Ridgewood Reporter

Ridgewood Welcomes Ms. Valentino-Barry

By: Iris Giannakis

You have probably seen many new faces here at school this year. I'm not only talking about students, I'm talking about teachers too. One of the many new teachers is Ms.Valentino- Barry. This term she is teaching Business Ownership and Career Internship. Last term she taught American History, Keyboarding and Information Processing.

Ms. Valentino-Barry is from Chicago. She is did her undergraduate work at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, has her MBA from DePaul ,and a master's degree from Roosevelt.

"What I like about being a teacher is that it's exciting to work with young people and feel like somehow I'm touching their future," she said. She likes it here at R.H.S. "Everyone is friendly and helpful. Ridgewood has a hometown feeling to it."

Her favorite times here at R.H.S so far are "selling the Otis cookies with my business class and going to the basketball games and cheering for the team."

Her greatest challenge as a teacher is "getting the quiet students to contribute and to have the more animated students to gives others a chance to contribute."

Ms. Valentino-Barry was motivated to become a teacher because "I worked in business for 8 years, and I felt that I was not making a difference in anyones' life. In teaching, I feel that I am making a difference, that I'm touching the future, and there's no limit in education."

If Ms. Barry wasn't a teacher, "I would be a fitness director. I used to teach aerobics."

Her hobbies are playing the piano, teaching ESL and rollerblading. Her future plans are continue to teach at Ridgewood and continue to travel from time to time.

Remember schedule changes now cost $10 each.

Class Council Elections

The winners of the Class of 1999 elections are: President-Stacy Mauer, Vice-President-Diane Guth, Secretary-Debbie Barnes, Treasurer-Monica Knap, Representatives-Samantha Hogfelt, Nicole Scollard, John-Michael Joyce, Anna Sasal, and Teresa Grygiel

The winners of the Class of 2000 elections are: President-Lisa Perna, Vice-President-Andy Revelis, Secretary-Kelly Thesen, Treasurer-Shannon McDonough

The winners of the Class of 2001 elections are: President-Chris Lopuski, Vice-President-Jon Paszt, Secretary-Laura Weeks, Treasurer- Lora Grabowski, Representatives-Laura Scaletta, Jason Jarosz, and Crystal Hardzac

Creative Self-Expression Shows Ridgewood talent

Leaving Town This Summer???

Perhaps you'll be on vacation when the registration materials for next year are mailed to your home in late June. Maybe you'll be gone all summer-lucky you!

If so, you can pay these fees ahead of time and avoid the last minute rush. You may also get a discount on the fees. You can pick up the necessary form from Erma Breznik in the Business Office. Have your parents complete the form, sign it and send or drop off the payment to Mrs. Breznik in the Ridgewood Business Office.

Your schedule and other materials will be sent to you after July 15th.

Welcome to RHS, Mrs. Duda!

By: Michelle Gulik

A long overdue welcome is required for Mrs. Duda, who is the newest computer technician in our school. She began working here in October, and because of her hard work, among others, the school's computer network started to work correctly. She also solves many of the newest glitches because she feels satisfaction only when the job is completed.

Mathletes Compete at State

Ben Schwerdtfeger Brings Interesting News About Germany

By: Ms. Waltz

One of Ms. Waltz's Social Studies classes was honored last week to have our exchange student, Ben Schwerdtfeger, as a guest speaker. Ben was well prepared, bringing books and stories of life in Germany. The class had developed questions to ask Ben, and his discussion generated many more comments and questions. Comparisons were made between the lives of teens in Germany and those in the United States.

Fast Food For R.H.S.

By: Sebastian Abbinanti

Cookies for Sale!!!!!

By: Scott Shudy

Over the past month, the Business Ownership class has been selling cookies. The purpose of this sale is for the Business Ownership class to learn how to conduct a real business. Ms. Barry is the teacher of Business Ownership class, and Tony Raimondi is the CEO. Cookie sales are conducted on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Rebel Respect Activities Planned

The last two Rebel Respect activities will be May 5, Block 1, and May 19, Block 2. Students, look around you for adults showing respect and responsibility because YOU will get a chance to give one of them a coupon!

Freshman Class Notes

By: Michelle Lisowski

Well, so far, the freshmen class has not been doing well with the cookie race. We are currently in last place and it seems that that is where we will stand from now on, so it was a great race guys!!

Anti-Drug Club Looks Ahead

By: Anna Kritikakos

Introducing . . . Mr. Brown!!

By: Debbie Barnes

Those students who are taking Accounting and Business courses, you would identify with the name, Mr. Brown. If it doesn't ring a bell, here's your chance to get to know one of the several student teachers we have here at RHS. Mr. Brown is currently working with Mr. Marks and Mr. Kalina in the basic business and accounting classes. He thinks that "..the basic business course is probably one of the best courses offered here in RHS because EVERYTHING that is taught can be directly related to a real life event."

Mr. Brown went to Wheeling High School, and he currently attends Eastern Illinois University. He will graduate on May 9, 1998. He said he went into teaching because, "..I had an accounting teacher who was an excellent instructor. He made every class interesting."

While in college, he played football as an offensive lineman and was part of their wrestling team for one year. He likes listening to country music, manipulating numbers, "playing" with computers, and relaxing in his free time.

Through the course of his 15 weeks of student teaching, he has been to few high schools. He says RHS students are probably "...one of the best behaved." He will finish "student teaching" on May 1.

A Disappointing Incident

By: Michelle Gulik

Over the past few months some individuals have been stealing computer equipment from the school. A digital camera was stolen from a black cabinet in Mr. Vestal's room. He isn't sure what day it was stolen or who stole it. The teacher or student had to have known where it was because it wasn't in an obvious place in the cabinet. Mr. Vestal is deeply disappointed because he looked forward to using the camera for his multimedia class. If anyone knows where the camera is, please return it, anonymously if you so choose.

Cheerleading Is Gonna Rock This House

By: Michelle Lisowski

Cheerleading try-outs this year was a blast. The girls had a lot of fun, and they enjoyed learning from the talented and experienced directors. Although we are all going to miss our seniors, the new cheerleaders are going to try to do just as good a job as the older girls did. For our incoming freshmen, they were very brave to try out in front of people and go through so much stress. The procedure for both Varsity and Junior Varsity try-outs was the same; the only difference was that the Varsity coaches were more critical on the experienced girls.

There was a three day clinic where the girls learned a field cheer, three sideline cheers, three jumps, and two partner stunts. Some of these moves were quite difficult, but the girls pulled through with flying colors.

The Varsity Cheerleading Squad is: Captains: Amanda Jachino, Jamie DiFonzo, and Josie Chirchirillo
Sandra Aguilera
Rachele Bailey
Lisa Chirchirillo
Lacey Cowsky
Jennifer Izzi
Brandi Meyers
Jenn Mrowiec
Jessie Navarez
Laura Weeks

What's Up With The Girl's Soccer Team?

By: Anna Kritikakos

Money, Prom, and Members

By: Michelle Gulik

The junior class was able to accumulate $1030.00 from their rummage sale on April 18th and 19th, even though not many larger items were donated. Money also came in from selling baked goods and by raffling off three brand new Beanie Babies courtesy of Let's Celebrate!.

On Monday, April 19, some juniors went downtown to visit some of the possible prom sites. They visited The Palmer House and The Marriott. Both sites were videotaped so the juniors will be able to see the choices. If you have any other suggested places, please inform Mrs. Hansen in room 229.

'98-'99 Pom Pon Squad Is Finally Here!!

By: Michelle Lisowski

Try-outs for Poms turned out great. It was a very challenging battle, but the girls who made it deserve every bit of it!! The procedure for Poms is a bit different from Cheerleading. There was a three day clinic in which the girls learned a routine. On the third day, all girls danced the routine. The judges based their decisions on stiffness, flaw, and cheerfulness. The knowledge of the dance also helped.

Blood Drive was a success

FBLA Members Place High at State Competition

By: Dina Politis

Anna Kritkakos 1st place, Job Description Manual
Dina Politis and Demetra Politis 1st place, Battle of the Chapters (team)
Chris Soszynski and Peter Stanczak 1st place, Chapter Website Award
Dina Politis and Peter Stanczak 2nd place, Desktop publishing (team)
Beth Bundalo, Joanna Szyndlar, and Marie Weeks 2nd place Entrepreneurship (team)
Colleen Thesen 3rd place, Machine Transcription
Margie Kuczmierz, Joanna Szyndlar, and Joanna Wieczorek
3rd place, School/Business Partnership (team)
Cathy Glodz 3rd place, Introduction to Business Communications
Jay Shah 4th place, Information Processing
Brianne Bielecki, Anna Kritikakos, and Penelope Vergakis 4th place, Community Service Project (team)
Demetra Politis 4th place, FBLA Principles and Procedures
Fiona Murray 4th place, International Business
Dina Politis 4th place, Local Annual Chapter Business Report
Kim Trieu 5th place, Business Math
Shawn Aguilar 7th place, Mr. FBL
Heather Sinkovitz 9th place, Intro to Impromptu Speaking
Mariola Wieczorek 10th place, Introduction to Business
Voting Delegates: Angelo Alto, Erin Fogarty, and Jaime Vasilopoulos

The following students will be attending the National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida this July 3-9: Anna Kritikakos, Dina Politis, Colleen Thesen, Chris Soszynski, and Peter Stanczak. These students will be competeing for National recognition, we are very proud of their achievements.

This July there will be a Summer Leadership Conference for students in FBLA that are not currently seniors. This conference stresses the skills vital in establishing a strong chapter as well as many other important business related skills. Ther conference will be held in Springfield, Illinois.

Career Day is May 8

Track meets its marks

By: Lora Grabowski & Crystal Harczak

Three weeks have gone by, and track season is really progressing well. We've had four coed meets so far which have turned out great, considering the weather. Three of the four meets have been on Tuesdays, which pretty much means that those are just practice meets. Those were on April 7th, 14th, and 21st.

Our first coed Saturday meet was the Maine East Relays on April 18th. The boys ran against Maine East, Prospect, U-High, Hales Franciscan, and St. Patrick's. The girls ran against Maine East, Queen of Peace, U-High, Mother Guerin, and Prospect. This was the first meet we participated in that medals were given out.

Prospect took first place overall for both boys and girls at this meet, but that's no surprise because they've sent runners to state the past three years.

Ridgewood tied for fifth. We took home quite a few medals for this meet also. Two of our freshman girls took home medals for the weight-man relay, J. Pagano and C. Harczak.

One of the disappointments of this meet happened in the very first event, the 800 Medley Relay. The first two runners of this event both run 100m, the third runner runs a 200m, and the fourth runner runs a 400m. The four runners that were chosen were: L. Grabowski, C. Harczak, L. Scaletta, and M. Monson. The gun went off, and Ridgewood was immediatley disqualified. Grabowski had a false start, resulting in the disqualification. Due to lack of runners our 400m and 800m relays were scratched for the girls.

Our boys' team did considerably better at Lemont last Tuesday, despite the 55 degree wet and rainy weather. T. Raimondi ran the 800m Run in 2: 07, and P. Natalino ran this in 2: 18, which is their best time yet. The 3200m Relay was run by T. Raimondi, D. Swibel, K. Trieu, and B. Floral in 9: 35.

One of our best jumpers, T. Guagenti, reached a soaring height of 5'8. D. Sica had an excellent Long Jump score of 18'10. T. Kacprzynski ran the 400m Dash in 56.6.The 1600m Run was done by K. Trieu, with a time of 5: 12.

The girls also had some sucess at this meet. K. Bundalo reached her goal of 5'0 for the High Jump, and ran the 300m Low Hurdles in 54.8. Last year's record for the 1800m Medley Relay, 2:20.2, was beaten this year by our team of freshmen. The team consisted of J. Pagano, L. Grabowski, L.Weeks, and L. Scaletta, with a time of 2:19.6. S. Shulda ran the Mile Run in 6:09.

On April 25th, we had our first R.H.S. Coed Invitational. Some of the participating schools were: Nazareth, Providence St. Mel, Westmont, U-High, and Walther Lutheran.

Softball is meeting challenges

By: Stephanie Malmi

The Varsity softball team got off to a rough start with an 0-2 record with losses to Niles West and Luther North, but they came back in the next four games with victories against Walther Lutheran in a double header, Good Council, and St. Viator. Though they lost to Trinity and Evergreen Park in a double header, they still have a record of 4-5.

The battery has been Jennene Fields and Becky Nielsen. They have been working very well together. They have had good communication between each other which has helped them win games.

The infield is consisted of Kristen Keglovitz at first, Nikki Scollard at second, Erin Conley at short-stop and Megan Norton at third base. Everyone has been getting their throws to first base on target and keeping their heads in the game.

The outfield is Jackie Fields in left field, Kim Melendez in center field and Gabby Mussachio in right field. With them in the outfield, you know every fly ball will be caught.

Other players who are on the Varsity team are Dana Jones who plays first base, and Shannon McDonough who plays outfield.

Reporter needs you!

Rebs get stopped

By: Louis Mezzano

Until conference games started, the Rebels were running strong. They were 7-1 and ranked 3rd in the state for Class A.

The Rebels headed out to Westmont for the first of a three game series and came home shocked. They were hit hard with a loss of 4-7.

"I think we took Westmont a little too lightly. We need to realize that we are all not superstars, and just play the game like I know we can," said junior outfielder, Sam Palazzo.

The next two games were on Saturday April 18 at Ridgewood. In the first game, the Rebs came out strong. They bashed their opponents 8-4. Sam Palazzo and Mike Batch added to this win. Sam went 4 for 4, and Mike, coming back from an injury, pitched a great game.

Register to vote on May 8th

Anyone who will be 18 by election day, November 3, 1998 , is eligible to register to vote. You can do it quick and easy, right at our school on May 8th.

Reistrars from the County Clerk's office will be in the cafe from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. You need to be a Cook County resident, an American citizen, and 18 by Novemeber. You will need two forms of Identification, one with name and one with name and address. A school ID and a driver's license will be accepted.

Wax on, wax off

By: Debbie Barnes

With the hours of rehearsal for the fall and spring plays long gone, the hardworking and talented people of the Drama Club found other ways to raise money. On April 18 , the club members washed cars and vans in the sun in the student parking lot. By the end of the day, they made over $400.

May 1 sees the production of A Night of One Acts, coming to the Bernero Auditorium. These one acts plays are directed by students from the Directing and Acting classes.

The Drama Club banquet will be on May 22.