Neighbors in the News
• Carol Reagan, executive director of the Palatine Township Senior Citizens Council, which operates the Palatine Township Senior Center and the Caring Hearts Adult Day Care, was installed as chair-elect of the National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC) at the Aging in America Conference held March 15, in Chicago.
NISC, a strategic partner of the National Council on Aging, is an organization of professionals dedicated to enhancing the lives of older adults through professional development, advocacy and promotion of national standards. Reagan has served NISC for the past eight years as treasurer and as the delegate from Illinois.
• John Hersey High School senior Sarah Prostko qualified for the National Forensic League National Tournament , where she will compete for the national debate championship in Kansas City on June13-15. Prostko had to beat 84 of the top speakers in Northern Illinois at Glenbrook North High School to gain the honor.
The students were grouped into one Senate chamber and three House chambers. Two students advanced from the Senate and one each from the Houses. Prostko was joined by qualifiers from Rolling Meadows, Wheeling, Stevenson, and New Trier High Schools.
Also representing Hersey in the competition were senior Angelica Tillander and junior Ben Coulomb. Both won second alternate medals in their respective House chambers and would qualify for Kansas City if the first two qualifiers were unable to compete.
• Kelly Kelley of Hoffman Estates attended the Redken Exchange in New York City in February. The Redken Exchange is an award-winning, resource for higher learning in the professional salon industry.
Kelley, along with stylists from around the globe, learned advanced techniques in hair design and hair color from leading experts in the salon insudtry and the latest in wearable fashion hair trends. Interactive, hands-on classes included color basics, editorial photo shoots and dressing the bride.
Kelley is a salon professional at EOS Salon in Hoffman Estates.
• Barb Sabaj, technology coordinator for District 214 Community Education and veteran adult basic education teacher, was recipient of the 2010 Arthur J. Stejskal Teacher of the Year award.
This statewide recognition is given annually by the Illinois Adult & Continuing Educators Association (IACEA) to a deserving teacher who demonstrates a commitment to the adult and continuing education profession; recognizes and understands the physical, psychological, social, and cognitive characteristics of adult learners; accepts each
learner's cultural and ethnic uniqueness, and assists learners in formulating personal learning objectives and assessing progress toward those objectives, among others.
• Arjun Puranik, 17, a Fremd High School senior, was named among 40 high school seniors from across the country as a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search 2010, one of America's oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competitions.
Arjun's project, titled "Finite-dimensional Irreducible Representations of Rational Cherednik Algebras Associated to the Coxeter Group H3," conducted research that will help provide data towards generating a more thorough representation theory, used in linear algebra. This theory has been studied for many years, and Arjun's research may help advance the field of quantum physics.