School News

Eighty-eight students and parents had a unique opportunity to explore local manufacturing careers during the second “Made In Your Own Backyard” event on October 10. The event aims to increase awareness of products manufactured locally; and educate parents and middle and high school students about the diverse manufacturing field.

“I didn’t know that locally they actually make big products like this, so it was really cool,” Dylan Deleon, a Crystal Lake South High School student.

District 155 partnered with feeder districts, General Kinematics, Mathews Company, Precision Waterjet, and Swiss Automation. The Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce founded the event in 2018 and sponsored this year’s event along with the Cary-Grove Chamber of Commerce.

“Most kids in today’s world are focused on going to college and we, as America, need people in trades. And, this is a great way to expose them to that,” said Rob Stuebing, a Cary-Grove parent.

The event began with a brief presentation about relevant coursework offered by each D155 high school. Students and parents then toured two manufacturing companies. The event was free to attend because of generous donations from the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce and the Cary-Grove Chamber of Commerce.

“I signed up for it because I’m taking CNC [precision machining] right now and I really think the machines are cool and I wanted to learn more about them,” said Kathryn Thompson, a Cary-Grove High School student.

This open house event is a localized version of MFG Day, a national day of recognition to inspire a future generation of manufacturers.

The National Merit® Scholarship Program named four District 155 seniors as 2019 National Merit® Semifinalists. The semifinalists represent less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors and are the highest-scoring students in each state.

Carissa Hufford- Crystal Lake South
Daisy Kucharski- Prairie Ridge
Robbie Nollett- Cary-Grove
Vad Patel- Cary-Grove

Carissa Hufford is a senior at Crystal Lake South High School. She is involved in choir and theatre and volunteers at BraveHearts, a therapeutic horse barn. Carissa plans to study animal science with a concentration in equine therapy and production. She credits her parents for the National Merit® Semifinalist recognition.

 “I wouldn’t anywhere near where I am right now without their constant love and support and how much they were willing to sacrifice to show that dreams really can come true,” said Carissa Hufford, a Crystal Lake South senior. 

 Daisy Kucharski is a senior at Prairie Ridge High School. She is involved in madrigals, math team, science olympiad, scholastic bowl, and set-crew. During her junior year, she earned a perfect score on the ACT. After graduation, Daisy plans to study finance.

Robbie Nollett is a senior at Cary-Grove High School. He plays the trumpet and sits first chair in the wind symphony, conducts the marching band as a drum major, and is a member of the Cary-Grove swing choir. He also participated in WYSE and is an active member of the National Honor Society. Robbie earned a perfect score on the ACT in February 2019. Robbie plans to attend a four-year university and study materials, chemical, or biomedical engineering. 

Ved Patel is a senior at Cary-Grove High School. He participates in the marching band, math team, WYSE, National Honor Society, and is the captain of scholastic bowl. The senior received a perfect 1600 on the SAT in April and also earned a perfect score on the ACT his sophomore year. Ved plans to study biology or biomedical engineering and wants to eventually go to medical school. For the past year, Ved has volunteered at the Good Shepherd Infusion Center. 

High school students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). The exam serves as an initial screening of about 1.5 million students each year. 

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2020 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July.

Molly Marin, a sophomore at Cary-Grove High School, was featured on WGN Radio as  Steve Cochran's "Kid of the Week” and was honored for her community service work. Molly recently received the Silver Service Award from the Girls Scouts program for collecting and donating over 3,000 books.

The idea to collect books started when Molly’s younger sister was admitted to the hospital.

"In the hospital they had books, but when she got discharged, they realized they could not give those books to another kid, they would have to throw away the books because of cross-contamination,” Molly said on the radio program.

From there, Molly started a campaign around her neighborhood to collect books that people no longer use and donated the books to various charities in the Northwest suburbs. She also collected money if people did not have any spare books.

“We really asked those people to use the money to buy coloring books and crayons,” said Molly during her interview with Steve Cochran.

Molly’s younger sister is out of the hospital and doing better now. The Cary-Grove sophomore is still weighing her options for her future.

You can listen to the clip here.