The Council of Catholic Women of St. Barbara Parish in Brookfield recently chose Marge Smith as their 2015 Woman of the Year.
Smith was called a “role model and inspiration” for her ongoing service to the parish. She has been active in the Girl Scouts for more than 20 years and is chairwoman of the Family Concerns Commission of the Girl Scouts and International Concerns Commission of Mission Outreach.
She and the Girl Scouts regularly collect and deliver clothing, personal items and religious sacramentals to service men and women at Hines V.A. Hospital, Cantata Adult Life Services and Companions Journeying Together Women’s Prison Ministry.
Smith also serves the parish and the Girl Scouts as the Religious Award counselor besides holding various leadership positions during the past 20 years.
In addition to her work with the Girl Scouts, Smith has also been active in the Boy Scouts of America for 10 years as a leader, committee member and merit badge counselor.
She never hesitates to volunteer whenever and wherever the need arises. She works behind the scenes at the fundraising events and takes orders and distributes lunches to crafters at the craft shows.
Smith coordinates the Market Day program and during the holidays she has a way of encouraging buyers to purchase and donate pies to the St. Barbara Food Pantry for the Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.
Marge and her husband are residents of Brookfield, where they raised three children. They are the proud grandparents of six.
School leaders honored by peers
Four administrators at schools serving Brookfield were honored for their leadership and service to students and school communities at the recent West Cook Illinois Principals Association annual school administrators’ breakfast.
Brian P. Waterman, principal of Lyons Township High School, was named High School Principal of the Year, while LTHS Assistant Principal Kristine L. Costopoulos was named Assistant Principal of the Year.
Waterman just completed his first years a principal at LTHS after six years as principal elsewhere. A married father of three, Waterman earned his Ph.D. at Aurora University.
Costopoulos has been a school administrator for 20 years and assistant principal at LTHS for eight years. She is active with the Red Cross and coordinates Relay for Life events for the LTHS community, raising more than $1 million for cancer research.
Meanwhile, Johnny Billingsley, principal at George Washington Middle School in Lyons, was named Middle School principal of the year, while Principal Katie Schumann of Lincoln School in Brookfield was named Elementary School Principal of the Year.
Billingsley is leaving GWMS after serving as principal since 2011. During his time there he developed a model response-to-intervention program and developed Professional Learning Communities at GWMS.
Schumann was named principal of Lincoln School in 2009 and has a background in music education. She serves as Fine Arts Department chairwoman, providing a monthly showcase of the arts. She has also developed new safety measures and protocols at Lincoln.
Candidates were nominated and selected by their peers in the West Cook IPA chapter.
On campus
Brookfield resident Kevin Grund was awarded a master’s degree in accounting during commencement ceremonies at the University of Kansas in May.
Among the nearly 1,000 students taking part in undergraduate and graduate commencement exercises at Lewis University in Romeoville were Brookfield residents Rachel Dlask and Timothy Geroulis.
Dlask graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications, while Geroulis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal/social justice.
In addition, Dlask, Riverside resident Meghan Martin (accounting) and Brookfield resident Nadia Alamo (nursing) were named to the Lewis University dean’s list.
Andrew Brondos, of Brookfield, graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran College on May 16 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration.
Brookfield resident Jenna Vondrasek graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of San Diego on May 24.
Tyler Sanchez, of Brookfield, has graduated from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in graphic design.
In May, Brookfield resident Cameron C. Ketchmark graduated cum laude from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
Ketchmark was chosen from his graduating class of 2,571 as the student speaker at the commencement ceremony. After spending two weeks in Ireland, Ketchmark will begin working in June as an embedded software engineer in the Space and Defense Group at Moog in Northbrook.
Katherine Andrulis, a graduate of Riverside-Brookfield High School, was named to the dean’s list for the spring 2015 semester at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, for maintaining a grade-point average of at least 3.5 on a 4-point scale.
Emily Andrulis, of Brookfield, was one of nearly 250 Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa) students named to the dean’s list for the 2015 spring semester. She earned highest honors, meaning she attained a 4.0 GPA.
Margaret McLaughlin, of Riverside, was named to the dean’s list in the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the 2015 spring semester.
The following area students were named to the dean’s list for the 2015 spring semester at Bradley University in Peoria for achieving a GPA of at least 3.5: North Riverside resident Hollie M. Ferrer and Brookfield residents Kristin DiMaggio and Scott A. Duda.
Riverside resident Haley Scaman was named to the campus honor roll at the University of Oklahoma for the spring 2015 semester. She was one of a select number of students named to the President Honor Roll for earning a GPA of 4.0.
Nicole Walker, of Brookfield, was named to the dean’s list for the 2015 spring semester at Northern Illinois University.
Aurora University announced the Mary Kearney, of Brookfield, and Kristen Schaefer, of North Riverside, earned high honors during the 2015 spring semester for attaining perfect 4.0 GPAs.
Tara Kaplan, of Riverside earned semester honors for the spring 2015 semester at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, by achieving a semester GPA of at least 3.5.
Riverside resident Ian Clark was named to the dean’s list at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, Pennsylvania) for the spring semester of the 2014-15 school year by attaining a GPA of at least 3.5.
Brookfield resident Katherine Sauer, North Riverside resident Joseph Zyck and Riverside resident Olivia Lauritsen were named to the dean’s list for the 2015 spring semester at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, for attaining a GPA of at least 3.5.
Olivia Jordan, of Riverside, has been named to the dean’s list for the 2015 spring semester at the University of Vermont for attaining a GPA of at least 3.0 and ranking in the top 20 percent of her class. She is a junior history major.
Dominican University in River Forest announced that the following students were named to the dean’s list for the 2015 spring semester: North Riverside resident Andrea Caruso and Brookfield residents Nancy Hernandez, Alex Kehrt and Willa Skeehan. All dean’s list students must achieve a semester GPA of at least 3.8.
Katie Skinner, of Brookfield, was one of approximately 140 students to take part in the University of Iowa’s 11th Annual Spring Undergraduate Research Festival.
The festival celebrates student contributions to research, scholarly and creative work at the school.
Meanwhile, Riverside resident Scott Rysz was one of approximately 80 University of Iowa College of Dentistry students to participate in the annual White Coat Ceremony, held in May.
The ceremony honors first-year dental students as they move into their second year, which involves their first patient experiences.
Senior Paul Landahl, of Brookfield, was recognized as the recipient of the O.F. Ander Award for Outstanding History Student at Augustana College’s Senior Honors Convocation.
Brookfield resident Alexander VonKeudell, a senior majoring in political science, was named a Global Scholar at the annual awards ceremony for Bradley University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in May.
Several local students were named to the honor rolls for the second semester at Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park. A Honor Roll students attained GPAs of between 3.8 and 4.0, while B Honor Roll students attained GPAs between 3.33 and 3.79.
A Honor Roll: Brookfield residents Gloria Corona, Jeremy Kolasa, Rebecca Letcher, Brittany Schneider and Robert Schneider; North Riverside residents Guillermo Arroyo, Emylee Zdarsky and Danny Zontos; and Riverside residents Gregory Bernasek and Hana Sedivy.
B Honor Roll: Brookfield residents Jocelyn Contini and Gina Crisanti; North Riverside residents Calixto Arroyo and Connor O’Neill; and Riverside resident Ben Bernasek.
Brookfield resident Daniel Dinh, a senior at Lyons Township High School, was among those chosen as a winner in the school’s 7th Annual Media Arts Night of Entertainment (MANE).
The event featured 47 entries in five categories that were judged by industry professionals and well as LTHS alumni who work in film, animation and television. The festival was held in May.
Dinh was chosen the winner in the Computer Animation category for his piece “A Newfound Power.”
Mitch Galgan, a senior at Lyons Township High School, was among five students from the school selected for individual awards for Outstanding Performance at the Essentially Ellington Competition hosted by Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City in May.
Galgan, of Brookfield, plays the bass.
Brookfield resident honored at North Central College
North Central College in Naperville recognized Brookfield resident Jonathon Kingzette as the Outstanding Senior Man for 2015 during the college’s annual Honors Convocation on May 12.
The annual award recognizes one senior man for his successes in the classroom, his involvement and contributions to the campus community outside the classroom, and his future potential.
Kingzette is a political science major with minors in Spanish and leadership. He also was recognized during the ceremony with the Outstanding Major in Political Science award and for completing North Central’s College Scholars Honors program.
He participated in Model United Nations in New York City, representing the Republic of Austria with other North Central students, and studied abroad in Ghana to gain cultural awareness and experience as a travel writer.
“Jon is committed to grappling with issues of inequality, social justice and civic engagement and encourages others to do the same,” said Suzanne Chod, assistant professor of political science. “He’s connected to the world around him in order to understand it better and teach others.”
Around campus, Kingzette is heavily involved. A resident assistant, he’s also an academic life chair with the Student Governing Association, a tutor for the Writing Center and for ELL students preparing for the TOEFL exam, and an editor for “In the Alternative,” an Illinois State Bar Association publication about alternative dispute resolution.
He’s a two-time recipient of the North Central’s Writing for Social Change Award for original poems dealing with social justice themes and a recipient of the Distinguished Leader Scholarship for demonstrating leadership abilities on campus.
Kingzette has worked as a casework summer intern in the Chicago office of Sen. Richard J. Durbin and for North Central’s LEV program. His name regularly appears on the Dean’s List and he’s a member of Sigma Delta Pi, the Spanish Honors Society, and Blue Key Honors Society for leadership.
He plans to pursue a Ph.D. in political science.
St. Mary’s students get police escort to school
On Friday, June 5, a couple of St. Mary School students — Ella Kallenborn, Isabella Brunke and Callie Federow — wound up in the back of a Riverside squad car.
They hadn’t done anything wrong. Kallenborn’s parents won a raffle last month for a “Ride of Lifetime” during a St. Mary School fundraiser.
The students were picked up at their homes and provided transportation, complete with lights flashing and sirens sounding, by Riverside Police Officer Tammy Pruim.
“These kids were just great,” Pruim said. “Programs like this help to develop a positive attitude towards law enforcement.”
Hauser students go ‘all in’ for schoolmate
Two Hauser Junior High School sixth-graders raised $500 for their friend and classmate, Ethan Tkalec, who is battling a debilitating illness. Tkalec, 12, has giant axonal neuropathy (GAN), a progressive neurological disorder.
His schoolmates, Emma Tucek and Grace Jisa, spent months making scarves, bows, headbands, blankets, pillows and more, which they sold at the Hauser Junior High Open House in May.
They donated the funds they raised to the All in for Ethan, a charity created by the Tkalec family to provide support to other families affected by GAN.
