The Power of Facebook

I’ve had a few blogs that I’ve been meaning to post but after Saturday night I definitely needed to post this one and that’s about the power of the coolest social networking app to hit the web called Facebook. Think of Facebook as MySpace for adults or for people who get majorly irritated with hideous HTML embedded on MySpace pages that take forever and a day to load no matter how fast your connection is.

It started out as a social networking app for college students and you had to actually be one to get a Facebook page before they opened it up to everyone. It has a slick AJAX interface that makes things just click and go so that even the most novice web user can quickly get a profile up and going that looks decent. It has “apps” which are various little games and diversions that keep people interested or embarrass the heck out of you.

However, where Facebook really shines is in the power of its feeds. A feed is where you see what your friends are up to be it posting their own items or commenting on someone else’s stuff they put on their own page. At a glance you can see what all your friends are up to and it encourages communication since it only takes a second to comment on the item or post one of your own. I witnessed the raw power of Facebook this past Saturday night when a group of RLHS alumni got together — for no reason really but just to get together.

We started an RLHS Alumni Nights group, basically after homecoming this year, we put together a place where RLHS alumni who are still in the area or might be coming back to visit can get together and hang out with old friends. For someone like me who can be a bit distant, getting to know people is tough. What easier way to hang out and have fun for someone like me than with people I grew up with, spent years with, shared embarrassing moments with? Heck, they already know my history. That’s my reason for starting the group and getting into it but the group has nearly a hundred members now and they each bring different reasons for why they are there.

So this past Saturday we had a get-together at The Vine in Grayslake. I had one of my online gigs but as soon as it was over I got dudded up and headed on over a bit later than most everyone else. When the girl who greeted me pointed out the corner where the group was I couldn’t believe my eyes as RLHS alumni had packed a whole section of the pub. The graduation years really ran the gamut but it was mostly late-80s to mid-90s graduates all getting together and having a good time. It wasn’t like your typical reunion though where you spent all your time about where you’ve been, what you’ve been up to and how your life has been for the past ten years.

Instead of reunited it was old friends reignited again just having a good time. The various classes bled so that you had groups of people who weren’t from the same class or weren’t even in RLHS at the same time grouping together. It didn’t matter, our experiences and our common background at RLHS were all the things we needed to share some drink and some good times. Looking at that corner of people, several had come from many miles away and just happened to be in town, it really struck me at how amazing Facebook and my friends from RLHS are. Sure, there’s other social networking sites that do similar things but at my 10-year reunion I would have never anticipated anything like this now.

At the end of the night, walking back to my car after parting with the last of the group it really struck me why I do what I do on school board as well. We weren’t just taught about learning at RLHS, we were taught about life. Many of my classmates are immensely successful and they’re strewn all over the United States and even overseas now. We all came from the same place though and had our lives forged in the same crucible together because, let’s face it, we fought a less than desirable reputation then just as we do now.

So I try to do my part to give the kids the best environment and learning experiences I can give them because in my own way I’m trying to do my small part to help them become who they’re going to be. People talk about the passion I can bring to the board table sometimes and I won’t deny it. I will fight for these kids, come hell or high water, there is no reason they can’t succeed and we can’t do more to help them get there. I will not settle for excuses for why Round Lake kids can’t achieve and thrive and not just merely survive. That will never change and spending time with my friends from RLHS just reinforces that for me all the more.

Round Lake students to perform music at prestigious event

Lake County Journals – Round Lake students to perform music at prestigious event

By STEPHANIE N. LEHMAN – slehman@nwnewsgroup.com

ROUND LAKE – Karina DeAnda has been playing the flute since she was in fourth grade. She practices an hour in school every day and three hours a week outside of her normal lessons.

The hours have paid off. The Round Lake High School junior was accepted into the Illinois Music Educators Association District 7 All-District Band out of 800 high school musicians that auditioned for a place in the prestigious ensemble. More than 100 students auditioned on flute; DeAnda was one of 18 selected.

“It is quite the achievement,” RLHS band director Krista Millard said. “When you have a student who’s responsible to say, I’m going to invest myself in this situation and do the best I can … you hope it was good enough, and when you find out, you find that commitment did pay off.”

DeAnda’s audition in mid-October consisted of playing scales, two prepared pieces and sight-reading a piece – performing music she had never had time to practice before.

She will perform Thursday, Nov. 13, at the IMEA District 7 Senior Festival at Evanston Township High School. She and the other band students will have approximately four hours to rehearse as a group before they perform before a crowd that could easily exceed 1,500, Millard said.

Though being selected into IMEA is one of the highest sanctions a high school musician can meet, Millard said being selected into IMEA is about more than music. It reflects individual character. And DeAnda has felt the difference.

“I’m not as shy any more,” DeAnda said. “I’ve been more responsible getting my work done, and I put a lot of me into my work.”

Three more

DeAnda isn’t the only RLHS student to shine in the spotlight. Three male members of the school’s top choir – the Panther Voices – were selected to the IMEA District 7 Festival Chorus, and two of them have been invited to re-audition for All-State choir.

Juniors James Neigel and Lindon Warren and senior Jon Stiverson all will perform at the Saturday, Nov. 15, IMEA District 7 Festival in Evanston.

Neigel and Stiverson will be pulled aside from rehearsal that day to audition for two of the top spots in the state in choir. It’s the first time in many years that RLHS has had anyone qualify for All-State, choir director Kristin Moroni said.

Neigel, who sings bass, comes from a family of musicians. His older brother was in Panther Voices for four years; his mother made All-State choir in Massachusetts when she was in high school. The bar has been set high for the junior.

But he knows what it takes to meet those high expectations. This is already his second year to make IMEA.

“Last year, I kind of slid into making IMEA. I was content to getting there,” he said. “This year, I really prepared for the auditions. And I felt confident when I left [the audition room].”

For All-State, Neigel will be asked to sing two excerpts from All-State pieces, sing scales and triads in a tonal room, and sight-read two pieces – perhaps the biggest point factor in the audition.

It’s something he’s wanted for a long time.

“It would be a very proud moment,” he said of the All-State opportunity. “And then I could learn from better singers around me. I’m really striving for it.”

Neigel’s best friend and fellow choir member, Stiverson, is also back for a second year in IMEA. Accepted as a sophomore year, the tenor missed acceptance last year, but worked his way back up to getting a shot at All-State.

The process hasn’t been easy, he said.

“You walk in that room; the room is silent,” he said. “It’s so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Your mind just empties out; you concentrate on one thing and it feels like it’s 10 seconds long.”

But Stiverson knows that as a senior, this is one of his last chances to make a name for himself before he’s shipped off to duty. He will graduate in May and join the U.S. Navy in early summer.

So, he practices. Five days a week. Before he goes to work at K-mart, after school in the car; Stiverson is always singing.

He’s been rewarded in the past. He and Neigel were two points away from a perfect score at Richmond-Burton High School in March for a duet contest.

But a possible trip to Peoria in January to perform with the All-State choir is the ultimate prize, he said.

Using the experience

Warren made IMEA by the skin of his teeth this year, being selected only after a tenor two dropped out of the performance.

But it’s an experience Warren plans to use to his advantage. His goal, after all, is to follow Neigel and Stiverson and make All-State.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” he said. “[I'm looking forward to] having a good experience with the whole combination of choirs.”

He’s already noticed what two years in Panther Voices has provided, including the ability to perform in different languages.

“I sound better in French than I do in English,” he said, laughing. “I’ve come a very long way.”

Tune in

The IMEA District 7 Senior Festival concert will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, at Evanston Township High School in Evanston.

Can’t make the concert? Tune in for a delayed broadcast of the concert at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, to WFMT 98.7 – Chicago’s classical music radio station.

Daily Herald | Round Lake school hoping to reclaim control

Daily Herald | Round Lake school hoping to reclaim control

As indicated in the article last night the Board of Education and the SFA met to discuss transition plans. No school district in Illinois has emerged from an SFA, they either dissolved or continue to be governed by an SFA (East Saint Louis, Chicago, Hazelcrest).

This shows the enormous progress the district has made in just 7 short years since the Financial Oversight Panel (the predecessor to the SFA) was put into place. Short term debt has been eliminated, long term debt is well under control, fund balances are up across the board and the district has more cash on hand than many districts would ever dream of having.

There are many folks responsible for this: first the taxpayers who absorbed a tax increase when the tax cap was reset three years ago, the FOP members who first helped to start getting us on track, Walter Korpan our former business manager and CFO, Dennis Stonewall who helped right the ship in a number of areas and worked building bridges with the community, the current SFA members who have gradually allowed the Board to take back most control as we have continued our recovery. Finally Dr. Ben Martindale deserves a large amount of credit for coming in with a plan to get our district back to local control. After almost a year and a half we are well on our way.

I’ll be running for re-election in April and I hope to be fortunate enough to be returned to office and help with our transition back to local control. I’ve had many proud moments in the past few years on the board but of that accomplishment I would be the most proud.

October President’s Letter

Another school year is already in full swing in Round Lake Area Schools and the Board of Education is excited about the number of new programs and restructuring of current programs we are offering for your children this year. The centerpiece of these changes has been the re-opening of Magee Middle School thanks to the support of you, the Round Lake Area taxpayers. With careful use of your referendum dollars we have rebuilt a building we believe the community can be proud of — a beacon in the middle of Round Lake, bearing a proud name, rising like a phoenix out of the ashes to signify to those within and outside our community that Round Lake Area Schools is back.

Now with two middle schools we were able to create true middle school programs of 6th, 7th and 8th grades thus relieving some of the overcrowding at our elementary schools. This opened a door to our next opportunity — full-day kindergarten. The earliest years of a student’s life are some of the most important ones where many of the basic concepts they will carry forward with them are formed. Studies have shown that quality and quantity of instruction during these years provides for better results down the road. We’re proud to be one of the first schools in the area to provide full-day kindergarten to the families of Round Lake thus giving them an early leg up on learning.

With these important projects now completed the board is still keeping its eyes on the future and isn’t done yet. Later this month the Board of Education and School Finance Authority will be meeting to put together a transition plan. This plan will see Round Lake Area Schools become the first district to have local control by the school board returned to it after state intervention. We are very excited at this opportunity to return our district to normalcy the way the Illinois State Constitution intended for it to be — local residents, elected by the community to represent them, in full control of the school district and the education of the community’s children. This simply hasn’t been done before and Round Lake is setting the example for other school districts to follow thanks to your support during a very difficult period of our existence. It says to the whole state that in Round Lake, yes we can do better, yes we can do it ourselves, and yes we will set the standard for others to follow.

Again, we cannot thank the community enough for its support and its interest in the present and future of Round Lake Area Schools. Each day you show to us all and remind us why we are here — to build the foundation for the future of our children and our community. We continue to work hard to exceed your expectations and realize there is much work yet to be done. With your support we are able to do so and able to prove day after day that yes, we can!

RLHS Music Alumni Wanted

The RLHS music department is looking for alumni participation in Homecoming this year. Check out the attached PDF for more info!

Fine Arts Boosters Alumni Letter

Daily Herald | Palatine school plans to expand

Daily Herald | Palatine school plans to expand

As many of you are aware my son attends New Connections Academy in Palatine, it has turned his life and his educational experiences around. There is no other school like it in the area that I’m aware of that specializes in programs for kids who suffer from autism but are high-functioning or have Asperger’s Syndrome.

This is also a great example of where a privately run program has stepped in to fill a void not being filled by the public schools. It’s a well-run facility with an incredible staff making differences in the lives of these kids every day. I’m glad to see more kids will be able to benefit from this program instead of trying to be placed in a program not designed for their disability. Too many times HFA and AS kids are being placed in ED (formerly “BD”) classrooms where they fall under bad influences (think of a child with HFA or AS as a giant button waiting to be pushed by a child with emotional issues). Or they get put in an LOP or similar classroom with students with more profound learning disabilities where they get bored and cause problems.

As the demand for these programs increases they will continue to expand. So if you have a child who suffers from HFA or AS I encourage you to insist on a placement that fits your child’s disability. It is your child’s right under IDEA to be placed in a such a program — the fit that is right for your child not the fit that is right for the school district. There is no greater advocate for your child than you, it’s up to you to insist on the proper placement so I encourage you to go into your next IEP meeting prepared and with the facts on what’s right for your child. By simply going along with a placement that may not be right for your child you aren’t doing him any favors and you’re ensuring there isn’t enough demand for programs like New Connections Academy.