The Frederick Law Olmsted Society at its annual meeting on Friday recognized several local individuals and groups with an Olmsted Spirit Award for the contributions to making the Arcade Building mural project a reality.
Among those recognized were Arcade Mural Committee and in particular Bob Faust, a local graphic designer who served as the project manager. In addition to coming up with a composition and theme for the mural, he served as the liaison between the village of Riverside, the realty company marketing the building, the Riverside Arts Center, vendors who donated services and the Fine Arts Department at Riverside-Brookfield High School, whose students executed the lion’s share of the artwork.
In addition to the art students at RB, the Olmsted Society recognized the efforts of the Fine Arts Department, including the department’s chairman, Jon Grice, who enthusiastically took up the challenge of having his students create a 2,000-square-foot mural in just over a month.
The Riverside Arts Center, including founder Ruth Freeark and mural committee members Nancy Hejna, Gail Sellers and Jennifer Taylor, was recognized for its volunteer efforts at the high school and onsite at the Arcade Building, lending their expertise and guidance.
Finally, the Olmsted Society recognized the Riverside village board for their unanimous support of the project and President Michael Gorman for encouraging the building’s owner to allow the project to move forward.
Well done
Riverside Little League recently recognized its winners of the Egan Award, given annually to the 12-year-old baseball player and 12-year-old softball player for their “ongoing demonstration of teamwork, competition and sportsmanship in a manner which epitomizes the true spirit of the Riverside Little League.”
Little League coaches voted to select Renee Kunkel and Matt Potts as the 2009 recipients of the award, which is named after Bernie Egan, a longtime Riverside Little League coach who died in 1985.
David Krull, detective sergeant of the Riverside Police Department, was honored on Dec. 30, 2009 by Lyons Police Chief David Boggs for his quick actions resulting in the arrest of three residential burglary subjects on Nov. 2, 2009.
On campus
North Central College in Naperville has released the names of two students who have been named to the school’s dean’s list for the fall 2009 term. To be eligible for the dean’s list, students must maintain a grade-point average of 3.6 for the term and must take a full course load.
Those attaining dean’s list status were senior Yevgeniy Kalinin, the son of Igor and Lyudmila Kalinin of North Riverside, and Hannah Marie Toriumi, the daughter of Colleen and Dean Toriumi of Riverside.
Brookfield resident Clarissa Amanda Gradilla, a 2008 graduate of Lyons Township High School, was recently named a member of Sigma Alpha Lambda, a national leadership and honors organization at the University of Illinois-Champaign.
Nomination to the organization rewards academic achievement and provides members with opportunities for community service and personal development.
Jessica Steele, of Brookfield, has enrolled as a freshman at Lake Forest College and has been awarded a Johnson Science Scholarship and a Trustee Scholarship. The Johnson Scholarship is awarded to students who have demonstrated special ability in and dedication to art, foreign language, leadership, music, theater, writing or science. Trustee scholarships are awarded based on exceptional academic achievement.
Steele is a graduate of Riverside-Brookfield High School.
The Riverside-Brookfield High School Pupettes pom and dance team started its season off with a bang on Dec. 13, 2009, placing first in the AA open division at a meet at Wheaton-Warrenville South High School and qualifying for the Team Dance Illinois State Championship in Peoria on March 7.
Team captains are Lauren DeRosier and Melissa Pruitt. Other team members include Vilija Aleksa, Natasha Alvarez, Mari Chavarria, Annie Childers, Meredythe DiVittorio, Karen Fucinato, Louise Gangware, Nicole Kmet, Danielle Kovack, Kara Kruse, Hannah Langosch, Kayla Muldoon, Alyssa Penna, Clara Shaw, Caroline Stanko and Danielle Ulloa.
