Warren Township High School notes

Community involvement sought: Warren Township High School District 121 is embarking on a long-range plan for the district , and it needs help from community members.

Board of education members recently hired retired Deerfield-Highland Park High School District Superintendent James Warren to facilitate the creation of a strategic plan, but it involves interest and commitment from community members who want to study the past, present, and potential future of the district.

Community members are being asked to pay attention to their mail as invitations arrive to participate in two meetings, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. March 8 and 15. The meetings will be open to the public. The first session is key because participants will receive background information and be able to ask questions about a range of subjects. With that information, participants will be asked to return March 15 for discussion. It is anticipated that the plan will be finalized at the end of May.

Those not receiving invitations, but wanting to participate in the strategic planning process may contact Carolyn Waller, community relations director for Warren Township High School District 121, at (847) 599-4405 or via e-m ail sent to cwaller@wths.net.

New state speech champ: The Warren Speech Team competed at the Illinois High School Association State Speech Finals Feb. 15 and 16, at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville.

Senior Liz Dana emerged as the 2008 State Champion in Original Oratory, while juniors Trey Caldwell and Jonathan Sokolow finished in third place in Humorous Duet Acting, and senior Mark Wudtke placed fifth in Radio Speaking.

Also competing at the state level were Jamie Griffiths in Humorous Interpretation, Laura Scherkenbach in Dramatic Duet Acting, and the cast of the Performance-In-The-Round: Rob Forster, Kalyn Cramer, Jessica Goldberg, Carly Kroll, Samantha Satzger, Gabi Schaerli, Sam Senter, and Miguel Torres. As a team, Warren finished in seventh place overall.

For more information, contact Speech Team Head Coach Dr. Deb Woodard at dwoodard@wths.net.

FBLA Hosts Conference: Warren Township High School hosted this year's Northern Area Conference for Future Business Leaders of America which was attended Feb. 2 by more than 450 students from 17 schools in the Chicago area. Of those in attendance, 140 were members of the Warren chapter of Future Business Leaders of America.

O'Plaine Campus Principal Dr. Jeff Brierton delivered a welcome. Workshops were led by Warren alumni Alina Babenko and Sean Crevier.

Four Warren Township High School students were either elected or appointed to office for the Northern Area. Erin Boncher was elected president; Erin Wilkerson, secretary; Brandon Martin, treasurer; and Pavan Gupta was appointed parliamentarian.

The following Warren students won awards at the Northern Area Conference:

• In Accounting I: Jim Hennessy, first; Erin Wilkerson, third; Alex Bernstein, sixth; and Brandon Martin 10th.

• In Accounting II: Kevin Mason, second; Runia Akhter, fourth; Ben Sebald, fifth; Paolo Polidario seventh.

• In Banking and Financial Systems: Zac Powers and Bryan Wengert, first.

• In Business Calculations: Adam Randall, fourth; Katie Cholewa, ninth; and Matt Sturgeon 10th

• In Business Communications: Jessica Hourigan, first; Ashley Bowcott, third; and Kristin Reif eighth.

• In Business Ethics; Erin Boncher and Lainey Berek, first; Michael Deimert and Emily Rediger, fifth; Ryan McGowan and Michael Tsoflias, seventh; and Lisa Rosenberg and Jamie Torres eighth.

• In Business Law: Susan Antillon, second; Josh Kuruvilla, third; Deanna Galea, sixth; and Feba Thomas, ninth.

• In Business Math: Kathy Chen, third; Jen Gardner, ninth; and Maggie Hansen, tenth.

• In Business Presentation: Rammya Rajan and Christene Narikkattu, second.

• In Computer Applications: Renita Andani, third. in Client Service; Anitha Yohannan, second.

• In Database Design and Application: Brian Kibort, first; Valerie Girard, second.

• In Desktop Publishing: Danielle Paisley and Kalpita Ainapure, first; Jeanette Henry and Jarrett Jespersen, second; Renee Girard and Areazue, third; Samantha Bledsoe and Sarah Duffy, fifth; Holli Kranz and Colleen Kowieski, sixth; and Jessica Shaw and Macy Nedelka, eighth.

• In Economics: Mary Beth Dolan, sixth.

• In Entrepreneurship: Scott Dale and Renee Girard, fifth; and Christina Fallos and Jennifer O'Neill, tenth.

• In Future Business Leader: Olivia Martinez, first; and Mike Shaffer, second.

• In FBLA Principles and Procedures: Lindsay Brown, first.

• In Global Business: Tom Brousseau and Mike Brousseau, seventh.

• In Help Desk: Adam Daniel, first; and Wil Hansen, third.

• In Impromptu Speaking: Jilly Gokalgandhi, first; Justin Emert, fifth; and Tyler McPherson, eighth.

• In Introduction to Business: Jim Perrone, second; Neeraj Chemburkar, third; Amanda Ricci, fourth; Claire Mason, fifth; and Melanie Suk, eighth.

• In Job Interview: Kristi Gianaras, sixth.

• In Intro to Business Communications: Sara Amrozowicz, second; Erin McDougle, fourth; Jessica Langosch, seventh; Alyssa Sturgeon, ninth; and Denise Guiao, tenth.

• In Intro to Parliamentary Procedures: Billy Martinez, first; Jaspreet Singh, second; Joe Brousseau, third; and Alyson Wengert, fourth

• In Marketing: Nicholas Moy, first; Kelsey Smith, second; Lauren Patnoe, third; Sylvia Chrzanowski, fifth; Roderick Welch, sixth; Tiffany Johnson, seventh; and Genna Brierton, tenth.

• In Management Decision Making: Taylor Furmanski, Amar Kouta, third.

• In Spreadsheet Design and Applications: Mike Malinowski, first.

• In Public Speaking I: Tyler Womack, fifth.

• In Parliamentary Procedures: Charles Martin, first; Tim Wiseman, second; Pavan Gupta, third; Peter Brierton, fourth.

• In Website Development: David Nevolo, fourth.

Members who qualified will attend the Illinois State Leadership Conference in Decatur April 11 and 12, as they try to earn a spot on the Illinois Team at the National Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Ga., in June.

Musicians recognized: All four Warren Township High School jazz bands participating in the 31st annual North Shore Jazz Festival held recently received superior ratings from a judging panel. More than 70 bands participated in the event at Glenbrook South High School.

The pieces the bands performed included "Riverscape," by Fred Sturm; "Count Bubba" by Gordon Goodwin; and "Naima" by John Coltrane.

Also, a group of students representing Warren were chosen to travel to Peoria to give instrumental or vocal performances at the All-State Convention. Students were chosen by audition to perform at the event designed for students to learn more about performing music while Illinois educators learn more about teaching music.

Taylor Noe and Josh Poucher were chosen to perform vocals, while Andrew Beckwith, Jenna Ferdon, Juan Hernandez and Cindy Thurber were chosen to perform instrumental music.