Surprise! Board of Education Reaffirms I.D. Policy
Tosch receives honor Book drive a success! by Anne Edison-Swift "ITie children's book drive that took place the week before Hianksgiving was a great success, with 2,027 books collected and delivered to Washington School in Harvey, XL. The elemcntarj' school of about 400 children did not have a iibraryonly a shelf or two of books. Tlie response firom Washington School to the donation of books firom Maine South was ecstatic; now it wiU be possible for them to have a real Ubrary and some books in every room. The book drive was inspired by the novel There Are No Children Here,^iS true story of two boys and their Uves in the Henry Hwaer public housing system. After reading this novel, students in Mrs. Shacter's sophomore Eighsh classes were motivated to do something about poverty, and to really make a difference. Mrs. Shacter had organized book drives befcH-e, and her students suggested that sharing their books would be a wonderful way to share some of die happiness of their childhoods. The response from students in her classes as weU as the entire school was amazing. •*Some students brought in fifty books!" Mrs. Shacter reported. Popular titles were the Goosebumps series, the Babysitters Q u b series, and classics such as Where the Wiid Things Are and Shiioh. Mrs, Shacter's sophomores are now looking forward to being pen pals with students from Washington School.
Every year in the fall, one sophomore from Maine South is selected to attend the Hugh O'Brian Youth Foundation Leadership Seminar held the weekend before finals in June. This lucky HOBY spends three event-packed days on a college campus with around 300 other selected students from high schools in Northern Illinois, learning about entrepreneurship, America's incentive system, the changing workplace and changing workforce, issues relevant to our lives such as violence, education and leadership in general. HOBYs participate in small group activities, ask questions and moderate discussion panels composed of top poUtical and business leaders, and still manage to find time to put on a talent show and make Ufe-long fiiends. Last year's HOBY representative from Maine South, Anne Edison-Swift, commented, "It was a wonderful experience. I never expected a group full of now-and-future leaders to be so openminded and such good questioners and listeners!" The first stage of HOBY selection is faculty nomination. Students recommended by two or more faculty members advance to the next level: fining out the application form and writing a number of paragraphessays on various aspects of their involvement in leadership roles. A judging panel chooses ten of these students on the basis of their essays to advance to the final round, the group discussion. This year the judging panel consisted offive people: Career counselor Jan Cannon, social science teacher Laurie Koshgarian, counselors Dan Misevich and Nancy Simons and Anne Edison-Swift. The students chosen to participate in the group discussion were Garrett Fechner, Jeff Percak, Christina Perez, Celestina Rivera, Randy Tosch, Susan
HOBY nominee Randy Tosch Ksiazek, Sean Story, Antonello DiBenedetto and Courtney Kiefer. Each year, the judging panel decides on a question meant to spur debate among the potential nominees and allow them to demonstrate their individual leadership styles and skills. This year, the question was:"Does the separation of church and state as prescribed in the Constitution restrict all religious expression in public schools?" After the lively debate, the judges were faced with the difficult task of narrowing this exceptional group down to two people. Randy Tosch was chosen to represent his class as the '98 HOBY nominee and Sean Story was named as the alternate. After learning of his nomination, Tosch says he was, "very honored and surprised. The group of people 1 was with was really impressive." The rewards of HOBY don't just end with the conference. HOBY alumni are eligible for scholarships.summers abroad and entrance into other programs such as the Presidential Classroom at Georgetown.