2013-2014 Northwest Suburban Leadership Team honorable mentions
Kristina Arns
Bartlett High School
Hometown:Bartlett
Class: Senior
Parents:Sherri and Robert Arns
Sponsor:Michelle McCann, school counselor
Community service:Class council officer; as a Girl Scoutplanned activities for younger Scouts and is working on her Gold Award; serves as a church youth group leader, which includes participation in food bank and Feed My Starving Children activities, mission trips and Leadership Quest; a Peer Tutor; on the Principal Student Advisory committee.
Peter Chung
Barrington High School
Hometown:Barrington Hills
Class: Senior
Parents:Young Chung and Kristen Beyer
Sponsor:Jill Bauer, student volunteer program coordinator,and Jeffrey Doles, video production teacher
Community service:Volunteered with the Barrington Area Community Foundation; visited five locations in Illinois to interview, film and edit video to explain and promote GiGi’s Playhouse; founded Uniting People, an organization that promotes school spirit, positive attitudes and schoolwide initiatives; executive committee for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Barrington; created a montage video for Barrington High School showcasingstudent philanthropic efforts.
Nancy Garcia-Prado
Wheeling High School
Hometown:Prospect Heights
Class: Senior
Parents:Esperanza Bochette
Sponsor:Mariola Sobol, teacher
Community service:Leads Interact for Africa Club, fundraising and working on projects to help build schools in Africa; Wheeling Food Drive; Operation Snowball; Feed My Starving Children; with Erika’s Lighthouse, helps educate on the issue of depression and works with those afflicted.
Skylar Groth
Buffalo Grove High School
Hometown:Buffalo Grove
Class: Senior
Parents:Candace Groth
Sponsor:Zaya DeNardo, teacher and Interact sponsor
Community service:Relay For Life; volunteers at Bessie’s Dinner, the soup kitchen at First United Methodist Church in Des Plaines; tutored middle school students; on the board for the Intergenerational Prom; mentors students atSaturday School.
Solome Haile
Hoffman Estates High School
Hometown:Hoffman Estates
Class: Senior
Parents:Solomon Damtew and Aberash Beyene
Sponsor:Kirk Macnider, English teacher
Community service: Tutors peers at the Reading and Tutoring Center at Hoffman Estates High School; National Honor Society; volunteered at a food pantry; has volunteered at the Hoffman Hustle 5K; Feed My Starving Children; sends money and letters to an Ethiopian child to help pay for meals and education.
Evan Hernandez
Bartlett High School
Hometown: Bartlett
Class: Senior
Parents: Tami Hernandez and Julio Hernandez
Sponsor: Stephanie Fullhart, school counselor
Community service: Bingo volunteer at Victory Centre of Bartlett; spoke with elementary schoolchildren about the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program as a U-46 STEM Exposition volunteer; worked at a soup kitchen; helped serve and distribute holiday meals with Hanover Township; Feed My Starving Children.
Anna Holubecki
Maine West High School
Hometown:Des Plaines
Class: Senior
Parents:Ada and Mark Holubecki
Sponsor:Matthew McClure, teacher
Community service:Member of the Youth Advisory Board of the Des Plaines Youth Commission and helps organize the Friends Connect hangout and Family Night; as a member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society, volunteers fundraising and organizing various events and performances.
Kayla Jordan
East Leyden High School
Hometown:Franklin Park
Class: Senior
Parents:Denise and Carlos Villasenor
Sponsor:Barbara Bylinski, science teacher
Community service: Police Explorer in Franklin Park, working on events including Relay For Life and Railroad Daze; assistant soccer coach with Franklin Park Park District; volunteered with the Faith World Adopt-a-Block program helping to paint, mow lawns and clean up a neighborhood block in Chicago; Faith World Food Pantry; Faith World Children’s Church.
Sofia Kagan
The Willows Academy
Hometown:Westmont
Class: Senior
Parents:Al and Adelaida Kagan
Sponsor:Sean M. Brown
Community service: Student council; tutored underclassmen in math and Spanish, also translated math concepts into Spanish for foreign exchange students; Respect Life Club; camp counselor at Camp Luck, an overnight camp for middle school girls; performs at nursing homes, hospitals and various holiday events with the Willows Academy Chamber Choir.
Adai Karuthalackal
Maine East High School
Hometown:Des Plaines
Class: Senior
Parents:Mariamma Karuthalackal and Mathew Karuthalackal
Sponsor:Suzanne Caliendo,school counselor
Community service: Coordinated teen panel on adolescent depressionat Erika’s Lighthouse; Cooperative Achievement Tutor; March 2 Recovery, weeklong tornado damage relief effort in southern Indiana; Feed My Starving Children; helped organize a basketball game and raffle for “Stella’s Snuggies” through Advocate Children’s Hospital.
Manish Kumar Kaushal
Palatine High School
Hometown:Palatine
Class: Senior
Parents:Devinder Kaushal and Sunanda Kaushal
Sponsor:Jennifer Grapenthin, counselor
Community service:National Honor Society; Summit group leader; works in TOPSoccer, a community-based training and team placement program for young athletes with disabilities; TRUST peer counselor.
Stephen Knitter
Schaumburg High School
Hometown:Schaumburg
Class: Senior
Parents:Michael and Susan Knitter
Sponsor:Brent Swolsky, counselor
Community service:In New York,played bells, cleaned up a kindergarten and painted murals; in Washington, D.C., played bells for veterans; picked up trash, pulled weeds, trimmed bushes, mowed lawns, and made yards look and feel clean for senior citizens through the Age in Place program; assistant teacher at vacation Bible school; Feed My Starving Children.
Cynthia Lopez
St. Francis High School
Hometown: Hanover Park
Class: Senior
Parents: Jose and Diana Lopez
Sponsor: Trudy Rigney, director of guidance
Community service: Helping Others Through Theatre (HOTT); Bloomingdale Police Department, peer jury; St. Isidore Parish, Spanish Choir; mission trips; led and organized winter clothing drive at school and surrounding parishes.
Oscar Mercado
Palatine High School
Hometown: Palatine
Class: Senior
Parents:Maria Bracamones and Adelaido Mercado
Sponsor:Alonso Ramirez, counselor
Community service: Role model for students in grades 6-8 through ICompete; TRUST leader; National Honor Society; Principal’s Advisory Board.
Angelica Mika
John Hersey High School
Hometown: Mount Prospect
Class: Senior
Parents:Stan and Liz Mika
Sponsor: Steve Barr, special ed teacher
Community service: Music director for a Sunday school program; religious education teacher’s aid; volunteers weekly in a Catholic Charities soup kitchen; assistant to the altar server director, helping with schedules and the training of new servers; library volunteer.
Claudia Nieckarz
Rolling Meadows High School
Hometown:Arlington Heights
Class: Senior
Parents:Bozena & Andy Nieckarz
Sponsor:Eileen Senteno, science teacher
Community service: Local and international volunteering through Interact Rotary; with Italian Club, helped organize a collection of toys and winter wear; Tobacco Information Prevention Program; volunteers at monthly events for Northwest Special Recreation Association; tutors elementary and middle school students; Amnesty International.
Sam Panitch
Adlai E. Stevenson High School
Hometown: Buffalo Grove
Class: Senior
Parents: Benjamin & Shari Panitch
Sponsor: Dave Eddy, student activities coordinator
Community service: President of Stevenson’s Freshman Mentor Program; member of the Council of 100; a Jefferson Award Student Leader; volunteer coach, youth basketball camp; multiple projects as part of Temple Chai’s Social Action Committee.
Natalia Parys
East Leyden High School
Hometown:River Grove
Class: Senior
Parents:Kazimierz and Zofia Parys
Sponsor:Dominic Manola, student activities director
Community service: Volunteered at Resurrection Hospital as a secretary in a doctor’s office and in plant operations, where she set up a computer-based system for organizing files; vice president of Interact Club; peer mentor; peer tutor.
Vivek Patel
Glenbard North High School
Hometown: Hanover Park
Class: Senior
Parents: Vinay Patel and Kanchan Patel
Sponsor: Jennifer Diamantos, science teacher
Community service: Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Conference; Glenbard district student liaison; student council; Glenbard North Student Advisory Committee; student mentoring.
Monica Ramirez
St. Edward Central Catholic High School
Hometown: Hoffman Estates
Class: Senior
Parents: Saul and Estela Ramirez
Sponsor: Tim Brieger, social studies teacher
Community service: Anderson Animal Shelter volunteer, Sparks Academy youth soccer coach, Feed My Starving Children volunteer, varsity soccer.
Kassidy Riportella
Maine West High School
Hometown:Des Plaines
Class: Senior
Parents:Deanne & Steve Riportella
Sponsor:Randy Harper, teacher
Community service: Works in Life Skills classrooms and attends special events with Life Skills students as a volunteer for Friends Connect; group leader with Voice for the Nameless, relating to human rights violations worldwide; volunteers in classrooms, tutors small groups or individual students and helps with after-school activities at Plainfield Elementary School.
Justin Sindewald
James B. Conant High School
Hometown:Schaumburg
Class: Senior
Parents:Sue & Jeff Sindewald
Sponsor:Kim Wiley, college andcareer counselor
Community service: Reads stories, plays games, teaches gospel lessons during Children’s Liturgy of the Word; Feed My Starving Children; worked as a Santa’s shopping helper; volunteers his lunch period helping peers as a math tutor.
Santiago I. Sordo-Palacios
St. Viator High School
Hometown:Arlington Heights
Class: Senior
Parents:Mr. & Mrs. Jose Sordo
Sponsor:Eileen Manno, principal
Community service: Volunteered with children of immigrants who worked at a racetrack through Kids on Track; mentor at the Campus Life Teen Center; assistant for Sunday school; project planning, justice awareness and direct service as a volunteer with the Justice League; as volunteer with PeaceBuilders Initiative helped plan a service reflection experience for peers and train volunteer leaders.
Hitomi Tanaka
Hoffman Estates High School
Hometown: Hanover Park
Class: Senior
Parents: Steven & Jeanette Tanaka
Sponsor:Sabrina Braaten, counselor
Community service: Serves as Briarwood activity volunteer at Friendship Village of Schaumburg helping with arts and crafts, organizing parties, pushing wheelchairs and more; tutors several children with special needs in math at GiGi’s Playhouse; mentors freshmen; board member of PALS, a school club that organizes fundraising and volunteer activities.
Sonia Thosar
Adlai E. Stevenson High School
Hometown: Vernon Hills
Class: Senior
Parents: Shilpa and Sunil Thosar
Sponsor: Brett Erdmann, community service coordinator.
Community service: National Honor Society Spirit Fest and Sodexo Appreciation Luncheon; Edufund Class to Class and Book Drive; Project Dance.
Sania Zaffar
Schaumburg High School
Hometown:Schaumburg
Class: Senior
Parents:Zaffar Akhlaq and Kishwar Sheikh
Sponsor:Mary Lopez, social studies teacher
Community service:Aided nurses and patients atSt. Alexius Medical Center; collaborated with American Cancer Society of Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg to develop activities for Relay For Life of 2012; volunteers with Ups 4 Downs performing clerical work in the office, helping at events hosted by the organization and working with children and adults with Down syndrome.