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District 219 notes for MArch 26
Updated: March 29, 2012 3:36PM
Art teacher to exhibit artwork
Niles West High School visual arts instructor John Zilewicz will exhibit his artwork in the “What Those Who Can Teach Do” show at the Illinois Institute of Art, in Schaumburg. The show, which honors arts and media educators around the country with a month-long exhibition of the personal work of inspired educators. The artwork will be on display from April 2 through 30. A reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. April 19 at 1000 N. Plaza Drive, Schaumburg.
District 219 to host College Night
High school students in Niles Township will have an opportunity to investigate future educational possibilities at one of the largest post-high school planning nights in the area. The 2012 College Night will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. April 11 at Niles West High School, 5701 W. Oakton St., Skokie. Representatives from more than 260 colleges, universities, technical schools and the military will be in attendance.
Students and their parents will be able to discuss entrance requirements, special programs, admission procedures and course offerings with representatives from a diverse array of colleges and technical schools.
All Niles Township students and their parents are invited to participate, regardless of whether they attend a District 219 school. For additional information, contact College and Career Counselors Daniel Gin at (847) 626-2682 or Tiffany Stallone at (847) 626-2168.
North’s International Night held April 14
The community is invited to attend one of Niles North’s biggest events of the year, International Night, when the school’s ethnic and cultural clubs celebrate and honor their heritage. International Night will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 14 in the Niles North Fieldhouse, 9800 N. Lawler Ave., Skokie. Tickets are $5 per person, $10 per family and includes admission to an international food buffet that features mouthwatering delicacies from around the globe. The following clubs will entertain the crowd with traditional and modern dances or performances: Assyrian Club, Black Student Union, Chinese Club, Filipino Club, French Club, German Club, Indo-Pak Club, Israeli Club, Korean Club and Latino Club.
This is a collaborative effort between students, staff and the communities that comprise Niles Township. For information, call International Club sponsor Aaron Minkus (847) 626-2319.
DECA students qualify for Nationals
Niles Township High School District 219 students attended the annual State Career Development Conference at the Decatur Conference Center on March 8 through 10. This conference and competition is designed to help develop future leaders for marketing, management and business. Approximately 1,000 students competed at this conference.
The following District 219 students advanced to the International Career Development Conference in Salt Lake City, to be held on April 28 through May 1.
Niles West: Shawn Cherian, Aid Idrizovic and Sneh Sukhadia, first place, Creative Marketing; Ben Truong and Stephanie Younan, second place, Creative Marketing; Tezen Mathew, second place, Entrepreneurship Promotion Project; Bogdan Ilinescu and Elizabeth Troyk, third place, Finance Operations Research Event; Cody Inglesby, Joel Nelson and Robert Urosev, third place, Financial Literacy Promotion Project; Shawn Cherian, Aid Idrizovic and Sneh Sukhadia, third place, Learn and Earn Project; George Furman III, fourth place, Entrepreneurship Promotion Project; and Smita Jain, Jay Shah and Ben Truong, fourth place, Learn and Earn Project.
Niles North: Zain Lakhani and Aqil Hussain, first place, Finance Operations Research Event; Saud Ahmed, Jordan Weiss and Alex Stavropoulous, second place, Business Services Operations Research Event; Sam Eisenberg, Jeff Fox and Harsh Patel, third place, Buying and Merchandising Operations Research; and Elif Gundogdu, third place, Public Relations Project. Sonali Patel was selected as a Voting Delegate.
The following students were Top Ten in the State in their categories. Niles West: Brandon Moy, Buying & Merchandising Operations Research Event; Ken Banchoencharoensuk, Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making Event; Pravin Varughese and Talha Ahmed, Buying and Merchandising Operations Research Event; Sam Porto, Sports and Entertainment Operations Research Event; Ayush Shrestha and Matt Macelli, Public Relations Project Event; Deepa Pardiwala and Jessie Amgalanjargal, International Business Plan Event; Aid Idrizovic, Business Finance Event; Joel Nelson, Hotel and Lodging Management Event; and Badreddine Assioua, Sports and Entertainment Marketing Event. Achieving third place in role play: Aid Irizovic, Business Finance Event; and Angelika Przewoznik and Stephanie Younan, Travel and Tourism Team Event.
Niles North: Aqil Hussain, Accounting Operations; Jordan Weiss, Business Services Marketing; Zain Lakhani, Human Resources Management; Ben Rios, Marketing Management; Jeff Fox, Retail Merchandising; Ayrie Gomez, Sports and Entertainment Marketing; Med Jimenez and Troy D’Souza, Buying and Merchandising Operations Research Event; Xavier Ghani, Teresa Khoshaba and Sonali Patel, Buying and Merchandising Operations Event; Mahak Lakhani and Maciej Kowalkowski, Community Service Project; Ammar Mujtaba, Abdus Saleem and Shariq Salman, Creative Marketing Project; Ayrie Gomez and Justin Thomas, Creative Marketing Project; Saud Ahmed, Maytal Maor and Sonali Patel, Financial Literacy Promotion Project; Muhamed Muftic, Mitul Lakha and Ralph Reyes, Learn and Earn Project; Paul Kim, Brandon Pokrefky and Donna Khuu, Public Relations Project; Ayrie Gomez and Maytal Maor, Public Relations Project; and Paul Kim, Brandon Pokrefky and Aqil Hussain, Entrepreneurship Written Event.
Students who received competency certificates (less than 50 percent of participants achieve this). Niles West: Talha Ahmed, Accounting Applications Event; Jay Shah, Tony Soldo and Aid Idrizovic, Business Finance; Pravin Varughese, Food Marketing Event; Rexly Penaflorida and Cody Inglesby, Hotel and Lodging Management Event; Derek Fujii and Brian Barnabas, Human Resources Management Event; Robert Urosev, Marketing Management Event; Ravid Sukhadia, Restaurant and Food Service Management Event; Badreddine Assioua, Vera Ratner, Sony Shajan and George Furman III, Sports and Entertainment Marketing Event; Tezen Mathew, Retail Merchandising Event; Deepa Pardiwala, Principles of Marketing Event; Brandon Moy and Ken Banchoencharoensuk, Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making Event; Elizabeth Troyk, Bogdan Ilinescu, Jessica Daczo and Amelia Discher, Hospitality Services Team Decision Making Event; Smita Jain and Timothy Chan, Marketing Communications Team Decision Making Event; and Shawn Cherian, Jobin Joseph, Stephanie Younanan and Angelika Przewoznik, Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making Event.
Students who also competed at state. Niles West: Lisa Gustek, Jennifer Magdaleno, Sneh Sukhadia, Alvin Rathappillil, Ben Truong, Sam Porto, Ayush Shrestha and Matt Macelli.
North wins first place at IJAS
Niles North’s tradition of claiming the first place trophy at the regional Illinois Junior Academy of Science (IJAS) Fair Contest remained intact on March 17, when the school took first place for the 22nd consecutive year. The 65 Niles North students who competed in the contest were either members of the STEM Inquiry and Research (SIR) class and/or the Researchers and Investigators of Tomorrow (RIOT) Club. Of the 65 projects that were entered in the contest, 41 qualified for the IJAS State Exposition to be held May 4 and 5 at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
Ariella Hoffman-Peterson, Ayana Jamal, Elan Ness-Cohn and Haley Sproull were selected to participate in the Intel International Science and Engineering Foundation (ISEF), the world’s largest pre-college celebration of science. The ISEF, held in May, brings together nearly 1,500 students from more than 65 regions to compete for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, scientific field trips and the grand prize of a $50,000 scholarship.
Best in Category plaques were awarded to: James Gilbert, Astronomy; Raymond Truong, Behavioral Science; Ariella Hoffman-Peterson, Cellular and Molecular; Zain Lakhani, Electronics; Elan Ness-Cohn, Engineering; Jacob Cohn, Environmental Science; Ayana Jamal, Health Science; Micah Beller, Material Science; Yonatan Segev, Physics and Ashley Thomas, Zoology.
Emmanuelle Asrow and Jeffrey Gaynes were awarded the two “Best Papers” in the Senior Division for Paper Session.
Special awards went to: Ariella Hoffman-Peterson, U.S. Army; Elan Ness-Cohn, Intel Excellence Award; Zain Lakhani, Ricoh Sustainable Development Award; Haley Sproull, Iota Sigma Pi; Reena Patel and Elan Ness-Cohn, American Nuclear Society; Micah Beller and Jacob Cohn, Stockholm Water Agency; Julia Bentkowska, Ayana Jamal and Lindsay Pietz, American Statistical Association; Reena Patel, Optical Society of Chicago; Reena Patel, Forest Preserve of Cook County Award; Regina Roberg, American Psychological Association; Josh Lipschultz, Mu Alpha Theta and Elan Ness-Cohn, National Society for Professional Engineers.
State qualifiers: Marian Almores, Samar Ashrafi, Emmanuelle Asrow, Hannah Bader, Jourj Baghdisar, Micah Beller, Julia Benkowska, Anna Bergson, Miriam Blumentahl, Haley Bubley, Jacob Cohn, Rupal Desai, Sivan Eliasoff, Jeffrey Gaynes, Athanasia Giannetos, James Gilbert, Ariella Hoffman-Peterson, Shahnoor Hussain, Ayana Jamal, Med Jimenez, Naveen Kanji, Maggie Kreisheh, Zain Lakhani, Joshua Lipschultz, Ilma Lodhi, Aliza Malyani, Lucas Myers, Zak Newbart, Elan Ness-Cohn, Reena Patel, Lindsay Pietz, Eddie Reinfranck, Regina Roberg, Mason (Moshe) Rubin, Yonatan Segev, Sarah Stauber, Haley Sproull, Ashley Thomas, Raymond Truong, Robin Wallace and Alexander Weiss.
The SIR teacher is Jacki Naughton and RIOT Club sponsors are Jacki Naughton, Lisa McKenna, Heidi Eichler, Richard Thielsen and Katherine France.
West Science Olympiad team earns medals
The Niles West Science Olympiad team competed at the Regional competition held March 10 at the College of Lake County. The team earned 15 medals and placed ninth out of 16.
Medals were awarded to: Nick Clark and Bill Pendavinji, first (Junior Varsity), Fermi Questions; Sarah Chamness and Purva Chandel, second, Disease Detectives; Sarah Chamness and Purva Chandel, second, Dynamic Planet; Andy Rapoport and Awais Ahmed, second (Junior Varsity), Technical Problem Solving; Chris Matei and Imran Khan, second (Junior Varsity), Microbe Mission; Bill Pendavinji and Ryan Cyriac, second (Junior Varsity), Optics Lab; Riyushi Maladik, Nick Clark and Andy Rapoport, third (Junior Varsity), Experimental Design; Riyushi Maladik and Femin Gheewala, third (Junior Varsity), Anatomy and Physiology; Christian Marin and Jessica Klier, third (Junior Varsity), Water Quality; Patrick Liscio and Lyba Zia, fourth, Fermi Questions; Caitlin Platek and Shana Nissan, fifth, Astronomy; Michelle Kim, Samantha Barnes and Patrick Liscio, fifth, Experimental Design; Josni Joseph and Sheryl Cherian, fifth, Water Quality; Lyba Zia and Lucy Chang, sixth, Forensics; and Erin Balke and Patrick Liscio, sixth, Thermodynamics.
Other members of the Science Olympiad Team: Zoya Momin, Brinda Shah, Brendan Conkle, Mohit Monga, Rishi Patel, Josmi Joseph and Reyvin Reyes.
The Science Olympiad Coaches: Elizabeth Ramseyer, Howard Swider, Chris Barnett and Chris Hawker.
West wins gold medals at IJAS
Niles West competed at the regional Illinois Junior Academy of Science (IJAS) Fair Contest on March 17 at Niles North High School. Niles North entered 38 projects and 25 qualified for the IJAS State Exposition to be held May 4 and 5 at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
Felix Angelov was selected to participate in the Intel International Science and Engineering Foundation (ISEF), the world’s largest pre-college celebration of science. The ISEF, held in May, brings together nearly 1,500 students from more than 65 regions to compete for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, scientific field trips and the grand prize of a $50,000 scholarship.
Best in Category plaques were awarded to: Felix Angelov, Microbiology and Anne McCarthy, Botany.
Students who received gold medals and qualified for state: Andy Tran, Sana Khan, Jayna Shah, Sheryl Cherian, Andy Rapoport, Sebastian Chirayil, Valerie Fung, Shana Nissan, Saleh Siddique, Ariella Halevi, Rachel Traisman, Samantha Barnes, Michelle Kim, Bakir Dzananovic, Jordan Shaker, Felix Angelov, Hirrah Khatri, Kristine Park, Brinda Shah, Anne McCarthy, Diana Badaysan and Ida Jacob.
Paper session gold medals and state qualifiers: Felix Angelov, Brinda Shah, Rachel Traisman and Kristine Park.
Students who received silver medals and qualified for state: Felicia Phan, Ryushi Mahadik and Matthew Henry.
Special awards went to Sheryl Cherian, Anne McCarthy, Rachel Traisman, Felix Angelov and Kristine Park.
Students advance in History Fair
The following District 219 students qualified for the Finals/State level of the History Fair Competition. For students competing at this level, their scores may determine if they will participate in National History Day, held in June at the University of Maryland.
Papers: Niles North’s Regina Roberg for “Chicago’s Pediatric Mental Health Revolution: Contributions of Bruno Bettleheim and the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School.”
Niles West’s Alexa Bits for “Chicago Women’s Liberation Movement”; Patrick Drozd for “Polish American History and Politics in Chicago”; and Emily Ong for “The Chicago Bungalow: Lure of the American Dream.”
Historical Websites: Niles North’s Margie Chubin and Kelly Oh for “Ben Reitman: The Doctor Who Gave Societal Misfits a Purpose”; Lillian Wong, Haley Sproull and Rosemary Larsen for “Remember the Ladies: The Role of Women in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition”; Sally Oh and Thea Daguison for “Segregation Remains in Chicago: 1919 Chicago Race Riot”; Anum Rehmat, Yassaman Yarmahmoudi and Ashnar Maita for “The Integration of Rainbow Beach: Confronting Racial Discrimination and Segregation in Chicago”; and April Hernandez and Jonathan Oh for “The Pullman Strike: The Battle Between Labor and Capital.”
Niles West’s Joseph Darga for “Prohibition in Chicago”; and Jawaria Nagani and Anna Chirayil for “Women’s Suffrage.”
West teacher invited to Istanbul school
Niles West physics teacher Martha Lietz will travel to the Hisar School in Istanbul, Turkey to work with the faculty on improving and developing their Advanced Physics curriculum. Last summer Lietz was a presenter at a summer institute when a teacher from the school invited her to work with the international school. Lietz arrives in Istanbul during Niles West’s spring break.
Last fall, Lietz was honored with a Distinguished Service Citation from the Chicago Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers (CSAAPT). She has served as Vice President, Present and past President of CSAAPT and is currently the Section Representative (Chicago) to the national organization.
North computer science students save time
If time is money, then the software program designed by David Ruth’s Video Game Programming class is very valuable indeed, as it has been credited with saving countless hours of time. The students in the advanced computer science class do more than just develop award-winning video games, they develop software to fit the specialized needs of their clients.
This year the class created software for all of the counselors in District 219 to automate the scheduling of individual student conferences. The program reads the class schedule data of over 5,000 students, determines their free periods, schedules a 20-minute counselor appointment within a chosen week and automatically generates a printed homeroom pass for each student with the conference date and time. The system far exceeded Ruth’s expectations, not only for its functionality, but also for its quality.
Dr. Jason Ness, assistant principal for Student Services at Niles West said, “A big thank you to Mr. Ruth and his students for single-handedly revolutionizing the way we schedule registration appointments. The software system you have created is efficient, easy-to-use and best of all-- reliable.”
Niles North Counselor Arnie Norris said, “What a wonderful, time-saving instrument these students have created.” Susan Nash, Niles North counselor, echoed that sentiment, stating, “What normally takes days to do can now be done in minutes.”
Niles North student Michio Tsukamoto, one of the software coders, said, “I think that it is great that we feel like we are helping out people around us with skills that we are learning…it’s a great life experience for a lot of us.”
The class also developed a software system for their school community as a service project. The eVoting system, designed to streamline the process of selecting the Homecoming Court and Student Government officers, was a success.
Kevin Monahan, Niles North Director of Student Activities, commented: “For Student Government elections, Mr. Ruth’s class has reduced our process from creating and copying the ballots, monitoring voting for five class periods, and spending at least an hour counting and re-counting votes. Now, Mr. Ruth’s class produces the ballot, there is voting for one full day, and then we have immediate results.”
Programming team leaders are Lucas Rosario, An Nguyen, Mathew Jacob and Adil Dzelilovic. Coders are Max Barov, John Grossman, Farhan Noormohammed and Michio Tsukamoto. The class was assisted by the District 219 Technology Department, including Guy Ballard, Adnan Memon and Richard Ardisana.
West Literacy Center an inspiration
The Niles West High School Literacy Center has one of the largest peer tutoring programs in the world, if not the largest. The center records on average about 31,000 student visits a year. This number does not include the various schools and other educational institutions that visit the Lit Center for inspiration and guidance, as they seek to build successful programs in their own communities.
“This has been another busy year for visitors to our Center,” said Andrew Jeter, Literacy Center Coordinator.“ He commented that seven high schools have made a stop at Niles West this year, with the goal of creating their own literacy center.
Jeter mentioned that other schools have heard about the great success of the peer-to-peer tutoring at Niles West, either through word-of-mouth, or through various organizations such as the Chicagoland Organization of Writing, Literacy and Learning Centers, of which he is president. The Niles West Literacy Center is also featured in the new book, “The Successful High School Writing Center: Building the Best Program with Your Students,” which was published in November. The chapter, “Building a Peer Tutoring Program” was written by Jeter and features great examples of successful tutors, innovative methods and new literacies.
