Classroom Notes: Safety program at Lincoln-Way Central
April 9, 2012 11:08AM
Lincoln-Way Central junior John Medvid tests the Texting While Driving simulator during the Operation Teen Safe Driving event hosted by the Central SADD club and Operation Teen Safe Driving organization. | submitted photo
Updated: May 7, 2012 9:37AM
NEW LENOX — Lincoln-Way Central Students Against Destructive Decisions club hosted its Safe Driving Event in the field house at Central.
The purpose of the event was to give students information about safe driving skills and to show them the dangers of texting while driving. The group of students also wanted to continue to raise awareness about the hazards of alcohol- and drug-impaired driving, said Katie Bingham, SADD teacher-sponsor.
Julianna Prebe, senior and president of Operation Teen Safe Driving, noted this is the third year of the event.
“Our goals are to do a seat-belt check to improve awareness with our fellow students. We have had a good reaction so far by students this year. There are more participating in all the activities than last year,” Prebe said.
Sophomore Mariah Mentzer said she liked the Rollover Simulator because it showed students the importance of wearing a seat belt while driving.
John Medvid, junior, was interested in the Texting While Driving simulator.
“This is pretty hard. It really shows us that we can get in accidents really quickly while texting and driving,” he said.
Displays included the Seatbelt Convincer, sponsored by the Joliet Police Department, and Rollover Simulator, sponsored by the Illinois State Police.
JCA math team
JOLIET — Paced by Michael Bannon’s first-place performance in Algebra II, the Joliet Catholic Academy math team placed second in the regional competition at Lincoln-Way East High School.
Bannon, a Joliet resident, also placed first in Oral Presentation and qualified for the state tournament. Overall, JCA qualified nine individuals for state.
Bannon and Mike Kaminski (Joliet) placed first in Oral Presentation to advance to state, while Bannon, Laura Gillespie (Joliet), Kaminski, Amy Koncar (Joliet), Nicholas Lennon (Shorewood) and Jessica Pettenuzzo (Shorewood) placed second in Algebra II Written and qualified together for state.
Ryan Hippman (Bolingbrook) placed fourth in Geometry, while Kaminski and Lennon each placed fifth in Algebra II to reach state. Matt Huey (Joliet) placed fifth in Pre-Calculus and Stephanie Demos (Plainfield) also placed in Pre-Calculus, with both advancing to the state competition.
Bobby Babich (Channahon), Aron Goeken (Shorewood), Jacey Lambert (Plainfield), Alexandra Mihalakakis (Naperville), Emma Valek (Joliet) and Adam Wahl (Plainfield) placed second in Algebra II; Demos, Andrew Gudac (Joliet), Huey, Alex Mantis (Joliet), Austin Naal (Joliet) and Rachelle Sartori (Joliet) placed second in Pre-Calculus Written; and Anthony McInerney (Bolingbrook) and Arianna Mihalakakos (Naperville) placed second in Frosh-Soph 2 Person.
Third-place finishers for JCA was the team of Bannon, Demos, Gillespie, Huey, Kaminski, Nick Humbles (Wilmington), Claire O’Connor (Joliet) and Mantis in Junior-Senior 8 Person and Seth Stockl (Plainfield), Luke Warpinski (Plainfield), Humbles and Kornelijus Survila (Joliet) in Calculators.
JCA also inducted 81 students into Mu Alpha Theta, the national honor society for math. They are:
Katherine Annis (Joliet), Sarah Bannon (Joliet), Stacy Bedore (Joliet), Anna Bertani (Joliet), Timothy Beutel (Joliet), Joseph Caprio (Bolingbrook), Joaquin Castro Calvo (Plainfield), Ashley Castro (Joliet), Kelsie Chasten (Channahon), Katie Chierigatti (Joliet), John Chignoli (Joliet), Nicholas Collofello (Joliet), Erin Corcoran (Plainfield), Stephanie Demos (Plainfield), Stephanie Desidierio (Joliet), Kevin Duchene (Joliet), Meggie Fahrner (Plainfield), Nicholas Fedosenko (Joliet), Kelly Feigh (Plainfield), Kelsey Fenske (Joliet), Nicole Formhals (Joliet), Theresa Gallo (Naperville), Michael Giaudrone (Joliet), Mallory Goulding (Plainfield), Andrew Gudac (Joliet), Ariba Hasan (Bolingbrook), Jillian Hickey (Oswego), Nolan Hucek (Joliet), Matthew Huey (Joliet), Nicholas Humbles (Wilmington), Christopher Jagodzinski (Channahon), Christopher Jelinek (Joliet), Jacob Judge (Plainfield), Austin Kairis (Crest Hill), Michael Kurtz (Joliet), Patrick Lanagan (Shorewood), Michelle LaViola (Plainfield), Xiaoyan Li (Bolingbrook), Gianna Lincoln (Joliet), Austin Mackert-Miller (Plainfield), Sean Mair (Plainfield), Julia Malinowski (Shorewood), Alex Mantis (Joliet), Kaitlyn McDonald (Joliet), Michael McGrath (Joliet), Zachery Melone (Joliet), Jacob Michalak (Joliet), Christopher Millerin (Joliet), Sarah Morimoto (Joliet), Daniel Mosca (Plainfield), Alexandria Murray (Plainfield), Austin Naal (Joliet), Jonathan Nonnie (Joliet), Mary Paluch (Joliet), Kevin Parfitt (Romeoville), Michael Passo (Plainfield), Anna-Marie Patrick (Joliet), Courtney Powers (Channahon), Daniel Rabulinski (Plainfield), Alaina Ragusa (Joliet), Lauren Randich (Joliet), Lisa Regganie (Wilmington), Joshua Rohrer (Plainfield), Alexander Rubocki (Joliet), Rachelle Sartori (Joliet), Anne Schmig (Joliet), Kyle Selvy (Joliet), Carley Serena (Shorewood), Mitchell Simpson (Shorewood), Elaine Skoff (Joliet), Alessa Smith (Shorewood), Carson Smith (Monee), Laurel Stofan (Joliet), Andrew Stover (Channahon), Kornelijus Survila (Joliet), Alexandria Trafton (Joliet), Myra Villas (Bolingbrook), Molly Vodacek (Crest Hill), Kaitlin Witmer (Plainfield), Antwanette Ysaguirre (Bolingbrook) and Alexis Zelehovitis (Joliet).
Marge Lakota, a JCA algebra teacher, is the moderator of the math team and Jan Brill, a JCA calculus/geometry teacher, is the moderator of Mu Alpha Theta.
Language honors
JOLIET — The World Languages Department at Joliet Catholic Academy held its induction and honor ceremony, installing 51 students into the various honor societies and also awarding 55 medals.
The ceremony began with an address and a prayer and closed with a prayer by Diane Nowaczyk, JCA’s director of institutional advancement.
The introduction of officers for French Club was Andrew Pultorak (Joliet) as president, Sarah Morimoto (Joliet) as first vice president, Katie Nicholson (Joliet) as second vice president and Colleen Searcy (Romeoville) as secretary; for Latin Club was Jillian Hickey (Oswego) as president, Jonathan Nonnie (Joliet) as first vice president, Austin Naal (Joliet) as second vice president and Jacob Judge (Plainfield) as secretary; and for Spanish Club was Carley Serena (Shorewood) as president, Michael Bannon (Joliet) as first vice president, Nolan Hucek (Joliet) as second vice president and Laura Gillespie (Joliet) as secretary.
Juniors inducted into Spanish NHS were Kennedy Lees (Shorewood), Taylor Madlener (Plainfield), Mallory Mangun (Joliet), Brandon Newsome (Joliet), Michael O’Neill (Joliet), Marin Pasieka (Joliet), Zach Siegfried (Bolingbrook), Luke Warpinski (Plainfield) and Jack Whalen (Joliet).
Sophomores inducted into Spanish NHS were Kayla Belofsky (Plainfield), Dominic Bertino (Lockport), Joie Bettenhausen (Joliet), Mary Bui (Joliet), J.B. Butler (Plainfield), Taylor Charley (Joliet), Marcos Diaz (Minooka), Frederick Harvey (Joliet), Ryan Hippman (Bolingbrook), Madeline Rose Kennedy (Custer Park), Jessica King (Joliet), Victoria Kinsella (Joliet), Chloe Korst (Joliet), Brady Kostecki (Joliet), Alexis Kwaben (Shorewood), Justin Malec (Joliet), Dyllan Mattea (Joliet), Moira McSteen (Channahon), Ariana Mihalakakos (Naperville), Elizabeth Minarich (Joliet), Thomas Mueller (Plainfield), Mary Nahas (Shorewood), Roberto Nunez Jr. (Joliet), Alexandra Pettenuzzo (Shorewood), Brett Pluth (Shorewood), Alexis Rotnicki (Shorewood), Ariana Ruiz (Joliet), Brandon Santos (Joliet), Claire Schmig (Joliet), Erinn Sharp (Joliet), Seth Stockl (Plainfield), Modesty Blaise Mari Tan (Joliet) and Dan Weis (Oswego).
Sophomores inducted into French NHS were Alexandra Blotnik (Shorewood), MacKenzie Brumund (Joliet), Rafael Garcia (Joliet), Nathanael Pultorak (Joliet), Alanna Wahl (Plainfield), Margaret Whalen (Joliet) and Taylor Wilson (Elwood). Sophomores inducted into Latin NHS were Julia Shemaitis (Joliet) and Lucas Tyler (Joliet).
Receiving medals for four years of a foreign language:
Spanish – Dominick Allen (Minooka), Stacy Bedore (Joliet), Joseph Caprio (Bolingbrook), Kelsie Chasten (Channahon), John Chignoli (Joliet), Stephanie Demos (Plainfield), Nicholas Fedosenko (Joliet), Kelsey Fenske (Joliet), Nicole Formhals (Joliet), Theresa Gallo (Naperville), Nolan Hucek (Joliet), Nicholas Humbles (Wilmington), Rachel Jelinek (Joliet), Kimberly Kitchell (Plainfield), Michelle LaViola (Plainfield), Jeremy Malec (Joliet), Alex Mantis (Joliet), Austin Miller (Plainfield), Anna-Marie Patrick (Joliet), Hailey Pennington (Plainfield), Courtney Powers (Channahon), Alaina Ragusa (Joliet), Lauren Randich (Joliet), Josh Rohrer (Plainfield), Brittany Rosales (Joliet), Alex Rubocki (Joliet), Rachelle Sartori (Joliet), Anne Schmig (Joliet), Carley Serena (Shorewood), Alessa Smith (Shorewood), Laurel Stofan (Joliet), Andrew Stover (Channahon), Allie Trafton (Joliet), Myra Villas (Bolingbrook), Molly Vodacek (Crest Hill), Thomas Wiffler (Bolingbrook), Stephanie Wilson (Shorewood), Eric Vanisko (Joliet) and Alexis Zelehovitis (Joliet).
French – Anna Bertani (Joliet), Erin Corcoran (Plainfield), Kelly Feigh (Plainfield), Matthew Huey (Joliet), Austin Kairis (Crest Hill), Christopher Millerin (Joliet), Sarah Morimoto (Joliet), Katie Nicholson (Joliet), Andrew Pultorak (Joliet), Daniel Rabulinski (Plainfield), Lisa Regganie (Wilmington) and Colleen Searcy (Romeoville).
Latin – Jillian Hickey (Oswego), Jacob Judge (Plainfield), Austin Naal (Joliet) and Jonathan Nonnie (Joliet).
JCA faculty members in attendance were Florence Austrums, department head, French and Spanish instructor and French Club moderator; Katie Drabik, Spanish instructor; Lauren Finaldi, Spanish instructor and Spanish Club moderator; Dr. Dennis Czerny, Latin and English instructor and Latin Club moderator; and Dea Saro, Spanish instructor.
Foreign Language Week
MORRIS — The Foreign Language Department celebrated Foreign Language Week March 6-9. The national theme was “You’re Connected … Now Communicate.”
Spanish classes observed the week with various activities: Students saw parts of the building labeled in Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese; Spanish classes and Spanish club celebrated with a Spanish language movie night by viewing “Shrek”; Spanish culture questions were displayed throughout the building for a trivia contest; the cafeteria served a Mexican lunch to all students; and the week wrapped up with a Spanish club roller skating party at Skateland in Channahon.
German contest
LOCPORT — Lockport Township High School students earned high accolades at the annual German High School Day at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where 20 high schools competed and are judged by representatives from Germany, Austria and Switzerland and UIC professors.
Winning a first-place trophy this year were LTHS sophomores Aaron Atac, Vince Dietz and Cody Andrus for a video they created about a Willy Wonka chewing gum that makes you speak German.
Freshman Jessica Uhrenbacher won a second-place trophy for her performance of the German poem “Schlaraffenland.”
Senior Kaylee Goddard and junior Jeffrey Bentley competed in the German Spelling Bee, where Goddard received a trophy for placing third.
In other events, junior Ethan Doubleday prepared a Culture Essay on the impact of Otto von Bismarck in the 19th century, and senior Andres Mendez and junior Lizbeth Orozco submitted drawings promoting the study of German for the program Cover Art competition.
Juniors John Henniff, John Pfeiffer and Matthew LiPuma also joined others in visiting UIC German courses and writing up summaries of the day’s events to help Lockport students prepare strategies for competing in the future. Some students even had the opportunity to challenge students from other schools in German Monopoly and other vocabulary based board games.
