Maryville golf administrator receives PGA service award

Juan Espejo, PGA golf administrator at Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, has been named the recipient of the 2015 Illinois PGA Distinguished Service Award. The award honors people who display leadership, integrity, sportsmanship and enthusiasm for the game of golf. Espejo is the first recipient of this award and judges say he embodies the criteria of the award and a PGA Professional. Espejo, 57, was an amateur player and worked for Professional Marketers Inc. and Kraft Foods before pursuing a second career as a PGA professional. Since joining the Illinois PGA, Espejo has been appointed a member of the national PGA of America Youth Player Development Committee, and was also appointed national chairman of the special needs/adaptive golf subcommittee.

• Danielle Perri of Schaumburg is one of 25 students from across the country awarded a National Law Enforcement & Firefighters Children's Foundation scholarship, given in recognition of her exceptional leadership, community service and scholastic achievement. Recipients are the children of law enforcement officers or firefighters killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. Perri's father, Joseph, became permanently disabled while working in the line of duty for the Schaumburg Police Department. A senior at Marquette University, majoring in biological sciences with a minor in Spanish for health professions, Perri aspires to be an orthodontist.

• State Rep. Michelle Mussman, a Democrat fromSchaumburg, was named chairman of the Northwest Suburban Alliance on Domestic Violence. The NWSADV raises awareness and promotes prevention of domestic violence. Its mission is "to facilitate services to break the cycle of violence in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago through collaboration, education and support". Members of the community, elected officials, religious organizations, law enforcement, nonprofits and the legal community comprise the organization's membership.

• Courtney Lavand, a special-education teacher and assistant dance team coach at Elk Grove High School, has been named the Grenadiers' new head dance team coach. While at Crystal Lake Central High School as a student, Lavand was a member of the dance team, which went to the state championship competition all four years and was named State Grand Champions two of those four years. Lavand and the Elk Grove dance team are gearing up for the season, which begins at Fremd High School on Nov. 21.

• Send your 'Neighbor in the News' items to Norrine Twohey at ntwohey@dailyherald.com.