D id you know that all students are 10-20% more likely to complete college if they have taken at least one Ad- vanced Placement (AP) course in high school? Additionally, students who have taken and passed at least one AP exam are 24-26% more likely to graduate from college than their non- AP-taking counterparts. Despite the positive impact of AP on college success, according to Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS), 640,000 low-income students and stu- dents of color are missing from chal- lenging courses in schools across the nation. While H-F High School has a robust program of 24 AP course offerings, pre- liminary findings generated by EOS show that H-F may be missing nearly 300 students who have AP potential but, for one reason or another, are not en- rolling in AP courses. us, through the EOS Lead Higher match-grant opportu- nity, H-F is partnering with EOS to find and enroll formerly missing students in AP for the 2017-18 school year. “While we are just getting started with EOS, we anticipate that this effort will not only have positive, potentially life-alter- ing effects on the students we recruit into AP, but also on our teachers, administrators and the wider school community,” says Superintendent Dr. Von Mansfeld. EOS, a national education non-profit based in Washington, D.C., is spearhead- ing the Lead Higher Initiative in coordi- nation with the U.S. Department of Education and the College Board. e mission of the initiative is to expand AP enrollment numbers of historically under-represented students, defined as low-income and students of color. EOS began its work nearly five years ago with much success. For example, from 2012-13 to 2013-14, Washington’s H-F High School, 999 KEDZIE, FLOSSMOOR, IL 60422 • hfhighschool.org • 708-799-3000 H-F looks to Lead Higher with new AP program VIKING CONNECTION A quarterly newsletter for the District 233 community Fall 2016 • Volume 46 hfhighschool.org continued on page 10 HOMEWOOD-FLOSSMOOR COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL
Transcript
D id you know that all students are 10-20% more likely tocomplete college if they have taken at least one Ad-
vanced Placement (AP) course in high school? Additionally,students who have taken and passed at least one AP exam are24-26% more likely to graduate from college than their non-AP-taking counterparts. Despite the positive impact of AP oncollege success, according to Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS),640,000 low-income students and stu-dents of color are missing from chal-lenging courses in schools across thenation.
While H-F High School has a robustprogram of 24 AP course offerings, pre-liminary findings generated by EOSshow that H-F may be missing nearly300 students who have AP potential but,for one reason or another, are not en-rolling in AP courses. us, through theEOS Lead Higher match-grant opportu-
nity, H-F is partnering with EOS to find and enroll formerlymissing students in AP for the 2017-18 school year.
“While we are just getting started with EOS, we anticipatethat this effort will not only have positive, potentially life-alter-ing effects on the students we recruit into AP, but also on ourteachers, administrators and the wider school community,” saysSuperintendent Dr. Von Mansfield.
EOS, a national education non-profitbased in Washington, D.C., is spearhead-ing the Lead Higher Initiative in coordi-nation with the U.S. Department ofEducation and the College Board. emission of the initiative is to expand APenrollment numbers of historicallyunder-represented students, defined aslow-income and students of color.
EOS began its work nearly five yearsago with much success. For example,from 2012-13 to 2013-14, Washington’s
H-F High School, 999 KEDZIE, FLOSSMOOR, IL 60422 • hfhighschool.org • 708-799-3000
H-F looks to Lead Higher with new AP program
VIKINGCONNECTION
A quarterly newsletter for
the District 233
community
Fall 2016 • Volume 46
hfhighschool.org
continued on page 10
HOMEWOOD-FLOSSMOORCOMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL
2 • VIKING CONNECTION Fall 2016
GRADE 9 - Class of 2020
HIGH HONORS: Alicia Adams • Margaret
Bauer • Kevin Berner II • Ella Bohlman •
Rebecca Brandt • Brianna Bridges • Kevin
Cawley • Sarah Chevalier • Yanah Collins
• Lilly Donkel • Amber Dowd • Olivia
Fortman • Michael Garrity • Andrew
Hansen • Gloria Ikoh • Caroline Johnson •
Daijah Johnson • Danielle Johnson •
Dominick Jones • Adekemi Kasali • Abigail
Krakar • Jonathan Kriarakis • Isaac
Latman • Luke Lesimple • Elizabeth
Lipscomb • Kaden Paris • Emily Pearce •
Eric Piros • Aranda Porter • Haley Ram-
page • Janellie Roach • Allison Ryan •
Haley Sawyer • Mattison Schneider • Jada
Seaton • Tai Shonkwiler • Aria Simpson •
Nicole Thompson • Dwayne Williams, Jr.
HONORS: Alice Abegunde • Selena
Adetunji • Neida Aguilar • Jeremiah Alfred
• Eric Allen • Nicholas Amuh • Cora
Anderson • Mia Anderson • Journey Barsh
• David Bassey • Nia Bell • Juliette
Benjamin • Louis Berman • Brendan Bern
• Angela Bertoletti • Erica Bjorklund •
Miara Bolden • Elizabeth Bransky • Jania
Breland • Patrick Brewton • Tamara Butler
• Anthony Caldanaro • Macy Campin •
Daniel Carrasco • Caleb Causey • Kelvin
Clark • Rachel Coleman • Michael
Conaway • Ian Connors • Aaron Crater •
Paul Crecco • Nia Cunningham • Ariel
Davis • Brooke Deckelman • Catherine
Donahue • Bryce Dorsey • Nauryce
Dorsey • Rorie Dougherty • Mia Dyson •
Lena Fantroy • Olivia Ford • Jason Fosco
• Xavier Frazier • Jade Fuentes • Jacob
Goldberg • Devin Gorton • Kalea Grace •
Simone Graham • Anna Gsell • Jovan
Gutierrez • Benjamin Hamer •
Shawntavion Harris • Taylor Harvey •
Mishaye Hearn • Steven Hinich • Taylor
Hollis • Maliyah Howard • Liam Hughes •
Joshua Hur • Jack Hurley • Jazz Jabulani
• Jalani Jackson • Makiya Jenkins • Dasia
Johnson • Reyna Johnson • Ava Jones •
Kennedy Jones • Nathaniel Jones • Erin
Kaiser • Duffy Karstrom • Ceridwen Kehoe
• Grace Keigher • Jazmyn Kelley • Lillian
Knetl • Julia Koyn • Delaney Kruse • Jhori
Lobban • Dariah Lockhart • Alejandro
Lopez • Kyla Luna • Eleanor McBride •
Kaylah McCall • Rayna McCoy • Skylar
McNulty • Vontrise McTear • Sammari
Meeks • Jacob Merrill • Rebecca Metellus
• Fiorella Michelis • Ariel Mitchell • Imani
Mitchell • Imari Mitchell • Janssen Mitchell
• Makyla Moore • Zachariah Moore • Maya
Nash • Brianna Neal • Skyy Newbern •
Emily Norling • Lawrence Ogbuli • Noelle
Oh • Abimbola Oyefeso • Evelyn Perl •
Jayda Phillips • John Pohrte • Darrione
Polk • Kayla Polk • Jadyn Powell-Cork •
Mia Pravdic • Marc Ramirez • Moises
Renteria • Eliza Rex • Ashley Roberts •
Kortni Robinson • Destini Rose • Violet
Sahagun • Lia Sidberry • Calahan Smith •
Jaron Smith • Lenora Smith • Ania Staples
• Allison Stern • Olivia Streitmatter • Devyn
Suggs • Alex Szczender • Cheyenne
Taylor • Keydi Tejeda • Bruno Terrazas •
Javon Thomas • Anna Thompson • Jurni
Tollerson • Karsyn Tully • Nia Valdez •
Kelly Van Etten • Jimena Villamor Thomp-
kins • Kelsey West • Jack Williams •
Jordan Woolfolk • Kayla Worley • Jewel
Young • Sophia Youpel • Samuel Zinaich
GRADE 10 - Class of 2019
HIGH HONORS: Maya Alborn • Oyindasola
Ayorinde • Alex Benitez • Kaila Brack •
Audrey Brown • Barbara Burns • Kyle
Butler • Lauryn Castagna • Joan Coderre •
Abigail Guerrero • Perry Hoag III • Aisha
Ibrahim • Caroline Koranda • Winston
Langston • Caroline Larocca • Jeremy
Libretti-River • Audrey McKillip • Emma
McKillip • Kensuke Nakamura • Laurin
Neal • Oluwafunmibi Oyedokun • Sally
Pauss • Autumn Staples • Jeffrey Steele •
James Steiner • Maeve VanEtten •
Katelyn Zalewski
HONORS: Evan Abraham • Margret Akpan
• Shelby Akridge • Kyle Allen •
Jack Anderson • Udochukwu Anidobu •
Deja Austin • Dominique Austin •
Josephine Bachus • Kyle Barthelemy •
Clayvon Bedenfield • Jace Bell • Maleah
Bess • Diego Blanco • Jonathan Bodine •
Megan Bolling • Antonio Bonds II •
Michelle Bravo • Antonio Brown • Shelby
Brown • Myah Byrd • Lily Callen • Jose
Carbajal, Jr. • Tyron Carr • Jade Castillo •
Lindsey Coleman • Jaronn Correll •
Donald Crocker • Kennedy Curtis •
Victoria D’Astici • Kyndall Davis • Oscar
Delgado • Jaida Dickson • Asha Dowell •
Jordan Drayton-Plaxico • Dylan Dunlavy •
Maggie Dunne • Dakota Duplessis •
Kennedy Echols • Tearra Edwards •
Benjamin Eng • Alec Farias • Audrey Faris
• Jaida Fourte • Jose Julian Garcia • Jose
Justin Garcia • Deajon Gerald • Peyton
Gibson • Kaniyah Gill • Michael Gordon •
Sierra Harris • Alejandro Hernandez •
Alannah Hill • Camille Hobson • Kathryn
Holland • James Humphrey • Cayley
Jackson • Cameron Johnson • Jack
Johnson • Anastasia Jones Vasilopoulos •
Chloe Kapica • Eli Kebschull • Sierra Knox
• Anais Konwerski • Owen Kreis • Mia
LaNier • Mariah Larrieu • Brianna Lewis •
Isabella Loparco-Siemsen • Zachary
Lueder • Jake Lutz • Joshua Maicach •
Jeremiah Mailey-Durodola • Shallon
Malfeo • Mia Martin • Gerardo Martinez
Arias • Makayla McMillian • Jessica
McReynolds • Kelci Merritt • Ciara Mills •
Destiny Montgomery • Makenzie Moore •
JackLayden Mott • Morgan Murphy •
Taylor Nash • Kayla Norris •
Grace Ongman • Eniola Oyefeso •
Zoelin Pair • Oscar Parrish III • Max Perez
• Malik Perry • Matthew Piotrowski •
Camm Pollmacher • Daeja Purnell •
Joshua Quintanilla • Deja Rebb •
Joy Rhodes • Peyton Riegler • Emily
Robertson • Sean Roby • Alyssa Rosales •
Khairi Ross • Alison Ruffolo • Jasmine
Sahagun • Jessica Salazar • Ashley
Schaller • Jacob Schroeder • Tiana
Sharpe • Bailey Sheridan • Christen
Slaughter • Aayanna Smith • Aleah Smith
• Destiny Smith • Zykira Smith • Myles
Spain • Jaira Stanley • Jalen Stennis •
Trishaun Sutton • Tramone Tate • Jalen
Thompson • Sabrina Treccani • Gia
Troche • Ayanna Veal • Luke Venegas •
Myles Walker • Acque Warner •
Zoe Weaver • Josephine Wenckus •
Jaelyn White • Autumn Williams •
Alexandria Wilson • Mara Winfrey •
Sydney Wright • Kamiya Young •
Samara Zinnerman
GRADE 11 - Class of 2018
HIGH HONORS: Emma Anderson •
Antonio Archilla • Kori Barnes • Jacqueline
Bassey • Jazmin Carney • Declan Cawley
• Joseph Cipriano • Michael Colton •
Levi Dobben • Leia Fuentes • David Hill •
Caleb Izenbart • Angelina Izguerra •
Destiny Izguerra • Imani Jones • Melvin
Keeler • Allie Mangel • Andronicus Marati •
Madeline Moxley • Enrique Munoz •
Emma Novak • Folashade Olumola •
Claudia Pollmacher • Jonathan Rusek •
Jade Stevenson • Cole Weber • Jasmine
West • Simone Williams • Arthur Willis •
Kayla Winfrey
HONORS: Maryam Adebayo • Hyacinth
Agting • Sarah Albers • Taylor Ausley •
Manuel Ayala • Assita Bamba • Sierrah
Banks • Gabrielle Bello • Rachel Berey-
Wingate • Kaitlyn Beverly • Grace
Bingham • Christopher Blountt • Ethan
Bosch • Antoine Bouyer • Gabrielle
Caldanaro • Ava Calpino • Kendall Carter •
Dylan Case • Megan Connors • Ryan Cox
• Braydon Crawford • Lucy Crump •
Kennedy Dames • Jylon Daniels • Lauren
Davidson • Nautica Davis • Raven Davis •
Aireal Dickson • Anthony Dowd • Tamila
Dozier • Sandra Driscoll • Max Dunlavy •
Melissa Duran • Meghan Dwyer • Oritse-
matosan Egbesemirone • Marcell Ellis •
Evgenia Ermasova • Narissa Falkner •
Michael Fanello • Opeyemi Fatuki •
Alexandra Fieramosca • Amanda
Fieramosca • Jasmine Franklin • John
Geary • Jordan Gettings • Jaden Gladden
• Fernando Gomez • Rhododendron
Gorbuscha • Ryan Gorton • Danika Griffin
• Philip Hallam • Olivia Hamer • Sydney
Hampton • Andrew Harris • Brianna Harris
• Khadijah Harris • Delaney Herkert •
Jordyn Hester • Allison Hrechko • Joseph
Humphrey • Ajia James • Stewart Keene •
Omar Khalyfa • Theodore Komorowski •
Aaliyah Korkoyah • Elizabeth Lampley •
Amilia Latham • Jillian Lessner • Jorden
Levine • Kourtney Long • Jonathan Luong
• Elyse Mansfield • Erik Manzig • Ricardo
Martinez • Kayla Matthews • Amaris
McCray • Ruth McManus • Nacyla Mitchell
• Steven Moore • Anna Moran • Mary
Moran • Amirah Muhammad • Mya Murff •
Liam O’Connor • Beatrice Oladosu •
Stephney Oleforo • Mark Oliver • George
O'Malley • Olufemi Orekoya • Gabrielle
Palomo • Uriyah Patterson • Le Roy Patter-
son, Jr. • Courtney Pugh • Lior Rafalovitz •
Alex Rechsteiner • Andre Reed • Christian
Reed • Raven Reeves • Michaela Reid •
Samantha Roberson • Tyler Roberson •
ClareGrace Ryndak • Kyle Salley • Sarah
Skorupa • Jalen Spain • Yuri Stapleton •
Kyla Stinson • Luca Strohmeier • Margaret
Sullivan • Kameron Tate • Emma Temple •
Ethan Thomas • Josha Thomas • Amari
Thompson • Tara Thrall • Mya Toliver •
Tyler Van Kley • Bridget VanEtten •
ZiOnay Walker • Chloe Walls • John
Weeks • Brandon White • Chloe White •
Shaniya Wiley • Kyla Wilson • Devin
Winston • Taylor Woodward • John
Wootton • Mariah Wordlaw • Rickey Young
GRADE 12 - Class of 2017
HIGH HONORS: Isolde Belisle Dempsey •
Olivia Bergeron • Michael Bonthron •
Vanessa Bowers • Emma Brown •
Violet Buchtel-Devine • Kiya Cox Bey •
Eboni Davis • Aislinn DeButch • Maya
Dent • Bailey Didier • Claire Fortman •
Payton Gallery • Joseph Greenebaum •
Sydney Hayes • Mary Huffman • Shannon
Jordan • Brennan Kaiser • Reese Kaiser •
Samantha Klupchak • Thomas Payton •
Maryah Phillips • Gabrielle Pizza •
Jennifer Riner • Kennedi Sidberry •
Lucy Sloan • Eliza Sykes • Malika Toguem
• Mya Valadez • Catherine Wassilak •
Eunice Whang
HONORS: Nicholas Adams • Boluwatife
Ajanaku • Natalie Alston • Matthew
Anderson • Sopuluchukwu Anidobu •
Jessica Ashby • Andrew Asunmo • Kendal
Bailey • Miracle Barker • Leroy Barron •
Kylie Barthelemy • Melinda Berman •
Jenna Bostick • Nathaniel Bouchie • Justin
Brooks • Justin Caldwell • Takwon Callum
• Ryan Casey • Joshua Chambers •
Heaven Charles • Hailey Coghlan •
Courtney Commodore • Erin Cook • Justin
Correll • Mia Croswell • Cooper Dague •
Courtney Davis • Kerrington Davis • Lance
Davis • Finess Dickson • Abigail Diemer •
Kathryn Donermeyer • Shelby Dorsey •
Sydney DuBose • Dylan Duplessis •
Krystal-Flora Dureke • Nicholas Evans •
Hayley Fitch • Ryan Fitzgerald • Kendra
Fourte • Amari Franks • Alexander Garcia
• Alexander Garcia • Sydney Gear •
Somer Giles • Tyler Gillespie • Emanuel
Gomez • Karen Gonzalez • Eric
Hagerman • Azrien Handy • Morgan
Harvey • Amber Haywood • Henry Heligas
• Joseph Henry • Michael Hillegass • Kyle
Hinton • Benjamin Hoefle • Shane Hogan
• Aaron Holliday • Aaron Hopper • Alexis
Hunter • Ashley Hunter • Eric Hunter •
Blessing Ibe • Jatwon Jackson • Tiara
Jackson • Lauren Jennings • Hanna
Johnson • Johnny Johnson • Sophia
Johnson • Jaylah Jones • Logan Jones •
Malak Kidd • Jamezz Kimbrough • Cierra
King • Stephen Kirchschlager • William
Knox • Tina Kuester • Nicholas Lambros •
Alexander Landin • Elijah Leake •
Jazzmine Lee • Jonathon Lee • Christian
Lewis • Leah London • Christina Loyd •
Destiny Lynn • Caroline Madden • Kristen
Maxwell • Christian Mayo • Nyduta Mbogo
• Nicholas McAlister • Collin McCauley •
Kendall McGowan-Durr • Brittany McLaurin
• Glynnis McManamy • David Meehan •
Alexis Meiner • Alexander Mendoza •
Brianna Meyer • Giancarlo Michelis • Jes-
sica Minor • Cameron Mitchell • Matthew
Murden • Mareno Myers • Jessica Myles •
Chiedozie Nwaru • Taisha Oliver • Joylynn
Osei • Nana Osei • Kyah Parker • Dylan
Parrott • Meera Patel • Daniela Pena • Jas-
mine Penman • Michael Price • Michelle
Pruitt • Reilly Puffenbarger • James Rhyne
• Jaimie Robinson • Lauren Robinson •
Imani Rogers • Jacob Rothchild • Eva
Rubin • Lauren Ruffolo • Dilan Rutland •
Olivia Ryan • Matthew Scholefield •
Michael Schutz • Simeon Shama •
Thomas Simon • Malik Sims • Jordan
Singleton • Clayton Smailes • Jalyn Smith
• Kimani Smith • Dorian Snowden • Tess
Sobolewski • Alexandria Staton • Ian Stern
• Tamara Stevens • Hayley Sutherland •
Juno Suzuki • Todd Taylor • Madeline
Tillman • Taah Tompkins • Kristin Tribett •
Sebastian Valentin • Michael VanEtten •
Robert Venegas • Zakiya Walker • Destiny
Webster • Sarah Weiner • Jane Wenckus •
Kamryn Wesley • Ashley White • David
White • Katherine Willis • Tsai Yun Yang
Honor Roll — 1st Quarter 2016/17
We are off to a great start this school year; welcome to your first issueof the 2016-17 Viking Connection newsletter. e search for our
new principal is currently underway. e position has been posted nation-ally, and the search firm, BWP & Associates, will be conducting focus
groups with community members, staff, students, parents and intergovernmental representatives inNovember. You are invited on Tuesday, Nov. 22, to participate in the development of the candidateprofile by sharing your thoughts and expectations for the new principal. Applications will close in lateDecember with interviews beginning in January. e interviews will include meetings with separategroups: students, staff, parents, community members and intergovernmental representatives. We ex-pect to have a final candidate selected by early February. It is vitally important to include all stakehold-ers in this process — your viewpoint is an essential piece.
I am confident that through this process a principal will be selected who will meet the needs of ourschool community, someone who will inspire our students and staff, who will work tirelessly to ensurethat all students reach beyond their potential by implementing innovative and results-driven program-ming, and someone who will continue to move us forward as a school of excellence.
Community members can now access H-F’s 2016 Illinois School Report Card (ISRC) online: illi-noisreportcard.com. e report card provides the district’s year-to-year performance, identifiesstrengths and areas of opportunity for growth. e ISRC, however, is just one of the many measures weuse to examine student, program and district outcomes. As a comprehensive public high school, ourgoal is to prepare each student to be successful at the post-secondary level. One measurement is by theACT college-readiness standard. is is defined by having a composite ACT score of 21 or greater.While this is one way to measure readiness, the American Association of School Administrators is uti-lizing a much more comprehensive analysis to determine college and career readiness, as detailed intheir Redefining Ready Campaign. By examining other academic indicators, such as standardized test-ing benchmarks and additional factors that contribute to success, we are able to identify students whoneed additional support and resources, and, just as importantly, continue to challenge all students witha rigorous and enriching curriculum. Our students are so much more than a test score and at everyjuncture, they continue to provide us with other valuable evidence that is equally indicative of predict-ing post-secondary success.
We are pleased to point out that our graduation and attendance rates are 96% and 94%, respectively.While our reported college-readiness percentage is 49%, in reality we send nearly 90% of students tocollege each year. Most importantly, 82% are still in college 16 months later. In addition, the percentageof freshman students on track has increased 4.9 points to 90%. While our ACT scores have remainedsteady over the last several years, we continue to employ a balanced assessment strategy to monitorlearning, growth and academic programs. To prepare our students for college, H-F offers more than 20Advanced Placement courses, 13 International Baccalaureate courses and a series of four progressiveProject Lead the Way courses. H-F was among a select group of schools selected to participate in theLead Higher Initiative through Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS). We are identifying methods to in-crease participation among traditionally underrepresented students in AP classes. In addition, our Re-sponse to Intervention (RtI) program, along with many additional student support initiatives, provideour students with resources and opportunities based on their individual needs and goals. All availabledata will continue to be utilized to identify areas for growth in order to provide our students with theservices and programming needed to maximize their potential.
Our ISRC includes H-F’s most recent PARCC and ACT scores. Recently, the Illinois State Board ofEducation replaced PARCC with the SAT for state testing, resulting from concerns of the reliabilityand validity of test results. is means that this year the state will provide the SAT to students in Grade11 and use the results for school accountability. Our teachers and administrators have been workingdiligently on making this transition successful for our students through classroom adjustments, VikingTest Prep changes and communication. For details on how H-F is preparing our students to succeedon the SAT this spring, please visit www.highschool.com/news. With the holidays upon us, we haveso much to be thankful for as a community. I look forward to sharing future student and staff accom-plishments with you in the coming months. —Superintendent Dr. Von Mansfield
Message from the Superintendent
Fall 2016 VIKING CONNECTION • 3
District 233 Board of Education
President Richard T. Lites
Debbie L.Berman, ’84
Dr. John Farrell
Vice President/SecretaryAndrew Lindstrom ’72
Principal Search Update
COMMUNITY GROUP MEETINGS
Tuesday, Nov. 22
8-9 a.m. - South Building TLC
5:30-6:30 p.m. - South Building E1
7-8 p.m. - South Building TLC
Community members are invited to meet
with representatives from the search firm,
BWP & Associates. Please take the time to
help develop the candidate profile by shar-
ing your thoughts and expectations for our
next principal. A principal profile survey will
also be available online, beginning Monday,
Nov. 21. Visit hfhighschool.com for the link.
FacebookHomewood-Flossmoor-High-School
Twitter & Instagram@HFHS59
Gerald Pauling, ’85
JodyScariano
TimWenckus
Correction: In the
Summer 2016 Viking
Connection, the list-
ing of 2016 scholar-
ship recipients
omitted the Home-
wood Historical Society Scholarship, which was
awarded to Thomas Planera III, who currently
attends Loyola University - Chicago. We apolo-
gize for the omission and thank the society for
its scholarship opportunity.
A r o u n d C a m p u s
Meet H-F’s Newest Faculty Members
National Merit Students
Two members of H-F’s senior class— Kathryn Donermeyer and LillianHamer, both residents of Homewood— have been named semifinalists inthis year’s National Merit ScholarshipProgram. ey are two of nearly16,000 students across the U.S. to re-ceive this honor from the NationalMerit Scholarship Corporation(NMSC), based in Evanston. e twowere named semifinalists based upontest scores on the PSAT/NMSQTtest, which they completed at H-F infall 2015. ey each now have an op-portunity to continue in the NMSCcompetition for some 7,500 scholar-ships worth more than $33 millionthat will be offered in the spring. Toadvance to the finalist round in thescholarship competition, semifinal-ists must fulfill several requirements.About 90 percent of semifinalists at-tain this goal and about half of the fi-nalists will receive a scholarship. Lastyear H-F's two semifinalists — Mar-garet Colton (University of Chicago)and Heather Culbertson (EvangelUniversity) — both attained finaliststatus.
Additionally, six other H-F seniors
have been named 2017National Merit Com-mended Students:Michael Bonthron,Nathaniel Bouchie,Emma Brown, HenryHeligas, Blessing Ibe& omas Simon.Although they will notcontinue in the 2017competition for Na-tional Merit Scholar-ship awards,Commended Studentsplaced among the top
five percent of more than 1.6 millionstudents who entered the 2017 com-petition by taking the PSAT/NMSQTin fall 2015.
Scholastic Bowl finishesin 3rd Place at Universityof Illinois Tournament
Congratulations to the H-F ScholasticBowl team for an impressive 3rd-placefinish at the University of IllinoisEarlybird Tournament, held in earlyOctober in Champaign. e team wasled by senior Lily Hamer, who aver-aged 85 toss-up points per game dur-ing the preliminary rounds andfinished 2nd out of 62 players in thetournament! Along with Lily, seniorsMichael Bonthron and omasSimon and junior Ethan Bosch helpedlead the team to major victories overstate powerhouse programs, includingCarbondale, Sandburg and Springfieldhigh schools. e H-F junior team —consisting of juniors Declan Cawley,Michael Colton, Luca Strohmeier andsophomore Myles Walker — finishedas the top “B” team at the tournamentaer toppling Champaign Centennial’s“A” team. HF
Leslie BerryMath Teacher
Prince LoweMath Teacher
Matt BongesScience Teacher
Bill MerchantzApplied Academics
Teacher
Broderick BoothDean of Students
Julie MikuzisFine Arts Teacher
Cara BorelliPE/Health/Driver Ed
Teacher
Jodi NardellaMath Teacher
Lindsay BrownSchool Counselor
Matt RaglioneSpecial Education
Teacher
Jenna DeFazioWorld Language
Department Chair
Jeanettra WatkinsScience Teacher
4 • VIKING CONNECTION Fall 2016
Athletics
Instead of running on a soccer field onSaturday, Sept. 17, H-F’s entire varsitysoccer team ran around downtownChicago for 90 minutes — the length of asoccer match — performing random actsof kindness with players from other areahigh schools. Participating in the Morn-ing of Kindness event were: Matthew An-derson, Sebastian Ascencio, LeroyBarron, Benjamin Brandt, Kyle Butler,Santiago Carpio, Phil Donahue, RyanDowell, Jacob Gonzalez, Ben Hoefle,Jared Hoekstra, Brendan Hurley, JackHurley, Brennan Kaiser, Reese Kaiser,Stephen Kirchschlager, David Meehan,Jeffrey Ordonez, Kyle O’Shea, CollinPawlowski, Andrew Pounder, John Ben-jamin Wootton and Assistant Coach GilSmit.
Fine Arts
One H-F Fine Arts alumnae and twocurrent students had their artwork se-lected for the 2016-17 Illinois Art Educa-tion Association Student Art Show,which was held Saturday, Nov. 5, at theBloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel &Conference Center. Congratulations tosenior Lucy Sloan, junior KathleenSchmidt and alumnae Shiloah Coley,who is currently attending the Universityof Wisconsin - Madison.
Guidance & Counseling
• In September, the Guidance Officewelcomed two representatives from theRoyal Conservatoire of Scotland. AdamMcIlwaine, head of the school’s ScreenDepartment, and Ray Tallan, cinematog-raphy lecturer, spent the day with severalH-F Film Studies students and collabo-rated on a special project featuring theH-F Library.
• Hundreds of H-F students and parentslearned about nearly 200 colleges anduniversities at this year’s College Night(pictured), held Monday, Oct. 17, in theH-F Fieldhouse. e event was organ-ized by Kevin Coy and Brad Kain, col-lege consultants, and featuredinstitutions of all sizes and types fromacross the United States.
H-F Library
is year the H-F Library is offering ex-tended aer-school hours for H-F stu-dents. e library is now open until 5:45p.m. Mondays - Fridays to better accom-modate students’ needs. Librarians JaneHarper and Alicia Rodriguez have alsoredesigned the library’s website and haveadded a weekly blog. Read more athighschool.org/resources/library. HF
A r o u n d C a m p u s
Fall 2016 VIKING CONNECTION • 5
Voyage to ExcellenceOpen House: Nov. 30
Area 8th Graders and their parents are in-
vited to H-F’s Voyage to Excellence Open
House on Wednesday, Nov. 30, from 7-8:30
p.m. Attending Voyage to Excellence is a
great way to become acquainted with the
curricular and extracurricular programs at H-F.
Incoming families will be able to meet depart-
ment chairs, teachers, coaches and sponsors
as they tour the campus.
Booths from the school’s academic de-
partments, clubs, sports and activities will be
located throughout the LEED Gold-certified
North Building Fieldhouse, providing informa-
tion on their organizations and how to get in-
volved. Impromptu performances by
members of the Viking Marching Band, Drum-
line and Viking Choir — as well as appear-
ances by H-F’s ZooBot animals and mascot,
Victor Viking — keep the evening entertaining
and interesting.
Approximately 300 course options are
available through H-F's nine academic depart-
ments. There are nearly 120 clubs and sports
to join, as well, including Chess Club, Volley-
ball, Cheerleading, Operation Snowball, Viking
Orchestra, Spanish Club, Visual Arts Club and
the Viking Broadcast Company, which re-
cently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Learn
more at this year’s open house on Nov. 30.
For more details, contact the Activities Office
at 708-335-5525. HF
T he teachers and administrators of H-Fbelieve the greatest service they can
provide students is an education that givesthem the intellectual, emotional and socialskills necessary to succeed in their post-sec-ondary life. Approximately 300 course op-tions are available in nine departments:Applied Academics, English, Fine Arts,Mathematics, Science, Social Science,P.E./Health/Driver Education, Special Edu-cation and World Language. e school sub-scribes to a “push-pull philosophy:” studentsare pushed to take the most rigorous coursesthey can handle and are pulled through with
an array of academic and social-emotionalsupport systems (see below).
H-F is a comprehensive community highschool with a full array of College Prep andHonors programs. In addition, we are fortu-nate to also offer specialized academic pro-grams that include: • H-F Gied Academy — designed to chal-lenge top academic students with a mix ofHonors, Advanced Placement and Interna-tional Baccalaureate courses, culminating inan IB diploma aer graduation.• Media, Visual & Performing Arts Acad-emy (MVP) — a ground-breaking program
where students have the opportunity to de-velop their talent in an art-focused field andcollaborate with other student-artists in across-discipline capstone project. • Advanced Placement — giving studentsthe opportunity to choose from more than 20college-level courses and the chance to earncollege credit through an end-of-the-yearexam, administered by the College Board. • Project Lead the Way — letting studentscreate, innovate and solve complex problemsin a real-world context. Enrollment in theseSTEM-based, progressive classes has nearlytripled at H-F since 2010.
300+Course offerings (including 30+ AP & IB)
738College credits
earned - from AP/IB exams
158Students honored byAP (see list at right)
90%Freshmen on track
2,800Approximate number
of students
19Average class size
17:1Student-to-teacher
ratio
96%Graduation rate
6 • VIKING CONNECTION Fall 2016
2 0 1 6 A c a d e m i c S n a p s h o t
INTERVENTIONS & SUPPORT
PROGRAMS
• ACADEMIC INTERVENTION CLASS
• BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION PROGRAM
• INTERVENTION FOR SUCCESS CLASS
• CREDIT RECOVERY • NAVIANCE
• DOUBLE-BLOCK MATH COURSES
• STUDENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
• STUDENT MENTORING PROGRAMS
• SUPPORT GROUPS • ESL CLASSES
• H-F UNIVERSITY WORKSHOPS
• SCHOOL-WIDE LITERACY INSTRUCTION
• HOMEWORK RECOVERY PERIOD
• PEER TUTORING • READING CLASSES
• RtI CLASSROOM INTERVENTIONS
• SEMINAR IN TEACHING & LEARNING
• STUDY SESSIONS • TUTORING
• VIKING TEST PREP • WRITING CENTER
• CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK
• EXTENDED LIBRARY HOURS
• 504s • INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PLANS
FACULTY SUPPORT TEAMS
• PLCs — PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
COMMUNITIES
• SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE
• STUDENT SUPPORT TEAM
• EOS EQUITY TEAM
• LITERACY & TECHNOLOGY COACHES
• H-F CARES COMMITTEE
• CURRICULUM TEAM
IDENTIFYING PROGRAMATIC &
INDIVIDUAL STUDENT NEEDS
• ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK
• COMMON ASSESSMENTS
• STANDARDIZED TESTING
• MASTERY MANAGER
• RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION
• INFO DYNAMICS
• TEACHER REFERRALS
• FAMILY INVOLVEMENT
SUPPOR T I NG S T UDENT A CH I E V EMENT A T H - F
Fall 2016 VIKING CONNECTION • 7
AP SCHOLARSScores of 3 or higheron 3 or more AP exams
AP SCHOLARS WITHHONORSAverage score of atleast 3.25 on all APexams taken, plusscores of 3 or higheron 4 or more exams
Emma Anderson
Sopuluchukwu Anidobu
Rashelle Brownfield
Michael Colton
Kathryn Donermeyer
William Doran
Shannon Dunne
Daniel Estelle
Michael Gavin
Brittany Henry
Joshua Izenbart
Erique Johnson
Shannon Jordan
Brianna Meyer
Madeline Moxley
Jackson Mulligan
Thomas Planera
Shelly Ray
Myah Rhodes
Josha Thomas
Katia Tingue
Sarah Weiner
John Wootton
AP SCHOLARS WITHDISTINCTION Aver-age score of 3.5 on allAP exams taken, plusscores of 3 or higheron 5 or more exams
Melinda Berman
Michael Bonthron
Nathaniel Bouchie
Zoe Branch
Juliana Castagna
Heather Culbertson
Samuel Cutrara
Tristan Donohoe
Joseph Eagle
Payton Gallery
Joseph Greenebaum
Eric Hagerman
Lillian Hamer
Henry Heligas
Blessing Ibe
Carter Levinson
Luke Logan
Michelle Maass
Linda Nwumeh
Kayla Reiser
Jacob Rothchild
Cobi Sabo
Johnathon Schmidt
Matthew Scholefield
Julia Schwieterman
Thomas Simon
Darius Slatton
Lucy Sloan
Keani Staton
Hayley Sutherland
Eliza Sykes
Malika Toguem
Johnathan Truex
Kira VanVoorhees
Robert Venegas
NATIONAL APSCHOLARSAverage score of atleast 4 on all APexams taken, plusscores of 4 or higheron 8 or more exams
Mae Carroll
Michael Gislason
Nora Grasse
Rosemary Joyce
Lauren Torian
IB DIPLOMA RECIPIENTS
Jessica Barry
Ryan Bergal
Margaret Colton
Heather Culbertson
Lila Grant
Julia Schwieterman
Nick Thompson
Lauren Torian
Kira Van Voorhees
Isabel Weber
Shaleahk Wilson
EARNED QUALIFYINGSCORES (4+) IN ATLEAST 3 IBCOURSES
Kwame Amuh
Jessica Barry
Ryan Bergal
Juliana Castagna
Bernie Coderre
Margaret Colton
Heather Culbertson
Preston Genett
Lila Grant
Michael Havighorst
Hannah Levy
Jared Moore
Leah Moss
Chris Norling
Hakeem Reed
Julia Schwieterman
Nick Thompson
Lauren Torian
Kira Van Voorhees
Isabel Weber
Shaleahk Wilson
H-F Students’ 2016 National Achievements
Students of the 1st Quarter
• Michelle Bravo (Nominated by Bob St. Leger, Social Science)• Courtney Commodore (Nominated by Sarah Whitlock, Music)• Naem Davis (Nominated by Cassie Miller & Paula Crawford,
PE/Health)• Tyler DeMartra (Nominated by Shante Jackson, Guidance)• Jivan Dieudonne (Nominated by Stefanie Camilli, World
Language)• Carnell Dodd (Nominated by Bill Merchantz, Career &
Technical Education)• Sandra Driscoll (Nominated by Rusty Sayler, Mathematics)• Grace Haynes (Nominated by Jeremiah Harris, Guidance)• David Hill (Nominated by Rick Pavinato, Science)• DeAndre Jackson (Nominated by Alana Drude, English)• Jaylah Jones (Nominated by Janet Marks, Family & Consumer
Science)• Micah Moore (Nominated by Mike O’Neill, Business Education)• Emma Novak (Nominated by Jackie Wargo, Art)• Jadyn Powell-Cork (Nominated by Reginald Brown, Reading)• Shamier Vance (Nominated by Roberto Suarez, Guidance)
76%Of teachers hold at
least 1 advanced degree
91%Teacher retention
rate
240Scholarships earned by
the Class of 2016
3National Blue RibbonAwards for Excellence
A l umn i N ew s & H a p p e n i n g s
It’s a SmallWorld (whenyou’re aViking!)In the alumni office, I hear
Class of 1986e Class of 1986 held a memorable re-union in September. Led by the creative re-union planning committee of RobinRangel McElligott and Mark Benzaquen,events included a pub crawl on Fridayevening followed by the formal Saturdayevening event at Idlewild Country Club.Enjoying each other’s company during the
Friday evening festivities are (l-r): Leanne Stitt Champion, Kenny Bank, DeanneFriedman, Joan Pasquinelli VanBeest, Tracy Wesley Kocourek, Laura PecoraSchreiber, Andy Stone, Mark Benzaquen and Eric Havens.
Classof 1966Under the guid-ance of DavidCampbell andhis tireless re-union planningcommittee, theClass of 1966 offered a weekend of well-planned and orchestrated events duringHomecoming. e planning for this reunion began more than two years ago as thecommittee brainstormed ideas and suggestions. What resulted was nothing lessthan spectacular. Classmates came from near and far for a chance to reconnect, andthey had plenty of opportunity to do just that! Events ranged from a golf outing,pizza at Aurelio’s, stops at local watering holes, a Chicago River boat tour, and gra-cious alumni Gil & Carolyn Parsons, Joel & Donna Stender and Bob Buford open-ing up their homes to host classmate gatherings over the course of the weekend.
Almost 60 alumni and family members met at H-F for a tour on the Saturdaymorning of their formal event. ey were delighted by the growth of the school andhow much had changed in the last 50 years, but how the core building blocks,which had been developed by the founders and early leaders of the school, re-mained the same. One of the highlights was a tour through the H-F auto shop and astop in the choir room, which brought back so many memories for Viking Choiralumni.
Special thanks and kudos to the following reunion committee members: BillBonnell, Bill Sheehan, Bob Buford, Cari Campbell, Charles Hansen, Cori Seidel-mann Ward, David Clegg, Gil Parsons, Janice Holch Hunady, Joel Stender, KarenWeinberg Grandinetti, Kathryn Burton, Kim Williams, Linnea Paulsen Suthers,Mary Sue Wallace, Mike Dennis, Mike Grandinetti, Mike Musich, Pam MadsenHansen, Phyllis Irwin Heinrich, Shirley Soderborg Lowes, Susan Semerau Young,Tom Guilfoyle, Tom Horn & Tom Panichi.
Special Alumni Visits
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the SuperBowl, the NFL distributed golden footballsto high schools that had produced a Super
Bowl player or participant. H-F was honored toreceive a football this summer in recognition ofWes Hamilton, ’71. Wes played 11 seasons for theMinnesota Vikings, playing in Super Bowl XI.
e Super Bowl High School Honor Roll pro-gram instituted by the NFL this year recognizes“schools that contributed to Super Bowl history.”Nearly 3,000 players and coaches have taken part
in a Super Bowl game and more than 2,000 high schools across the country re-ceived their own football. At the request of the NFL, each Super Bowl player wasrequested to present the ball in person. Wes was able to do that this June aer trav-eling from his home in Minnesota, along with his wife, Linda (Vik) Hamilton, ’71.He presented the ball to Superintendent Dr. Von Mansfield in front of an audi-ence of classmates, as well as former H-F Head football Coach Bob Lombardi.
Aer H-F, Wes attended the University of Tulsa, where he was a stand-out of-fensive lineman. His son, Ben, followed in his footsteps and played almost adecade for the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks. Wes stayed in Minnesotaaer his playing days and runs an Allegra Marketing, Print and Mail franchise. is very special keepsake will find a permanent home in the H-F display case inthe North Building.
On Oct. 20, H-F welcomed Peter Layton,’78, as a guest alumni speaker to Sciencestudents. Peter, who made his career on
the floor of the Chicago Board Options Ex-change first with Merrill Lynch then HullTrading, spoke to students about his secondcareer as an entrepreneur focused on environ-mental issues. Tiring of the endless travel in-volved with his financial job, Layton decidedto de-stress by purchasing an old farm in Mil-ton, Wis., and reverting it back to its native
habitat. Eventually, he owned properties totaling 400 acres that have beentransformed back into native prairie land. Aer realizing that there was a grow-ing demand for environmental restoration, he formed Tallgrass Restoration.
Tallgrass provides ecological restoration services, including natural areasstewardship, erosion control, native plant installation, invasive species control,prescribed burns, rain garden design and more. One of the most satisfying re-sults of the restoration work is in seeing the increased bird populations andother native animals in areas that have been reverted to their original habitat.Peter is a board member and former chairman of the Chicago WildernessTrust. He also sits on the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke Univer-sity. A stand-out member (and later coach) of the H-F Debate team, Peter thenattended the University of Chicago for both his undergraduate and graduatedegrees in finance. HF
A l umn i N e a r & F a r
Fall 2016 VIKING CONNECTION • 9
Retired H-F Band Directorjoins Homewood Hall of
Fame
Congratulations to Bob & Jane Hind-
sley, who were both inducted into
the Homewood Hall of Fame on Sun-
day, Oct. 23, at Ravisloe Country Club.
Bob was instrumental in forming the H-
F Marching Vikings into the power-
house of both musical and marching
excellence it is today. He inspired H-F
students for 26 years. When he retired,
the school created the Robert Hindsley
Award, given annually to a deserving
member of the H-F Symphonic Band.
Bob presents the award at the end-of-
year concert.
While at H-F, Bob also led H-F bands
on eight international tours to at least
18 countries on three continents be-
tween 1972 and 1993. He remains an
active and strong supporter of H-F
bands and music in schools. His wife,
Jane, was also inducted. She served
as the director of the Panther Choir at
James Hart School for many years. HF
Bob Hindsley stands with HomewoodMayor Rich Hofeld at the HomewoodHall of Fame Induction on Sunday,Oct. 23. Photo by Eric Crump/Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle
10 • VIKING CONNECTION Fall 2016
C o v e r S t o r y
continued from page 1Columbia School District expanded itsAP enrollment by 65%, while stillkeeping its AP exam pass rates statisti-cally comparable. e following year,EOS partnered with schools in severalmore states to enroll more than 9,000under-represented students in APcourses.
Today, EOS is operating in 23 states,including Illinois, which joined EOSin 2015. During the 2015-16 schoolyear, EOS partnered with seven north-ern Illinois districts, which includedBarrington, Fenton, Glenbard, LakePark, Leyden, Sterling and Woodstock.is year, H-F is one of 15 additionalIllinois school districts to be awardedan EOS Lead Higher grant. e otherdistricts include Champaign, Crete-Monee, Indian Prairie, Oak Park-RiverForest and Township High School Dis-trict 214. Within this year’s 15 IllinoisLead Higher grant school districts,EOS estimates nearly 6,000 studentswith AP potential are missing from APclasses. EOS further estimates that ap-proximately half of those missing stu-dents are African-American.
Data provided to H-F by EOS showsthat H-F exceeds the national average
in regards to 11th and 12thGrade low-income studentsand students of color partici-pating in AP: While the na-tional average is only 15%,H-F’s average is 25%. Addi-tionally, H-F’s AP exam passrate of 74% exceeds the na-tional average of 57% andIllinois’ average of 50%. De-spite these strong numbers,however, H-F is dedicated tocreating a more equitableAP environment by working with EOSto generate and analyze data to findand recruit more under-representedstudents into H-F’s AP courses.
e data used for identifying stu-dents comes from four sources: stu-dent demographic and academicinformation; a student survey; and twostaff surveys. In early September, allH-F freshmen through seniors tookthe student survey to find out howthey viewed themselves as students,their academic and career interests,their sense of belonging, H-F’s AP cli-mate, and their own AP track recordand interest in AP. At the same time,teachers, administrators and other
staff members took thefirst staff survey to gathertheir ideas and feedbackabout H-F’s AP culture,including why studentsmay not be participating,opportunities for enhanc-ing supports for both stu-dents and teachers, findingout who is interested inteaching AP, and who isinterested in assisting withstudent outreach and re-cruitment. Later in thefall, teachers will take a
second survey through which they willrecommend students for enrollment inat least one AP course next year.
Data from the student and staff sur-veys will be used to create student in-sight cards, which will featureacademic data along with the student’sinterests, challenges and AP recruit-ment potential. Prior to the end of 1stsemester, H-F will receive these cardsfor its current sophomores and jun-iors. e cards will be used to recruitand enroll students in AP courses forthe 2017-18 school year. During thesecond semester, H-F will receivefreshmen insight cards to help in theplanning of the following year’s out-reach efforts.
EOS Partnership Director MarquiseRoberson is working directly with H-F administrators, teachers and coun-selors to help plan H-F’s 1st semesteroutreach and recruitment efforts.Roberson will continue to assist withsustainability planning during 2nd se-mester in order to ensure that all H-Fstudents with AP potential are identi-fied and given the opportunity to fullyparticipate in H-F’s comprehensive APprogram next year and throughout theyears to come. — Dr. Nancy Spaniak,Director of Curriculum, Instruction &Professional Development
A sample student insight card — H-F will receive thesein December.
Fall 2016 VIKING CONNECTION • 11
On the dawn of an early spring dayin 1944, at age 10, Eva Kor and
her family were stripped from theirhomes and shoved into cattle cars tomake the four-day journey to Auschwitzwith 100 other people. ere wasn’t evenenough room to sit down.
Kor and her twin sister, Miriam, weretaken away from the rest of their familyand placed with other sets of twins to betested by Nazi doctors.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, shewas treated as a human guinea pig. Shereceived experimental injections andwas stripped naked, having each bodypart weighed daily. rough all of thetests and torture, Kor said she spoke asilent pledge that she would do anythingand everything to survive.
One of the injections caused Eva toget a high fever, but even when the doc-tor said she had two weeks to live, shecontinued to speak her silent pledge andwilled herself to survive in order toprove the doctors wrong.
To make it through the months oftorture at Auschwitz, Kor depended onstrength that many other 10-year-oldsdo not possess. is strength was some-
thing that she had from an even youngerage, coming from a family with an Or-thodox Jewish father who desperatelywanted a boy.
“I was born at the wrong place, thewrong time, the wrong religion, and thewrong sex. We had two older sisters, myfather was a very Orthodox Jew; he des-perately wanted a boy. When the mid-wife delivered my sister, he asked withgreat anticipation ‘What do we have?’and the midwife knowing, apologeticallysaid, ‘It’s a girl, but don’t worry there isanother one coming.’ So I arrived as thegreatest disappointment to my father.”
At five and a half years old, her fathertold her “you should’ve been a boy” andostracized her.
“He decided to treat me like the blacksheep of the family. My sister and I com-pared notes aer the war and she said‘oh daddy was wonderful. He would putme on his lap and tell stories of visitingPalestine’. e only time I saw daddy’slap was when he took off his belt to beltme because I got belted almost daily,”she said. “What that did is I learned tooutsmart him and learned defiance at 4and a half years. at is the reason I was
one of the strongest in Auschwitz.”is strength didn’t only push her to
survive, it pushed her to be able to for-give everyone who ever hurt her includ-ing German dictator Adolph Hitler, Dr.Mengele and Dr. Münch, one of Men-gele’s associates, who was responsible forthe cruel experiments on Jews.
Kor and Munch went back toAuschwitz where, in recognition of thedead, Dr. Münch agreed to sign a deathcertificate outside of the ruins of the gaschamber.
“I have the power to forgive. Nobodycan give or take that power away. As westood by ruins of gas chambers, imme-diately I felt not like a victim or a pris-oner of my tragic past when it wassigned,” Eva said. “Anger is a seed forwar. Forgiveness is a seed of peace. For-giveness is the best revenge.”
is forgiveness didn’t come withoutbacklash.
“[ursday] night I was at the houseof my hostess Gloria and there was adaughter of a Holocaust survivor andshe was very angry with me. What hap-pens with victims is that they pass thatanger onto their children and their chil-dren become victims, but I can’t do any-thing besides be who I am. I hopesomeone among them will finally for-give,” Kor said. “Two or three years ago Igot an email from a great great grand-daughter of an Armenian genocide. Shewas working on her master’s degree andran into my name and could not believethat I could forgive. Here we are thegreat great granddaughter and you’restill a victim. When does it end? Andwhat happens to all the victims? ere isnothing good about being a victim.” HF
Aer the presentation, several inspired H-F students — including senior Emma Brown— waited to meet Eva Mozes Kor personally.
Holocaust survivor brings her story of forgivenessThis article, by H-F Senior Alex Staton, was originally published at HFVoyager.com. Eva Mozes Kor
visited with H-F World History students on Friday, Sept. 23, as part of a community weekend of
forgiveness event, sponsored by local Jewish congregations.
NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
ECR WSS
FLOSSMOOR, IL
PERMIT NO. 5
Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School District 233999 Kedzie, Flossmoor, IL 60422
