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District 79 Notes
Seventh grader Stephen Rice helped raise $184 for Lambs Farm during Popcorn Days event.
Updated: July 15, 2012 6:07AM
Award winners are announced
A Fremont Elementary School physical education teacher was selected this month to receive the Excellence in Character Award for the 2011-12 school year. This program is sponsored by Character Matters in Lake County, the Lake County Regional Office of Education, College of Lake County, and the Lake County After School Coalition.
Kathy Reilly was recognized for enthusiastically engaging students in fitness activities using the natural surroundings of the school’s prairie, wetlands and farmland, which are home to Fremont. Before the school year ends, students work with Miss Reilly to plant seeds for corn, tomatoes, squash, and pumpkins. She teaches them how this bending motion is so good for their core muscles in addition to what fresh vegetables can do for their young bodies. Over the summer, Miss Reilly stops by the school to tend to the garden, pulling weeds away from the peppers and zucchini, making sure everything is watered regularly. In the fall, she makes a game of visiting the school’s larger pumpkin farm, which is located in a field about a quarter mile south of the school. Miss Reilly rides her bike to the pumpkin patch while the kindergarten through second graders jog beside her. After she and her students harvest the crops, she encourages them to sample the ripe fruits and vegetables.
During her walks through the gardens, Miss Reilly exudes the art of citizenship by emphasizing to her students their need to care for their environment and themselves by respecting the outdoors and growing fruits and vegetables.
The Excellence in Character Award for the 2011-12 school year was also given to three Fremont Middle School students. Last January, a Fremont bus was involved in an accident. While no one was seriously injured, the kindergarten through fifth graders on the bus were upset. On the day of the bus accident, bus safety patrollers Diana Guliyeva, 14, and Valerie Azcona, 14, were riding the bus home. Student Alexandrea Guiritan, 13, was also on the bus. Although Alexandrea does not officially serve on the bus safety patrol, she also interacts with students who sit in the back of the bus, and encourages them to behave.
Immediately following the crash the three eighth graders rose out of their seats and began checking on the children around them to make sure everyone was unharmed. Although very young themselves, and naturally frightened, their first thoughts were for the safety of the younger children. They talked to the children in soothing voices, hugged the little ones, and encouraged all the children around them to remain in their seats.
To apply character traits to the three teenagers it would be easy to say they showed responsibility, caring, citizenship, respect and fairness. While the last two traits might seem trite in a situation like a bus accident, they were essential to display so that all children were comforted equally and order was maintained by keeping children in their seats.
Award winners: Ajay Varadhan and Emily Manley are the 2012 recipients of Fremont Middle School’s Outstanding Achievement Award. Students are named for this award for their academic achievement, cooperative spirit, participation in school activities, citizenship, leadership, initiative, and conscientiousness.
Ajay, 14, will attend Stevenson High School in the fall. While Emily, 14, was accepted into the Illinois Math and Science Academy’s three year high school program, she has decided to defer her plans until her sophomore year. She will attend Mundelein High School for her freshman year. For the past five years, Emily has taken courses at the Center for Talent Development through Northwestern University in Evanston. Indeed, she has completed some high school science and all her math classes through Northwestern’s CTD program. Besides participating in Fremont Middle School’s scholastic bowl and math teams, Emily enjoys basketball and hip hop dancing.
Middle School graduates Jaryd Pacis and Valerie Azcona received the American Legion Award for courage, honor, leadership, patriotism, scholarship and service, which are necessary for the preservation, and protection of the fundamental institutions of this country’s government and the advancement of society. David Bailey and Alexandrea Guiritan are the 2012 recipients of the school’s Good Citizenship Award. The award is based upon possessing the qualities of honor, service, courage, leadership, and patriotism.
Stephen Rice raises funds for Lambs Farm
Seventh grader Stephen Rice participated in a Lambs Farm charity event in which he helped raise $184. A total of $40,000 was raised during the “Popcorn Days” event that raises awareness and funds to support many programs and services for people with developmental disabilities.
Officials recognize students for academic progress
Six eighth graders from Fremont Middle School were honored by Mundelein Police Chief Raymond Rose and Lake County Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes for their overall academic and social growth this year. Students were chosen by their teachers and attended a special ceremony at the Lake County courthouse. The honored students are Nick Funteas, Olivia Tucker, Emilia Demers, Calvin Lebbos, Jay Cox, and Samantha Petit.
Recycling pays off
Fremont’s recycling efforts have paid off. Fremont collected 638 shoes that were recycled by the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County through the Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program.
Fremont also recycles paper, ink cartridges and cell phones.
