foreign [Music] [Applause] la la foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign good afternoon North High School students and Families and Welcome to our commencement ceremonies of 2023. at this time I ask that you please stand if you are able and for the processional as the band conducted by Justin Smith plays pump and Circumstance to recognize the class of 2023. thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign Dr thiely members of the Board of Education faculty parents families Friends The Time Is Here and Now Welcome to our graduation commencement ceremony for the Downers Grove North High School class of 2023.
[Music] do [Music] do [Music] so [Music] you [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] hmm [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] those are administrators look foreign oh oh we don't open them it's stronger is all the things my god [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] good afternoon and welcome to north high school as we celebrate the graduation of students of the class of 2022 at this time please stand for the processional as the band conducted by mr jessen smith plays pomp and circumstance and please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance and national anthem [Music] my [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] dr thiele members of the board of education faculty staff parents families friends finally welcome to our graduation commencement ceremony for the downers grove north high school class of 2022.
Testing 1, two, 3. Testing 1, two, 3. All right. I would like to call this meeting to order for Creek School Board District 201 for Tuesday, May the 13th, 2025, 6:30 p.m. or 18:30 hours military. And I would like to have a roll call, please. Madam Secretary, Miss Wolf, I Miss Venegas, I Mr. Salish here. Dr. Hall, Miss Sight Sumbers is here. Mr. Gyos here. Mr. Brown here.
school corporation board of education meeting in our brand new administrative offices. Hopefully everybody's had a chance to tour the facility. If not, I'm sure we'll be able to accommodate that after the meeting. Uh at this time, roll call. With the exception of Monty Thompson, all board members and administrators are present.
All right, I'd like to call this meeting of the Canton Board of Education Honor for Tuesday, May 13, 2025. I want to welcome everybody here tonight. Exceptional evening because we have some uh some very honored guests. Our uh CIS students are here. They're going to be getting some awards from their principal, Mr. Croto, is here. So, we're very excited about that. that is actually the highlight of being a board of education member is having this kind of evening. So, thank you and thank you parents for coming out and supporting your children.
The bombs bursting in [Music] through the night there. Oh, [Music] say the land of the free. and the home of the brave. [Applause] Welcome. Except for the faculty standing before the stage, you may now be seated. Good evening and welcome to the 43rd annual commencement exercises of Rampart High School. Tonight we are here to commemorate the class of 2025. I am Megan Sanders, principal of Rampart High School, and it is my honor to be with you tonight to declare that Rampart High School 2025 commencement ceremony has begun. I want to take this moment to recognize and thank all of the teachers, counselors, and support staff who have helped the class of 2025 reach this point today. Their dedication to education and the contributions to these young adults growth is appreciated. They do this incredible work because they love students and know that Rampart students are among the best and brightest.
At this time, would everyone please stand for the presentation of the colors by the Academy School District 20 Air Force JOTC color guard and the singing of the national anthem by Liberty's Jazz Choir. Presenting the colors are Cadet Xavian Kelma, Cadet Jackson, Cadet Amari Tjo, and Cadet Jeremiah Tutaki. Please remain standing until the colors have left the floor. [Music] Oh, say can you see by the dawn early so proud we held at twilight [Music] Gleaming stripes and bright stars through the flight. [Music] And the rockets red the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, does that star spangle yet for the land of the [Applause] [Music] free and the home of the brave home of the brave. Thank you. You may be seated. Good afternoon. My name is Leanne Thon and I serve as assistant principal and activities director at Liberty High School.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn early so proud we held at the twilight. Twilight last stripes and bright stars through the fight or the ramparts we were so [Music] gallentare the bombs bursting gave proof through the night was still there. Oh, say does that star spinkled yet for the land of the free and the home of the brave. All right, please be seated. Thanks. Now, I would like to introduce Miss Lindseay Keller, pres of the village. I'll take president. That works. Thank you, Xavier. It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to the commencement ceremony for the village. Graduation is always a bittersweet time of both celebration and sadness. It's a celebration of watching each of you grow into the young adults that sit before us. But it's also sad as we mourn how fast it has gone and that we won't see each other as much in the future.
Any opposed? Seeing none, the motion carries. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the May 6th, 2025 moved by Commissioner Weatherbe and seconded by Council Member Dish.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, notice of this meeting has been given through the Co-Star newspaper issue of May 2, 2025. Roll call, please. Mayor Frank Guso is absent. Councilman Elliot Cologne here. Karen Brisbane here. Uh Kevin Callahan here. Amber Fernacola here. Jay Jones is absent. Eric Luben here. James Polo here. James Stenson absent. Karen Trainer here. And Dan Turk here. All right. Before we begin, um, I'll just announce that the continued hearing for 628 Higgins Avenue will not be heard this evening and it has been postponed to our Tuesday, June 10th meeting, which will be at Burrow Hall at 7 p.m. First on our agenda this evening is the approval of the minutes from the April 8th, 2025 meeting of the board.
So we just kind of want to do a little recap and share some of our experience so the kiddos and the crowd can see what they have to look forward to their eighth grade year. So first a simple itinerary. Day one we always fly out of Phoenix. We have a non-top flight straight to Dallas which is in the DC area. At dinner and then this year we started with a ghost and graveyard tour which kind of sets the the tone for the whole trip. Lots of history in that. Um, day two was Smithsonians, the Holocaust memorial and a performance at Ford's Theater. Day three was a guided tour of Gettysburg and then we visited more memorial. Day four we actually got to go into the Capitol building and tour it on um the three different levels I believe. We visited the National Archives where the Declaration of Independence is.
Please join me in a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I motion to approve the agenda. That would be Miss Van Hook seconding. All those in favor? I I motion carries. 5. Miss Richards, you're up. All right. Upcoming events. We have a lot of exciting graduation ceremonies next week beginning with HVA. um at Williamsfield High School at 7 PM. Then we move to ASU on Tuesday at 2:30. We will be celebrating Higgley High School graduates. Same location, 7:30 Williamsville graduates. Then on Wednesday, we have our HTAP student graduation at 10:00 a.m. at the Higgley Center for the Performing Arts. And nobody cares about the last one, or I think they do. Our last day of school is Wednesday, May 21st.
my name is Courtney DeMent and I have the honor and privilege of being the principal here at North High School today's ceremony is part of a rich history as We Gather this today to celebrate the graduation of the 95th class from North High School and the 145th in the history of Downers Grove high schools to begin our ceremony senior Violet Mitchell will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance while at North Violet was a three sport athlete playing cross-country track badminton and most notably basketball Violet helped coach the north basketball camp and was also a member of the National Honor Society she was awarded the all-academic recognition in both basketball and badminton Violet will further her academic and basketball career at Denison University in the fall please welcome Violet to lead just in the Pledge of Allegiance [Applause] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please remain standing for the Star-Spangled Banner [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] please be seated my name is Justin aldea at this time it is my honor to introduce the platform guest as I introduced each guest I would ask each of them to stand and for you to hold your applause until all guests have been introduced Dr Hank feely superintendent board president Mr Donald Renner vice president miss Terry pavisich and board members presence today Kara Caston Ken Dawson Christopher Espinoza and Jenny hagstrom I would also like to introduce our faculty members who will be reading the names of our graduates Dr Frank pikars choir director and Miss Farah of Alaska's English teacher thank you for your participation in our ceremony it is my pleasure to introduce our first student speaker Patrick ursulika while at North Patrick played soccer as a ninth grader and in the fall he plans to attend North Park University to study biology please welcome Patrick ursulika to the stage hello fellow graduates families and friends my name is Patrick ursulika and it is an honor to be here in front of you all on this important day in our lives why we learn many lessons during our time going through schools it is important one that I want to highlight for you today is this is the setbacks in life that open opportunities to learn more about yourself and the resilience that is inside of us all when I was in third grade I attended a private school in Niles I was both excited and nervous to start at a new school when I walked in on the first day I expected it to be a relaxing day of introductions and games boy was I wrong I walked into class to be hit with a booklet of review packets from the year before these were problems I've never seen in my life upon my teacher going over the booklet she decided that I was not up to the same level as the same kids she had a talk with my parents where they all decided that I should be held back for one year and that was that I couldn't do anything about it I was crushed and embarrassed for a while after that day I would let that ultimately be who I was that was until one day my family and I were watching a movie called Gifted Hands the Ben Carson Story and I realized that Dr Carson had a very similar story to mine only his peers were the ones holding him back when he realized he really was smart he set his mind to being the best that he could and that led him to being the first neurosurgeon successfully separate conjoined twins at the head both surviving after watching that movie I had a choice to make I could have continued to live with my life being held back is who I was and just coasted that but I didn't I had to realize for myself that what one teacher thought of me wasn't who I was so I began to look at school in a different light I learned that I could do what they thought that I couldn't as long as I kept my mind to it and didn't give up until the work was finished life doesn't get easier after high school life will throw challenge after challenge our way and some of those challenge can cause you to think less of yourself and make you feel stuck is in those moments that I encourage you all to be resilient and persistent because once you realize that every setback every challenge has a solution you will stop at nothing to reach that and I can tell you from experience that it'll make you feel so accomplished I remember one day my I was talking about my parents and my dad asked me if I were to go back and had an option to choose what would I have chosen and I told them that I wouldn't change anything while being held back doesn't Define me it still plays a big role in my life there are important people in my life I believe I wouldn't have met if it wasn't for it I also would not be where I am academically if I didn't have a reason to prove what I was capable of I hope you all remember my words next time you are struggling because there's always light at the end of the tunnel you just have to keep driving thank you class of 2023 [Applause] thank you Patrick next we will hear two selections from the acapella choir both will be accompanied by Mrs Valerie Lorimer at the piano the first under the direction of Mrs Bethel Riordan is a contemporary arraignment of You'll Never Walk Alone from the Broadway musical Carousel the piece is often performed at ceremonies celebrating graduating students as it's setting in the original show takes place at a high school graduation the second selection is the nor high alma mater today they will be conducted by senior Caleb Imperial Caleb is graduating as a four-year member of the BGN choir who sang this year in both the acapella choir and the Chamber Choir in the fall Caleb will continue his academic studies at the College of DuPage [Music] God [Music] between silver sauce [Music] your heart [Music] alone [Music] on and on up in your hearts [Music] You'll Never Walk You'll Never Walk oh God [Music] please stand for the alma mater [Music] is [Music] loyalty [Music] thy wisdom [Music] guide us [Music] will ever love [Music] you may God in all his wisdom life [Music] please be seated [Music] it is my pleasure to introduce our second student speaker Gabrielle Chen while at North Gabrielle was on the cross country team and was one of the team's captains she also played on the Batman team where she plays sixth State sixth in the state this year Gabrielle was also part of the Asian American Pacific Islander student union and was a member of the National Honor Society the national French Honor Society and is a distinguished honors student Gabrielle plans to attend macgill University in Montreal and will study ecological detriments of health and Society please join me in welcoming Gabrielle Chen good afternoon family friends faculty and most importantly graduates congratulations it hasn't been easy to get through these four years but these four years have prepared us well to step into our future full of confidence and optimism in 2019 we came into our freshman year excited about all of the new opportunities awaiting us much of this got shut down halfway through the year with covid and while covet brought isolation loneliness and grief we learned to treasure quality time with our loved ones gain an appreciation of a gift of good health and realize that interpersonal relationships are everything during sophomore year we continue to face challenges of remote learning and the inability to truly connect with our peers and form a community Zoom School taught us not much alongside this we as a society and a nation faced massive amounts of political conflict in the effects of racism in our community despite all this hardship and division we saw our community bind together in solidarity for these causes seen through the March for black lives matter when we look back onto these moments I hope that people can remember the feeling of unity as a community and I hope that people continue to grow in the respect and love for one another junior year brought more division this time within our own community over masks book Bannings and critical race Theory through this we learn how harmful and deleterious disunity can be as well as how malignant a lack of mutual respect for one another can be I hope that reflecting on this period of disconnection and discourtesy will encourage people to learn from our recent past we can meet people in the middle and have the ability to disagree while still respecting each other and while it's unrealistic to hold the idea that everyone will agree with everyone's opinions or moral values I believe it is incredibly important to still respect listen and learn from one another senior year brought even more changes with having to adapt to the new block schedule and of course the stress and Chaos of figuring out what the heck to do with the rest of our lives where to go next am I making a wrong decision about this path of Life what am I going to do with all the time ahead of me but the newness and the windows opportunity we have ahead of us are a part of what makes a stage of our life so beautiful these four years have yielded many challenges especially with covid and while I've mentioned many of these one of the largest challenges we have faced is loss in these four years we have lost family we have lost friends and we have lost classmates loss is something that forces us to appreciate life and learn to treasure and cherish things more I want to implore all of you to go on to the next stages of your life with an optimistic and gracious view recognize that you have an amazing opportunities that many people don't have and treasure and appreciate this I wish everybody here the best of luck in the next stages of life and I know that you will all do amazing things thank you so much thank you Gabrielle on behalf of the student body I would like to take a moment to honor staff members who are retiring this year please join me in congratulating the following retirees Todd Cassens caliberate Alan Kersey Leslie Ted Martin Bill McLean Paul Scott Patrick Pierce Carrie Roberts Nancy springtrow T and saucya Nicole the class of 2023 is grateful for the guidance and support of all our faculty members have given us during these past four years for their dedications providing us with the best possible education and for preparing us for the road ahead I asked the faculty members who are here with us tonight to stand for recognition including those who are seated with our graduates please join the students in giving our faculty members a round of applause thank you faculty thank you Justin the four of you may now return to your seats all right do a little switch up here here we go thank you so much Justin and all of our students who spoke today while here at North Justin was a member of the orcasus dance company for four years in which he was a leading officer he served as a PE leader and for the past two years could be seen as the dgn mascot he is a distinguished honor student and he plans to attend North Central College to study Physics Justin also plans to pursue competitive hip-hop dancing in the city of Chicago please again join me in giving a round of applause for Justin [Applause] to First recognize and take a moment to hold space for those who aren't able to be with us today but who are always in our hearts particularly those we've lost this year who are close to us including our friend and peer Kaden McCann we wish everyone could be here to celebrate this special day and we want to acknowledge the love we hold in our hearts for our friends and family who cannot join us I am truly honored to have the opportunity to speak to the class of 2023 today I would first like to recognize our 2023 graduates who are entering the U.S armed forces will The Following students please stand to be recognized and please hold your applause Christopher Ferris Juan Gasper Nathan Classen Juan Pablo aldana Edgar Nava Lopez Riley petrovskas Veronica Elizabeth Torres and Daniela Wallace we are incredibly proud of you and we thank you for your commitment to our country and we thank you for your service [Applause] I am truly honored again to be with all of you here today as Gabrielle alluded to your four years have been so very different than any other class I've stood before at graduation not only has each individual year brought more challenges than you should have to face as a teenager but the combination of those changes has left many of you feeling more moments of discomfort and uncertainty than ever before and as I was thinking about what to say to you here today to the very unique and special class of 2023 the one thing I kept coming back to was that you're here you found your path through the trauma and the change and the discomfort and the change again and you have all landed here today to graduate from high school with very unique life experiences to take with you in addition to the enormous amount of success you've had one of the things I love doing as a principal is going to see events where our students participate from football games to musicals to chess matches is to dance competitions it is one of the highlights of my role as principal to get to see all of you do what you love this year because of your success I've put a lot of miles on my car I've been lucky to travel all around the state of Illinois to see you perform at the highest level of competition lately when I tell my family I'm going on the road to see an event their response is again and I say Yes again our students are in another Regional or another sectional and even better another state competition you have all put a lot of miles into what you are passionate about and you should be proud of the Legacy you are leaving for our underclassmen to look up to you've also been enormously successful in the classroom we have 145 students who have earned High honors or distinguished honors we have National Merit commended students semi-finalists and finalists and we have a large number of you receiving scholarships accolades and awards that will help put you in front of the line on your next PATH so many of you have pushed yourself to do the things you didn't think you could do in the classroom and you have become better people because of it some of those academic Pursuits have not been easy and all of you have put in an abundance of miles in the classroom with all of your teachers by your side despite the lack of normalcy as Patrick so eloquently said today you've learned more about yourself than most do at this stage of your life and you should have no doubt that you have the tools necessary to do it again while some of the events of the past four years tried to sideline you you have all ultimately chosen a path of success getting here today was not easy and all of you had the guts and put in the miles to do it anyway for whatever is next for you class of 2023 I share with you a few simple things to think about that I often reflect on especially when change is difficult and when the going gets really tough from one of my favorite books The Notorious RBG by Irene Carman and Shayna kiznick here are a few words of wisdom they captured from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg work for what you believe in but pick your battles and don't burn your Bridges don't be afraid to take charge think about what you want then do the work but then enjoy what makes you happy last bring along your crew and have a sense of humor a little goes a long way to the class of 2023 please know that we have so much love in our hearts for all of you and we are so incredibly grateful to have spent these past four years with you you make our world a better place and we are lucky to have been a part of it with you I look forward to seeing all of the abundance of miles you will put in in your very Bright Futures congratulations class of 2023. and now Dr Seeley and members of the Board of Education it is with great honor that I present to you the North High School class of 2023.
my name is courtney dement and i have the honor and privilege of being the principal at north today's ceremony is part of a rich history as we gather today to celebrate the graduation of the 94th class from north high school and 144th in the history of downers grove high schools to begin our ceremony senior sandy brindle will lead us in the pledge of allegiance while at north sandy has played volleyball and managed the boys volleyball team for four years she was also a member of the elite leadership team as well as change makers sandy will be attending milliken university in the fall and will study biology with a pre-physician's assistant track please welcome sandy to lead us in the pledge i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation in god indivisible with liberty and justice for all please remain standing for the star-spangled banner [Music] please be seated my name is elena tomczyk at this time it is my honor to introduce the platform guests as i introduce each guest i would ask each of them to stand and for you to hold your applause until all guests have been introduced dr hank thiele our superintendent and because of our change of date and graduation this weekend our board of education members could not all be with us to celebrate we would like to recognize the board members who could not be here today president dr nancy kuka vice president mr mike davenport and board members terry pavcich christopher espinoza and cheryl fuller and i would like to welcome here today board of education members ms jenny hagstrom and ms joanna vazquez drexler thank you for being here i would also like to introduce our faculty members mr demetrios papa george the english and theater teacher and mr briertig our fine arts department chair thank you for your participation in our ceremony it is my pleasure to introduce our first student speaker maeve dietrich while at north maeve was on the track team the omega staff north stars orcs's dance team a member of nhs a pe leader a student activities aide and she was a leader and director in operation snowball as well as an elite leader maeve will attend the university of tennessee knoxville to study communication and digital media please welcome maeve dietrich to the stage hello classmates teachers families friends and anybody who is sitting here today to celebrate downers grove north's senior class of 2022. i come with you today with the words of a wise poet one that has taught us many trials and tribulations of this generation miss taylor swift no i am not talking about the tragedy of teenage heartbreak after three weeks of dating may i recite to you as incredibly cringy as it's going to sound the line from her 2012 pop pit that has subconsciously resonated with us everything will be alright if we just keep dancing like we're 22.
Let us stand for the pledge of allegiance led by Vice President Mr. Henos followed by mission statement led by our board secretary Miss Jamie Zumbers. I pledge allegiance of its one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Our mission statement is to engage and empower our students to positively impact their community and future. Thank you. Thank you both. Wardrobe malfunction here. Okay. Do we have any public comments?
Uh and with that, I will ask that you join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Thank you. First item of business is spotlight on excellence. We have student art. All right, students. When I call your name, if you will come up and stand by your artwork, that would be wonderful. Veronica Dominguez. My neighborhood. [Music] Josephine, you make your mom so proud. Laney right is playing softball. Hopefully winning. That is everybody's here. Anybody make it in the didn't call. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you guys. Make sure if you haven't got a picture, we'll give you a little bit of time after we get through this. So, you go out and get a quick picture and then you can probably head out.
So, uh with that, we're going to start off with the pledge of allegiance and then we'll get into the meeting. We'll try to get you out of here by 11. Okay, let's go.
Rampart faculty, you are now invited to please take your place on the floor with our seniors for the commencement exercises honoring the class of 2025. [Applause] I now give you your senior class president and your student body president Fiona Vaka and Claire Coliseimo. Hi, my name is Fiona Bakta and I have had the honor of serving as a senior class president for Rampart's class of 2025. Good evening Rampart faculty, family, friends, and class of 2025. I am Claire Colosimo and have served as the 2025 student body president. I'm not going to lie, I had a really difficult time writing this speech. I kept trying to think of the perfect high school memory, something meaningful or epic or inspiring. But what I actually landed on was one of my most embarrassing moments. In this moment, I was in the girls' bathroom surrounded by other girls. I went to wash my hands and of course, there was no soap.
It is now my honor to introduce a group of individuals who have played integral roles in shaping the journey of our graduates. Please join me in welcoming the representatives from our Academy School District 20 administration. Their leadership, vision, and unwavering commitment to excellence has been instrumental in guiding our educational community towards success. Our superintendent, Mrs. Ginger Habberer, Deputy Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer, Miss Becky Allen, Assistant Superintendent for Learning Services, Dr. Susan Field, Director for Curriculum and Instruction, Mrs. Tacy Killingsworth. Next, let us acknowledge the members of the Academy School District 20 School Board. Their efforts and advocacy for quality education have helped pave the way for the achievements we are celebrating today. Our school board president, Mrs. Amy Shandi, vice president, Mrs. Nicole CS treasurer Mr. Derek Wilburn Director Mr. Aaron Salt Director Mrs. Lauren Yanes and our United States Air Force Academy liaison Colonel Chio Stalworth.