Highland Park Community Foundation Awards HPHS Student Jason Estrada Personal Achievement Award at HP Chamber of Commerce 53rd Annual Student Honor Dinner

The Highland Park Chamber of Commerce hosts an annual dinner to recognize exceptional young people who have been selected by the high school based on various criteria. Sponsors, like the HPCF, provide scholarships to seniors from HPHS to help enable these outstanding students to continue their studies after high school.

Jason Estrada, nominated by Megan Counts and Leslie Levin on behalf of the Social Studies Department at HPHS, was the winner of the HPCF’s Personal Achievement Award at this year’s dinner. HPCF Chairman Nancy Mills and Member of the Board Karen Reisin attended the May 3rd ceremony to present the award. “It was an honor and an inspiration to be surrounded by such inspiring students like Jason. I especially enjoyed getting to know his family. They have good reason to be proud.” Said Mills.

Nomination Written by Megan Counts and Leslie Levin:
Jason Estrada exemplifies the best that any educator hopes for. Highland Park values community engagement, connections, and relationships and these are Jason’s natural strengths. As a school community over the last four years, we have watched Jason emerge as a loving, responsible, determined leader. Jason leads with his heart and exudes a brotherly kindness and authenticity in all his daily interactions. Jason has repeatedly demonstrated maturity and seriousness of character as he worked to pursue his path to success and graduation. Jason takes responsibility for his own outcomes. Yet while focused on his own life, he has always steadfastly provided guidance and support for his peers as well; he is equally as aware of the happiness and wellness of others as he is with his own concerns. Jason is the type of young man who understands that character is best revealed by the choices we make and the actions we do when nobody is watching. Jason has the strength of character and the morality to do what is right without ever expecting praise or reward; Jason is guided by an internal strength and goodness that impacts his classmates, teachers, and anyone else who is lucky enough to be in his sphere of influence. When Jason graduates, he will be missed very much by our school community and he will be carried in the hearts of those whose lives he touched.

People in photo L to R: Nancy Mills (Highland Park Community Foundation, Chair), Jason Estrada, Karen Reisin (Highland Park Community Foundation, Board Member)

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Highland Park Community Foundation Presents

Gather for Good

Friday, September 14, 2018

Save the Date

Please Join Us for a Festive Fundraiser to Benefit the Communities of Highland Park and Highwood

Binny’s Beverage Depot, Highland Park
Friday, September 14, 2018
6:30 – 9:00 pm
Demos, Delicious Bites and Sips Featuring Amazing Local Chefs!

Register Here

Jack Blane was a founding member of the Highland Park Community Foundation. Since its inception in 1992, Jack was an active and contributing member of the Board. He was our de facto Foundation historian and our moral compass. We drew a collective sigh of sadness upon hearing of his death on February 19th. As everyone knew him would agree, Jack was a kind, caring, and dedicated man. It was an honor to know him.

Jack, 94, passed away at home on February 19, 2018. Jack was the loving father of Barbara (Rand) Toney, the late Nancy (Tony) Guerra, and John Blane, and the proud grandfather of Sarah (Patrick Pauley) Toney, David Toney, and Nathan Blane. He was preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Joan, nee Fleischman. Jack leaves a legacy of immeasurable dedication and commitment to Rotary International (in particular, his focus for the last 30 years on PolioPlus, the global eradication of polio), the Highland Park Community Foundation, Boy Scouts of America, and the City of Highland Park, and numerous other beneficiaries of his tireless energies.

Please click here if you would like to remember Jack with a donation to the Highland Park Community Foundation.

Thank you.

The Highland Park Community Foundation is pleased to announce the following organizations have received grants for 2017.

The Highland Park Community Foundation is proud to announce the Highland Park Golden Apple Award recipient for 2017. This year’s deserving honoree is Scott Shallenbarger, Director of Theater Arts at Highland Park High School.

Mr. Shallenbarger, a 27 year veteran at Highland Park High School, is a beloved teacher who is revered by his current and former students, teachers, parents, and administrators. He embodies the true meaning of an educator as well as human being. As Director of Theater Arts, Scott fosters creativity, radiates positivity, nurtures and inspires courage within his students, builds bonds, and teaches lessons that go far beyond his drama classroom. He is the epitome what it means to be aHighland Park Golden Apple teacher.

“The Highland Park and Highwood community is lucky to have outstanding teachers in our schools. By celebrating and recognizing teachers, we can demonstrate the strength and impact that their excellent teaching has on our children. This year’s Highland Park Community Foundation’s Highland Park Golden Apple recipient, Scott Shallenbarger, not only teaches the craft of theater, he also teaches the craft of being a human being,” said Sara Sher, HPCF Golden Apple Selection committee.

As Scott said in his application, “I believe in the alchemy of theatre which can transform lives. This too is sacred to me. And since sacred is defined as ‘dedicated to a (belief) and so deserving veneration,’ I passionately approach my students and the community with the respect they deserve. Doing so, we all benefit from an upward spiral of acceptance, humanitarianism, and recognition f life’s beauty.”

The HPCFHighland Park Golden Apple Selection Committee met this May to determine the 2017 recipient. Mr. Shallenbarger was honored with a $2000 honorarium, a $500 gift card to Apple store, and a “Golden Apple Award.”

In 2010, the Highland Park Community Foundation and a local family foundation initiated an annualHighland Park Golden Apple Award to recognize outstanding teachers in the Highland Park School systems. Nominations are made in a rotating cycle: K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. A selection committee comprised of exemplary current and retired educators and administrators and former Golden Apple award recipients, evaluate the extensive application and complete a full day of observation. The final recipient of the award is chosen based on instruction, content knowledge, student and staff interaction, and contribution to school and community.

This year, nominations were accepted for full-time teachers at Highland Park High School who have completed at least four full years of teaching. The committee received many excellent nominations, and after a rigorous and intensive review process, nominations were narrowed to three semi-finalists:

• Bridget Fahrner (Spanish)
• Elizabeth Perlman (English)
• Scott Shallenbarger (drama)

All three of the semi-finalists will be honored publicly at the May 22 District 113 Board meeting. By honoring exceptional educators, the Foundation hopes to demonstrate the strength and importance of excellent teaching in helping young people reach their potential.

The Highland Park Community Foundation welcomes gifts of any size. Through the generous support of our community, the Foundation is able to fund programs for a wide variety of local service and cultural groups.

Help those very nearby by supporting programs related to Social Services, Child Care, Educational Services, Senior Services, Arts Programs and Environmental & Civic Programs.

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The Highland Park Community Foundation is pleased to announce the following organizations have received grants for 2016.

The Highland Park Community Foundation is pleased to announce that the 2016 recipient of the Golden Apple Award is Cindy Rossman.

Mrs. Cindy Rossman (K-1 Braeside) is this year’s final recipient of the Highland Park Community Foundation’s prestigious Golden Apple Award. Mrs. Rossman was surprised with a special all school assembly when she was presented with balloons, golden delicious apples, a golden apple statue, a $2000 check, and a $500 gift card to the Apple store. Children, colleagues , administrators, parents, and retired educators attended the exciting assembly.

As Cindy’s observers noted, “Cindy Rossman is truly worthy of this Golden Apple award because she does not need an award to validate what she is doing every day with every child. She is a loving parent to each of her students and is a caring teacher to each child as she lights up when they enter her room every day. In turn, each child lights up inside as their self-esteem grows; each child develops a love of learning and thinking in her classroom. There is a magical feeling in Cindy Rossman’s room.”

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article from the Chicago Tribune

FROM THE DAILY NORTHSHORE

In February 2015 The Highland Park Community Foundation offered a proactive grant challenge to Family Service to work together to raise $27,000 to increase professional staff capacity in Family Service’s Latino Youth Initiative (LYI) at Highland Park High School. The Foundation agreed to provide half the required funding if Family Service could raise the balance. On June 25, representatives of both groups and contributing donors will meet to celebrate successful completion of the challenge—in just three months!

As a result, Family Service will begin the 2015-2016 school year with the capacity to strengthen individual academic and post-graduate planning support for Latino students at Highland Park High School. Students in LYI are the first in their families to go to college. The program is the capstone in the Family Service Latino Educational Continuum, which begins at age 6 at Nuestro Center and extends through middle school at Northwood Junior High School to Highland Park High School.

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The Highland Park Community Foundation is pleased to announce the following organizations have received grants for 2015.