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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.