Donate books to improve U-46 students' literacy

Improving literacy among impoverished students is a daunting, uphill battle.

One way to help the fight is sitting on our bookshelves, and likely covered with a thin layer of dust. Through the end of the month, Elgin's First Community Bank is collecting new and used preschool and elementary schoolbook donations for its Community of Readers Program.

The aim of the collection, program founder Karen DeBack said, is to donate as many books as possible to organizations that serve underprivileged Elgin Area School District U-46 families.

Donation hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at the bank's two Elgin offices: 165 S. Randall Road and at the corner of Big Timber and McLean Boulevard.

Party like it's 1949: As Elgin Community College kicks off its celebration of a milestone birthday, prepare to have a swinging time.

Tickets are now on sale for Elgin Community College's annual Founders' Day Brunch. The event, which features a vintage 1949 theme, will take place on Jan. 25 at the Fox Valley University and Business Center, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin. It's also the first event in the yearlong 60th anniversary celebration of the founding of the college.

Entertainment will include a Frank Sinatra impersonator and 1949-styled singers.

Several awards also will be given during the brunch. The ECC Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes a successful ECC student who graduated before June 30, 2004. The ECC Pacesetter Award recognizes a successful ECC student who graduated after June 30, 2003. Other awards given at the brunch include the Friend of ECC Award and the Exceptional Friend of the ECC Foundation Award. This year special recognition will be given at the brunch to the first individuals who graduated from ECC between the years of 1951 and 1956.

Brunch guests will be treated to an opening champagne reception followed by an upscale gourmet menu. Tickets are $75 per person and must be purchased in advance. For information, contact ECC Foundation at 847-214-7377 or visit www.elgin.edu/eccfoundation.

Catholic placement tests: I still remember my Viator placement tests like they were yesterday - clutching a handful of freshly sharpened pencils in my sweaty palms, and praying to make it through the three-hour trial.

This Saturday at 8 a.m., eighth-grade students planning to attend Catholic high schools across the Archdiocese of Chicago in Cook and Lake County undertake similar tests at their respective high school campuses. Students are asked to bring two No. 2 pencils and a check for the $25 exam fee made payable to the school.

Test results will be mailed to students by mid-February. For answers to questions related to placement testing, a guide for students and their families is posted on the Archdiocese's Web site at www.archchicago.org.