, a Lockport Township<br />
High School graduate,<br />
grew up in Homer Glen and<br />
played baseball with the<br />
Homer Athletic Club. After<br />
attending Lewis University<br />
as an undergrad on a fullride<br />
scholarship for baseball<br />
and staying there for his<br />
MBA, he decided to follow<br />
in his family’s footsteps.<br />
“It was pretty much while I<br />
was in my master’s program<br />
I really made the decision I<br />
really wanted to become a<br />
naval officer,” Mastela said.<br />
In January 2018, he took<br />
the Armed Services Vocational<br />
Aptitude Battery test,<br />
a multiple choice test given<br />
by the United States Military<br />
Entrance Processing<br />
Command. At that time, he<br />
also sent in a package outlining<br />
all of his degrees and<br />
extracurricular activities, in<br />
addition to a letter to Washington,<br />
D.C. explaining why<br />
he wanted to become a naval<br />
officer at the Officers Candidate<br />
School in Newport,<br />
Rhode Island.<br />
“It was sort of refreshing<br />
that younger folks still want<br />
to take up that time and responsibility<br />
and serve their<br />
country,” Austin’s father<br />
Mike said. “It’s something<br />
that makes me very proud.”<br />
After graduating from<br />
Lewis University with accomplishments<br />
including the<br />
NCAA Academic Achievement<br />
Award and a 3.92 GPA,<br />
Austin was accepted into Officers<br />
Candidate School.<br />
On Sept. 2 of this past<br />
year, Austin, along with 99<br />
other men and women hoping<br />
to become naval officers,<br />
A letter dated Jan. 9 was<br />
sent to Homer Community<br />
Consolidated School District<br />
33C parents in regard to<br />
a suspected mumps case at<br />
Goodings Grove School.<br />
The district was notified of<br />
the case by the Will County<br />
Health Department the same<br />
day of the letter, according<br />
to Assistant Superintendent<br />
for Instruction Michael<br />
Szopinski, who wrote it. The<br />
mumps case comes after an<br />
outbreak of the disease this<br />
past December at Lewis<br />
University, along with Lockport<br />
Township High School<br />
sending a press release out<br />
early last month that someone<br />
there may have contracted<br />
the disease, with that<br />
person later testing negative.<br />
On the morning of Friday,<br />
Jan. 11, Homer 33C Superintendent<br />
Craig Schoppe<br />
told The Lockport Legend<br />
it was a student, not a faculty<br />
member, who has the<br />
suspected case, and that the<br />
district has not been notified<br />
of any other cases taking<br />
place since the letter was<br />
released. The district wiped<br />
all touch points, including<br />
door handles, as part of a<br />
deep cleaning in classrooms<br />
at Goodings Grove with a<br />
disinfectant chemical that is<br />
a hospital-grade cleaner that<br />
kills the mumps virus.<br />
As of press time Monday,<br />
Jan. 14, tests were still pending<br />
to determine the case,<br />
according to Will County<br />
Health Department Media<br />
Services Manager Steve<br />
Brandy.<br />
Homer 33C stated in the<br />
letter that mumps is not<br />
common in children up-todate<br />
on vaccinations and is<br />
a contagious disease caused<br />
by the mumps virus. The<br />
disease normally starts with<br />
symptoms including a few<br />
days of fever, headache,<br />
muscle aches, tiredness and<br />
loss of appetite, followed<br />
by the swelling of salivary<br />
glands. More serious symptoms<br />
occurring in rare cases<br />
include meningitis, swelling<br />
of testes or ovaries, and the<br />
inflammation of joints, the<br />
district added.<br />
convened in Newport to begin<br />
12 weeks of training.<br />
Austin said that once one<br />
arrives at OCS, it is divided<br />
into three main groups — indoctrination,<br />
the education<br />
phase and the leadership<br />
phase. The most difficult<br />
part, he said, was the first<br />
two weeks of indoctrination.<br />
“You’re getting yelled at,<br />
Szopinski noted in the<br />
letter mumps is spread via<br />
droplets of saliva or mucus<br />
from the mouth, nose or<br />
throat of an infected person.<br />
The virus can spread if<br />
someone with mumps touches<br />
items or surfaces without<br />
washing their hands and<br />
someone else then touches<br />
the same surface and rubs<br />
their nose or mouth.<br />
School-aged children<br />
should have at least one dose<br />
a mumps vaccine on or after<br />
their 1st birthday, according<br />
to the district. A second<br />
dose of MMR is also recommend<br />
at ages 4-6, and a parent<br />
unsure if their child got<br />
the mumps vaccine should<br />
contact their child’s primary<br />
care provider.<br />
Graduates including Austin Mastela take a photo together<br />
at Officers Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island.<br />
you’re getting pushed …<br />
yeah, it’s pretty much like<br />
hell week,” Austin laughed.<br />
For the first six weeks of<br />
OCS, the candidates’ only<br />
form of communication with<br />
the outside world is sending<br />
letters, but Austin said for<br />
the first few weeks they were<br />
being pushed so hard they<br />
barely had time to write.<br />
Homer 33C said since<br />
mumps is most frequently<br />
transmitted through direct<br />
contact with respiratory<br />
droplets, individuals can<br />
prevent contracting mumps<br />
with common sense precautions<br />
such as covering their<br />
nose and mouth with a tissue<br />
when coughing or sneezing,<br />
then throwing the tissue<br />
away; washing their hands<br />
frequently with soap and<br />
warm water, especially after<br />
coughing or sneezing; and<br />
using an alcohol-based hand<br />
sanitizer if soap and water is<br />
not available.<br />
Finally, the district said<br />
fevers in children should<br />
not be treated with products<br />
containing aspirin (acetylsalicylic<br />
acid), since use of<br />
LTHS alumnus Austin Mastela<br />
graduated in November<br />
from the U.S. Navy’s Officers<br />
Candidate School in<br />
Newport, Rhode Island, and<br />
returned home for a visit<br />
over the holidays. Photos<br />
submitted<br />
“We sent him letters, and<br />
his girlfriend sent him letters,<br />
and his sisters sent<br />
him letters, and, you know,<br />
we got a couple back over<br />
aspirin with viral infections<br />
like mumps can result in<br />
a serious condition called<br />
Reye’s syndrome.<br />
If one’s child or anyone<br />
in the household develops<br />
mumps symptoms, they<br />
should notify their primary<br />
care provider right away, according<br />
to Szopinski. Those<br />
with mumps should then<br />
remain at home five days<br />
after the swelling of salivary<br />
glands begins.<br />
If a healthcare provider<br />
suspects mumps, parents<br />
were asked to call the Homer<br />
33C nurse at (708) 226-<br />
7792.<br />
For more on this and other<br />
Breaking News, visit Lock<br />
portLegend.com.<br />
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