Buffalo Grove Park District commissioner earns state honor

• The Illinois Association of Park Districts named Buffalo Grove Park District board Commissioner Dr. Larry Reiner the winner of the 2017 Honored Professional Award.

The annual award is presented to a park, recreation, forest preserve or conservation professional who has worked closely with citizens and the Illinois Association of Park Districts to improve the quality of life for all people in Illinois.

Recipients of the award must have demonstrated remarkable talents in encouraging local board members to excel as citizen advocates in advance the field of parks and recreation; have worked above and beyond the call of duty to promote park districts, forest preserves, conservation and/or recreation agencies in their communities and throughout Illinois; and believe in the Illinois Association of Park Districts mission and have a history of supporting its endeavors.

In addition to serving as a park board commissioner in Buffalo Grove, Reiner has been the executive director of the Butterfield Park District since 2010, and prior to that was the executive director of the Northeast DuPage Special Recreation Association.

The award was presented during the All-Conference Luncheon at the annual Illinois Association of Park Districts/Illinois Park and Recreation Association's Soaring to New Heights Conference.

• John Hersey High School senior debaters Ethan Bowers, Mady Cohodes, Kelly Miller and Shannon Steines proved they were the best in the state when they took home the top trophy from the Illinois Congressional Debate Association Championships held recently at Harper College. The contest pitted the top four speakers from the best teams in Northern Illinois against each other for seven and a half hours, in one day, to select the best team.

Completing the triumph was Steines with an individual first place and Cohodes with third. Because of their outstanding accomplishments throughout the entire debate season, Cohodes and Bowers were named to the Illinois Congressional Debate Association's All-State team, which puts them in the top 10 of the entire field of over 700 debaters in the league.

• Des Plaines native Manoj Sunny has received the Catherine J. Randall Award from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The honor is one of the university's Premier Awards, the highest given to students on campus.

The Catherine J. Randall Award recognizes the most outstanding student scholar at the University of Alabama, based on GPA, rigor of course study and extraordinary scholarly or creative endeavor

• Glenview resident Eva Kirie, a first-year television-radio major at Ithaca College, was named a finalist in the national Coca-Cola and Regal Films Program. The program is a six-month initiative that challenges film students - usually experienced upperclassmen - to write and shoot a short film advertising Coca-Cola and Regal Cinemas.

If Kirie's film, "The Library," is selected as the grand prize winner by a red-ribbon panel of industry judges in April, she will receive a Red Raven camera kit and her film will be played on thousands of Regal Cinemas screens across the country.

• Send your 'Neighbor in the News' items to Norrine Twohey at ntwohey@dailyherald.com.