Proud to Be 203

Proud to Be 203 listings for school year 2008-2009

Month of Peace contest winners honored

More than 100 community members, leaders, school children and their parents attended a press conference on Friday, November 13 at Naperville’s Municipal Center to recognize the 24 winners of the annual creative stamp design, poster and essay/poem contest, sponsored by the ThinkGlobal Arts Foundation and the Naperville Noon Lions Club. Part of the Month of Peace activities, this year’s themes were “Imagine Peace” and the “Power of Peace,” which drew more than 350 entries from area elementary, junior high and high school students.

District 203 art contest winners and their categories are as follows: Grades 1-3, Sophia Aigner, second place; Grades 4-5, Kally Harris, second place and Gabrielle Champion, third place. All three are students at Prairie Elementary School. In addition, Gabrielle Lapnow of Kennedy Junior High School took third place in the middle school division.

Essay/Poetry contest winners are: Grades 1-3, Jason Zhang, third place, Mill Street Elementary School; Grades 4-5, Nicole Schlegel, first place, Highlands Elementary School; and Honorable Mention,
Hannah Jorstad, Highlands Elementary School.

High School essay/poetry contest winners are: Samantha Chi, first place; Akila Thota, second place; and Akshat Sahai, third place. All three are Naperville North High School students.

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Local students join Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra

On Sunday, November 8, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra (CYSO) performed at North Central College’s Wentz Hall. Naperville is home to 17 student members of the CYSO including: from Naperville Central High School – Kevin Hu, Kelly Jozwiak and Liliane Wu; from Naperville North High School – Zulin Hsue, Josephine Kane and Alex Laskey; and from Madison Junior High – Silas Ferraro.

NCHS junior and violinist Kevin Hu was a featured performer, playing Dimitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, op.77. In January of this year, Kevin took the first prize at the Schmidbauer International String Competition Junior Division. In May, the piano, cello, violin trio in which Hu plays won a Silver Medal in the 2009 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition Junior Division.

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Two students represent NCHS in All-State Theatre Production

Naperville Central High School will be represented in the 35th annual Illinois High School Theatre Festival’s All-State production by senior Lauren Kerbs, who is one of the actors, and by senior Ellen Banach, who is serving as the assistant producer for the show. Both had to endure rigorous auditions and interviews to be a part of the production. The Tony award-winning, comedy musical “Urinetown” will be performed on January 8 and 9, 2010 at Illinois State University for registered participants only. All-State productions bring together a company of students and staff from all areas of Illinois. The 71 students who comprise the cast, crew and orchestra represent the brightest stars in the State.

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 Veterans honored in all District 203 schools on November 11

 North's Nadira Long named National Achievement Semifinalist

Naperville North senior Nadira Long was named as a Semifinalist in the National Achievement Scholarship Competition. As a National Achievement Semifinalist, she joins an elite group of students selected to compete in the 46th Annual Achievement Scholarship® competition and is eligible to continue in the competition for some 800 Achievement scholarships worth over $2.6 million to be awarded next spring. Approximately 1,300 Semifinalists are expected to fulfill additional requirements and advance to the Finalist level in the 2010 program from an initial pool of over 160,000 entrants. Some 800 will become Achievement Scholar® awardees. All National Achievement Scholars will be selected from the Finalist group on the basis of their abilities, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

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 Crime Prevention Calendar Artists recognized by City of Naperville

Students whose artwork appears in the 2009-2010 Crime Prevention Calendar were honored on October 22 in Council Chambers of the Naperville Municipal Center. Presented with a special certificate of appreciation from Mayor George Pradel and Naperville Police Chief David Dial for their participation were the following District 203 elementary students and their school:

Alexa Matkovich, Beebe; Chris Hall, Ellsworth; Caitlin Reice, Elmwood; Greyson Sullivan, Highlands; Alex Jech, Kingsley; Jenny Gaza, Maplebrook; Maria Pearson and Caroline Tang, Meadow Glens; Mira Coy, Mill Street; Caitlin Kennedy, Naper; Sophie Inglis, Prairie; Lucy Jensen, Ranchview; Amanda Sowske, River Woods; Alexandra Kazun, Scott; and Laura Hartman, Steeple Run.

This is the 23rd year the Naperville Police Department has produced the Crime Prevention Calendar. The Exchange Club of Naperville is the major sponsor of this project. Additionally, Naperville Junior Woman’s Club, CrimeStoppers and area schools again helped sponsor the calendar, which is distributed free of charge to all elementary school students in Naperville Community Unit School District 203 and Indian Prairie School District 204, as well as five parochial schools in Naperville.

The Crime Prevention Calendar lists District 203 school events pertinent to families of elementary students. This calendar was printed during the summer of 2009. Please check the District’s Calendar of Events and individual school sites' calendars for the most up-to-date information. To view the Crime Prevention Calendar, click here.

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NCHS and NNHS Musicians perform in IMEA District 9 Festivals

Having passed a rigorous audition process, the following Naperville Central High School music students have been selected to participate in the Illinois Music Educators Association (IMEA) District 9 Ensembles Festival are:

Orchestra: Kristi Johnson, Christina Larson, Junsung Park and Christopher Pettit
Choir: Julie Brdicka, Laura Hill, Sarah Hollander, Lauren Kerbs, John Ludlum, Hanna Ralson, Kristen Strom and Andy Wallace
Band: Katherine Janda, Allison Klos, Jessica Luhrs, Brittany Ruhland and Aaron Marsala
Vocal Jazz: Laura Hill, Kathleen Manning, Kristen Strom and Chelsea Ward
Jazz Band: Matt Byron and Zach Tucker

Representing Naperville North High School at the IMEA District Festival are:

Band: Tim Clark, Corey Haas, Katie Huff, Marly May, Meghan Robinson, Blackmon Warren and Debbie Xie
Orchestra: Emilie Mitchell, Katie Arnold, Sally Chung, Josie Kane, Margaret Shang, Grace Yang and Alex Laskey
Chorus: Michelle Beggs, Charlie Benoit, Michelle Burbules, Rose Grizzell, Joanna Brodecki, Claire Morley, Brittany Olisar, Betsy Pilon and Peter Sargent

Jazz Band: Samantha Bivens, Martin Hayford, Emilie Mitchell, Austin Simon and Tom Smith
Vocal Jazz: Katie Arnold, Michelle Beggs, Rose Grizzell, Joanna Brodecki, Deanna Moore, Claire Morley, Brittany Olisar and Jonathan Yu.

The IMEA District 9 Vocal Jazz Festival will be held at St. Charles North High School on Saturday, November 14. The IMEA District 9 Organizational Festival will be held at Hampshire High School on Saturday, November 21.

Band directors are: D. J. Alstadt and Scott Silder, Naperville Central; Daniel Moore and Brian Vankley, Naperville North. Choral directors are Curt Parry, Central, and Jim Yarbrough, North. Lisa Antonio is the orchestra director at Central; Dana Green is the orchestra director at North.

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Central's Marching Redhawk Band Completes Successful Season

The Naperville Central High School Marching Redhawks, performing this year’s show, “Rock Band,” have won numerous awards, including Class 3a Second Place, Best Drum Major and Best Color Guard at the Metamora Marching Competition. The Redhawks dominated the awards at the A.A. Stagg Competition on October 3, taking Class 3A First Place, as well as winning Class 3A Best Percussion, Best Visual Performance, Best Music Performance and Best Drum Major. On October 17, the Redhawks successfully hosted their 3rd annual Marching Classic high school marching band competition at Benedictine University. This is the only marching band competition hosted by a District 203 or 204 school. Nineteen bands were Central’s guests at the competition, with the Redhawks performing in exhibition to wrap up the show. Credit goes to the Rock Band Prop Dads who worked all summer to make the stages for the Rock Band show, which featured “dancing lights” and were the envy of prop dads everywhere.

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North's Marching Huskies win numerous top awards/honors

The Naperville North Marching Huskies completed their competitive season with many awards and extraordinary audience response to their 2009 show "The Sounds of Silents," a tribute to silent films by Director of Bands Dan Moore. The Huskies joined nearly two dozen award-winning bands from throughout the Midwest at the 31st annual Lancer Joust, hosted by Lake Park High School in Roselle. The Huskies earned a 2nd place trophy, their best finish ever at this event, as well as the caption award for Outstanding General Effect. They were named Grand Champion at the Chicagoland Marching Band Festival, where they also placed first in their class and received caption awards for Outstanding General Effect and Outstanding Drum Majors, Bret Sherred & Debbie Xie. They placed third in their class at Prospect High School's Knight of Champions.

The Huskies traveled to the Bands of America Regional Championship at Eastern Michigan University, where they performed to a standing ovation, and placed third in their class. Their preliminary score earned them Division I Status as well as the right to compete in finals, where they placed 8th. At the State of Illinois Marching Band Invitational Championship, the Huskies were selected to receive the coveted Crowd Appeal Award. They also marched to 2nd place in Class 6A, received the High Achievement award for General Effect, and finished 4th in Finals Competition.

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 Michael Notardonato represents NNHS in All-State Theatre Production

Naperville North High School will be represented in the 35th annual Illinois High School Theatre Festival’s All-State production by Michael Notardonato. The Tony award-winning, comedy musical “Urinetown” will be performed on January 8 and 9, 2010 at Illinois State University for registered participants only. All-State productions bring together a company of students and staff from all areas of Illinois. The 71 students who comprise the cast, crew and orchestra represent the brightest stars in the State.

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High school students honored by Nelson’s Today

Every August Nelson’s Today highlights top seniors who are involved in athletics and activities, are good students and school leaders. Recognized and pictured in the 2009 Back to School issue were Rachel Johnson, Matt O’Brien, Margarita Altidis and Nick Linne from Naperville Central High School and Shannon Lavin, Jamie Schertz, Ben Aymond and Michael West from Naperville North High School. All are members of the Class of 2010. Nelson’s Today is the shopping and lifestyle monthly published by Today Publications in the western suburbs.

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NMSC Commended Students named

Fifty-four seniors in District 203 were named Commended Students in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation were recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2010 competition by taking the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Naperville Central Commended Students are: Ayesha Badar, Julie Brdicka, Victor Chen, Mitchell Dreiske, Terrence Hector, Jeffry Huang, David Ilavsky, Rachel Irion, Jeffrey Jin, Emily Larkin, Andrew Miltonberger, Avani Miriyala, Joseph O’Brien, Nathan Reinke, Emily Van Etten, Michelle Wang and Cory Young.

Naperville North Commended Students are: Surbhi Agarwal, Ryan Asensio, Mohammed Askari, Kelley Berdelle, Benjamin Broad, Maureen Connelly, Marc Deetjen, Samuel Enright, Seema Ghelani, Meraaj Haleem, Neil Jerome, Melanie Keating, Kristine Kerns, Kathleen Khau, Andrew Koh, Daniel Kumor, Simeon Lee, Justina Lin, Wesley Liou, James Maclean, Conor McCarthy, Matthew McGrail, Walker Miner, Laura Mumford, Aniket Patil, Jasmine Peterson, Matthew Shanahan, Neal Sheehan, Bret Sherred, Johanna Tang, Eric TerMaat, Alexander Wang, Elizabeth Weiner, Joe Williams, Christopher Woodward, Diana Xu and Yingying Zhou.

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College Board announces AP Scholars

In District 203, 1,115 students took a total of 2,055 Advanced Placement (AP) tests in May of 2009, with 89% of those tests resulting in a score of 3 or above (on a 5-point scale), providing students with the equivalent of college credit while in high school. Many students took multiple AP tests.

The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program provides motivated and academically prepared students with the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school and to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both for successful performance on the AP exams.

About 18 percent of the nearly 1.7 million students worldwide who took AP exams last spring performed at a sufficiently high level to earn an AP SCHOLAR AWARD by completing 3 or more exams and earning grades of 3 or higher. Of the 1,115 individual District 203 students who took an AP exam in 2009, 336 were so honored.

The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on students’ performance on high school AP exams:

AP SCHOLAR WITH HONOR – 74 District 203 students were recognized with this award by earning an average of 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on 4 or more of these exams

AP SCHOLAR WITH DISTINCTION – 147 District 203 students qualified for this award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams

NATIONAL AP SCHOLAR – 35 District 203 students were so honored by earning an average grade of 4 or higher (on a 5-point scale) on ALL exams taken AND grades of 4 or higher on eight or more of those exams.

National AP Scholars from Naperville Central High School included:

Michael Ashley, Victor Chen, Renee Cheng, Kiaran Dave, Brittney Fiorello, Anna Gaca, Nitin Goyal, Michelle Ikoma, Joshua Keyser, Prateek Kumar, John Lewis, Leo Li, Christopher McCarthy, Aneesh Nandam, Stephen Pratt, Katherine Rudolph, Jeffrey Schatz, Albert Wang, Ivan Wu, Angel Yang, Dennis Zhan, Dennis B. Zhan, Joseph Zhang and Wilson Zhen. All were 2009 graduates with the exception of Chen, Rudolph and Zhang who are currently seniors and Dennis B. Zhan, who is currently a junior.

Prateek Kumar and Angel Yang each earned 13 Advanced Placement exam credits over a period of two years.

National AP Scholars from Naperville North High School included:

Amin Bemanian, Sophie Chung, Melissa Greene, Teshika Jayewickreme, Alexander Miller, Rahul Nayak, Lehka Ragavendran, Caitlin Riederer, Ryan Shyu, Dennis Tseng and Hai Wang. All were 2009 graduates with the exception of Jayewickreme, who is a senior this year.

Amin Bemanian and Rahul Nayak each earned 13 Advanced Placement exam credits over a period of two years, with Nayak scoring a 5 on all 13 tests.

These achievements ranked Naperville Central and Naperville North among Newsweek’s “America’s Top High Schools” for 2009, placing them in the top 5% of public schools measured by the publication’s index, which is based on the number of AP tests taken divided by the number of graduating seniors.

The total number of AP honors awarded to District 203 students in 2009 was 336, up slightly from the 326 earned in 2008, slightly down from the 359 earned in 2007, and dramatically higher than the 265 earned in 2006 and the 207 awards earned in 2005.

AP credit is accepted by more than 3,800 colleges and universities worldwide, including more than 90 percent of four-year institutions in the United States.

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NNHS marching band wins top honors at festival

The Naperville North Marching Huskies' 2009 competition show "The Sound of Silents" was awarded grand champion honors at the Chicagoland Marching Band Festival on September 26, 2009, held at Wheeling High School. The Huskies earned first place in Class AAA as well as caption awards for Outstanding General Effect and Outstanding Drum Majors, Bret Sherred and Debbie Xie. The show will also be performed at the Bands of America Regional Championship on October 10 and the State of Illinois Invitational High School Marching Band Championship on October 24.

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National Merit Scholarship Corporation names
37 Semifinalists in District 203

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) has named 37 members of the District 203 Class of 2010 among nearly 16,000 Semifinalists in the 55th annual NMSC program.

Naperville Central seniors honored as Semifinalists were: Jacob Bumpus, Michelle Fern, Sarah Gao, Taisia Karaseva, Neeldev Kunjur, Vanessa Lin, Priscilla Liu, Jennifer Martynowicz, Michael Naccache, Shuhao Pang, Sunameeka Panigrahy, Francis Rogg, Katherine Rudolph, Victoria Sawchuk, William Sterrett, Erik Wang, Anne Wei, Adam Wills and Mingxuan Yu.

Naperville North High School seniors honored as Semifinalists were: Nikhil Bommakanti, Julian Caracotsios, Timothy Clark, Caitlin Cremin, Kristen Deppe, Kanika Garg, Harry Gollakota, Albert Gore, Corey Haas, Justin Hsiao, Teshika Jayewickreme, Peter Kim, Alexander Levin, Marina Powers, Adam Przybyl, Kaia Schwartz, Kyra Songco and Jason Termaat.

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards, worth more than $36 million, that will be offered next spring. Click here to view the news release.

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Seven members of the Class of 2010 receive top ACT and SAT scores

The following six members of the District 203 Class of 2010 received the top possible score of 36 on the ACT last spring:

From Naperville North - Nikhil Bommankanti, Timothy Clark and James MacLean
From Naperville Central - Taisia Karaseva, Katherine (Kate) Rudolph and William Sterrett

The ACT tests academic performance in the areas of English, mathematics reading and science. Each test is scored on a scale of 1 to 36, with the composite score representing the average of these 4 tests. The average ACT composite score in Illinois is 20.8, while the average composite score for District 203 students is 25.0.

In addition, Naperville Central senior Jacob Bumpus received the top score of 2400 on the SAT. He is among only 250 students from across the nation to do so. The SAT is a standardized assessment of the critical reading, mathematical reasoning and writing skills that are deemed necessary for students to be successful in college. More than two million U.S. high school students take the SAT annually.

Tim Clark and Kate Rudolph were recent guests on the first edition of School Scene 203, which will air on Naperville Community Television (NCTV), Channel 17, late next week. Also appearing on the show, hosted by Superintendent Mark Mitrovich, was Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Tim Wierenga and Director of Assessment Dave Chiszar. The topic of the show is District 203’s assessment philosophy and practice.

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District 203 Schools Honored by the National Network
of Partnership Schools

Naperville School District 203 is the winner of a 2009 Partnership District Award from the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University. This is the District’s tenth annual Partnership District Award – “evidence of its strong commitment to improving and sustaining excellent school, family, and community partnerships,” noted Network founder Dr. Joyce Epstein.

District 203’s Computer Redeployment Program is included in the new edition of Promising Partnership Practices of 2009, which is published nationally. The NNPS Awards Committee praised the quality of the District’s communications about partnership programs and the support you are providing to principals.

Highlands Elementary School also received its ninth annual Partnership School Award, while Prairie Elementary received its first national award. Prairie’s School Family Community Partnership team was honored for its creative work on MATHacascar and for creating connections with the community through its International Night. Highlands was praised for continuing its family math nights and for conducting unique and important activities, such as addressing the topic of Healthy Balance. The promising practices of seven additional District 203 schools – Beebe, Ellsworth, Steeple Run, Kennedy, Lincoln, Naperville Central and North - are also included in the book. Click here to view the news release.

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Communications Office Wins 4 State Awards

The Illinois Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association (INSPRA) recently presented a Golden Achievement Award of Merit to Director of Communications Melea Smith for District 203’s “Take Back the Backpack” campaign which introduced vB203, our virtual backpack webpage, to the District 203 community. Earlier this summer, vB203 garnered a Golden Achievement Award from the national organization, known as NSPRA.

Smith and District 203 Webmaster Deanne Fulner also won an Award of Excellence for the recent redesign of the 21 District 203 school websites, as well as Awards of Merit for marketing materials created for the Naperville Education Foundation’s “Yuks for Youth” comedy event and the 2009 “Building a Passion for Our Global Community” breakfast. Click here to view the news release.

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Naperville District 203 named in top 5% by SchoolSearch

Naperville District 203 has once again been recognized by SchoolSearch with a Bright A+ Award for academic excellence. Of the 868 Illinois school districts, only 58 were so honored. The award criteria are based on test data taken from the 2008 Illinois School Report Card; 2009 Bright A+ honorees represent the top 5% of Illinois districts, using both ISAT and ACT scores to measure student academic performance. District 203 has been honored with this award for the past 10 years. SchoolSearch is a national educational research and consulting firm based in Missouri that works with major companies by providing their relocating families with school information.

In addition, District 203 has received the What Parents Want Award from SchoolMatch every year since its inception in 1992. A similar organization headquartered in Ohio, SchoolMatch names a select group (the top 14%) of the nation’s public schools that have been recognized for meeting the needs of families choosing schools.

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