Brookfield resident Marilyn Volek and Riverside resident Tyler Hutcheson were among the 81 volunteers at Brookfield Zoo honored April 26 for their dedicated service at the Chicago Zoological Society’s annual Volunteer Recognition Dinner.
Volek, a who was recognized for her 30 years of volunteer service, and Hutcheson, who was recognized for five years of service, received their awards from Stuart Strahl, president and CEO of the Chicago Zoological Society; Edie Duckworth, a trustee of the CZS and one of the founders of the volunteer program; and George Rabb, director emeritus of Brookfield Zoo.
The zoo’s more than 800 adult, teen and corporate volunteers contributed nearly 75,000 hours to the CZS in 2014, benefitting just about every department at the zoo.
New GM at mall theaters
Classic Cinemas has announced that Michael Schindler is the new general manager at the North Riverside Luxury Six Theatre at the North Riverside Park Mall. Prior to being named general manager in North Riverside, Schindler was booth manager for 12 years at the Lake Theatre in Oak Park.
Chris Johnson, CEO of Classic Cinemas, made the announcement May 13.
“When everything went digital, I moved into operations for Classic Cinemas,” Schindler said. “I have been one of the managers at North Riverside since early 2012, I know everyone here, which makes the transition easier.”
Welcome a-board
Alex Gallegos will be sworn in as president of the Riverside Township Lions Club at the club’s annual installation dinner June 9 at the Scottish Home in North Riverside. He will succeed Joseph Dvorak IV, who has served two terms as president.
Other new officers are JoAnne Kosey, first vice president, and Adam Yurkiw, second vice president. Secretary Chuck Courtney, Treasurer Eric Sundstrom and Third Vice President Robert Lifka will remain in their positions.
Others to be installed are Dvorak, Jerry Kosik and Jack Wiaduck, tail twisters, and Yurkiw, Schofield Gross and Jon Jansky, Lion tamers.
Elected to one-year terms on the board of directors were Dr. Jay Van Cura, Tom Sisulak, Diane Ceragioli and Melissa Kotrba. Elected to two-year terms were Robin Mooney, Joe Kosey, David Moravecek and David Vesecky.
Permanent directors are Gross, Llewellyn Heine, Kosik, Donald McDowell, Walter Pierce, Dennis Sadilek, Bill Scanlon, Jansky, Wiaduck, Olga Sylvester and Dvorak.
Meanwhile, in April the Lions welcomed new member William Demitro, who was sponsored by Dvorak.
The Riverside Arts Center has announced its board members for 2015-16. The officers include Cyndi Robinson, president; Sue Pipal, vice president; Victoria Pietrowski, secretary; and Molly Carl, treasurer.
Renewing for another year on the board are Bob Finn, Anne Harris, Tommaso Lesnick and Kim Piotrowski.
On campus
Brookfield resident Katherine M. Sauer and North Riverside resident Joseph M. Zych were awarded bachelor’s degrees on May 3 during commencement exercises at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.
Sauer’s degree was in English and Women’s and Gender Studies, while Zych graduated with a degree in accounting.
Among the local students receiving bachelor’s degrees from the University of Dayton on May 3 were Riverside residents Margaret Carey, Patrick Vrablik and Dale Zigulich; North riverside resident Alexandra Luna; and Brookfield residents Frank Czerwien and Christopher Crisanti.
Emily Andrulis, of Brookfield, was one of more than 200 students to receive an academic award from Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa) on April 23.
Andrulis earned the Arthur E. Lowell Award, the Grace Wormer Award for Excellence in Foreign Languages, membership in Sigma Delta Pi (Spanish Honorary Society) and the Ed Hill Mathematics Scholars Award.
Meanwhile, Katherine Andrulis was recognized at the Honors Convocation capping the day-long Celebration of the Liberal Arts at Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio) in April.
She was inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta, a national honor society that seeks to recognize and encourage scholarship among first-year women. Selection is based on achieving a 3.5 cumulative GPA for the fall semester of the first year.
Monica Kochan, of North Riverside, was named to the dean’s list for the fall 2014 semester at Biola University in La Mirada, California, for attaining a grade-point average of at least 3.6 on a 4-point scale.
Riverside resident Kristin Tomecek, a graduate of Riverside-Brookfield High School, was named to the dean’s list for the fall 2014 semester at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
The following local students were named to the dean’s list at Augustana College for the winter term for attaining a GPA of at least 3.5:
Brookfield residents Colleen Brown, Paul Landahl and Kaitlynn Markowski; North Riverside residents Monica Fiala and Kristen Santoro; and Riverside residents Anne Mitchell and John Schraidt.
Four 2011 Riverside-Brookfield High School graduates — Keegan Buttimer, John Schraidt, Astin Moravek and Alex Dziagwa — received the Blanket Award from Augustana College in Rock Island. The award is given to senior athletes who competed all four years in a varsity sport and received a varsity letter three or more times.
Buttimer and Moravek competed in track and field, Schraidt in wrestling and Dziagwa in basketball.
Rachel Dlask, of Brookfield, was a member of the Lewis University student newspaper, The Flyer, which earned a first-place award for General Excellence and an award for Outstanding Sports Coverage in the 2015 American Scholastic Press Association’s newspaper competition.
Dlask is the newspaper’s layout editor.
Riverside resident Kayla Fernandez was one of 20 students at Augustana College displaying artwork in the school’s Teaching Museum of Art during April and May. The annual spring exhibition of senior student work is part of their Senior Inquiry capstone project.
North Riverside resident Stephanie Magdic, a graduate student at Lewis University in Romeoville, joined two other students and faculty members of the School Counseling Graduate Program in presenting topics at the DuPage Counselor Countywide Institute at the College of DuPage in April.
Magic presented on the topic “From Failure to Success: Building Resilience in Students.”
Another Lewis University student, Michael Bulfin, of Riverside, an undergraduate studying education, presented “A New Post-Postmodern Pegagogy?” in April during the 4th Annual Celebration of Scholarship at the school.
Three Brookfield residents were among the Lyons Township High School LTTV television students earning awards at the 22nd Annual Chicagoland High School Video festival.
Junior Spencer Sisson won second place for “Honors Orchestra Concert” and also picked up a Bronze Award for his commercial, “Coaster-Wine.” Daniel Dinh, a senior, won a Gold Award for his animation “A Newfound Power,” while junior David Wilczynski won two Bronze Awards for his comedic narrative “So How Have You Been?” and his commercial, “Byron’s Quest for World Peace.”
Melissa Monrroy, of Brookfield, was one of three members of the Lyons Township High School Steppers Club that earned second place at the state-wide competition and advanced to the national competition.
The team, which also includes Brandon Siller and Robert Cole, of LaGrange, competed against nine other teams at the state meet at Northern Illinois University and also won the team Sportsmanship Award. The squad competes in the Co-ed High School Division of the Illinois Stepping League. The national meet is in Atlanta in June.
AAUW hands out grants, awards
The Riverside Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) held its spring tea on May 3, where they awarded two $500 study grants to Lucia Adami and Grace Rasmussen, both seniors at Riverside-Brookfield High School.
Adami was awarded the Ann Willard Arts and Citizenship Grant, while Rasmussen was presented with the STEM Fields of Study Grant.
In addition, the AAUW selected two “named gift honorees” with a pair of $1,000 contributions to the AAUW Action Fund in honor of Thea Marhoul and Emanuela Sacca.
Marhoul, a member since 2004, has served as Literature Group chair and finance vice president. Sacca joined in 2009 and has served several times as membership vice president and yearbook editor.
Finally, the Riverside AAUW in April presented trophies and certificates to the 11 winners of the organization’s annual poster contest.
More than 200 posters were submitted and displayed in the Riverside Public Library during March, which was Women’s History Month. All fourth-graders in District 96 and St. Mary School were eligible to enter.
The winners received gift certificates from Aunt Diana’s.
The first-place winners were:
From Ames School, Olivia Buoscio, Luke Bell and Michael Isenberg; from Blythe Park School, Amanda Jurczewski; from Central School, Chloe Alexander, Riley Daun, Mia Gonzalez and Gemma Sambugaro; from Hollywood School, Jonah Schexnayder; and from St. Mary School, Olivia Polston and Holly Hudson.
RBTV students win regional and local awards
The National Association of Television Arts and Sciences (Chicago Midwest Chapter/NATAS) has awarded the prestigious Crystal Pillar Award, the highest honor a high school student can achieve in television production, to Riverside-Brookfield High School junior Colin Hughes in the Video Editing Category for his movie trailer called “Override.”
Hughes, a member of the RBTV program, was honored at the 2014 NATAS Silver Circle Dinner held at the Knickerbocker Hotel on Friday, May 8.
Meanwhile, in April, at the CTEC High School Video Festival (Chicagoland High School Educators Council) RBTV freshman Sara Vacek took first place for her Crayola commercial “I AM,” and juniors Alec Frank and Hughes won first place for their Public Service Announcement titled “You Wouldn’t Live With Radon.”
Hughes and junior Lisandro Resto took second place in Cinematography for their zombie movie “The Dead Among Us.”
RBTV students also won three third-place awards, junior Derek Johnson for his documentary on last year’s musical “North Side Gal” and Hughes for Live Event Coverage for RBTV Sports and for Animation Reel.
This year, RBTV also students entered the Seven-Day Video Challenge sponsored by CTEC. Students had to write, videotape, and edit a short film in seven days.
Senior Libby Creek and Hughes led the production team and took third place for their short film “Clarity.”
All of the award winning videos can be seen on the RBTV YouTube channel, Youtube.com/myrbtv.
