West Cook News

At their April 19 board meeting, members of the Elmwood Park community schools shared several pieces of good news, including the recognition of the Student Citizen of the Year (SCOTY) awards. 

As is routine at their regular school board meetings, members of the Elmwood Park Community School Board of Education welcomed representatives from all their buildings to share any news or updates at the beginning of the meeting. First up, Elmwood Elementary School celebrated one of its teachers, Ms. Diane Daniels, who was honored with a Those Who Excel Award from the state of Illinois. Principal Matthew Lerner said she was instrumental in leading the school and was a huge role model for many of the teachers in the district due to her wide experience. 

Among comments, Lerner said SCOTY Award winners are students who are nominated by teachers from their homerooms. Students Evan Villa and Finnegan Cahill were the recipients from Elmwood Elementary.

"Evan is an example of what we continue to look for at Elmwood, " Lerner said during the meeting. "He continued to exemplify what it means to be a great student, a great person. He continues to push forward. And we're very proud and excited to see the thing that Evan will continue to do as he moves forward...Finn is one of those students that walks into a room. He just talks to everybody. He had fun with everybody in the building. He really exemplified what it means to be a scholar because he's a good student, he's a good athlete, he helped his family, he worked at home with his mom and dad and he just does amazing things for our school." (13:30)

Next up, Frank Kuzniewski, principal of John Mills Elementary School, shared the school's two SCOTY award winners, fifth graders Margaux Malalis and Jacob Baca, both of whom were credited as wonderful students to have in class and leaders for their classmates. Mills also celebrated three recognitions from the state’s Those Who Excel awards. Vincent Fiore was recognized as an outstanding early career educator, Iwona Ciezkowska was given teacher of the year recognition, and the John Mills PTA was recognized as one of the state’s outstanding teams. (18:10)

This comes as Elm Middle School had several exciting celebrations, including two chosen SCOTY winners—Lizbeth Merlos and Dante Salgado. The school also celebrated some Those Who Excel recognitions, including their Student Support Services team, their academic coaches, and teacher Charlie Curtin. They gave a special shoutout to Kate Kondela for taking third place in the Regional Spelling Bee Championship, and to Lula Korntheuer and Madison Collins for making the All-State Choir. (22:20)

Finally, the high school announced students Roy Zuniga and Riley Bischoff as their SCOTY winners this year. They also praised ELA teacher Kendal Ahlmann for being given an award of Meritorious Service from the state’s Those Who Excel Award. The students were also excited about the start of many spring sports, with female wrestler Rose Craig being the first girl from EPHS to make it to the state wrestling competition. (26:30)