Barrington honors Character Counts award winners

Barrington honored its unsung heroes at Monday night's village board meeting as the Barrington Junior Women's Club held its annual Character Counts celebration.

Since 2001, the club has supported the Character Counts program, honoring community members who exemplify the six pillars of character: respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, trustworthiness and citizenship.

This year's honorees included:

• Jim Bartlett (Citizenship) - Prairie Middle School teacher and track and field/cross country coach;

• Stephanie Brudvik (Citizenship) - Barrington Council for the Gifted and Talented;

• Tom Burns (Citizenship) - chairman of the board for NeuroBalance Center and an active worker on behalf of the Barrington School District 220 referendum;

• William "Mr. Bill" Gross (Caring) - bus driver, Grove Avenue School;

• Mary Howard (Citizenship) - secretary at St. Anne Parish School;

• Liz Kirchhoff (Citizenship) - Barrington Area Library, Seed Library & Teaching Garden;

• Kathy Knuth (Responsibility) - Holy Family Catholic Academy;

• Ty Lagoni (Citizenship) - Various local conservation efforts and forest preserve volunteerism;

• Dr. Juliana Parry (Caring) - Barrington Giving Day;

• Fabiola Pena (Responsibility) - Barrington Area Council on Aging;

• George Peirce (Caring) - Barrington Area Council on Aging;

• Dawn Unger (Caring) - Teacher, Lines Elementary School;

• Betsy Wintringer (Caring) - Barrington Youth and Family Services.