Glenview Park District names division director of recreation and museum services
• Steve Neill has joined the Glenview Park District as its new division director of recreation and museum services. Neill will oversee operations at Park Center, Aquatics, Historic Wagner Farm and The Grove. His term begins Sept. 18.
Neill, who has 28 years of professional experience in park districts, most recently served with the Arlington Heights Park District as superintendent of recreation facilities, supervising two indoor tennis clubs and managing the successful design and construction of the Arlington Ridge Center, which features a large gymnasium, fitness studios and an indoor aquatic center.
“We are thrilled to welcome Steve Neill to the Glenview Park District team,” said Executive Director Michael McCarty. “His extensive experience in managing large-scale recreational facilities and his leadership experience in the field both locally and nationally makes him an ideal fit for this position. We look forward to seeing the positive impact he will make in Glenview.”
• Rob Rasch, a composer from Arlington Heights, won a milwaukeerecord.com poll for The Best Packers Song Ever Written. The victory was announced on Friday, Sept. 6.
The song, titled “O Ya, O Ya, O Hey,” is a lighthearted polka describing and celebrating the experience of tailgating at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field.
Chicago White Sox legend and organist Nancy Faust performs the accordion on the piece, which was composed in 1999, with lyrics by Jon Role.
Rasch has been a composer and performer for over 40 years in a wide variety of genres, from jazz to country to punk rock.
• On Monday, Sept. 9, the School District U-46 Board of Education honored eight students with “Accent on Achievement” certificates for earning first place in the Illinois Future Problem Solving Bowl, a statewide competition held last April that encouraged students to create meaningful connections between their classroom learning and real-world issues.
Neda Bazys, a junior at Bartlett High School, placed first in the individual competition at the senior level. Zinnia Saher placed first in the individual competition at the middle level and was a member of the group that finished first in the team competition. She is a freshman at Bartlett High School.
In addition to Zinnia, the team winners in the middle division were Andrew Punnoose and Sophia Lee, freshmen at Elgin High School, and Aiken Navarro, a freshman at Streamwood High School.
The team competition at the senior level was won by Michelle Cardozo, a sophomore at Elgin High School, and Nishi Sheth and Katelyn Wong, both sophomores at Bartlett High School.
• Manuel Ortiz, an Army veteran from Northbrook, participated in the 31st National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic on Sept. 8-13 in Riverside, Iowa.
The five-day Golf Clinic offered Ortiz and other participants adaptive sports therapy opportunities, including golf, cycling, bowling, kayaking, Frisbee golf, a rock wall, as well as workshops and other activities.
The Golf Clinic was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and DAV (Disabled American Veterans), with financial assistance from corporate sponsors and individual donors.
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