Generous donors support Lisle Senior High 2011 senior banquet
The 39th Annual Senior Banquet for Lisle Senior High School (LSHS) was held on May 11 at the Hilton Lisle/Naperville. This year's event, hosted by the Home and School Organization (HSO), was co-chaired by Betty Begley, Toni Petkovsek, and Jeanine Hensley. Donations from parents and local businesses made it possible for all seniors to attend, at no cost to the students. Evviva Bar & Eatery and the Hilton Lisle/Naperville displayed an extreme amount of generosity by donating the meal totally free of charge, as well as the banquet room and services for a nominal "gratuity" per person.
In the beginning, the banquet was held at the high school with a pasta dinner prepared by parent volunteers. It has since evolved into a three-course meal at an elegant banquet facility and a fun-filled program that generates laughter and tears of joy as the class superlatives are announced and a DVD presentation is displayed.
In recent years the banquet was held at a Woodridge banquet facility that did a wonderful job for a reasonable price. Rob Salerno, Evviva owner, has provided cash donations to help fund the event in prior years. This year Salerno offered to donate the food if a local hotel would join him in sponsoring the event.
Salerno asked Richard Brink, General Manager of the Hilton Lisle/Naperville, to co-sponsor the event with Evviva. Brink agreed and the Hilton provided the banquet room, audio/visual equipment, drinks, and staff to serve the event for a nominal "gratuity". Evviva donated the three-course meal, totally free of charge. Needless to say, the HSO was amazed and extremely grateful, as business donations were harder to secure due to the continual weak economy.
In addition to a delicious dinner at a beautiful facility, the banquet was very special in other ways. On a large wall map, students marked the cities where they will be attending college. They had a great time seeing all the different cities where their friends will be living in the fall.
Courtney Multhaupt, "Honored Guest", received the most votes for high school staff member who had most greatly influenced the seniors' lives. She began teaching when these students were in the seventh grade and described how they "grew up" together. She started out teaching seventh grade English, but began teaching higher level classes as the students moved up. Some students have been in her classes for six consecutive years. Consequently, she has formed strong relationships with the students as well as some of the parents. Students laughed when she jokingly mentioned that they shouldn't be surprised if they see her as one of their college instructors next year.
Neal Kfoury and Sarah Long entertained the crowd by announcing the class superlatives. There was a lot of cheering and laughter when they announced the male and female students voted most likely to cause a scene, the biggest gossips, and the worst drivers.
Tears rolled down the cheeks of some attendees as they watched the DVD presentation. Some of the seniors' favorite songs played in the background, while pictures were displayed of the students from preschool through their senior year. The video brought back many memories and surprised some of the students, as they didn't know which pictures may have been submitted by their own parents, let alone other students' parents. Each student received a copy of the DVD as a memento.
As another gift for each student, Swibco generously donated pens imprinted with their year of graduation. For the last several years, Swibco has provided these pens for each class. The pens and yearbooks are distributed at the banquet each year, allowing students the opportunity to sign each other's yearbook.
For the third consecutive year, the HSO purchased congratulatory yard signs. Volunteers drive around town placing the signs in the graduates' yards while the students are at the event. This seems to draw a smile from many parents that happen to catch the volunteers in the act, and from the students when they arrive home.
Thank you to the other volunteers that worked countless hours to make this a night to remember for many years. As the parent of a senior, words can't describe how much I enjoyed watching these students laugh and have such a fun evening!
On behalf of the HSO, I would like to thank all the parent and business donors for their generosity. Even though the meal and hotel/services were donated, cash donations from other businesses covered the costs of the hotel gratuity, DVDs, programs, postage, cake, yard signs, etc. All of the business donors are listed below.
LSHS SENIOR BANQUET - 2011 BUSINESS DONORS:
Arbor Printing & Graphics, Inc.
AthletiCo
Bull's/White Sox Academy
CD One Price Cleaners
Community Bank of Downers Grove
Comstock Realty Group
Dan Watzke, State Farm Agency
Elan Photography
Essig Graphics, Inc.
Evviva Bar & Eatery
Flowers of Lisle
G K Carpet Service, Ltd.
Hilton Lisle/Naperville
Jostens
Kiwanis Club of Lisle
Leo's Cleaners
Lisle Dental Center
Lisle Lions Club
Lisle Savings Bank
Lisle VFW - Ross Bishop Post 5696
P. Martin Jewelers, Inc.
Passero's Pizza
Rich's Helping Hands (Handyman Services)
Swibco, Inc.
Torch Cookery (Home-cooked Meals To Go)
Williams Chiropractic Center