Elk Grove seniors get sheriff's medal of honor

Elk Grove High School seniors Sonalie Patel of Elk Grove Village and Philip Weber of Des Plaines were honored Monday, Nov. 17, at McCormick Place in Chicago, with the Cook County Sheriff's Office Youth Service Medal of Honor.

Patel logged more than 400 hours of service at Alexian Brothers Medical Center on the pediatric floor during her four years of high school. She also tutored at Rupley Elementary, assisted with Elk Grove Park District cheerleading and served as an Obama campaign volunteer.

Weber has accumulated more than 120 hours in service projects through his membership in ROTC, including Salvation Army food drives, the Lamb's Farm Haunted Hike and Operation Christmas. He served 80 hours at First Congregational Church of Des Plaines as a Sunday school teacher and a volunteer for the Second Time Around sale and spring cleanup of church member's homes.

• Jackie LaRoche, daughter of John and Rita LaRoche of Hoffman Estates, has become a member of Ohio Staters, a service organization at Ohio State University made up of faculty, staff and students who promote the welfare and traditions of the university. Total membership is 36 students and 14 faculty and staff members.

LaRoche, a 2007 William Fremd High School graduate, is working toward a degree in political science. She plans to graduate in the spring of 2011.

• The Illinois Parks and Recreation Association presented Scott McClaskey, center director at Lions Recreation Center, with its award for Community Center Director of the Year.

Nancy Prosser, Mount Prospect Park District's facilities manager, nominated McClaskey for the award, saying he is extremely fiscally responsible, always willing to assist colleagues with projects and events even outside normal work hours and has an excellent rapport with the staff he supervises.

• On behalf of her dedicated efforts to differentiate learning for her students, the Northern Illinois District Lutheran Teachers Conference this month awarded its 2008 Intermediate Teacher of the Year award to Mariana Knea.

Knea, an Arlington Heights native, mother, REACH coordinator and part-time fourth-grade teacher at St. Peter Lutheran School in Arlington Heights, has been teaching for 14 years.