Best & Brightest

• Jessica Chuang of Wheeling graduated with a master of education administration degree from Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, at the end of the 2007 summer semester.

• Joel Ohrlund of Buffalo Grove has been selected as a member of the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra and the Millikin String Arts Ensemble for the 2007-2008 school year. Ohrlund, a music performance-instrumental major, plays the bass.

• Peter Rothbart, of Wheeling, is the recipient of an academic scholarship to attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale for the 2008 fall semester. Rothbart is receiving the Dean's Scholarship Award, which is valued at $6,000. Scholarships are based on academic merit and potential for superior achievement in college.

• Jennifer Graese of Buffalo Grove, a junior at Millikin University, Decatur, is spending the spring 2008 semester studying in "Paris, France at IES" as part of the International Studies program. Through this program, students can live and study in other parts of the world for an immersion session or for a full semester. Some programs are led by Millikin University faculty traveling with a group of students, while others are offered through collaborative arrangements with institutions in host countries.

Graese, a graduate of Buffalo Grove High School, is an elementary education major.

• Ayal Sharvit of Buffalo Grove, has been awarded a Deerpath Academic Scholarship and a Patterson Leadership Scholarship.

• Kaho Ho of Buffalo Grove graduated from Elmhurst College May 27, 2007 with a master's degree in supply chain management.

• Brad Rafferty, son of James and Cheri Rafferty of Long Grove, studied Arabic last summer at the Beloit College Center for Language Studies in Beloit, Wis. The intense immersion style of teaching in the summer program, allows students to complete a year of study of Arabic, Chinese, Japanese or Russian in nine weeks. In addition to language instructors, each language group has access to cultural advisers who integrate cultural programs and excursions into the language study.

• Bradley University in Peoria announced the following students received bachelor's degrees at the May 19 commencement ceremonies.

Buffalo Grove: Timothy Allen Jahn; and Diana Michelle Strandberg.

Wheeling: Mark I. Snitowsky, magna cum laude.

To achieve summa cum laude honors, a student must achieve a 3.8 or better grade point average on a 4.0 scale. For magna cum laude honors, a 3.6 or better grade point average must be achieved; and students with cum laude honors must achieve a 3.4 or better grade point average.

• Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., named the following local students to the fall 2007 Dean's List.

Buffalo Grove: Caitlin Bender, athletic training; Patrick Bender, accounting; Rachel Brubeck, advertising; Courtney Rogers, exercise science; and Shelly Weiss, speech pathology and audiology.

Long Grove: Jamie Bolker, English.

Wheeling: Maksim Artemchik, finance; and Emily Ruffatto, exercise science.

• Illinois State University in Normal announced the following students completed requirements for a bachelor's degree at the end of the summer 2007 term.

Buffalo Grove: Andrew William Palmer and Keith Gary Schmerer.

Wheeling: Stephen Mitchell Majewski and Eddy M. Voltaire Jr.