A key to being an ACE: you have to get in it, to win it
Exchange Club’s ACE Awards program recognizes students who’ve overcome challenges
When I was a member of the Tri-Cities Exchange Club for 20-plus years, one of my favorite programs of the many the club created or participated in gave recognition to area high school students who otherwise had little chance of garnering much attention.
Called “Accepting the Challenge of Excellence,” or the ACE Awards, the local service club honored students nominated by their school counselors after those students overcame mental or physical conditions or family situations that made their education goals even more demanding.
It was great to see the Tri-Cities Exchange Club recently continue this annual tradition, which generally has excellent participation from the local high schools, which each nominate two students for the honors.
This year’s honorees were Rabia Jafari and Brice Worley from Batavia High School; Bryan Lombo and Korpo Ogai from Mooseheart High School; Gavin O’Connor and Kurin Garcia of Geneva High School; and Julissa Anzorena of St. Charles North.
Each student received $500 and a certificate of recognition from the club.
I will jump on my high horse here for a short ride, mainly because I’ve seen this program mean so much to families that don’t always have victories to celebrate.
It was disappointing this year to hear that St. Charles East High School did not participate and that St. Charles North High School submitted only one name when the club was seeking two.
Without knowing the reason for this nonparticipation, maybe it would have been better if none of the students at these schools had to deal with these types of extraordinary challenges this year.
But I’m doubting that. Maybe the award nominees slipped through the cracks because someone felt they didn’t have time to follow up on them. One might call that a school official not accepting the challenge.
The club will certainly give those schools a mulligan this time around and seek full participation again next year.
Let’s hope there was no inkling of thought from school counselors that this somehow isn’t a particularly important honor. Or, potentially worse but at least understandable in these wild political times, that schools are suddenly spooked about awards programs not initiated through and within the school itself.
I haven’t been a member of the Exchange Club for more than a decade, so this isn’t sour grapes of any sort regarding my involvement in planning the ACE Awards program and breakfast event, at which the students are awarded with family members, city mayors, and school officials present.
But my recollection about the full participation of the St. Charles schools is this: It really meant something to have support from the largest schools in the ACE program network. It gave the program instant credibility, and it just felt good to have that kind of support.
After all, the students show the courage and determination to overcome their challenges, but the schools provide the push, direction and support. The school counselors who nominate the students are also stars in this galaxy. That part can’t go dim.
Suppose this turns out to be the only recognition that students like this get during their academic careers, and it gives them confidence and incentive to continue to achieve. In that case, we know it can’t possibly be looked upon by anyone as not a big deal.
Congratulations and best wishes for the future to this year’s ACE recipients.
Cherish this veteran
Most of us look at Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower giving young soldiers and seamen pep talks before the D-Day invasion through the lens of historic black-and-white World War II films.
Bob Larson of Batavia looks back at our general and former president much differently — through his sharp memory of when Eisenhower came on Larson’s ship, the USS Texas, to wish the boys well before heading to Normandy.
Larson will celebrate his 100th birthday with family and friends on Wednesday, May 29, at The Holmstad Living Center in Batavia.
Larson was a musician in the Navy, playing in the Navy band while in port but serving as a lookout and part of the ship’s medical group when in action.
It’s quite fitting that this Navy veteran who enlisted right out of high school and was on the USS Texas during the June 6, 1944 invasion would have his birthday fall just after Memorial Day weekend and just before the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Not many of these men who saved the world are still with us today. That makes it all the more meaningful that Larson’s family is celebrating his 100th next week.
Another shining vet:
As for the Memorial Day weekend, I was glad to hear my friend Duane Buttell, a decorated Vietnam War fighter pilot from St. Charles, will be the guest speaker at the Memorial Day observance in front of the Freedom Shrine in St. Charles.
Buttell, an Air Force 1st lieutenant in Vietnam in 1966, flew more than 150 combat missions during his time in that conflict.
The parade steps off at 10 a.m. Monday, May 27, and Buttell’s talk takes place at the conclusion as everyone moves toward the city’s riverwalk and the Freedom Shrine, near the former police station.
Buttell is a member of the Tri-Cities Exchange Club, which constructed the Freedom Shrine more than 20 years ago. Club members also hand out American flags to kids along the parade route.
If you haven’t taken the time to glance at the documents in the Freedom Shrine, Memorial Day is a good day to do it.
On another note, I want to shout out to another friend, Steve Martin of St. Charles, for all the work he puts into seeking and coordinating volunteers needed to stage and keep the Memorial Day parade in St. Charles running like clockwork.
Cocoon expanding
The sign on the window of the former Peaceful Parlor shop on Third Street in Geneva certainly catches your attention.
“Something delightful this way comes” is Cocoon owner Sherie McGowan’s way of saying her décor and gift shop at 212 S. Third St. is expanding into that lower portion of the building that previously housed Peaceful Parlor.
Work crews are rebuilding the look of the entrance to that lower portion of Cocoon, and some new landscaping is to follow.
McGowan didn’t want to give away too much about what she had planned for that space, but knowing how popular her shop has been for decades tells us that her sign hinting “something delightful” is likely quite accurate.
On the hunt for cicadas:
If a billion of anything were heading my way, I’d probably want to learn more about it.
The Kane County Forest Preserve is thinking the same way, offering a “The Cicadas are Coming” program from 4 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18, at Fabyan Forest Preserve West.
Earlier this week, we hadn’t seen as many cicadas around Fabyan Forest Preserve or even our neighborhood in Geneva as some neighborhoods in places like Lisle and Naperville. But we suspect they are coming.
Those attending this free program will hike along the preserve trail, searching for cicadas while listening to a forest preserve expert. From the advanced reporting on this outbreak of cicadas, it shouldn’t be difficult to find some hanging out in the forest during this hike.
All ages are welcome, but registration is required at kaneforest.com/register.
Quite a Venue
It’s such an excellent place to watch live music; it seems like The Venue in Aurora has been around for far more than five years.
But five years it is, as The Venue celebrates its fifth anniversary the weekend of May 31 and June 1 and 2.
That’s a nice accomplishment for the Fox Valley Music Foundation, a not-for-profit organization created in 2014 to promote and provide fans throughout the Fox Valley with all different types of music.
The foundation has operated The Venue mainly through volunteers, including some music education programs for people of all ages.
The other thing to like about The Venue, which is at 21 S. Broadway? The outdoor programs are just as good, and that’s where these shows will be held — in Mundy Park, adjacent to The Venue.
Information about the music acts and ticket sales is available on The Venue website at themusicvenue.org.
dheun@sbcglobal.net