Neighbors in the News
The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to Dorothy Wisniewski, director of finance, city of Des Plaines, and the Des Plaines Finance department for its comprehensive annual financial report.
The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.
The GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving approximately 16,000 government finance professionals with offices in Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
• Arlington Heights native Dr. Kris Clements has completed the Executive Veterinary program, a two-year continuing education program, at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, designed to enhance the business, communication and planning skills of busy animal health professionals.
Clements, who currently lives in St. Joseph, Ill., is a resident and teaching associate at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
• Janine Paquette was accepted into the People to People World Leadership Forum. Paquette, a fourth-grader at Virginia Lake Elementary School, will join a select group of students in Washington, D.C. in September to study leadership. The Palatine resident was nominated and accepted for this honor based on outstanding scholastic merit, civic involvement and leadership potential.
• Dr. Lorena Beese, daughter of Carol Beese of Barrington and the late Ronald Beese, was elected, in April, to the National Academy of Sciences. Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded to a United States scientist or engineer.
Beese, a Barrington High School graduate, is a James B. Duke professor, department of Biochemistry at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. She has received international recognition for her work in cancer research.
• Melissa and Merriebeth Cox participated in the World Championships for baton twirling in Ghent, Belgium, April 7-12. Both girls qualified for Team USA by placing in the top three at National competition last July at Notre Dame University. The Coxes were the only sisters on the USA team and the only individual twirlers to qualify from the state of Illinois.
Melissa, a sophomore at James B. Conant High School, Hoffman Estates, performed a perfect routine and won the World Championship in the Junior division. Merriebeth, a Purdue University student, won the bronze medal in the Senior division.
Additionally, Anna Scheldrup, a freshman at John Hersey High School, has also returned victorious from the World Baton Twirling Competition in Belgium. As a member of Team USA's Razzle Dazzle Team from Zion, Ill., Scheldrup, and the 27 other team members, took home the World Championship title in the Junior Parade category. The city of Zion honored the girls with a parade and rally and the girls thanked the city with an encore performance of their award winning routine.
The World Championships are held once every three years with the best twirlers from all the world competing.