Seven District 202 high school juniors will be able to see what their futures might hold with the help of a Horizon Grant from the Plainfield Foundation for Excellence.
The Horizon Grant program awards students up to $1,000 each to help pay for summer learning enrichment experiences that broaden their academic horizons and explore areas of interest. The grants can be used for summer workshops, classes, field studies, internships or conferences during the summer before their senior year.
This is the fourth year that the Foundation for Excellence has awarded these special grants. Thirty-three students applied for grants this year.
“The Foundation is very excited and happy to award these grants because they help young people ‘try out’ their future,” said Foundation for Excellence Chairperson Margie Bonuchi.
“The Horizon grants are unique because they help students decide what the rest of their lives could look like,” she said. “We are very proud of all of the students who applied this year and wish our winners great luck and success this summer and beyond.”
The Foundation for Excellence is a private organization that has been supporting District 202 schools, students and staff with grants, scholarships and financial support for special programming since 1983.
Along with scholarships and grants, the Foundation has also supported special District 202 programs including a District Art Gallery, the Great Read community reading program and the 1847 Schoolhouse Restoration.
For more information about the Plainfield Foundation for Excellence or to make a donation, visit: www.d202foundation.org.
The 2016 Horizon Grant winners are:
Caitlin Arquines (Plainfield East High School) – plans to attend Berklee College of Music’s Five Week Summer Performance Program in Boston.
James P. Fox Jr. (Plainfield South High School) – plans to attend Milwaukee School of Engineering’s “Discover the Possibilities” program for health-related science and engineering.
Victoria-Jo Gapuz (Plainfield South High School) – plans to attend the “Camp Neuro” program about brain research at Rush Medical College in Chicago.
Alexander Konczak (Plainfield North High School) – plans to attend the United States Naval Academy Summer Seminar in Annapolis, Maryland.
Kyle McCoy (Plainfield East High School) – plans to attend the 2016 Career Discovery Program in Architecture at the University of Notre Dame.
Emily Schroeder (Plainfield North High School) – plans to attend the Math and Science Scholars program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Benjamin Thoms (Plainfield South High School) – plans to attend the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Fire Science program at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Plainfield East students post record results on National Spanish Exam
Sixty-seven Plainfield East High School students earned top honors on the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese 2016 National Spanish Exams.
A record-high number of students both took the challenging exams and earned top scores this year, said PEHS Spanish teacher Hilda Rosario Stewart. They set new 5-year records with number of tests taken (108), percentage achieving “Honor” or better (62 percent), and percentage achieving “Silver” (11 percent) and “Gold” (9 percent).
“Congratulations to each award-winning student and congratulations to each Spanish teacher who guided and supported these students during their earlier years,” she said. “I am extremely proud of our students this year. They have worked very hard, and the results speak for themselves.”