H-F FYI - 5.7.23
Week of May 7, 2023
At a special meeting held Wednesday night, the District 233 Board of Education accepted the canvas of votes following the April 4, 2023, election certifying the election of returning members Pam Jackson, Nate Legardy and Gerald Pauling and first-time member Chris Riedel. The four took the Oath of Office at the meeting then joined with sitting members Steve Anderson, Michelle Hoereth and Cynthia Turnquest to form the 7-person board that leads the school district. As part of the reorganization that follows an election, the board elected its leadership. Gerald Pauling was re-elected as President and Nate Legardy was elected as Vice President/Secretary.
New member Chris Riedel is a resident of Flossmoor. He is an entrepreneur, educator and big-picture thinker, having spent the past 20 years leveraging technology to address complex problems. He is co-founder and CEO of ConnectSx and spent almost a decade at the U. of Chicago serving in a range of key strategic technology roles. Earlier in his career, he taught high school in Sanford, Fla. He has a bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from the U. of Iowa, a master’s degree in Religious Studies from the Chicago Theological Seminary, and an M.B.A. from the U. of Iowa. Chris and his wife, Nona, are the parents of two H-F alumni. He has been actively involved with Homewood School District 153, Flossmoor Community Church, the Homewood-Flossmoor Fine and Performing Arts Council, as well as other organizations in the H-F community. At the meeting, he thanked everyone for their support and shared: "I'm excited to work with each one of you; I'm excited to collaborate with the administration. I'm excited to just participate in what this school means to this community."
Mr. Riedel filled a seat on the board left by exiting board member Debbie Berman. Ms. Berman — an accomplished attorney, H-F alumna from the Class of 1984 and the parent of two alumni — has served on the board since 2014. In addition to many curricular improvements, the district added a new Fine Arts building and hired its first new superintendent in more than a decade during her terms in office. Thank you, Ms. Berman!
Tonight — Friday, May 5 — the Boys' Volleyball team will face Bremen H.S. in the South Gym; JV will play at 4:30 p.m., followed immediately by a Varsity match around 5:30 p.m. The team tonight is honoring freshman Tsion Epley, sister of Varsity junior outside hitter Nathan Epley. Tsion is fighting cancer and just returning back to the H-F campus this month. The team invites spectators to please wear the color teal to tonight's Beat Cancer games. Go, Vikings!
On Monday night, the Athletic Department and Post-Secondary Counselors shared information with our student-athletes on NCAA Requirements and H-F's partnership with Honest Game. If you missed the presentation, click here for the new Athletic College Recruitment webpage, which includes materials from Monday night...
Junior Jazmin Rhodes — has double Viking Victories to share:
- She has become the latest student from H-F to be nominated as Best Actress in the Illinois High School Musical Theatre Awards program! She was nominated for her role as Mae Tuck in H-F Theatre's spring production of Tuck Everlasting. The competition is sponsored by Broadway in Chicago; she will now compete at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place on May 22 with a chance to move on to the national competition in New York this June.
- She has been named the champion of the National August Wilson New Voices Competition! The competition took place May 1 at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, where she had placed in 2nd at the regional event a few weeks back. In addition to a cash prize and box set of August Wilson plays, as the national champion Jazmin is now the spokesperson for next year's competition. Amazing!
- Douglas Austin — 1st Place Live Sports Broadcast; 5th Place School Promotion
- Nichelle Alexander — 2nd Place Cinematography; 2nd Place Dramatic Narrative; 2nd Place Movie Trailer; 4th Place Commercial
- Makayla Taylor — 2nd Place Documentary
- Aden Kozel — 2nd Place TV News Program
- Jane Ermshler & Ashley Rosales — 2nd Place Demonstration; 4th Place Natural Audio News Package
- Nate Locker — 2nd Place Live Event Coverage (Non-Sports); 2nd Place School Promotion; 4th Place Cinematography; 5th Place Live Sports Broadcast
- Lea Ryndak — 3rd Place Social Media
- Kalel Fargo & Nate Locker — 5th Place Documentary
In addition, VTV has three productions that qualified for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Video Contest to be determined this summer. Congratulations to:
- Nate Locker & Kalel Fargo — Bigger Than Basketball (Sports Story)
- Ella Aceves & Eliya Hobson — The Goose (News Story)
- Makayla Taylor — Young Survivor (Short Form - Non-Fiction)
Twenty-five Vikings were inducted into the Illinois Music Honors Society (formerly Tri-M) during a recital held on Thursday! Congratulations to: Jordyn Abercrombie, Vivian Clark, Nathan Greep, Adyenn Harris, Madison Harris, Marissa Harris, Stella Hoyt, Briea Levant, Madelyn Levy, Lorenzo Martinez, Kyla McAlister, Francesca McGathey, Gabe McKinney, Eric Nickerson, Comfort Nnaemeka, Chloe Pease, Benjamin Peden, Laila Pickett, Tessa O’Keefe, Niah Tibbs-Turner, Wesley Schmidt, Bryce Stewart, Casey Siengo, Sani Zinnerman & Sari Zinnerman.
Congratulations to Mrs. Helsel-Wilk, H-F Fine Arts teacher, who was nominated for the 2023 Illinois Art Education Association's Secondary Education Teacher of the Year Award! The final recipient of the award will be announced in the summer. At H-F, she currently teaches Photography 1, Digital Concentration, Yearbook, and MVP Aesthetics & the Creative Process classes.
COVID Reporting Form
Please remember to stay at home if you are not feeling well, especially if you are having COVID-19 symptoms or suspect you have COVID-19. Only if your student is COVID-19 positive, parents/guardians, please complete the District 233 COVID-19 Reporting Form (click here) for the Nurse's Office.
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