District 128 honors two alumni with achievement awards
The District 128 Foundation for Learning recently announced the recipients of its seventh annual Alumni Achievement Awards: Jessica Lawdan, Vernon Hills High School Class of 2011, and Tom Morello, Libertyville High School Class of 1982. The two were recognized virtually during the foundation's 1-28 Day of Giving and will be celebrated in-person at a future event.
Lawdan is an active music teacher in the public school and community arts education circles of Denver, Colorado. She attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she earned her Bachelor's of Music in vocal music education for grades K-12.
During her time at St. Olaf, she started the school's first coed a cappella group, The HillHarmonics, and sang with the St. Olaf Choir under Anton Armstrong. Since relocating to the Denver metro area, she has worked with the Colorado Music Festival & Center for Musical Arts, The Colorado Children's Chorale, 303 Choir/VoCoalition, Youth on Record, the Colorado Chorale, the Denver Choir League and many other musical organizations while serving as a full-time music teacher in Aurora, Glendale and Green Valley Ranch.
Her students have performed with local groups such as hip-hop duo The Reminder, and have recorded on records for national acts such as The Flobots.
Lawdan has designed multiple music programs from scratch at schools where arts education was lacking. Currently, through grant writing, community engagement and creative fundraising with the PTO, she is the music specialist for a K-8 general music program, where students learn the basics of singing, ukulele, guitar, drum kit, keyboard, and songwriting.
Her efforts have been featured on Denver9News and Colorado Public Radio, and her school was recently chosen out of 200 other schools from across the country to be awarded the Guitar Center Music Foundation grant for even more funding.
She hopes to use this grant to officially have enough instruments to support an extracurricular instrument loan program and work toward her long-term goal of building an in-class recording studio to teach 21st-century music production skills.
Additionally, she is the music director for the Vintage Youth Theater's Summer Children's Spotlight, and has worked to build this program since its inception in 2016. The VYT Summer Spotlight provides access and training for kids in third to 12th grade to perform fully-staged musicals once a summer in a low-income area of Denver where arts education is sparse.
Morello is the multi-Grammy Award-winning guitarist of Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave, Prophets of Rage, and The Nightwatchman. The incendiary rock guitarist and acoustic troubadour, known for his innovative guitar solos and thunderous chords, is a groundbreaking artist and lifelong activist who has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.
Morello has also been recognized by Rolling Stone magazine as 26 on its "100 Greatest Guitar Players of All-Time" list. Morello has produced or collaborated with artists of diverse genres. He joined Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band for six years on tour and is a featured lead guitarist on Springsteen's "Wrecking Ball" and "High Hopes" albums.
Morello was the first Libertyville High School graduate to attend Harvard University and graduated from there with an honors degree in political science in 1986. For his decades of public service and unrelenting commitment to workers' rights and social justice, Morello has been the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Award For Human Rights, the Harry Belafonte Hillman Award, the Spirit of Courage Award, the Reed Award, the Culture Of Liberation Award, the Ethical Culture Warrior Award, the WhyHunger Chapin Award, and the MTV award for Most Memorable Occupy Wall Street Performance.
Morello is the only musician to be named an ACLU "Smart Justice" Ambassador and was dubbed "Most Valuable Musician" by The Nation magazine. He has written a graphic novel ("Orchid") appeared in several films ("Iron Man," "Star Trek: Insurrection," "Made") and scored many others.
This year he released a career retrospective photo memoir ("Whatever It Takes"), an Audible Original ("Speaking Truth To Power: Live At The Minetta Lane Theater"), and a signature "Soul Power" Fender Guitar.
Established in 2014, the District 128 Foundation for Learning Alumni Achievement Awards are presented to individuals who graduated from a District 128 high school at least five years prior to nomination, and who have made significant contributions and demonstrated leadership and character in his/her field and to his/her community.
Nominations are accepted on an ongoing basis via the foundation's website, d128foundation.org/nomination-alumni-achievement-award, and remain active for three years. The Foundation for Learning Board of Trustees makes up the selection committee.
The mission of the D128 Foundation for Learning is to enhance and enrich the instructional program in Community High School District 128 by obtaining resources through community partnerships. Since its founding in 2007, the foundation has given $480,420.72 to LHS and VHHS through DARING Innovation Grants, the Students in Need program, and other projects.