May 15, 2011

Artsonia (the company that hosts Dryden's online art gallery) hand picked Dryden to participate in the Big Screen Project where student art from around the country (just over 100 pieces) were shown in a slideshow on a 30ft screen in the heart of New York City.
See the video on Tricia Fuglestad's blog: The Big Screen Project

May 6, 2011

CVS Caremark All Kids Can and VSA announced that Abby McCue from Dryden Elementary School has been selected as one of Illinois' representatives in the 2011 All Kids Can CREATE national touring exhibition. Her art, entitled "Purple Majesties" will debut in Washington D.C. on June 13, 2011. Read more...

April 30, 2011

5 students participated in the Third Annual Midwest Chinese Speech Contest today at Northside College Prep High School in Chicago. There were a total of 118 students from the Chicagoland area who attended this event. IIA and IIB were the categories for middle school students. My students placed as follows:

IIA
Ryan Bayerle Gold Medal
Oliva Portnov Silver Medal
Andrew Song Bronze Medal

IIB
Matthew Scislowski Gold Medal
Norris Smith Silver Medal

I am very proud of my students' achievement and would like to share the good news with you.

Thanks.

H. Brenda Hsu
Chinese Teacher
Thomas Middle School

January 1, 2011

Congratulations to all students who have participated in the first 3 months of Activity Challenge! We have had 966 students participate - over 21% of our student population!! For December, 47 students reached the challenge goal! Prizes will be distributed at each school.

December 1, 2010

We had 569 students participate in the November's Activity Challenge and 157 students reached the November challenge goal! 22% more students acheived the goal this month! Prizes will be distributed at each school.

November 1, 2010

October success! We had 572 students participate in October's Activity Challenge and 131 students reached the October challenge goal! Prizes will be distributed at each school. Read more...

November 8, 2010

Dryden's Aleksandra Kostova (currently in 2nd grade) was honored at the Illinois Art Education Association Student Art Show Awards Ceremony in Lisle, Il.

Her Picasso Portrait was selected as one of 40 pieces from the 600 submitted state-wide for a year-long traveling art show. Congratulations, Aleksandra!

June 4, 2010 and June 18, 2010

Adrian Gunawan has had a banner year! National Spelling Bee and now Chemistry Challenge

On June 4, Adrian, an eighth grader at South Middle School, became a finalist in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. He finished in a three-way tie for second place! Learn more about the Spelling Bee champions here.

Adrian demonstrated what he knows about the chemistry around him, fielding question after question to become the 2010 National You Be The Chemist Challenge Champion! Adrian and 17 other students from around the country battled through eight rounds of tough competition at the event held Friday, June 18, 2010 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA. More details and photos to be posted soon!

May 22, 2010

On Saturday May 22nd, 60 teams from 47 states represented their schools at the National Science Olympiad Tournament hosted by the University of Illinois. South received 12th place overall with 8 individual medals in four events.

Individual Medals:
Battery Buggy: 6th Place - Colette M. & Stefanie K.
Bio-Process Lab: 4th Place - Elizabeth K. & Chris K.
Compute This: 4th Place - Michael M. & Stefanie K.
Dynamic Planet: 3rd Place - Daniel C. & Veronica B.

Coaches: Shaun Marusek & Kim Dyer, plus many teacher, parent and community coaches.

April 26, 2010

Dryden 5th Grade Students, Kiara, Nick, Jack, Isabella, and Emma premiered their original musical video, The Glue Blues, before a live audience at the Screen Test Student Fest in Schaumburg, IL. They got up on stage and introduced their movie then returned after its viewing to field questions about the movie-making process. See a video about the video here.

April 26, 2010

Westgate student Joe D. was a Page-for-a-Day in the Illinois Senate. Congatulations!

April 23, 2010

Great celebrations for the South Community:

Congratulations to Coach Carla Lussem and the students on the Knowledge Masters Open team!

#1 In the State of Illinois and #10 in the Nation (out of 649 Middle School Teams!)

South also has the state Chemistry Bee winner, Adrian G. and the Scripps Spelling Bee winner, Adrian G. heading to Washington DC...what a great year for all the academic competitions this year.

April 22, 2010

Congratulations to the South Middle School Science Olympiad Team. They won second in the State meet and will be going to Nationals at the University of Illinois on May 22nd.

• Congratulations to Thomas Middle School Science Olympiad Team. They ranked 17th out of all 42 schools in the tournament.

April 22, 2010

Congratulations to Greenbrier Odyssey students participating in the Knowledge Masters Open. The Greenbrier team had 5 students, but placed 20th out of 140 schools with similar school enrollment.  In the 5th grade competition, Greenbrier's team placed 65th out of 281 total schools and earned 613 total points by correctly answering 87 out of 100 questions.

April 22, 2010

Raytheon Company sponsors the MathMovesU Middle School Scholarship and Campership program, which provides $1,000 scholarships to 150 middle school students nationwide. Student awards can be used for either a "campership" applied to tuition and fees at a science, technology, engineering, or math-related (STEM) summer camp or a traditional scholarship applied to future college tuition. Raytheon also continues to donate a $1,000 matching grant to each winning student's middle school. Students who apply for the MathMovesU scholarship are asked to create a multimedia or paper submission illustrating the importance of math in the hobby, sport, subject, or activity the student cares about the most, specifically addressing the question "How does MATH put the action in your passion?" South student Mary C. received a $1000 scholarship award from Raytheon this year and South Middle School received the matching grant; congratulations!

April 17, 2010

Midwest Chinese Teachers’ Alliance (MCTA) sponsored the second annual Midwest Chinese Speech Contest on April 17, 2010 at Northside College Preparatory High School. One hundred twenty students currently enrolled in a Mandarin Chinese program at an elementary school or a middle/senior high school taught by MCTA members participated in this event.

South students Alex S., John L., and Atiyanna G. won bronze and silver medals in the competition.

Thomas students Cynthia G., Norris S., and Kevin K. also participated, winning bronze awards. Daniel K., from Thomas, won a silver award. Congratulations!

To echo ACTFL’s efforts in “celebrating, educating, and communicating the value of language learning," the theme for the speech contest was “Discover Languages…Discover the World.” Students were free to come up with individual speech titles in the context of this theme which was to “reflect on the value of learning languages and the impact it has had on their lives.”

April 8, 2010

Congratulations to Thomas Middle Students, winners in the SWANCC (Solid Waste Agency of North Cook County) Public Service Announcement contest. Justin .P, Mike P., Tucker F., and Stephen P. received second place for “Change.” Jason K., Sabrina R., Sarah M., and Charlie S. received third place for “Green Galaxy.”