Riverside resident Joshua Brokopp made his motion picture debut – as ‘Yellow Boy,” the kid wearing a bright yellow shirt during an enthusiastic squirt gun fight – in the recently released movie I Heart Shakey.
Joshua, 12, and his mom, Georgette Brokopp, appeared on the red carpet for the moviefs premiere at the Hollywood Palms Cinema, Bar and Eatery in Naperville in June. The movie opened nationwide on June 29.
Georgette Brokopp, a nurse, was contracted as the onsite medic during the production of the film, which was shot entirely in the Chicago area. She introduced her son to director and co-writer Kevin Cooper, who initially was going to use Joshua as an extra.
‘But when they saw how genuinely enthusiastic he was and how natural he appeared on camera, he was elevated from a face in the crowd to foreground position in the squirt gun fight sequence,” said Georgette. Because he was wearing a yellow shirt, the director referred to him as eyellow boyf during the filming sequences.”
Joshua also appears briefly in other parts of the film, which tells the story of a widower, his 9-year-old daughter and their dog, Shakey, who wreaks havoc on their new home in a downtown apartment building.
The movie stars Steve Lemme, Beverly DfAngelo and Steve Guttenberg.
Womanfs Club names officers
The Brookfield Womanfs Club- the oldest club in the village, founded in 1906 – installed new officers at the clubfs luncheon this spring. The clubfs officers for the 2012-13 year are Mary Levang, president; Sylvia Gauther, vice president and program chairman; Betty Moskiewicz, treasurer; Carol Kasnicka, recording secretary; and Rosemary Novotny, correspondence secretary.
The club holds its meetings the first Wednesday of every month at 1 p.m. at the Brookfield Village Hall, 8820 Brookfield Ave.
Sharpshooter
Doug Robertson, a member of Riverside Police Explorer Post #390 won second place in a 9 mm marksman competition at the National Law Enforcement Exploring conference in Fort Collins, Colo., in July.
Robertson, who attended the conference with five other youth members and two adult advisors of the post, won the award in the rapid-fire portion of the competition, which featured 600 shooters. He completed the competition with 208 points out of a possible 300.
At the conference, Explorers participated in team and individual competitions and attended seminars taught by members of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
In addition to Robertson, those attending included Ryan Lukas, Mike Kosik, Joseph Metcalf-Reyes, Ryan Blecha and Tim Geroulis, along with adult advisors Riverside Police Officer Brian Greenenwald and Allyson Greenenwald.
FBI training for Riverside cop
Sgt. William Gutschick of the Riverside Police Department will attend the FBI Midwest Law Enforcementfs executive development annual training seminar in Glen Ellyn in August.
The training is designed specifically for supervisors of small law enforcement agencies. Gutschick will study leadership, strategic planning, legal issues, labor relations, media relations, social issues and police programs.@
AAUW, bank, police award scholarships
The Riverside chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) awarded the Ann Willard Scholarship to Brookfield residents Samantha Friend and Jessica Huebner. Each received a check for $750 to be put toward their college educations.
Friend plans to study photography in the School of Visual Arts in New York City, while Huebner plans to attend the University of Missouri, pursuing a degree in journalism.
The Riverside AAUW has awarded more than $16,000 to women graduating from Riverside-Brookfield High School through the years.
Riverside Bank in June awarded a $1,000 college scholarship to Joseph Sauer, a student at Riverside-Brookfield High School. The bankfs scholarship program recognizes students who exemplify positive leadership and character through academic achievement, extracurricular activities and community involvement.
The West Suburban Chiefs of Police in July awarded their $1,000 Police Chiefs Undergraduate Scholarship to Brookfield resident Eric Mikesh, who will be attending Triton College in the fall to pursue a degree in criminal justice and transferring to Lewis University in Romeoville to complete his bachelorfs degree.
On campus
Riverside-Brookfield High School junior Olivia Novak received a full scholarship to attend the National Student Leadership Conference on Medicine and Healthcare at Northwestern University in July.
While staying on campus for 10 days, Olivia and other students worked in conjunction with the Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Memorial Hospital exploring the medical field while attended leadership workshops.
She hopes to pursue a career in pediatrics/neonatology. She is the daughter of John and Carla Novak of Riverside Lawn.
Riverside-Brookfield High School senior Victoria Gonzalez, editor-in-chief of The Rouser, was accepted as a staff member of Mash, the Chicago Tribunefs weekly newspaper written by and for high school students.
She was one of about 60 students to receive the honor.
Daniel Brencic, of Brookfield, received a Master of Public Health degree from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta in May.
Thea Antonia Stehlik-Barry, of Brookfield, graduated early from Tulane University in New Orleans in December 2011 with a major in anthropology and a minor in business. Two days after participating in the commencement ceremony at the Super Dome in May 2012, she accepted a full-time position as an archaeologist at a New Orleans-based firm.
Brookfield residents Jaimie Duffek and Audrey Sova graduated this spring from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Both students received bachelorfs degrees in journalism and mass communications in public relations.
Sova was also named to the presidentfs list for the spring 2012 semester for receiving a grade-point average of 4.0 on a 4-point scale. Duffek was named to the deanfs list for attaining a GPA of at least 3.5.
Among those graduating from DePaul University in Chicago at the spring 2012 commencement ceremonies were Brookfield residents Kyle Capone, Corey Chase, Kara Hammelrath, Vincent Lozano, Swati Patel, Tiffany Reynolds, Emily Russett and Mario Wilson along with Riverside residents Michael Halusek, Richard Leo, Samantha Schroeder and Mark Vazquez.
Paulius Kuprys, of Riverside, graduated cum laude from Lake Forest College in May with a bachelorfs degree in biology. He also received the David W. Towle Award for Excellence in Biological Research and the Phi Beta Kappa Senior Thesis Award.
Kuprys is a graduate of Northridge College Prep in Niles.
North Riverside resident Raquel Sylvie graduated with a bachelorfs degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University during the Ivy League schoolfs commencement ceremonies in Ithaca, N.Y., in May.
Riverside resident Hannah Toriumi received a bachelorfs degree in May from North Central College in Naperville. In addition, she was named to the deanfs list for the spring 2012 term. Deanfs list students must maintain at GPA of 3.6 for the term.
Riverside residents Peter Jansen and Jonathan Ramirez were named to the deanfs list for the 2011-12 academic year at Lake Forest College. The deanfs list recognizes students who have attained a 3.6 grade-point average for two consecutive semesters. Jansen is a graduate of Riverside-Brookfield High School. Ramirez is a graduate of Fenwick High School.
Carolyn Tomecek, of Riverside, was named to the deanfs list for the 2011-12 academic year at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. She is the daughter of Michael and Sharon Tomecek.
Claire Chaney and Elliott Louthen, both of Riverside, were named to the deanfs list in the College of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis for the spring 2012 semester. To earn deanfs list status, Arts and Sciences students must achieve a semester GPA of at least 3.6.
Brookfield resident Kevin Grund earned honor roll distinction for the spring 2012 semester at the University of Kansas. Grund, a graduate of Lyons Township High School, is a junior at the school in the universityfs pre-business program.
Samantha Brown, of Riverside, was named to the deanfs list at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio for the second semester of the 2011-12 school year by attaining a GPA of at least 3.5 for the marking period.
Brookfield residents Alexander Cebular and Kaylie Clark were named to the deanfs list (GPA of at least 3.6) for the 2012 spring semester at Aurora University.
Several local students were named to the deanfs list for the 2012 spring semester at Lewis University in Romeoville by attaining a GPA of 3.25 or better, including Brookfield residents Katelyn Peterson (aviation flight management), Megan Nelson (athletic training), Stephanie Raga (English) and Sabrina Hill (English) and Riverside resident Ryan Callanan (biochemistry).
Named to the deanfs list for the 2012 spring semester at Benedictine University in Lisle were several local students, including Brookfield residents Jennifer Meier and Jessica Rovner, North Riverside resident Kimberly Schaefer and Riverside residents Bilaal Hassan, Erin James and Lisa Schwarte.
Students named to the deanfs list attained a GPA of at least 3.5 during the marking period.
Jesse Mezera, of Brookfield, was named to the deanfs list at Olivet Nazarene University during the spring 2012 semester by attaining a GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4-point scale.
