Ridgewood Reporter

April 1996

Volume 11, Issue 6

FBLA Going to Nationals!

Ridgewood FBLA was very successful at the State Leadership Conference this spring. The chapter received Fifth Place out of 65 chapters for Most Outstanding Chapter in Illinois. Many Ridgewood students placed in the top ten of their competitions. The following students qualified to compete at the National Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. July 8-11: Nada Bankovic,1st Place Business Communication; Thomas Stranc, 1st Place Computer Applications; Irene Ziec, 1st Place Job Description Manual; Jay Shah, 2nd Place Introductory Parliamentary Procedure; Chris Soszynski, 2nd Place Information Processing; and Thanh Trieu, 2nd Place Keyboarding Applications. This is the first time in the history of Ridgewood that so many students made it to Nationals. Congratulations to all state winners, and good luck in Washington, D.C.!

To wrap up a great year of FBLA in May, there will be a farewell party to honor the senior FBLA members. The party will also serve as membership recruitment for next year. The party will include both FBLA and DECA members. Each member of both organizations will invite a potential member to attend with them.

Illinois Honors Students

NHS Inducts New Members

The National Honor Society inducted new members on March 12. The officers each spoke on one of the traits of NHS, leadership, scholarship, character, and service. Mr. Mitchell addressed the group as well. Francesca Cipriano and Thanh Trieu presented musical selections.

New members are Tina Addante, Nada Bankovic, Natalie Biancalana, Andrew Carnegie, Antonella Ciccone, Loree Conway, Jennifer Del Angel, Sharon Dopak, Dominika Drozdzal, Kelly Dziwulski, Sofia Frangiadakis, Urszula Gajko, Jason Guyon, Alan Huebner, Christina Klocek, Samantha Meyer, Elizabeth Moe, Tiffany Palella, Jenny Samaras, Valerie Sass, John Szymanski, Laiza Trujillo, Kathy Walczyk, and Irene Ziec.

All NHS members will work at the parent-teacher conferences April 9. NHS will also distribute coupon circles again as an incentive to students who receive a "C" or better on their grades.

Recently, Mr. Glowgowski's Life Science classes were given a project as part of a unit on plant development. They had to design a 17 by 14 foot garden that was suitable for Norridge's climate.

Four students excelled at the project. These students were Eva Prochowska, Iwona Tylka, Pamela Arrojo, and Andrea Hjelm. Parts of their garden designs will be used in the two new courtyard gardens which will be planted in the beginning of May. By the time students return from summer vacation, the gardens should be in bloom.

Mr. Glowgowski said "the gardens showed an extraordinary understanding of colors in landscape and of extended blooming periods-having a variety of plants come into and out of bloom throughout the year. We can look forward to seeing their ideas in bloom."

Speech Club Introduced

Ridgewood will compete in speaking events. The team will be coached by Ms. Lindenfeld. Events include dramatic interpretation, poetry, extemporaneous speaking, and others. Practice and competition will start in the fall.

Snowball Weekend is a Blast!

On March 3-5 Snowball members went on a retreat at Woodstock where Ridgewood, Riverside-Brookfield and Elmwood Park students spent about two days together. All the students met and became familiar with each other. We talked about stress and how to deal with it, and about drugs and alcohol, and that drugs and alcohol was not the way to turn when you have problems. We also had small group discussions, and participated in Silly Olympics with a variety of activities and games to compete in.

The Snowball members who attended this great weekend at Woodstock were: Joseph Alaimo, Shirley Blazejczyk, Martha Brzozowski, Kathy Demos, Kathy Georgiou, Maggie Georgiou, Kimberly Jachino,Niki Karouzos, Robert Leja, Michelle Ness,Dina Politis, Gina Sica, Thanh Trieu, and Mrs. Papierski, our Snowball advisor.

The following weekend our Snowball chapter presented Snowflake workshops for junior high students in our area.

Ridgewood Elects New Officers

Class of 1997
President: Antonella Ciccone
Vice-President: Nada Bankovic
Secretary: Samantha Meyer
Treasurer: Loree Conway
Representatives: Sharon Dopak, Sofia Frangiadakis, Norb Sznajder, John Szymanski, and Chris Wendel

Class of 1998
President: Sherry Wojciechowski
Vice-President: Sue Shrake
Secretary: Michele Swiderski
Treasurer: Adam Sammartino
Representatives: Selina Duccio, Deann Guagenti, Jenny Igaravidez, Brian Rzewnicki, and Marci Scala

Class of 1999
President: Stacy Mauer
Vice-President:
Secretary: Kathy Jablonski
Treasurer: Monica Knapp
Representatives: Tom Jermal, Louie Mezzano, Randy Messina, Alex Novielli, and Norbert Wasililk

DECA Students Advance To National Competition

Maria Cerra, Andy Clemente, Michelle Dombroski, Lauren Igaravidez, Niki Karouzos, and Aris Kidonakis became finalists by completing a battery of tests that were given to over four hundred students who attended the event.

Ridgewood also placed in the following team events:

DECA Diamond Award, Maria Cerra and Aris Kidonakis- Ridgewood received the trophy by preparing a paper on a community service project, helping with food services at the Salvation Army Emergency Lodge.

Chapter Award, Anna Cantal, Andy Clemente, and Aris Kidonakis- Ridgewood received the trophy by preparing an 85 page book on club activities.

DECA 50th Anniversary Community Service Award, Anna Cantal, Andy Clemente, Michelle Dombroski, and Aris Kidonakis - Ridgewood received the trophy by preparing a paper on their community service project, Adopt-A-Grandparent with the Norridge Nursing Home.

DECA Quiz Bowl - Ridgewood's team, Johnny Berardi, Nick Cortese, Aris Kidonakis, Rob Leja, and Sal Perna, took Third Place. The team answered questions about marketing, parliamentary procedure, and DECA information to advance to the final rounds.

The following students advanced to National Competition which will be held in Orlando, Florida April 26 -May 1, 1996:

Lauren Igaravidez placed First in Apparel and Accessories, Management Level and the 50th Anniversary Community Service Project Team Anna Cantal, Andy Clemente, Michelle Dombroski, and Aris Kidonakis.

Lauren will represent the State of Illinois by carrying the Illinois flag in the annual Parade of States.

Soccer Kicking Up a Storm

Ridgewood has started a Soccer program. The girls team is practicing and will start competing next spring. The boys team will start practice next fall. The girls are coached by Rich Lubes with volunteer Martin Mallen, a student teacher in PE.

Softball is on the run, and Coach gets 100th win.

The Ridgewood Softball Rebels are off and running. As the Rebels started a new season under Varsity coaches Sokolowski and Verback, they found that they were in for some surprises. With low numbers in both levels, they had to find people to step up, and all must stay healthy. This will be difficult, as the team is a young one with 3 sophomores and 5 juniors and is playing a packed schedule.

On a higher note, the team has a lot of talent to show off. Returning seniors are Amanda Barsevich, Michelle Dombrowski, Jenny Jasinski, and Nicky Oster. They will lead the way to a winning season.

The Rebels are off to a 2-3 start (as of 4-4) with conference games on the way. Their game at Trinity was Coach Sokowlowski's 100th win at Ridgewood High School. In this game, Nicky Oster pitched her first no hitter of the season, and Jenny Del Angel hit a grand slam.

Other varsity players include Loree Conway, Kelly Dziwulski, Jacky Fields, Angela Karcinski, Kristin Keglovitz, Martha Olson, and Becky Nielsen. The team says, "We hope to see your support at our games. We will show you how a real varsity team plays! Let's play 3 today."

Track Off and Running

Our RHS Track team had a meet against Maine East Pentathlon. 13 runners took the trip to compete in the shot-put, long jump, high hurdles, 50 yard dash, and 800 meter runs and 8 came back placing in the top 15 places in their class divisions. Raether finished 13th for the senior class.

Sznajder finished the 50 dash in :06.1, Korybko in the hurdles in :07.2 for the junior class. The sophomore class had Raimondi finishing 4th place with a 2:20 in the 800. Sifrar finished 10th, and Swibel 9th. The freshman class had Wehling (13th), Dubei (14th).

On the Girls' side, Senior Rosanna Nardulli and junior Dominika Drozdzal, work the long jump, return with experience in the 100 high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles. Kathy Slowinski returns in the shot and discus along with senior Kathy Demos. Karen Piatek is a returning sprinter, while Anna Cantal will run the 400 and middle distances.

The Rebels 3200 relay is new, but could be strong with juniors: Sharon Clemen, and Imola Straniczki and sophomore Michelle Monson running the 3rd leg. This should help make the team a much better distance running team.

Newcomers are: Melissa Guynn, middle distances; Sara Shulda, high jump; and Agnes Skoropad, who will help Monson in the middle distances.

Baseball Hitting Hard

At a March 30 tournament, Tony Crudele pitched a no-hitter against St. Gregory for a 14-0 victory. He also had a home-run single and drove in 3 runs. Sam Palazzo complemented Tony with 2 hits, a homer, a double and 4 RBIs. Cook had a triple, a single, and pitched a 3-hit shut-out over Christian Liberty for a 7-0 win. J. Berardi shut-out Luther North 1-0 and Crudele had 2 hits and drove in the only runs with a double.

RHS power players are: Cook, Cowsky, Crudele, and Urbanski, all showing muscle and aggressiveness at the plate.

Ridgewood Rebels added five more victories, for a season record of 14-0. The tournament had Quigley 3-0, Northridge Prep 1-0, and Hales Franciscan 4-0. Ridgewood pitchers allowed only 2 hits in the 3 5-inning contests.

Crudele pitched another no-hitter against Quigley and J. Berardi ran his record to 5-0 on the year with a no-hitter against Northridge Prep. Cook allowed Hales with 2 hits.

Against Quigley, Crudele also hit well with an RBI double. Berardi had a double and a single. Cook is now 3-0, and received good support from Berardi with 2 doubles and Palazzo, who also had 2 doubles and drove in runs. The only run in the bottom of the 5th was when Floral walked and stole 2nd. Cook singled him home.

Earlier in the week, Rebels topped Proviso East, 8-1, behind Berardi. He had a single and double and drove in 2 runs. Urbanski had a triple and an RBI.

RHS used 3 pitchers in a 7-2 win over Trinity. Floral started, and R. Berardi also pitched. Cowsky had the bat in this game with a single, double and 2 RBIs.

The team also won April 10.

Juniors Rummage for a Profit

The juniors are looking for your cast offs from spring cleaning. Bring them to Ms. Lindenfeld in room 150 until April 20th.

This fantastic "Rummage Sale" will be held on May 4th and 5th in Ridgewood's cafeteria. Profits will go towards their prom. Recycle those unused and unwanted articles now. Clean and be green.

MORP is coming!

The Class of '98 is sponsoring the dance of the year on April 19th from 7:30 - 10 p.m. The theme is MORP which is the opposite of Prom and is a casual dance for all RHS students. The cost is $5 per person. Come by yourself or with friends because it is not a date dance. Tickets will be sold April 15- 19 during lunch periods. It's cheap, casual, and fun so come on out.

All profits that RHS receives will go toward Student Council to finance programs like Homecoming, guest speakers, and other activities. However, in order to receive money, a quota of two tons of paper a month must be met, so they need your help. You can bring in any paper from your home and deposit it into any of the blue recycling bins located in the classrooms. There is also a special dumpster outside by the maintenance receiving door.

Honor Roll

NOTE: Also printed in this issue was the Honor Roll for the Third Quarter 1995-96.

To read the honor roll, visit http://www.ridgenet.org/honor/honor953.htm.

The Ridgewood Reporter Staff

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Copyright © 1999 Ridgewood High School          Last modified: July 09, 1999