The E P I C

Every Parent Is Connected May 2009The Parent Newsletter of Northside College Prep High School ▲ 5501 N. Kedzie ▲ Chicago IL 60626 ▲ Volume 10, Issue 8

Northside College Prep High School - Where Every Parent Is Connected!The trees are budding, the tulips and daffodils are

blooming, and the weather is starting to warm up and dry out. Spring must be here! Along with spring, comes a flurry of activity at Northside. Teachers are planning the last units to cover before year’s end. Students are taking Advanced Placement exams this week and next. The Fine Arts department is putting final touches on the 20-Hour Art Exhibit and jazz, choir, band and orchestra concert programs. Playoffs of spring sports are underway. Students are shopping for prom suits and dresses. I get dizzy just looking at my junior’s schedule!

The Northside Parent Network has been busy as well, helping staff and students with springtime activities. On Saturday, April 18, eight parents regis-tered incoming freshman parents into the parent network database. This is an important task because the database allows the school administra-tion and parent network to send e-mail announce-ments to parents. Also, it is an opportune time to introduce ourselves to the new parents and invite them to become active in the parent network and volunteer at school.

Co-chairs Fran FioRito and Nancy Williams helped the Northside Counseling Department coordinate the annual College Fair, held at North-side on Monday, April 27. They did not do all the work alone. They had the support from a dozen other parents from Northside along with parents and staff from Payton College Prep and Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center. Before the event got underway, the college representatives got some time to sit down and eat a delicious Mexican meal prepared by a Payton parent/restaurateur in the second-floor atrium that was decked out in spring décor. Over 130 colleges, universities and other institutions participated in the fair, and over a thousand students and their family members attended. Northside custodial and security staff need to be thanked as well for all their hard work in helping the community pull off the event. Indeed, it takes a school community to organize a college fair.

Two days later, parents supported Career Day, the all-school colloquium held on Wednesday, April 29, and coordinated by Ms. Spillane, the director of special projects. The day was an opportunity for students to listen to professionals talk about their innovative, diverse careers, ranging from a tattoo artist to surgeon, and from a businessperson to a musician. Parents greeted and escorted the guest presenters to the rooms where they spoke, and served a continental breakfast to the 45 career presenters and to student volunteers. A few parents were presenters themselves.

Northside celebrated International Workers Day, May 1, in its own unique way–Cubby Walk! Friends of Northside with the help of many parents coordinated students and

counted pledges for the annual Cubby Walk fundraiser, which raised over $40 thousand for the school. The Cubs cooperated this year with a 8-6 victory over the Florida Marlins.

These are just a few of the key events recently supported by parents at Northside this past month. It is by no means an exhaustive list. Thanks go out to all the parents who chaperoned field trips, helped a teacher or staff person, and more. Your support is appreciated.

May will be just as busy. The Parent Network committee volunteers are gearing up for the Junior Book Awards to be held on Friday, May 22. At the awards ceremony, college representatives from 35 schools will present over 42 awards to outstanding juniors. On Tuesday, May 26, advanced ensemble student musicians will be recognized for their achievements at the 4th Annual NCP Music Awards Dinner. If you have not already purchased your tickets, please do so immediately. After May 11, tickets are $10 for students and $15 for their guests. May 18 is the final deadline to purchase a ticket. Checks should be made out to NCP, earmarked for MAAAD, and dropped in the MAAAD box on the desk in the front office.

Northside Parent Network is proud to announce its new board of directors for the 2009/10 school year. Parents at the parent network meeting on May 7 elected twelve parents to the board. The three officers–president, vice president and secretary–will be chosen from among these twelve at the last parent network meeting for this school year, which will take place in June. In addition, three seats on the board of directors were reserved for freshmen parents; they will be nominated and elected at the parent network meeting in September 2009. Any freshman parent who would like to serve on the board of directors next school year is welcome to contact the current network president.

The 2009/10 board of directors: Mark Berger, Nicole Bergstrom, Jaikie Ceisel, Nada Fuleihan, Athena Kalady, Kathy Kriston, Raj Patel, Stephani Perlmutter, Becca Piper, Susan Schleichkorn, Nancy Williams, and Ellen Youniss. Janet Murray is the teacher representative.

In closing, thank you to all the parents who volunteered this past school year at Northside. You can be proud for contributing to the success of Northside. Thank you to all the teachers and staff who work so hard day in and day out, supporting our students.

Ellen YounissNorthside Parent Network President

(773) 443-4075 ellenyou@earthlink.netKathy Kriston

Northside Parent Network Vice PresidentOrion582@covad.net

Becca PiperNorthside Parent Network Secretary

becca@beccamike.net

Dates toRememberMay 14LSC MeetingMay 15Choral ConcertMay 16National Honor Society (NHS) Car WashMay 18NHS Induction CeremonyMay 19Orchestra Concert 7:30pmMay 21Junior Prom atthe SuisseotelMay 22B ScheduleSophomore Testing in GymJunior Book AwardsMay 26MADD (Music Appreciation Dinner)May 2920 Hour Art ShowJune 1Senior Exams 1-4June 2Senior Exams 5-9June 3Locker clean- upSenior Luncheon Newberry LibraryA complimentary bus willtake students from NCP to NewberryChoral Lecture Recital 7pmJune 4Graduation PracticeJune 5Senior Prom – W hotel June 5Exams Blocks 1-3June 8Exams Blocks 4-6June 8GraduationJune 9Exams Blocks 7-9June 11Parent Network Meeting

Senior Exams: June 1st and 2nd Final colloquium June 3rd all seniors must attend Senior Luncheon: Wednesday, June 3rd at 12:15 p.m.

Location Newberry Library – Ruggles Hall 60 W. Walton

Tickets are $30.00. Any questions please

see Ms. Flanagan ,Mr. Hahm, or Ms. Apel Graduation Practice: Thursday, June 4th at 9:00 am in the

gymnasium. Students will receive their graduation tickets and cap and gowns.

Prom: Friday June 5th at the

Location W Hotel 172 W. Adams Street Any questions please see Ms. Volesky or

Ms. Flores. Graduation: Monday, June 8th at 7:00 pm in the school

gymnasium. This year space is very limited so there will be only 4 tickets per student. There are very few extra tickets left. If you require more tickets please call Ms. Fernandez at 534-3954x43978

Class of 2009 IMPORTANT GRADUATION

INFORMATION

Junior Parents - Mark Your Calendars for Northside’s 2009 Junior Book Awards All parents of juniors are invited to join their students on Friday, May 22 when the Class of 2010 will assemble for Northside's fourth annual

Junior Book Awards ceremony. The event will begin promptly at 7:55 a.m. in the Cedric Hampton Auditorium and end by 9:00 a.m.

More than 35 schools will award 42 awards to Northside juniors this year. Some of the participating schools include: Brown University, Dartmouth College, Emory University, George Washington University, Lawrence University, Macalister College, Northwestern University, Reed College, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Swarthmore College, University of Illinois at Urbana, University of Iowa, Michigan State University, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania and Wesleyan University.

Each year, colleges and universities from across the United States participate in Junior Book Awards programs by recognizing high school juniors who meet specific criteria in scholastic achievement, excellence in specific academic, fine arts or athletic disciplines; community service; philanthropy or leadership. Participating schools often award students books written by their own faculty or alumni, or books that have a close connection to the school’s heritage.

Awards from these schools are assigned to Northside faculty departments at the discretion of the College Counseling office. Faculty meet to determine which student best meets stated criteria. Students do not submit any materials for consideration.

Northside Assistant Principal Dr. Margaret Murphy, the 2008 emcee, will lead the ceremony again this year. College representatives and alumni, Northside alumni and students, Northside faculty, and parent volunteers announce the awards. Parents of recipients are invited to a breakfast reception following the event. If you have any questions, please contact Angela Lekkas in the Northside College Counseling office.

Bezos Scholar Caroline Mills

Congratulations! Caroline Mills has been selected as one of 12 students from across the country to be a 2009 Bezos Scholar. The 2009 Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival boasts a remarkable line-up of speakers and presenters. She will share in all that Aspen has to offer. While the Ideas Festival will involve power-packed days of lectures and seminars led by the world’s foremost thinkers and policymakers, there will also have time to share ideas with fellow scholars, and to explore the glorious Rocky Mountains. The program runs from June 30 – July 6 and is all expenses paid. Congratulations, again, for your great achievement!

Illinois Women’s Press Association High School Communications Contest

Vasiliki Mitrakos - 1st Place Vasiliki Mitrakos has been honored with the 1st place award in

Graphics for her centerfold artwork in The Hoof Beat in the prestigious Illinois Women’s Press Association High School Communications Contest, open to all students, male and female, in Illinois. She will receive her award at the awards ceremony on Saturday, May 16, 2009, at the Union League Club. Vasiliki’s entry will be submitted as Illinois’ entry in the National Federation of Press Women’s High School Communications Contest. Vasiliki is the only Chicago Public Schools winner at this year’s event.

Computer Science Department Attends International Conference in Chattanooga Northside College Prep’s computer science teachers, Mr. Don Yanek, Dr. Vincent Nguyen, and Mr. Jeff Solin attended the Special Interest Group

on Computer Science Education Conference (SIGCSE) at the beginning of March in Chattanooga, TN. This annual conference, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery, is an opportunity for university and high school CS teachers to share and discuss current technology trends and best practices in education. The four-day conference consisted of lectures, panel discussions, vendor sessions, and in-depth workshops. All three members of our department led a panel discussion on the implementation of a Computer Science graduation requirement for all students. Don, Vincent and Jeff also participated in a variety of workshops covering topics as diverse as Integration of Web 2.0 and Mash-Ups in CS Curriculum, Increasing Enrollment in Computer Science, Future Plans for AP CS, Integrating Cross-Curricular Computational Thinking, Teaching with Alice 3.0 and more. All members of the CS department came back with innovative ideas and strategies that have already began to enhance our current programs and ensure continued success in preparing students for the challenges of college courses and beyond. One department member remarked that a benefit of attending SIGCSE was, “ being able to compare Northside’s Computer Science curriculum to other high school and university programs. We felt a sense of affirmation that the curriculum we are offering at Northside is rigorous and at the cutting edge of computer science education.” Participation in the conference was made possible through the support of our administration and the Department of Career and Technology Education.

Congratulations Mike Wojcik, Bridget Illing, and Simon Vecchioni

Congratulations to Mike Wojcik, Bridget Illing, and Simon Vecchioni for being selected by the British Council to attend the International Student Summit in London this summer. This is an all-expense paid trip for these students to participate in an intellectual summit hosted by the British government. Students from around the world will participate in the meeting. Only 3 students were selected to represent the United States...and all 3 are from Northside. Congratulations!

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Northside is #1 in the City of Chicago Math League! Sharing the great news -- for the 1st time ever, Northside is #1 in the City of Chicago Math League! It was a close race with Young, but the team

came out ahead. I'm attaching a photo of those that were still around for the awards so you can see how excited they are. [This contest is by invitation only so there were 25 students vs. our normal 48 or so]. I'm especially thrilled for the seniors, including Jerry. 2 more weeks until the State competition at U of I.

Overall Team Standings – Division A P L A C E School Division Contest 1 Contest 2 Contest 3 Contest 4 Contest 5 total

1 Northside A 217 229 191 237 206 1080 2 Young A 235 229 192 214 202 1072 3 Payton A 209 227 186 225 207 1054 4 Lincoln Park A 130 145 120 123 119 637 5 Jones A 157 123 73 85 68 506 6 Lane Tech A 86 133 82 96 80 477

Congratulations to Northside's Math Team. They finished #4 in the State for Div 3AA behind Vernon Hills, Fenwick, and Glenbard South and ahead of 52 other schools! The competition was held Saturday at the University of Illinois in Champaign. The team brought home many awards and had a great time. Special highlights included: Algebra I Team - 3rd Place, Geometry Team - 2nd Place, Algebra II - 4th Place, PreCalc - 3rd place (tie), Jayce Feiger 8th place in Algebra I, David Jaffe 2nd place in Algebra I, Fermi Ma 1st place in Geometry, and Jerry Wang 6th place in PreCalc. Austine Lakayil and Jerry Wang scored 7th in the Oral Competition where they had 10 minutes to respond and impress the judges. Gracie Jaffe and Jerry Wang received 2nd place in the intense two-person junior/senior contest held as a demonstration in front of 500+ people prior to the awards ceremony. Coach Ms. Sullivan would like to thank Ms. T for joining her as a chaperone as well as the 3 parent volunteers. NOTE: Check out the Tribune for a great photo of Jerry, Fermi and other math team members practicing! http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-allstate-wang-03-apr09,0,73738.story

Chinese Class Collaborates with Pegasus Players This spring, Northside’s Chinese Three class has been participating in a special program sponsored by Pegasus Players, a non-profit theatre

company located in Uptown Chicago. As part of their Global Voices program, the students have been working on writing their own short plays, entirely in Chinese. The students were first introduced to the playwriting process, and shown an example of a student-written play performed by actors from Pegasus’ company. Then they were given the opportunity to watch some of the plays written and performed by Chinese students who were working on their English Language skills. The Global Voices program aims to connect students across the globe through technology and promotion of language learning. Our Northside students were asked to write a brief introduction of themselves in Chinese, and these were collectively sent to an exchange class in China, our partner school Beijing No. 8 High School. Since then, the Chinese Three students have been corresponding with their fellow Global Voices participants as pen pals, and working towards improving their Chinese. In addition to their normal weekly instruction in Chinese, the students now spend one class per week developing their self-written plays, and garnering the necessary vocabulary. Once the program is complete, the plays will be performed and student-directed. The performances will likely be filmed and sent to their partnering school in China, where fellow Global Voices students will view them.

Over 35 volunteers from the Spanish Honor Society work in Pilsen

for Dia de los Ninos parade on April 25 On April 25, 2009 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., more than 35 members of the Spanish Honor

Society volunteered with the Dia de los Ninos Parade (http://www.chicagodiadelosninos.com/) in the Pilsen Neighborhood of Chicago. Volunteers worked with children on fun and educational activities. The purpose of the parade is to celebrate children and promote their education. This was our first "Activity of the Year" since the Society's inception and it was a success. Not only did the volunteers have fun, they were revered by the committee of Dia de los Ninos as the most dedicated group of volunteers they'd ever had. Not only are they exceptional students of Spanish (members need 3 consecutive semesters of 97%), but they are also committed to the community. We plan on volunteering every year. What a great group of students! Video from this day can be seen at www.youtube.com/rablease

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Chicago kids learning to earn Article from Sun-Times April 20, 2009

BY Terry Savage A group of Chicago high school students is

proving they know more about economics than their peers in Illinois -- and a lot of ordinary citizens!

Students at Northside College Prep beat 50 Illinois teams to win the Economics Challenge competition, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank and the Goldman Sachs Foundation. The Federal Reserve Bank is also sponsoring Money Smart Week, which includes dozens of opportunities for Chicagoans to broaden their financial knowledge this week.

Terry Savage is a nationally known expert on personal finance and a regular television commentator on issues related to investing and financial markets.

Never before has a Chicago public school won the Illinois championship. Demonstrating a breadth of knowledge, the senior class team captured first place in the microeconomics competition, while the junior team won first in the macroeconomics competition.

Could you answer these questions?

What's the most efficient way to solve the problem of pollution?

Correct answer: Tradeable pollution permits. (Among the wrong choices: environmental standards or outright bans.)

When did the current economic recession begin?

Answer: December 2007.

According to mainstream economists, what is the principal cause of the United States' macroeconomic instability?

Answer: Swings in investment spending and adverse supply shocks. (Clearly, the Fed didn't want to blame its own monetary policy!)

Members of the winning senior class team are Jennifer Freidman, Aral Johnson, Gigi Lee, and Spencer Rosenfeld. All are planning to attend colleges ranging from Harvard to the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois this fall.

Members of the junior class team are Kalila Holt, Minda Rebholz, Tyler Throop and Peter Wilk. They will be applying for college later this year.

Credit goes to their adviser, John Belcaster, who turned to teaching high school economics four years ago, after a career as a civil rights attorney in private practice. He created the Northside Prep economics course, which now attracts 143 students --five sections --, the most popular course in the school. He also coaches the economics club teams after school. Two years ago Belcaster received the prestigious Golden Apple "teacher of distinction" award.

Economics competition The Challenge consisted of a test with 45

written questions, ranging from micro to macro to international economics. That was followed by a game show format, in which each team had to agree on an answer and hit the buzzer first -- and answer correctly -- to score.

Teams from eight Illinois finalist schools (whittled down from the original 50 schools) sat in an exam room at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to take the three-part exam, which had a tight deadline.

After completing the written exams, the top two scoring teams advanced to the "Quiz Bowl" round. The finalists were from Northside

College Prep and the Adlai Stevenson School in Lincolnshire.

The first team to correctly answer 13 questions (out of a possible 25) won the championship. Stevenson got off to a commanding lead of 9-2, but Northside Prep managed to come back from the deficit to eke out a one-point win.

Says Belcaster: "We were the first high school in America to adopt Paul Krugman's college economics textbook when it was published three years ago. This textbook has an incredible ability to immerse students in both the theory of economics and its application to what's going on in the world. It's quite relevant to current events."

It turns out that textbook decision had quite an impact in creating the final correct answer that won the title.

The final question: What famous economist won the Nobel Prize in 2008?

The students jumped to hit the buzzer, shouting the name of their economics hero, the author of their textbook, and the correct answer to the question: Paul Krugman.

Next stop: The team goes on to Houston to compete in the regional competition, and hopefully on to New York for the finals on May 16. Chicago wishes them well.

Each student on the team received $100. And if they win the national competition, they'll each get a $3,000 savings bond. Clearly, they have learned another great lesson in economics. It pays to win!

And that's The Savage Truth. Terry Savage is a registered investment

adviser. Distributed by Creators Syndicate.

Success with students taking the 2nd Annual National Spanish Exam This year, 76 students of Spanish opted to take the National Spanish Exam. This is the second year the

Northside teachers of Spanish have offered this wonderful opportunity to students. The National Spanish Exam allows students to measure their Spanish skills on a national level. It also makes students eligible for scholarships, trips, and cash prizes. The students pay $6 which gives them access to the www.nationalspanishexam.org website to practice for the exam day. 12 of these students already won over $750 total! This exam will be offered next year as well and we encourage parents whose students are taking Spanish to take the exam. More information will be given to students in November.

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Teddy Bears Offer Hope to Cope Article from http://chicagoredcross.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html, February 29, 2009

A small item such as a teddy bear can make a huge impact to a child that has been affected by a disaster. It gives them hope to cope with traumatic experiences, such as losing your home to a fire. Comfort is an important part of their recovery.

Many youth volunteers such as those in the Red Cross Club at Northside College Prep High School take action to help children in need by holding teddy bear drives at their school. This winter, members of the Red Cross Club collected bears and other stuffed animals to donate to the Greater Chicago chapter. Our Disaster Action Team distributes the teddy bears to children (and sometimes even to adults) when they respond to local emergencies.

KUDOS to the Northside College Prep High School Red Cross Club for collecting 125+ teddy bears! For the remainder of the school year, they plan to hold a blood drive, a first aid training for students, and collect blankets for families living in shelters. They understand that their contributions and efforts make a difference to others. “If every student donates one pint of blood or one teddy bear or one blanket, each donor impacts a life,” states Zahra Lalani, Club President.

It’s great to see motivated youth, taking action to give back to their communities! Interested in implementing a service project in your school or workplace? Contact Eboni Prince in at princee@usa.redcross.org.

Valedictorian says tutoring others is his greatest accomplishment

Gerald Wang: Northside College Prep High School in Chicago Article from Chicago Tribune May 3, 2009

Carlos Sadovi | Tribune reporter As the oldest child of Chinese immigrants with advanced degrees, Gerald Wang was taught

early on to work hard for everything he wanted to achieve. Still, the senior at Northside College Prep High School in Chicago understands that everyone,

including himself, needs help sometimes. So while the valedictorian has earned more than 50 academic awards, he said he believes that his greatest accomplishment has been tutoring students since freshman year at his school and for a private tutoring company.

"I'm really grateful for the opportunities I have every day to learn from other people," said Wang, 17.

Northside College Prep. 12th grader Gerald Wang works with other Math Club team members during a practice session. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune / April 13, 2009)

In his essay for the All-State Academic Team entry, Wang wrote that, though he developed a passion for discovery and learning at an early age, teaching others had helped him to truly appreciate learning. He is deciding whether to attend Harvard University or Yale University in the fall and is considering studying engineering to be able to help people in poorer countries, he said.

Wang is often tapped to help fellow students as captain of the academic decathlon team, president of the math team and a member of the debate team. Wang is also the co-captain of the Chicago-area All-Star math team. He is a straight-A student at one of the state's premier high schools. He is also a National Merit Scholar, Harvard Book Award recipient and National AP Scholar. He plays clarinet in the school's concert band and volunteers in the community.

Principal Barry Rodgers said that despite Wang's abilities and hard work, he does not take himself too seriously. "He's always willing to help others, and he doesn't tire of it," Rodgers said.

First Midwest Chinese Speech Contest at Northside Prep

On April 25, 09, Northside successfully hosted the first Midwest Chinese Speech Contest. There are 53 contestants from 23 K-12 schools from CPS and suburban districts throughout Chicago land. The event is Northside Prep outreach effort to support and celebrate K-12 Chinese teaching and learning. The organizer of this event is Midwest Chinese Teachers Alliance (MCTA). The sponsors of this event include Confucius Institute Chicago, Taibei Economic and Trade Office in Chicago and DePaul University. As the host of the

event, Mr. Rodgers gave a warm and encouraging opening speech to all contestants, parents and teachers..

There are 4 Northside students participated in the competition: Shannon Henry was awarded Gold Mental in HS Level I, Ivan Lopez won Silver in HS Level II, Faique Moqeet and Timothy Butzen won Bronze Metals.

The prizes included 3 months scholarships studying in Taiwan and Beijing Olympic collectables.

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NCP visits Korea Science Academy HS, Sister School in Busan, Korea Northside College Preparatory High School has the sister school exchange program that started

in 2006 with the Korea Science Academy (“KSA”), the elite science school, in Busan, Korea. During the spring break in April of this year, six Korean language students with two teachers (Dr. Margaret Murphy and Ms. Stella Hahn) visited Korea Science Academy High School. This trip gave our students an opportunity to practice Korean language they learned at Northside while visiting Korea.

The daily schedule arranged by Korea Science Academy allowed us to observe classes such as Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics, and Biology. We were very impressed that KSA used the same textbooks as our AP classes. Since we have identical textbooks, Northside students were able to participate in classes and experience a new viewpoint on the same subject in different cultural and classroom setting.

In addition, we were allowed to participate in many extracurricular activities. In the tea

ceremony class, we all had a chance to wear the Korean traditional clothes, HANBOK, and learned how to bow for different occasions: the New Year, Thanksgiving Days, and ancestors’ Memorial Days.

Also, Dr. Lee, who is charge of astronomical observation, helped us adjust equipment to take pictures of the moon and the planet Mars. We all attached the precious pictures to our email and sent it to our families and friends on the very same day. In summary, the trip provided students a better understanding of the Korean language and culture based on the personal experience of Korean history, fine art, martial arts, dance, music, cuisine, and many more.

As many of you remember, Korea Science Academy (KSA) students visited the Northside in January 2009 and have continued relationship with Northside students through facebook and/or email. The sister school exchange program has given students enriching cross-cultural experiences over the years.

Mustang Motion Pictures

On Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 4pm, Northside College Prep’s film club, Mustang Motion Pictures, hosted the first annual Northside Film Festival. Designed as a showcase of student work, the two-hour event featured nine films of lengths varying from one minute to twelve, judged by a panel of three experts in the field of cinema on such categories as cinematography, originality, acting, and editing, among others. Each film had its own separate host a la Academy Awards, and the judges had some time at the end to ruminate generally on what they had seen. Best Picture and Runner-Up awards were presented at the end, with senior Annie Mitran taking the top prize of four tickets to Storefront Theater Musical at the Conservatory (4210 N. Lincoln) for her submission Freight! Senior Dashiell Bark-Huss took an extremely close second, winning two tickets to any movie at Crown Theater for her Teddy.

Mustang Motion Pictures received sixteen submissions to the festival, a figure its planners were not bargaining on. They were thus forced to greatly trim the line-up of films, something that was not easy to do. The resulting product was an entertaining line-up that made for a great after-school attraction. The fest was supported by contributions from both business entities looking to advertise to the teenage market and individual contributors. Admission was free for those who had submitted films, three dollars for the student body at large, and five dollars for outside members of the general public. Funds raised will most immediately be used to defray costs incurred in organizing the festival, and what remains will be spent for Mustang Motion Pictures’ benefit.

Plans for the Second Annual Northside Film Festival are already under way, said Mustang Motion Pictures co-Presidents Will Riley and Ed Heffernan, both sophomores. The date is yet to be determined, but a major goal is to increase attendance. The two students are currently conducting polls to figure out when potential attendees would be most likely to drop by. They are hoping next year’s show can top this year’s. Said Riley: “I think we set the bar pretty high for ourselves this year; I thought it was a very well organized event. We’ve just got to work hard to make next year’s even better.” Will Riley, sophomore, Adv. 107

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Visitors from Sister City School in the Czech Republic come to Northside for first time! After more than a year, our school exchange with Akademicke Gymnazium

from Prague, Czech Republic, became a reality. This is the first time Northside has had a relationship with a Sister City school that encouraged educational collaboration between our teachers. Thank you to the Social Science Department and Orchestra teacher Leo Park for helping with this collaboration. We hope that all of our trips and exchanges in the future will have a strong educational purpose and collaboration between teachers and students.

A BIG Mustang thank you to the host families and Science teacher Steve Arnam, who opened their homes and hearts to our visitors. The hosts for the Czech visitors were: Student Carmen Abelson and her family, student Mallory Kirkley and her family, student Rosalie Abbey and her family, student Sara Yannytillar and her family, and student Niki Bertsche and her family. We would like to encourage all Northside families to host a foreign exchange student at some point during their 4 years. Just talk to some our past hosts and find out what an amazing experience it is for their child.

We look forward to many more years of international exchange of ideas and cultures with Akademicke Gymnazium.

Illinois Certamen League State Finals

April 28, 2009 at Lyons Township High School

Novice Division (Latin I) 1st Place: Northside College Prep H. S. – 495 points (David Jaffe, Jayce Feiger, Saad Syed, Kashif Osmani) 2nd Place: Barrington High School – 325 points 3rd Place: Lincoln-Way East High School – 170 points 4th Place: Walter Payton College Prep H. S. – 165 points Lower Division (Latin II) 1st Place: Barrington High School - 445 2nd Place: Northside College Prep H. S. – 370 points (Mary Mussman, Jeffrey Joseph, Jesus Bruno, Timothy Suh)

Lower Division (Latin II cont.) 3rd Place: Lyons Township H. S. – 120 points 4th Place: Walter Payton College Prep H. S. – 70 points Upper Division (Latin III, IV, and V) 1st Place: Northside College Prep H. S. – 560 points (Elizabeth Jay, Aisha Ahmad, Alexandra Rojek, Jacob Gruber) 2nd Place: Barrington High School – 225 point 3rd Place: Lincoln-Way Central – 110 points 4th Place: Fenwick High School – 105 points

Chicago Public Schools Latin Olympics 2009

High School Sweepstakes32 place Samantha Celmer 32 place Matthew Glooz

32 place Christian Souder 33 place Fahad Arther

37 place Michael Meyer 37 place Honglin Xiao

Medalists High School Latin Olympics, 2009 Art--Best In Show: Jennifer Friedmann Modern Myth: Ezra Lampson English Oratory: Alexandra Rojek Latin Oratory: David Jaffe, Alexandra Rojek Sight Reading: Jacob Gruber, Austine Lakayil Mythology: Elizabeth Jay History and Civilization: Alexandra Rojek Derivatives: Austine Lakayil Vocabulary: Aisha Ahmad Reading Comprehension: Aisha Ahmad, Elizabeth Jay Pentathlon: Elizabeth Jay Grammar: Aisha Ahmad

Certamen Level 1 Jayce Feiger David Jaffe Wasif Osmani Saad Syed Certamen Level 2 Anne Lakayil Jeffrey Joseph Mary Mussman Jesus Bruno Certamen Upper Jacob Gruber Aisha Ahmad Elizabeth Jay Alexandra Rojek

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Transportation Reimbursement The Illinois State Board of Education reimburses families for transportation expenses for students to attend school if free transportation is not

available. Parents / guardians will be able to submit claims for transportation starting February 1, 2009 until June 12, 2009 for this school year. To qualify for reimbursement, the student must live at least one and one-half miles from school.

The Illinois State Board of Education requires that you submit your claim each school year and that you come to the school to submit your claim. Forms cannot be sent home with the students. If you have not already submitted your claim for this school year, please come to the Counseling Office to complete the necessary form. The Counseling Office is open on school days from 7:30 AM until 3:30 PM. You will need your Social Security Number (the parent’s or guardian’s Social Security Number, NOT the student’s) to complete the form.

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