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Honorable mentions: Northwest Suburban Leadership Team, 2015-2016

Barathkumar Baskaran

Hoffman Estates High School

Hometown: Schaumburg

Class: Senior

Parents: Baskaran Narayanarao and Ramadevi Baskaran

Sponsor: Kerri Largo, business education teacher

Community service: Worked with children developing safety skills as a junior leader with the Schaumburg Park District; student advisory trustee for the Schaumburg Township District Library; serves on the student/principal advisory board of Hoffman Estates High School; serves as a Teen Corps volunteer at the Schaumburg Township District Library.

Spencer Zoot Bierman

Spencer Zoot Bierman

Buffalo Grove High School

Hometown: Buffalo Grove

Class: Senior

Parents: Philip Bierman and Laura Bierman

Sponsor: Zaya Denardo, teacher and Interact sponsor

Community service: President of the BGHS Interact Club; Funding Team lead for the Buffalo Grove/Stevenson High School 2015 Relay For Life; committee member and participant in Intergenerational Prom Night; Literacy Lab tutor; volunteers with NWSRA and serves as Buffalo Grove High School's student coordinator.

Patrycja Bradlinski

Patrycja Bradlinski

East Leyden High School

Hometown: River Grove

Class: Senior

Parents: Beata Bradlinski and Greg Bradlinski

Sponsor: David Narter, English teacher

Community service: Young at Heart Dance volunteer; works as a Guided Study tutor; Kiwanis Club soup kitchen volunteer; supervised activities as a Safe Celebration volunteer; visited the elderly at Elmwood Nursing Home; served as a Peer Mediator.

Amy Chen

Amy Chen

William Fremd High School

Hometown: Palatine

Class: Senior

Parents: Ziying Chen and Lingqing Zhao

Sponsor: Priscilla Meraz, counselor

Community service: Member of a mission trip to Haiti with Prince of Peace Lutheran Church; works as a Xilin Northwest Chinese School math teacher's assistant; manages and maintains the balloon animal stand for events at Xilin Northwest Chinese School, Hunan Association of Midwest America, Association of Chinese-American Scientists and Engineers, and the Overseas China Education Foundation; Feed My Starving Children volunteer; member of the class executive board and yearbook editor.

Shriram Chennakesavalu

Shriram Chennakesavalu

James B. Conant High School

Hometown: Schaumburg

Class: Senior

Parents: Chenna Govindasamy and Hema Raghavan

Sponsor: Scott Altergott, counselor

Community service: Volunteered at the Information Desk at Alexian Brothers Hospital; worked in the astrophysics lab at Northwestern University; volunteered in the catheterization lab at the University of Chicago Medical Center; math tutor; founder and president of an ACT student-run tutoring service at Conant High School; member of Business Professionals of America.

Katherine Coombs

Katherine Coombs

Schaumburg High School

Hometown: Schaumburg

Class: Senior

Parents: Corbin and Margo Coombs

Sponsor: Mary Lopez, social studies teacher

Community service: Peer tutor at Schaumburg High School; Feed My Starving Children volunteer; volunteers at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; helped build benches for Spring Valley Nature Center as part of an Eagle Scout project; holiday shopper for W.A.C.O.; Student Ambassador and a member of the principal's advisory board.

Casey Gunther

Casey Gunther

John Hersey High School

Hometown: Arlington Heights

Class: Senior

Parents: Pam and Mark Gunther

Sponsor: Kathleen Rafferty, special education teacher

Community service: As a member of Dynamite Dancers dance group, helped to create dance programs that promote inclusion and friendship between students with disabilities and their mainstream peers; Camp SOAR volunteer; through Service Over Self worked on the Hersey High School Food Drive; principal dancer at McDonald Dance Academy; advisory board for Hersey Orchesis and serves as leader of the publicity group.

Hannah Haecker

Hannah Haecker

Westminster Christian School

Hometown: Hoffman Estates

Class: Senior

Parents: Dawn and Greg Haecker

Sponsor: Principal Fred Versluys

Community service: Junior board member of Fellowship Housing; small group leader and mentor at Willow Creek Church; organized runners to fundraise for Oasis For Orphans; went on Guatemalan mission trip to do manual labor and play with local kids; volunteered at Love Elgin Day.

Alec Heyde

Alec Heyde

Prospect High School

Hometown: Mount Prospect

Class: Senior

Parents: Robert Heyde, Noreen Heyde

Sponsor: Michael K. Stokes, teacher and cross-country coach

Community service: Volunteered with the Care Center at Willow Creek Church; memory section volunteer at The Moorings assisted living facility in Arlington Heights; participated in a mission trip to Detroit through Trinity United Methodist Church; serves as a library tutor and Link Leader to incoming Prospect High School students; serves on the principal's advisory council.

Breanna Keenley

Breanna Marie Keenley

Elk Grove High School

Hometown: Des Plaines

Class: Senior

Parents: Richard and Kelli Keenley

Sponsor: Joseph D. Bush, social studies teacher

Community service: Through Peer Helpers was a Red Ribbon and Yellow Ribbon Week committee organizer; president of Nation Leaders, a student-run organization that supports school events and fundraising activities; as a member of Leadership Through Service works on service projects from recycling to raising money to make blankets for cancer patients; Relay For Life volunteer.

Emma May

Emma May

Elgin Academy

Hometown: Barrington

Class: Senior

Parents: Beth and David May

Sponsor: Doug Sept, Director of the Upper School/director of college counseling

Community service: Coordinator for First Congregational Church of Elgin soup kitchen; small group leader, Willow Creek church; taught English at Nicaraguan orphanage: 'big sister' to a grade school student; volunteers for PADS of Elgin.

Ayesha Mohan

Ayesha Mohan

James B. Conant High School

Hometown: Schaumburg

Class: Senior

Parents: Gaurav and Reena Mohan

Sponsor: Adam Leibman, counselor

Community service: Worked as a research assistant for the Hospitalist Project at the University of Chicago; helped perform laboratory research in cancer pharmacogenomics at the University of Chicago; volunteered in Women and Infant Services at Alexian Brothers Hospital; served as an activities assistant for the Special Care Unit at Friendship Village in Schaumburg; member of Future Health Professionals and Business Professionals of America.

Giada Morresi

Giada Morresi

Maine West High School

Hometown: Des Plaines

Class: Senior

Parents: Holly Davidova

Sponsor: Randy Harper, social science teacher

Community service: Student coordinator of Voice for the Nameless, a human rights club; Camp Awana volunteer; member of the President's Club.

Kendall Neumann

Kendall Neumann

Prospect High School

Hometown: Arlington Heights

Class: Senior

Parents: Amy and Kevin Neumann

Sponsor: Nicole Stoltz, English teacher

Community service: Works on the Prospect Heights yearbook committee and has served as editor and editor-in-chief; volunteers with the First United Methodist Church of Palatine Early Childhood Ministries; has worked as a volunteer for Feed My Starving Children and a Rogers Park soup kitchen; serves as a Knights Way leader.

Sara O'Malley

Sara O'Malley

Rolling Meadows High School

Hometown: Arlington Heights

Class: Senior

Parents: Ikuko and Patrick O'Malley

Sponsor: Laura Snyder, mathematics teacher

Community service: Volunteer at Willow Creek Community Church's Promiseland; student tutor through the National Honor Society; serves with the Mighty Mustang Mentors; as a volunteer with Erika's Lighthouse, educated teens on depression and how to treat it.

Gina Oshana

Gina M. Oshana

Maine East High School

Hometown: Morton Grove

Class: Senior

Parents: Danti and Souzan Oshana

Sponsor: Dr. Mike Pressler

Community service: Steering committee member of a global initiative project to adopt a village in Kenya; COACH tutor; as a National Honor Society officer, helps organize student activities, volunteer and fundraising events; volunteered on a disaster relief trip to Ohio, working in a homeless shelter and a senior living facility through Gifted Lyceum; worked with the Maine Community Youth Assistance Foundation.

Ben Panitch

Ben Panitch

Winner, Lake County Leadership Team

Adlai E. Stevenson High School

Hometown: Buffalo Grove

Class: Senior

Parents: Shari and David Panitch

Sponsor: Zara Dittman, Spanish teacher

Community service: As co-president of Best Buddies, organizes about 15 events each year for participants; president of Students Helping Soldiers Club; advisory leader of Freshmen Mentor Program; volunteer varsity athletic student trainer; deputy chief, Lincolnshire Explorer Post.

Eric Parks

Eric Parks

St. Edward Central Catholic High School

Hometown: Hoffman Estates

Class: Senior

Parents: Patrick Parks, Michelle Parks

Sponsor: Kerry O'Brien, Head of Counseling

Community service: Volunteer assistant coach for St. Hubert's basketball, St. Hubert trackathon fundraiser and Halloween Walk; helped arrange for delivery of Toys For Tots; is a St. Edward 'big brother,' helping freshmen.

Carla Pereyra

Carla Pereyra

Palatine High School

Hometown: Palatine

Class: Senior

Parents: Suzette Pereyra and the late Julio Pereyra

Sponsor: Alonso Ramirez, counselor

Community service: As a member of Service Club worked on cancer awareness events; served as president of the Ecology Club; member of student council; S.A.D.D. volunteer; Service Club volunteer; member of Palatine Promise, an anti-bullying organization; volunteer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters Motorola Mentorship Program of Chicago.

Meredith Solari

Meredith Solari

St. Viator High School

Hometown: Palatine

Class: Senior

Parents: Robert Solari and Dayna Solari

Sponsor: Stephanie Collins, counselor

Community service: Summer camp counselor at Sewjourner's Summer Camp for Girls at Wyncliff in Cleveland, Wisconsin; volunteered with the Little Sisters of the Poor at St. Joseph's Home for the Elderly; Relay For Life volunteer; assisted with an Eagle Scout project at GiGi's Playhouse, making cabinets and countertops for the computer/activity room; volunteered during an Epidermolysis Bullosa family event; serves on the Campus Ministry Team and with Link Crew; peer mediator.

Olivia Sorenson

Olivia Sorenson

Winner, Lake County Leadership Team

Adlai E. Stevenson High School

Hometown: Kildeer

Class: Senior

Parents: Geri Sorenson, Steve Sorenson

Sponsor: Zara Dittman, Spanish teacher

Community service: Several overseas mission trips to South Africa to help young girls; president and member, Freshman Mentor Program; volunteer counselor, Lake Geneva Youth Camp; mission trip to St. Louis, serving meals and leading Bible school; with Student Impact, helped raise $50,000 for the education of Cambodian teens.

Jimmy Tsogas

Jimmy Tsogas

Wheeling High School

Hometown: Prospect Heights

Class: Senior

Parents: Faye and Kristos Tsogas

Sponsor: Sandra Chico, teacher

Community service: Serves on student council as president; volunteer and co-facilitator for Operation Snowball; member Latino Club.

Ricardo Valladares

Ricardo Valladares

Wheeling High School

Hometown: Wheeling

Class: Senior

Parents: Gabriela and Javier Valladares

Sponsor: Bruce Varela, teacher

Community service: Volunteered as baby sitter and parent tutor at Whitman Elementary School Family Learning Night, also works at Whitman Family movie nights; chaperoned and helped run concessions at Holmes Middle School family events; AVID class volunteer; Mark Twain Elementary School tutor; group facilitator and member of organizing committee with Operation Snowball; member of S.H.A.D.E.S. multicultural club.

Eleanore van Marwijk Kooy

Eleanore van Marwijk Kooy

Winner, Lake County Leadership Team

Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart

Hometown: Lake Barrington

Class: Senior

Parents: Jan and Amanda van Marwijk Kooy

Sponsor: Kiran Frey, director of volunteering/former president of Chess Without Borders

Community service: Chess Without Borders youth leader, fundraiser, tournament coordinator, coach; Mission Youth member; leads activity classes for disabled children; serves Thanksgiving meals to poor families; volunteers at House of Hope resale shop.

Caroline Vaporis

Caroline Vaporis

Schaumburg High School

Hometown: Schaumburg

Class: Senior

Parents: Tim and Donna Vaporis

Sponsor: Vincent Inendino, band director

Community service: Has been an active member of the Awana Club at Medinah Baptist Church since seventh grade; Camp Awana volunteer; helps in the preschool and kindergarten classes at Medinah Baptist through its Children's Ministry; serves as a student ambassador; interns at a local elementary school; member and volunteer with the National Honor Society.

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