Students' environmental efforts gain recognition
The Earth Club at Willow Bend Elementary School, Rolling Meadows, was chosen to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the Feb. 21 District 15 board meeting for its dedication to preserving and improving the environment.
Teachers Ewa Pitcher and Joannie Thomas sponsor the club that focuses on preserving and appreciating the Earth. The Earth Club has worked hard to maintain and expand a patch of prairie adjacent to the school and has planted a self-sustaining prairie garden in front of the school. They are also active in recycling. The club's current project is collecting dried markers to be returned to the Crayola Corporation to be turned into clean fuel.
• Annie Mercado, daughter of Octavio and Myra Mercado of Des Plaines, will perform with the Lawrence University Concert Choir in two benefit concerts in Chicago. A 2014 graduate of Maine West High School, Mercado will perform March 15, at the Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E, Chestnut St., and March 16, at St. James Cathedral, 65 E. Huron St.
The 35-member Concert Choir features the top vocal students in Lawrence University's Conservatory of Music. The concerts are one part of a unique social impact collaboration tour in which choir members engage in community service projects with staff and clients at the Sarah Circle homeless shelter; the Youth Empowerment Performance Project, which provides a safe environment for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth; and Montgomery Place, a continuing care retirement community.
• The Northwest Community Healthcare Medical Group announced the addition of board certified internal medicine and geriatric physician Dr. Jowella Pineda, who joined the 1538 N. Arlington Heights Road, practice in Arlington Heights.
Dr. Pineda received her medical degree from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and completed an internship at the Philippine General Hospital. She finished her residency at University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. Dr. Pineda completed a geriatric medicine fellowship at the Northwestern University-Feinstein School of Medicine where she was recognized as an outstanding teacher and ranked in the top 15 percent of her class.
• Jessica Lenhart, a Buffalo Grove native and graduate of Adlai E. Stevenson High School, is one of two members of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's swimming and diving team to receive an invitation to compete at the 2018 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships on March 21-24 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Lenhart, a freshman, joins in the 100-yard butterfly with a career-best result of 56.32, good for 19th. She also qualified in the 200-yard butterfly with her personal record time of 2:04.45, good for 19th. Lenhart is also an optional entry in the 500-yard freestyle, where she ranks 36th among qualifiers with a 5:09.55.
Lenhart helped the Warhawks tie the program's best-ever finish at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships, where the team placed second. She has also picked up five conference titles, including three in the events she qualified for nationally.
• Send your 'Neighbors in the News' items to Norrine Twohey at ntwohey@dailyherald.com.