Lake County in 60 seconds

Lake Charles park chat

The staff of the Vernon Hills Park District is talking with residents in the district's neighborhood parks this summer. The next park chat is from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Lake Charles Park playground in the Gregg's Landing subdivision, east of Butterfield Road. There will be small giveaways for kids. There is no agenda for the meeting which is regarded as a chance for residents to converse with park district staff.

New principal in Dist. 75

Jodie Benton has been hired as the new principal at Diamond Lake School in Mundelein District 75. Benton replaces Beth Kiewicz, who resigned to take a position with the state board of education. Benton has 12 years in teaching and most recently was assistant principal at Daniel Wright Middle School in Lincolnshire-Prairie View District 103. She was selected from about three dozen candidates and has already started work.

Local volunteers honored

George Giddens of Highland Park and Debra McWright of Vernon Hills were recently honored with the "Wish of the Year Award" from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The pair were honored for their work with two teenagers to make their wishes come true: One spent a day with actress Dakota Fanning and the other had a team help her design a black nylon shoulder bag that debuted last February. Make-A-Wish is a nonprofit organization that grants wishes of children 2 to 18 who have life-threatening illnesses. For details or to volunteer call McWright at (847) 757-6801.