Teens pedal in Illinois tour to celebrate graduation
Neighbors in the news
Three teens from Park Ridge recently completed a six-day, 300-mile bike ride in Illinois to celebrate their graduation from Maine South High School. Matt Weiss, Andrew Lazare and Ian Sheffert competed in the Grand Illinois Trails and Parks bike tour June 14-19, which started and ended in Kewanee. The GITAP is an annual ride, sponsored and organized by the League of Illinois Bicyclists with support from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. There were approximately 200 riders who participated this year.
• Archbishop Blase J. Cupich has appointed Deacon Keith Strohm - director of Faith Formation and Evangelization at Queen of the Rosary Parish in Elk Grove Village - as director of the Office for the New Evangelization. Strohm was ordained a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 17 and has been the executive director of Ablaze Ministries since 2006. He is a noted inspirational speaker and retreat director, a Master of Divinity degree candidate at the Catholic Theological Union and he holds a master's degree in English literature from Binghamton University.
• Three students from St. Peter Lutheran School, Arlington Heights, received high honors from the National Federation of State Poetry Societies' Manningham Trust Student Poetry Contest. Seventh-grader Hannah Van Meveren placed fourth in the national competition for her poem, "Mango Haiku" - using sensory imagery to describe a fruit from the inside out, using a haiku format for each verse. At the state level, eighth-grader Elizabeth Gaare's poem, "1862," based on the Ray Bradbury short story, "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh," received the third place award. Eighth-grader Hannah Foster received first Honorable Mention for her poem, "Doctor," written in the style of a Kenning, which is based on Old English and Norse poetic forms.
• Zachary C. Konstanzer has been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army after successfully completing the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps program and graduating with a bachelor's degree from Western Illinois University, in Macomb. He will be branched to a specific corps in the Army to serve on active duty or in the Army National Guard or Army Reserve. The lieutenant will also attend an officer basic course and complete advanced training. Konstanzer, the son of Richard G. Konstanzer and Jeanette D. Konstander of Hanover Park, is a 2011 graduate of Bartlett High School.
• Email your 'Neighbor in the News' items to Norrine Twohey at ntwohey@dailyherald.com.