BBCHS Newsletter

March is Women's History Month, and BBCHS was proud to celebrate the countless women who have shaped our world and our schools. At BBCHS, we celebrated the incredible women who make a difference every day: our teachers, administrators, support staff, coaches, volunteers, and students. Your leadership, resilience, and dedication inspire our entire school community.

Throughout this month, we have done spotlights on our District Facebook to celebrate certain women at BBCHS who have had a lasting and positive impact on our school. We celebrated Laura Rewerts, Assistant Principal; our women coaches, and more specifically, Amanda Hammond (APT), Taylor White (Dance), Adina Johnston (eSports), Amy Cook (Cheer), Haylee Austell (Softball), Ashley Porter (Swim & Dive), and Leigh Reiniche (Volleyball); our women cafeteria staff; and Erin Darling, Social Studies Teacher will be highlighted next week!

Lilly Argyelan attended the Chicago Bears Changemaker Award Dinner, where she received her award for using flag football as a platform for leadership, academic excellence, and meaningful community impact. This was a great experience for Lilly and will help her in her future endeavors for college! Congratulations, Lilly!

We proudly celebrated School Social Workers Week and recognized our social workers at BBCHS and the incredible impact that they make on students each and every day. Thank you for all that you do!

BBCHS celebrated Spread the Word Inclusion Week! This week is all about choosing respect, building understanding, and creating spaces where everyone feels valued and included. We are always looking to foster this environment that is inclusive for all at BBCHS. If you would like to learn more about Inclusion Week, please use this link:

Our Best Buddies came together for a friendly game of California Kickball! They had lots of fun and look forward to the many other events hosted by Best Buddies!

Our BBCHS student-athletes who are in the What Drives Winning Boiler Block learned about World Series Champion and MVP, Ben Zobrist's company called Champion Forward. His organization was created to teach and support young people to experience sports in a mentally and emotionally healthy way. Lessons from Champion Forward will further be shared with these students throughout the rest of the school year!

BBCHS celebrated Maintenance Worker Appreciation Day on March 6th, and we recognized our incredible maintenance team for all they do to keep our facilities running smoothly. Your hard work and dedication help make our school a better place every single day, and we truly appreciate everything you do!

Ryan Friedericks
Troy Evans
John Mammosser
Austin Vining

BBCHS is hosting Practice AP Test sessions, with the next one being this Tuesday, April 7th immediately following the school day in the library! These sessions are open to all BBCHS AP students. We hope to see you there!

BBCHS held the Best Buddies Talent Show, which is one of the most fun events of the year, hosted by our Best Buddies club. We were blown away by all of the talent, and everyone had a blast! We already can’t wait until next year!

The IHSA Girls Basketball State Finals were held during the first weekend of March, and our very own student, Mary Claire Dwyer was asked to sing (after auditioning against multiple singers in the state) the national anthem to open up the big games! She sang beautifully, and it was great to see BBCHS represented state-wide. Great job, Mary Claire - we are so proud of you! Please use the link below to watch the video of her performance!

BBCHS held our monthly Board Meeting, where the Orchestra performed for the Board of Education and our Superintendent in celebration of Music in Our Schools Month. We then celebrated the Co-ed Cheer team for placing 2nd at the IHSA State Finals! It was a great night recognizing our talented students!

Every school year, Ted Wiese, one of America’s best youth leadership development speakers, visits our school to host Challenge Leadership for students who were hand-selected by their teachers. Our students learn about the qualities of a leader, how to become a leader, and how to make a positive impact on other people. They enjoyed this day with Ted, and we are extremely grateful that he continues to help students in our school learn about the power of leadership!

The BBCHS Natural Helpers club hosted a talent show for students to showcase their special talents for the school to see! We saw performances by Serenity Scott, Luke Hudgins, Leja Ringo, Oliver Munson, Neveah Brown, Mattie Keller, Gianna Magruder, Lydia Hammond, Brayden Watters, Joel Morrical, Christian Munsterman, Alexis McCullough, Leyana Mohammad, Bea White, Mason Greer, Pine Kimery, and Zach Youngblood! Our hosts were Bennett Dykstra, Bryon Sumrall, and Cooper Yuska. Everyone did an amazing job, and BBCHS has lots of talent!

Over the weekend, BBCHS Bettering Boilers and Ecology Club worked together to help with tornado clean-up! Thank you to Mrs. Kelly Katzmann, Ecology Club Sponsor, for organizing this and bringing our students together for a great purpose.

Bettering Boilers also partnered with Georgie's Closet to collect needed items for tornado victims. We appreciate all of your contributions and support!

Mr. Demetrios Kladis, history teacher at BBCHS, shared documents and drawings that were given to him by his grandfather (a war veteran) with his class.

His name was Louis Baseleon, and he served in the 298th Combat Engineer Battalion. He grew up on the south side of Chicago and was drafted in January of 1943 right after his high school graduation. He was present for the D-Day landings at Omaha beach and from there, moved through Northern France/Belgium toward the German border in the Hurtgen Forest. They later pushed into the Ruhr Valley in Germany. After the war, he was shortly stationed in Austria before coming back stateside.

Mr. Kladis says, “He knew I was studying to be a History teacher before he passed and wanted me to have the items to share the parts of history he lived through to my students. It is hard for students to relate to history especially when all you learn about are famous world leaders or generals. The stories, struggles, and triumphs of everyday Americans and people in general is what I think makes the topic of history so important. We all live our normal lives never realizing that we are living through history. I hope small opportunities like today can help my students realize how important the decisions and actions of 18-year-old “kids” can be in determining history.”

Bettering Boilers held a raffle this week in the atrium during lunch periods! Each ticket was $2.00, and it allowed students to bid on a desired basket of their choosing. All proceeds went towards our in-school food pantry that we offer to try and solve the issue of food insecurity in our school families. We are grateful for all of the participation!

By scanning the QR code, you can also donate to Bettering Boilers online! We appreciate all of your support.

ACC and AP Spanish and Mrs. Megan Vieceli traveled to Chicago, more specifically, the Lyric Opera House, to see an opera about the life of Frida Kahlo! It was a great experience for our students to expand their knowledge about art and culture and to celebrate Women’s History Month!

On Wednesday, our students participated in the Cool School Polar Plunge! Students and staff were asked to raise money in support of the Special Olympic Illinois athletes across the state, helping to provide them with life-changing programming. This includes year-round training and competition, as well as leadership, personal development, and health education opportunities. This year, we had a goal of $3000, and we raised $3,800! Thank you to all who participated. It was such a fun event and for a great cause!

Bettering Boilers is hosting a FREE community dinner for those who signed up! This dinner will be held on April 10th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the College Church of the Nazarene. If you have not yet signed up, today is the last day to do so!

Prom is quickly approaching for our BBCHS students! It will be held on May 2nd from 7:00pm to 10:00pm at Signature Barn in Orland Park. Ticket sales will be during lunch hours from April 7th to April 10th (no exceptions!) Tickets are $85 each.

Date request forms are available at BBCHS, and the last day to turn one in is April 9th (no exceptions!).

A buffet dinner will be available at this event, along with music, a 360-degree photobooth, and other photo opportunities!

Take a look at the parking layout for the current student parking lot at BBCHS. Students and staff will be expected to follow these guidelines and boundaries for parking once returning back to school after Spring Break. You can also click the link below to read the letter from BBCHS Administration regarding this matter. We appreciate your support and cooperation!

Our student, Alexis McCullough, hosted a Boiler Block for students and staff who were interested in attending. During the session, Alexis shared her personal journey and highlighted her accomplishments as an Eagle Scout and her experiences competing in Miss America–sponsored competitions. Most recently, she was crowned Miss Chicago Teen!

Through the Miss America program, Alexis has the opportunity to advocate for a cause that is meaningful to her. She has chosen to focus on heart health, sharing the importance of taking care of yourself—especially your heart. This cause is deeply personal, as Alexis lost her father unexpectedly to a heart attack. As a Gold Star daughter, she is passionate about raising awareness and helping others learn how to prevent heart attacks in the future.

Alexis has also been selected as a Teen of Impact for the American Heart Association, making her one of just 10 young people chosen across the state of Illinois. Through this role, her goal is to raise as much awareness and support as possible for heart health. Thank you for sharing your incredible journey with us, and we cannot wait to see what is in store for you in your future!

Congratulations to Lilli Balk for earning the Best in Show Award at Art 4 Heart with her piece titled, “A Growing Warmth”. We are extremely proud of all of our students who qualified for Art 4 Heart and of Lilli Balk for her hard work and amazing honor she received!

Congratulations to our Special Olympics swimmers, JoAnna Holt, Blake Dunham, Josie Brandon, and Max Barrie for their first place finish in the 4x25 freestyle relay during the district meet! JoAnna Holt and Allison Gifford also earned gold in the 25 freestyle! All of these swimmers will advance to the State Summer Games in Bloomington-Normal this June. Congratulations - we are proud of you!

Wrestlers, Maurice Burbridge, Chase LaGesse, and James Mouton qualified for the Freshman/Sophomore Sectional tournament! Congratulations on advancing!

Bella Pusateri and Libby Spaulding, former softball teammates at BBCHS, went head-to-head playing for their now college teams! Bella plays for Indiana State and Libby plays for Western Illinois. It was great for them to catch up and live out their dream together at the next level!

The BBCHS Boiler Brigade eSports team are the IHSEA State Champions in Rocket League! Congratulations to our team and coaches - we are so proud!

A HUGE congratulations to Ironclad Robotics for being crowned the Bluff Country Regional Champions! Over the weekend, Ironclad traveled to Winona, Minnesota to compete at the Bluff Country Regionals against 41 teams from the midwest and Florida. Throughout their qualification matches, they competed hard and ended in 4th place. During the allegiance selection for playoffs, they were selected by Mars Wars to join their alliance, along with Plus One. Together, the teams worked seamlessly, strategizing and supporting one another as they battled their way through the playoffs to become Regional Champions! They were very pleased with their partners and said they couldn’t ask for better. Congratulations again, Ironclad, for this amazing accomplishment!

Along with winning the regional, the team also earned the Autonomous Award! At the start of every match, the first 20 seconds are run entirely by pre-programmed code written by the team’s student coders. This period, called “Autonomous Period”, highlights the precision and creativity for the team’s programming. The Autonomous Award recognizes the team with the best autonomous performance, and it was an incredible moment for their coders and team to walk across the field to accept it.

Kayden Balk

Carson Berns

Olivia Bray

Owen Brown

Andrew Delano

Bella Mae Fleischman

Lohita Gampala

Capri Garcia

Alyx Gersch

Cameron Gross

Mikey Courtney

Nathan Hedges

Mono Ketchum

Alexander Koziol-Mehrer

Olivia Lamie

Logan Lamore

Kessi Le

Alex Lyle

Emily Lyle

Tiffany MacDonald

Hunter Metzger

Rylan Orvis

Urva Purohit

Aaron Ramirez

Yug Rana

Jiya Rana

Skyler Schneider

Xavier Schultz

Emily Torrenga

Jude Wood

Bryce Wright

Abby Long and Evi McIntyre both committed to Kankakee Community College (KCC) to continue their academic and athletic careers. The Cavaliers are getting two great young women!

BBCHS Music Department hosted the IHSA Solo and Ensemble contest on Saturday, March 7th. They hosted 24 different schools who all had extremely talented performers. BBCHS placed 4th overall among Class 2A! This score includes band, strings, and vocal. Here is our breakdown of points in each category:

Overall: 4th place

Band: 4th place
Strings: 4th place
Vocal: 7th place

Congratulations - we are proud of you all!

Congrats to Abby Bonilla, our junior point guard, on being named to the SWSC All-Conference Team for the 2nd year in a row! Abby is our do-it-all point guard, a three year varsity player, and an even better person. Keep it up, Abby!

Thank you to Jason and Della for all that you do!

Our Scholastic Bowl team won their second straight regional championship! They defeated Prairie Central, Herscher, and Coal City here at BBCHS to claim the title! They had 11 of their 13 players answer tossups. This rarely happens when winning a regional championship, which speaks volumes to the overall strength and quality depth of their team. Congratulations to Coach Mike Dorsam and team:

Libby Johnson
Emily Lyle
Landon Eilers
Jude Wood
Xavier Schultz
Pine Kimery
Saloni Patel
Jiya Rana
Jack Schelling
Olivia Bray
Cameron Gross
Oliver Munson
Chris Urban

They are now 54-13 on the season and advanced to the IHSA Class 2A Sectional.

Our Softball Program is looking to lend a helping hand! Please reach out if you know of a program that could use some help this Spring!

BBCHS Scholastic Bowl competed in their Sectional tournament over the weekend. Three teams were tied at 2-1, and under IHSA tiebreakers, BBCHS is advancing to the State Finals! This is Scholastic Bowl’s first appearance in the State Finals since 2010 and the 8th time in school history! This puts our team within the last 8 teams remaining in the state in Class 2A. Sophomore and All-Sectional player Xavier Schultz led them with 30 correct tossups, which was the best in the Sectional! Seniors Libby Johnson and Emily Lyle each scored 5 tossups on the day, and juniors Landon Eilers and Jude Wood added one apiece.

Their record is now 56-14. This incredible group has earned the privilege of adding another great chapter to our school’s rich Scholastic Bowl history. The State Finals are this Saturday at Heartland Community College (Building 10) in Normal. You can follow the scores at the link below. Congratulations, and good luck!

Congratulations to our Unified Red Basketball Team on earning State Runner-Up! They have had an incredible season. We are extremely proud of all you have accomplished!

Our wrestling program had 5 wrestlers compete in the IWCOA State Wrestling meet over the weekend. This meet is for athletes who did not quite qualify for the IHSA State Wrestling meet, but allows for more opportunity to continue wrestling at a high level. Our girls did amazing - here is where they placed!

Aubrianna Rapier - 5th place

Kaylee Morris - 6th place

Kylie Rapier - top 12 (Kylie was one win away from being Top 8!)

Alexis McCullough - top 16

Aubrie Norgaard - top 16

This is a very new sport for our girl athletes, and we are so proud of all of their hard work and dedication! Great job, ladies!

The BBCHS Wrestling Boys and Girls team earned 7 spots in the Daily Journal All-Area list! Congratulations to our wrestlers:

Sophia Domont - 1st team

Kayden Roach - 1st team

Aubrianna Rapier - 2nd team

Cullen Parks - 2nd team

Jayden Cooper - Honorable Mention

Zach Hoffner - Honorable Mention

Razi Perez - Honorable Mention

Congratulations to two of our girls basketball players, Abby Bonilla and Nat Coday on their Daily Journal All-Area Girls Basketball honors! Abby Bonilla was named All-Area Third Team, and Nat Coday was named All-Area Honorable Mention. Congratulations, girls!

A huge congratulations to our art students for their awards at the annual KCC Regional Art Exhibition!

People’s Choice:

Addison Nigg

B/W Drawing & Design:

Jayson Nguyen - Merit Award

Photo/Graphics:

Zach Kiedro - Merit Award

Maci Proctor - Merit Award

Logan Trudeau - Merit Award

Dylan Hertz - Honorable Mention

3D:

Addison Nigg - Merit Award

McKenna Mullins - Honorable Mention

Also, congratulations to all of our art students who had artwork in the show - this is an accomplishment itself, and we are proud of you!

This past weekend, our Softball Program spent time together eating, laughing, and playing trivia. They were so excited to see their teams start to play this week, and are thankful to their Varsity Parents for providing lunch!

Your Varsity Boilers started the year off with a bang! Lydia Hammond threw a 6 inning shutout, striking out 10, while the offense scored their runs on 7 hits & 9 walks against Oak Forest. A multi-hit and 3 RBI day from Alayna Sykes led the charge at the plate, with 5 other Boilers collecting hits. Great job, ladies - let's keep it rolling!

Laundry: Ella demonstrates collaboration and cooperation as she works with another BB Works student to complete laundry tasks daily. She folds, delivers, collects, runs the washing machine/dryer. Her independence and work completion is impressive. She is a great teammate!

Taco Johns: Anthony's co-workers welcome the energy he brings to work each day as his positive attitude is the morale boost the TJ crew needs after their lunch rush. Anthony also helps by completing all his tasks and is willing to do extra when needed. We are so proud of his representation of BB Works!

3/24 Boys Water Polo vs. Lincoln-Way West @ 5:00pm

3/25 Boys Volleyball vs. Joliet West @ 12:00pm

3/25 Softball vs. Benet Academy @ 4:30pm (BBYSL)

3/27 Baseball vs. Kankakee @ 4:30pm (315 Sports Park)

3/28 Baseball vs. Bishop McNamara @ 11:00am (315 Sports Park)

3/28 Girls Soccer vs. West Chicago @ 11:00am
3/28 Baseball vs. Bishop McNamara @ 2:30pm (315 Sports Park)

Please contact me with any questions or comments.

Kennedy Weigt - Director of Communications and Community Engagement

kweigt@bbchs.org