Take Flight 🦅

This past January, 56 students from both West and East Leyden attended the 50th annual Illinois High School Theatre Festival at Illinois State University. Students attended the 3-day festival participating in workshops (such as Sketch Me If You Can, Scenic and Techie Pride, Sound Technology, and Conversations with Disney Casting) and supporting their fellow Leyden Company Members Emelie Gutierrez and Yerum Mesa with their production of Newsies.

In the Heights is looking for carpenters, painters, & technicians to help with the Winter Musical. We meet Mondays - Thursdays from 3:30 pm - 5:45 pm. Contact Ms. Teslen Sadowski at tsadowski@leyden212.org or stop by the Auditorium after school to learn more about Theatre Guild & the construction crew.

The Snowball leadership team spent the weekend of January 17-18 attending the 2026 Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute (CGTI) Midyear Conference hosted by Illinois Snowball, Inc. & the Illinois Association of Behavior Health, in Normal, Illinois. The students collaborated with other youth leadership teams from across the state, participated in breakout sessions, and listened to excellent speakers on the topics of leadership, prevention, and self-worth. Speak with Ms. Michele Ratini (mratini@leyden212.org) to get involved with Operation Snowball.

West Leyden Service Club has been busy giving back! On Thursday, January 22nd, members volunteered with Feed My Starving Children, where we packed 60 boxes of food to help children in need around the world. Our next event is the Valentine’s Day Service Project: Spread Kindness on Tuesday, February 3rd, from 3:10 pm - 4:10 pm in the Student Café, where we’ll be creating Valentine’s Day cards for Love in Every Box and Casa Scalabrini Village to share encouragement and positivity with others. Email Ms. Daliha Orozco at dorozco@leyden212.org or Ms. Melissa Zapata at mzapata@leyden212.org for more information about Service Club.

Support the Leyden athletes by attending each winter sport's "BIG Game". The goal is to have as many Leyden students as possible packed in the stands and cheering on the team!

📣Upcoming dates and sports:

Don’t miss out! The Leyden Common Local Scholarship Application is NOW OPEN!

Closes at 10:00 pm on Friday, February 27th, 2026.

Leyden has compiled a list of more than 30 local scholarships that are available to East and West Leyden students. We encourage you to see what scholarships are available, decide which ones to apply to, and begin gathering the needed information for those scholarships.

The Leyden Local Scholarship Application requests the following information:

• Personal Information

• Academic Information/History: GPA, ACT Scores, college, major and career plans, schools attended 1st-8th grade

• Extracurricular Information: School Activities, Work Experience, Volunteer Work

• 2 Essay Prompts:

• Prompt 1: A personal statement about your background, your educational and career goals.

• Prompt 2: How will your future career benefit your community?

• 1 Letter of Recommendation

Some local scholarships require that you submit additional materials. These scholarships require that you fill out the Confidential Family Financial/Income Sheet, upload a video, or submit an extra essay answering other prompts.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• You do not have to complete the application in one sitting; information will be automatically saved for 30 days;
• Do not upload blank pages to essay answers or the letter of recommendation; you won't be able to go back and replace them later; and
• Submitted applications are final and cannot be edited.

Questions? See your counselor!

Are you looking to look more than presentable at prom? Cinderella's Closet, hosted by the YWCA in Elgin, is selling a large selection of discounted formalwear for guys and gals on March 7 & 8. Read the information below, and click on the image for more information and to schedule your personal shopping appointment.

Have you checked out The Eagle's Eye lately? The Eagle's Eye is Leyden's student-run journalism website where you can read the latest school news, check out features on student life, get up to date info on local and professional sports, and much more! Take a look! 👀

Reach out to Mr. Mike Sorenson (msorenson@leyden212.org) with any questions. Climb On!

West Leyden has almost 60 clubs, including academic, cultural, general interest, honors, performing arts, and service clubs. To learn more:

• Visit the West Leyden Clubs page.
• See a list of clubs and sponsors here.
• See a calendar of when all clubs are meeting here.

Starting this year, all Leyden students in any club will need to use the 5-Star Students app or link. You can access 5 Star Students via your cell phone or Chromebook. To log in, use your Google Leyden account info (email and password).

📲 Mobile App: To download the 5Star App on your phone, click HERE.

📲 Chromebook: Go to www.5starstudents.com & click on "sign in". BOOKMARK this link!

Helpful 5 Star Students Resources:

📲 To see an overview on how to use the mobile app, click HERE.

📲 To learn how to check yourself into meetings & events using the mobile app, click HERE.

We want you HERE! Leyden's new "Strive for 95" campaign offers a lot of cool prizes for students who strive to maintain 90% or higher attendance.

• Monthly raffles to win Leyden clothing, free Prom tickets, Stanley drinking cups, Javaccino dollars, pizza parties for you & your friends, and much more.

• $20 off Prom tickets (juniors & seniors only)

We Are... Awards nominees can qualify to receive Javaccino (students) / Gold and Bold Café (staff members) gift cards. In addition, students may be recognized at Student of the Month breakfasts and staff members may be recognized at staff meetings.

To nominate a student or staff member, you need to fill out this We Are... Awards Google Form.