For this Northbrook teenager, volunteerism isn't ancient history
Northbrook resident Elyse Malamud wishes being an 18-year-old on the board of a local organization wasn't so unique.
"We need to come to the point in the community where something like that ... is not a shocking thing and is pretty commonplace," she said.
Malamud, a 2023 Glenbrook North graduate, came to the Northbrook Historical Society to research her 70-year-old high school's role within the community as part of a school project.
She never left.
Already in her third summer at the all-volunteer historical society, Malamud was installed June 13 on its 14-member board.
The Northwestern University-bound teen is the youngest board member by a good 30 years, board President Judy Hughes said.
The board has a 50-year-old member but most are retired, with some members in their 70s and one older than 80.
There aren't any other volunteers her age, either.
"There was one. He came a couple of times and I haven't heard from him," said Malamud adding, "the spirit of volunteerism in our communities" seems to be dwindling.
"Looking at the history of Northbrook, it's incredible to see the scale of volunteering that used to happen," she said. "At some point there wasn't a fire department, but people were volunteering to do that."
Malamud pores through the archives at the Historical Society's Hope Union Heritage Center, 1812 Chapel Court, to research such details of her hometown. The center is east-northeast of the society's Northbrook History Museum, in the old Northfield Inn, 1776 Walters Ave.
Malamud also helps at events such as the 2022 Shermerfest, rides with the Northbrook Historical Society entry at the village's Fourth of July parade - the society was the parade's Grand Marshal since it turns 50 in 2024 - and volunteers a few hours on Thursdays at the Chapel Court facility, which is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"She knows her way around our filing system. She comes in, grabs something to do and gets to work. It's wonderful," Hughes said. "We've had some great volunteers. There's a couple that I could single out as just absolutely spectacular, and she would be among them."
This commitment was no detriment to Malamud's high school studies.
She said she graduated with an un-weighted 4.0 grade-point average; with Advanced Placement courses her GPA was 4.8. She got a perfect score in English on her SAT test, which shocked Malamud given her passions lie in history and biology.
And the clincher, of course - she got into Northwestern.
The straight-A history buff had heard about Glenbrook North's Advanced Honors Research Program while still a student at Wood Oaks Middle School. She anticipated she could apply for it her junior year.
Malamud realized her research topic - "The School and the Community: Glenbrook North High School's Legacy at 70" - required deeper sleuthing than what she could find on the internet.
"I needed to go into the archives, which is how I got to the Historical Society," Malamud said.
She dug through the Historical Society and library files, as well as newspaper articles and the village of Glenview records.
Going "a little bit beyond the project's requirements," Malamud said her paper more than doubled the 20-page minimum. Upon the school administration's request, she created a presentation installed in a display case at Glenbrook North.
Now, one of Malamud's current projects at the Heritage Center is creating spreadsheets listing the archives' historical documents and other items, such as President Ronald Reagan's letter congratulating Glenbrook North on its 1984 Excellence in Education award.
She'd like to see schools promote the concept of volunteerism as a way to get teens involved in helping maintain groups such as the Northbrook Community Foundation, which runs the Northbrook Days Festival.
"People love their community deep in their hearts," Malamud said, "(they) are just unaware of opportunities. And it doesn't have to take up their whole life. The volunteer spirit is there. It just needs to be sparked a little bit."