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IN THIS ISSUEINNOVATION LAB

ALUMNI PROFILE

WELCOME NEW FACULTY

THE NIGHT OF ALL KNIGHTS

QUEST MATHLETES

NEW TRUSTEES

KIDS CORNERThrough its planned Innovation Lab and its 20/20 Vision Plan

for applying technologies inside the classroom and beyond, Quest Acad-emy will assist students in harness-ing these traits to spur innovation.

The Quest Academy Innovation Lab—or Maker 2.0—is both part of a growing trend in education and a concept that has been around for ages. This component of learning can be defined as “Projects under-taken for the sheer joy of figuring out whether something can be done, or because there’s a problem for

which no one has found a good solution, or because it would be neat to have a light-up costume or pet robot.” It fuses old-fashioned “tinkering” with 21st Century tech-nologies in creative new ways.

Head of School Ben Hebebrand and Director of Academic Technol-ogy Vinnie Vrotny describe how children in younger grades play with Legos, blocks and art materi-als with enthusiastic abandon and sheer joy. Around middle school and high school, students lose some of this enthusiasm and worry about

Innovation Lab Prepares Students for 21st Century

Whether it’s playing with Legos, or “tinkering” with electronics, tools, computers or crafts, we can all relate to the creativity, problem-solving and sheer joy these activities evoke in us.

SPRING I 2013For families, alumni & friends of Quest Academy

THE QUEST

Continued on page 6

Inspiring & Challenging Gifted Children

Please drop us a note to let us know where you are and what you are doing.

Email us at alumni@questacademy.org

2 The Quest - Spring 2013

The Quest is published for families, alumni, and friends of Quest Academy. It is produced by the Office of Institutional Advancement.

Head of School Ben HebebrandManaging Editor Michael BatesEditor and Designer Sharon RockhillContributing Writer/Editor Barb HaileyPhotography Faculty & Staff ADDRESS CHANGESReaders who wish to change their mailing address for The Quest should call Laurie DeSimone at 847.202.8035, extension 461 or send an email to laurie.desimone@questacademy.org.

Loyola AcademySAT: 1510AP courses: 9Ignatius of Loyola Scholar 1997Dumbach Scholar 1998National Honor Society 2000Loyola Scholar 1997-2001National Merit Scholar Finalist 2001Illinois State Scholar 2001AP Scholar with Distinction 2001AP National Scholar 2001

University of Illinois at Chicago Biochemistry, BS, with Highest Distinction Philosophy, BA, with College HonorsFMC Scholar 2001University President’s Award for Excellence 2002National Dean’s List 2002-2004University Dean’s List 2001-2004Department of Biological Sciences Outstanding Scholarship Award 2003National Society of Collegiate Scholars 2003Leonard Kotin Memorial Award for Physical Chemistry 2004

ALUMNI PROFILE

Meet Samir ShahQuest Academy Class of ‘97

“I am thankful to the teachers at Quest (or Creative Children’s Academy, as it will always be remembered by me) for teaching me first that the pursuit of learning is an intrinsic good and, second, that it is not enough to know but that we should always seek to know why. I am fortunate to have received such a firm foundation for the remainder of my education and life.”

“I recently completed a clinical research fellowship in vascular surgery and now am in the fourth year of a five-year general surgery residency at the Cleveland Clinic. Besides my day-to-day work, I am actively working to complete The Cleveland Clinic Manual of Vascular Surgery, a book for which I am co-editor-in-chief.”

“I hope to complete a vascular surgery fellowship and practice as an academic vascular surgeon with an emphasis on clinical outcomes research.”

Society MembershipsAmerican College of Surgeons 2011Society for Vascular Surgery 2010Ohio American College of Surgeons 2012South Asian-American Vascular Surgery Society 2011Alpha Omega Alpha 2007 Phi Beta Kappa 2004

Honors, Awards, PositionsSociety for Vascular Surgery Governing Council, General Surgery Resident Section 2011-2013Clinical Instructor of Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine 2011Editor, Vascular Surgery, ABSITE.org, 2011-2013Society of Vascular Surgery Vascular Annual Meeting Scholarship 2012Society of Vascular Surgery Vascular Annual Meeting Scholarship 2007Baylor College of Medicine Basic Sciences Honors 2006

Please drop us a note to let us know where you are and what you are doing.

Email us at alumni@questacademy.org

www.questacademy.org 3

Saru Wade, ‘91 Saru graduated from Creative Children’s Academy, now Quest Academy in 1991. She lives in Lexington, MA outside of Boston, with her husband Justin and two sons, Ryan (5) and Dylan (1). She works in marketing in the pharmaceutical industry and last year was honored by PharmaVoice magazine as one of the top 100 Most Inspiring People in the pharma industry.

Annie (Schuette) Johnson, ‘99 Annie is loving life. She has been married for almost four years to her wonderful husband, Wes, whom she met soon after finishing her undergraduate degree in Communications at Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL. Since then she enjoyed four fantastic years assisting in the Koala classroom at her old stomping grounds, Quest Academy. Currently, she is teaching Drama, Performance and Photography at a homeschool enrichment program for kindergarten through eighth grades in Barrington. Annie has also spent the last year as the Administrative Assistant to the Children’s and Technology departments at the Village Church of Barrington where her husband is the Middle School Ministries Director. In her spare time, Annie enjoys being a freelance photographer, capturing weddings and family memories: www.anniejohnsonphotography.com.

Michael Maas, ‘03 Michael recently started a job in Durham, NC working at Cree. He is a Process Engineer working on the manufacturing of LED chips that are used for general lighting. He just graduated in

ALUMNI NEWS

December from Stanford University with his Masters in Chemical Engineering and moved to North Carolina one month later. Ultimately, he’d like to end up as a scientist at a solar cell manufacturer. He still keeps in touch with several of the friends he made at Quest when he was just 4 years old. Just recently, he ran into a former Quest classmate in Washington, DC whom he hadn’t seen in 10 years.

Rebecca Ehrmann, ‘07 The original musical Rebecca wrote with her friend Casey is being produced at Northwestern University this year with the support of Jones Residential College. The show, “Happily Ever After,” provides a contemporary take on classic Disney themes. She wrote the book and some of the lyrics, and will be directing as well. The production will run from May 16-18, 2013 with five performances including Thursday at 8pm, Friday at 8pm and 11pm, and Saturday at 2pm and 8pm. She hopes to do a talkback after the 2pm show for students that want to ask questions about any aspect of the show. The show is recommended for ages 13+. Tickets will be sold at the door for $5 for students and $10 for adults.

Katie Cooke, ‘08 Katie is a freshman at Yale University. She hasn’t decided on a major yet, but is considering either biomedical or chemical engineering. This summer, she will be staying on campus to assist with research in biomaterial design for immunotherapy, under the guidance of a Yale professor in BME, and hopes that the experience will help her narrow down her interests.

Colette Hankin, ‘08 This summer Colette will be working as a Gameday Ambassador for the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. During the school year, she worked as a Gameday Ambassador for The Marquette University basketball teams.

Valerie Pizzato, ‘09 Val was chosen to be in the All State Cast of “Memphis” at Theaterfest.

Selena Groh, ‘11 Selena was selected to participate with Buffalo Grove High School in the University of Illinois Theaterfest (You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown).

Katie Rosenson, ‘11 Katie is a sophomore at Stevenson High School. She is currently serving on the Stewardship Committee at her church and is the only youth on the committee. She is also serving on the Associate Pastor Nominating Committee, which is responsible for choosing the next Youth Pastor. She will be involved in interviewing prospective pastors, which is a big honor and responsibility.

Marissa Howe, ‘12 Marissa is keeping busy at Woodlands Academy with Liturgical Choir, the audition choir called Kaleidoscope, and the Model UN.

Emma Toth, ‘12 Emma is busy at Barrington High School with the Varsity Swim Team, Debate Team, and Fine Arts Board.

Ms. Chiu is our new Middle School Mandarin Chinese Language and Culture Teacher. Her duties officially began on December 10, 2012. Most recently she completed a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the Adler School of Professional Psychology. She holds further degrees in both clinical psychology and Fine Arts from Taipei National University of the Arts as well as Fu Jen Catholic University.

Ms. Chiu taught both Mandarin Chinese and Art at the Chicago Northwest Suburban Chinese School. Additionally, Ms. Chiu has taught art, ESL as well as parenting classes on “Positive Discipline” through the Adler School. Middle school students recently held a Chinese New Year fair where they shared what they have learned with the rest of the school.

4 The Quest - Spring 20134 The Quest - Spring 2013

Right: Jen Fabsik (Middle School Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher) and Yvonne Trankle (Third Grade Teacher)

Below: Board Chair Chris Dickerson, Joe Roberti, and Vinnie Vrotny (Director of Academic Technology)

Above: Sarah Sexton (Marketing Advisory Council member), Reagan Brasch, and Kara White

Above Left: Anne Roberti, Racquel Dolson, and Shirley Miller

Above: Alex and Valerie Deborin

The Night of All Knights

Top: Auction Co-Chairs Canary Chia and Sandy Goldfarb

Below: Trustee Mary Lynn Bernacchi and her husband Jeff

Left: Paul and Trustee Anne Reader with her parents Joann and Al Kuper

Above Center: Mythyly and Mohan Putcha

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5www.questacademy.org

Left: Vinnie Vrotny (Director of Academic Technology) and Sheryl Peterson (Lower School Art Teacher) work the Pop-up Innovation Lab.

Below: Anthony and Victoria DiIorio

Above: Rahul and Deepika Miglani

Below: Milind Thombre and Madhulika Khare, Chitra Nair, and Kumar Venkataraman

Above Center: Sanjay Patel, Chuck Gerage, and Michael Bukhalo

Left: Robbie Eckardt ‘03 with his parents Lynda and Rob Eckardt

Far Left: Karen Dickerson and Auction Co-Chair Sandy Goldfarb

Above: Art and Lynne Gasey

Over $425,000 was raised on Saturday, March 2.

6 The Quest - Spring 20136 The Quest - Spring 2013

Right: Dave and Laura Zehner

Below: Board Chair Chris Dickerson and Head of School Ben Hebebrand applaud as Spot Auction leadership donors Joe Roberti and Scott Goldfarb greet each other on stage.

Below: Miwa Gardi (Marketing Advisory Council member) and her husband Hiten

Above Left: Jeremy Marmer and Trustee Siva Thayu

Above: Meredith Park enjoys bidding

The Night of All Knights

Above: Anne Roberti enjoys bidding.

Left: Scott and Auction Co-Chair Sandy Goldfarb

www.questacademy.org 77www.questacademy.org

Below: A standing ovation for Spot Auction!

Above: Scott and PSA Board member Lisa Vrablik

Above Center: Trustee Carleen and husband Tom O’Brien accept the 2013 Volunteers of the Year Award from Head of School Ben Hebebrand.Right: Shailesh and Kalpna Prakash

Above: Take Root Campaign Chair & Trustee William Markey and his wife Joyce Kim

250 guests attended!

Grand Sponsors

King Sponsor Duke Sponsor

Corkill Insurance Agency, Inc.

Squire SponsorsCommercial Construction Group, Inc.

Dior Builders, Inc. First American Bank

Flood BrothersHitchcock Design Group

Kroeschell Engineering Co. Omega Demolition Corporation Hetal Shah & Kartik Ganeshan

Bottom: Paddles up for Spot Auction, The Innovation Lab.

Once again thank you to our generous sponsors.

Far Right: Laura and Trustee Gregg George

Spot Auction 2013The

Lab

Carly and Tom O’Brien have volunteered at Quest since their daughter Hannah, now an 8th Grader, enrolled at Quest as a Panda (preschool) many years ago.

As Head of School Ben Hebebrand noted in his remarks, “Without question, Tom was the volunteer foreman and project manager for the development of our West Campus. Believe me—the project would not have been completed under budget and held to the highest standards if not for Tom O’Brien. No detail escaped his watchful eyes. As trustee Luke Praxmarer told me, ‘Tom attended well over 100 meetings and devoted countless hours over the span of the project always keeping a positive attitude. He worked diligently and assiduously toward solutions and resolutions of any and all problems—big and not so big.

When asked about Carly O’Brien, Mr. Hebebrand said, ‘I’m pretty sure there’s nothing that she hasn’t done here as a volunteer. She’s just terrific.’ ”

Alumni Parent, former development director, and good friend Lynda Eckardt said, “Carly is full of wonderfully creative ideas and projects. The auction alone really showcased many of her talents. But, you’ll never hear Carly ‘blowing her own horn.’ She just quietly and effectively gets things done. I knew I could always count on her help with any project, anytime. A huge bonus: she’s just so much darn fun to be around! It never seems like work!”

8 The Quest - Spring 2013

Volunteers of the Year

Spurred by the extraordinary generosity of two lead donors, Dash Financial Holdings and Mr. Joe Roberti, $243,000 for the Innovation Lab was raised at the Night of All Knights Gala and Auction. Planning is already well underway with the build-out to be completed in time for the 2013-14 school year.

Mr. Vinnie Vrotny, Director of Academic Technology, said, “I appreciate the chance to be able to share a kernel of a dream with an open-minded administration, developing it into a solid idea, communicating it to the Quest community, and then receiving such overwhelming affirmation in the form of philanthropic support during the Spot Auction from the parents, faculty, and friends of Quest. I am still in shock and awe. I can’t wait for the start of the next school year!”

“The Innovation Lab is a game-changer for Quest Academy,” said Head of School, Mr. Ben Hebebrand. “Our robust STEAM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Arts-Math) curriculum will provide a multitude of new opportunities for learning and inquiry by our students.”

New Trustees

Sivakami ThayuSiva is a physician with Internal Medicine Associates, S.C. in Fox River Grove. Dr. Thayu attended the University of Texas Medical School at

Houston, after completing her undergraduate education at the University of Pennsylvania. She and her husband Jeremy Marmer, have two children at Quest Academy.

Quest Mathletes

Gregg GeorgeGregg is Director and Senior Vice President of Cedar Street Advisors.. A graduate of Boston College, Gregg earned a bachelor of science degree

in political science and then earned a juris doctorate degree from DePaul College of Law and a master of law degree in taxation from Boston University School of Law. Gregg also serves as president of the board of directors of Cedar Street Charitable Foundation. He and his wife Laura have two children who attend Quest Academy.

Anne ReaderAnne is a corporate litigation attorney for Allstate Insurance. She manages complex corporate litigation,

including class action litigation, litigation challenging the company’s policies and procedures, matters of first impression, and employment cases. She received her undergraduate degree from American University and her juris doctorate from New York University. Anne and her husband Paul have two children at Quest.

Quest students joined over 200 other students from the Chicago area at the Latin School in January and participated in a math competition. The fifth grade team of Mitchell Brown, Audrey Bixby, Nikita Kumar, and Max Curl placed third and Max LoGalbo, Alan Hentrich, Jacob Levine, and Jackson Detterbeck placed 2nd. Individually, Mitchell Brown placed 2nd. The seventh grade team of Ryan Ford, Joel Roberts, Lincoln Skoien, and Rierson Johnson placed third. The eighth grade team of Marc Fournier, Jacob Clorfene, Alex Li, and Jake Fiedler also placed third.

Ten students represented Quest Academy at the Regional Math Counts competition in February. The team of Jake Fiedler, Jacob Clorfene, Marc Fournier, and Alex Li placed 3rd. Alex Li placed 5th and Marc Fournier placed 8th individually.

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10 The Quest - Spring 2013

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Innovation Lab - Continued from page 1

failure, which can hold them back on creative learning and experimentation.

“When we take risks and try new things, sometimes they don’t always work out,” said Hebebrand. “That’s what innovation is all about.”

“Making is about a willingness to try, and a confidence in your ability to learn new things, often with help from others,” said Vrotny.

Quest Academy parents and friends experienced “mak-ing” first-hand at the 2013 Night of All Knights, which featured a pop-up innovation lab. The Spot Auction at the event, which was generously supported, will benefit the Quest Academy Innovation lab. The evening’s pop-up innovation lab featured a 3D printer that allowed guests to “print” out a three-dimensional object. Guests also created projects using Arduino technology (a small microprocessor) and common everyday items. This included running a Pac-Man game using tinfoil and Play-doh.

With an abundance of technologies at their fingertips, it’s easy to let laptop computers or smart phones control students. Making empowers students to control the technology so it works for them. The Quest Academy Innovation Lab will fuel creativity and problem solving with the following planned features:

• New desktop computers to provide the faster and more powerful computing to support the needs of the lower school curriculum and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) curriculum.

• New types of printers (including 2D and 3D) and programmable microcontrollers to pro-vide our students the materials and the op-portunity to be able to prototype, fabricate, and hand-build working models to build solutions to real world problems.

• New furniture and storage to provide a space which is adaptable and flexible so that it will inspire students, foster creativity, encourage playful inquiry, and encompass intellectual col-laboration between students and teachers.

The Innovation Lab is a natural fit for gifted education, not just from the perspective of creating, but also the critical thinking involved. And it helps Quest live out its mission to prepare students for the technology infused environments of the 21st Century, leveraging the use of communications and technology tools to enhance their learning in both areas for personal passion and their academic subjects.

“The Innovation Lab enables the gifted student with a great idea in his or her head to translate it into some-thing tangible,” Vrotny said.

“I’m very, very excited about this project,” said Hebe-brand. “The Innovation Lab is going to transform learn-ing at Quest Academy.”

For more information about technology at Quest Acad-emy visit keepingupwithIT.org.

Grandparents DayFriday, April 19, 8:30-10:30 am

Art Fair & Ice Cream SocialWednesday, April 17, 6:30-8:30 pm

12 The Quest - Spring 2013Office of Institutional AdvancementQuest Academy

500 North Benton Palatine, Illinois 60067847.202.8035

THE QUEST ACADEMY MISSION

Quest Academy provides gifted children with a challenging curriculum and a nurturing environment. Our program emphasizes sound character along with scholarship and creativity in both the academics and the arts. The Quest community values the

individuality of each child and encourages each to strive for personal excellence.

CALENDAR OF EVENTSAprilApr 15 | MONCharacter Ed Pageant, 2:45 - 3:30 pm

Apr 17 | WEDArt Fair & Ice Cream Social 6:30 - 8:30 pm

Apr 19 |FRIGrandparents’ & Special Friends’ Day 8:30 - 10:30 am

May

May 02 | THUIllinois State History Expo

May 03 | FRI Scholastic Bowl State Competition

May 6 - 10 | MON - FRITeacher Appreciation Week

May 09 | THUSpring Choir Concert (Gr. 5-8) 7:00 pm

May 11 | SATState Track Meet

May 17 | FRIMS Spring Musical 7:00 pm

May 18 | SATMS Spring Musical 2:00 pm

May 20-21 | MON - TUEThe Wizard of Oz (Gr. 1-4) 6:30 pm

May 23 | THUPS, PK, K Music Concert 8:30 am

May 27 | MONMemorial Day - NO SCHOOL

May 30 | THUBand Concert 7:00 pm

May 31 | FRIVolunteer Appreciation Coffee 8:30 - 9:30 am

June

Jun 02 | SUNAfter School Program Piano Recital 3:00 - 4:30 pm

Jun 03 | MONService Learning Celebration Assembly 2:45 pm

Jun 06 | THU Graduation 7:00 pm

Jun 07 | FRILast Day of School 8:30 am -12:00 pm

Inspiring & Challenging Gifted Children

Grandparents and Special Friends—mark your calendars for this very special morning! After each grade greets you with some music, you will have a chance to visit classrooms and participate in activities, planned especially for you.

The school is transformed into an art gallery, displaying artwork from all students preschool through 8th grade. You will see examples of painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, photography, illustration, printmaking, and more. We will be serving free ice cream sundaes!