South Cook News

The Community Consolidated School District 146 Board recognized several students for their academic achievements during a recent meeting.

The board first honored two girls, Lily Brown and Kayleigh McCormick, who earned the annual Infinitec Southwest Technology Achievement Award for their use of assistive technology. They had been further honored by the Southwest Cook County Cooperative and other organizations in the prior month.

Some of the girls' teachers spoke at the meeting to praise them and their presence in their classes. 

Lily was described as someone who loves to be in school and spends time talking with her classmates and teachers using adaptive technology to aid communication. Her classmates have learned how to ask her questions and determine her answers through which option she prefers. Her occupational therapist said that she is cheerful and conquers every challenge that comes her way.

Kayleigh, who is legally blind, uses assistive technology to help her read and learn and has adaptive locks and various educational tools. She is fluent in braille and works hard to learn as much as possible.

The board also honored three students who won the Virginia Koepel Award in March. Each year, the award, named after a beloved math teacher from the district, is given to students who participated in the District 146 Math Challenge for all eight years they were eligible. 

Nathan Beazley, Marni Hemminer and Daniel John McCarthy all received the award. The 19th annual Math Challenge was held recently, and two of the honored students achieved a higher qualification level for future math events.

"The Math Challenge is a competition for which students have to qualify by earning the highest scores on a grade-level pretest at their school," Fulton Elementary School ORE facilitator Mary Day said. "During the two months between the pretest and the actual event, most participants spend extra time practicing skills, learning more math, and pushing their thinking with puzzles and brainteasers in preparation for the big day. Hopefully, this brief description conveys to you that qualifying for the District 146 math challenge in any given year is a big deal, let alone qualifying for it multiple years. 

"Tonight, we're honoring three very impressive, hardworking eighth-grade students who qualified for the math challenge not once nor twice, but every possible year since they were in first grade."