The Voyageur Trace District of the Des Plaines Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America in LaGrange, will honor five individuals and companies during its third annual Outstanding Leadership Awards Breakfast on Wednesday, June 6 at the Riverside Golf Club in North Riverside.

The Boy Scouts will honor Judy Baar Topinka (former Illinois state treasurer), Public Service Award; Larry Wert (president of NBC5 Chicago), Communications Award; Arthur Rawers (Stickney village clerk) and Cindy Gustafson (Riverside trustee), Community Service Awards; and Paul’s Pizza & Hot Dogs Inc (owner, Paul Gattuso), Community Cornerstone Business Award.

Topinka, Wert and Gustafson are all Riverside residents. Topinka pens a regular opinion column for the Landmark. Gattuso, in addition to owning Paul’s Pizza & Hot Dogs, is Westchester’s village president.

New gig

MidAmerica Bank announced in April that it has promoted Anthony Belcaster to the position of vice president, branch manager of the bank’s LaGrange Park and Riverside locations.

In addition, MidAmerica announced that Brookfield resident Deborah DiSantis has been promoted to vice president, lending operations at the bank’s Downers Grove location at 2650 Warrenville Road. DiSantis has been with MidAmerica for five years.

I’d be honored

Recently, Carly Hekr of the Riverside Police Explorer Post #390 was named Explorer of the Year for her devotion to the post. Hekr was described as an asset to the post since she joined two years ago, a very hard worker and a frequent volunteer for many of the activities put on by the Post.

The Allstate Insurance Company recently bestowed the designation of “National Conference” qualifier on several local Allstate agents, including Riverside resident Richard Falbo, who operates an office in Lyons and Lombard residents Gina Conley-Grigat and Tony Grigat, who operate a Brookfield office.

The top 10 percent of countrywide Allstate agents reach the “National Conference” level of achievement.

Top twirlers

Several Riverside girls earned top honors at the U.S. Twirling Association’s Illinois State Championships in March.

Claire Childers, Rachel Corcoran, Amanda Kostro, Taylor Owen, Cami Shaw, Clara Shaw and Kelsey Stirek were all part of the Peggy Rose Academy’s Team Twirling Stars-Gold that placed first in the Beginner Halftime Show Twirl Team and Show Corps Team competitions.

Meanwhile, the Team Twirling Stars-Blue squad, which included Riverside residents Lana Herrmann, Calina Shaw and Sella Shaw, were named state champions in the Primary Dance Twirl Team, Beginner Primary Halftime Show Team and Primary Dance Twirl Team competitions. The girls also nabbed several individual top-three awards.

On campus

Lyons Township High School math teacher Maureen Laude has been invited by the College Board Advanced Placement Program to serve as an AP reader at this year’s annual AP reading. She also been invited back by the North Central Association to train as a quality assurance review chair for the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.

In other teacher news, PE teacher and associate division chairwoman for physical wellness Joann Pyritz has been appointed to a three-year term to the IHSA boys and girls volleyball advisory committee.

Meanwhile, French teacher Donna Czarnecki was named the 2007 recipient of the Intercultural Student Experiences Language Matters Award by the American Association of Teachers of French.

Riverside-Brookfield High School students Julie Butler and Samantha Vallo accepted a first-place award at the recent Chicagoland High School Video Festival for their news program entry. The school’s broadcast journalism class writes, produces and directs a 10-minute, live newscast each week., which can be seen at 10:30 a.m. every Friday during the school year on RBTV Channel 16.

Other students placing at the competition included senior Alex Knight, third place, Live Event Coverage; junior Kayla Flam, second place, Talk Show; and Michael Peterson and Rueben Dominguez, third place, Talk Show.

Monmouth (Ill.) College junior Andrew Viscariello, of Brookfield, recently earned cum laude honors for his performance on the National Latin Exam.

Students taking the exam answer 40 questions, including 20 on Latin grammar and 15 on mythology, Roman life, history, geography and derivatives. Five questions are based on a Latin reading passage.

Jeffrey Ammons Jr., of Brookfield, a senior history major at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., received the Phi Alpha Theta Book Award during the school’s Spring Honors Convocation on April 28. Ammons’ research work was also featured in the school’s Undergraduate Research Symposium held that same day. His paper, titled “Give Me That Old Time Religion: A Historical and Legal Analysis of the Teaching of Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design,” attempted to synthesize the extensive preexisting research on the historical and legal thought regarding which theory of the origin of the human species should be taught in high school biology classes and other classes which require the teaching of such theories.