North Cook News

At its Jan. 19 meeting, the Schaumburg Community School District 54 Board recognized students for their recent achievements.

The board applauded the efforts of several groups of students who had participated in the District 54 Fluid Power Challenge Competition, which is a STEM-based contest that requires teams to design and build a mechanism with fluid power worked into the design within a set time limit. The junior high-level event has students start in a general workshop before each team works at their school for several weeks to build their own mechanism. This year's challenge was a mechanism that can move a wooden cylinder to different areas around a board.

The Schaumburg District had five different teams of students from five different schools that won various awards and recognitions throughout the competition, with the board inviting each team to come to the front of the room to be recognized. Addams Junior High's Hexide Squad, comprised of Aarav Patel, Anya Allen, Christopher Wagner, and Aaliah Pathan, was deemed the Overall Champion. 

Lincoln Prairie's Hydro Sisters, made up of Jenna Ahrens, Victoria Gajda, Julia Starzyk, and Amari Gibson, won Best Teamwork. Keller's Pyromaniacs, comprised of Prateek Chityala, Shrey Patel, Jaskirat Singh, and Zachary Roberts, won Best Machine Design. Mead's Hydromaniacs, made up of Ayush Patel, TJ Walker, and Anthony Buonincontro, won Best Machine Performance. The Play-Doh Team, comprised of Yumi Chen, Sophia Musial, Leno Oshiro, and Anushka Patel, won Best Portfolio.

The district also recognized students from grades k-5 who had submitted artwork to a school district partner architectural firm that chooses student artwork from several districts for their holiday cards. This year, 11 of the 22 pieces were made by Schaumburg students, with the artists as follows:

Silver Level:

Valeria Gil-Guzman (Einstein, Grade 1)

Mia Pipa (Aldrin, Grade 1)

Ruhhan Patel (Aldrin, Grade 2)

Vera Shah (Fairview, Grade 3)

Lilyna Huynh (Aldrin, Grade 4)

Gold Level:

Vidhita Pahade (Fairview, Grade 1)

Miles Randolph (Aldrin, Grade 2)

Haruka Nakayama (Campanelli, Grade 3)

Riyo Nokami (Fairview, Grade 4)

Kailen Jurkowski (Nerge, Grade 5)

Victoria Dimitrova (Collins, Grade 5)

"So our last group of students tonight is actually receiving a different award that we call the Above and Beyond award," said Community Relations Executive Director Terri McHugh while closing out the awards section of the meeting. "It can be awarded to staff members, to students, volunteers... any people that we think really go above and beyond what you would expect from someone. These three junior high students are part of the Giving Group. The Giving Group is a 100% volunteer nonprofit organization and it's dedicated to giving back to local communities. You may have heard about their Kickball for Kids tournament that they had this fall. The money raised at that event was given to three local organizations, including a $10,000 donation to the District 54 Education Foundation. We're just so thankful for having a group like that in our community. What's even more amazing is that they have junior ambassadors that serve on their board, and the junior ambassadors are three that we're recognizing tonight, our District 54 students: Jaiden Shah from Mead Junior High School, Priya Sundara from Mead Junior High School, and Kayla Ellis from Addams Junior High School."