NORMAL – Because of mental strategies it players must employ, the game of Chess is sometimes not an easy game to master, let alone bring home trophies for doing so. But the members of the Chess Club at Parkside Junior High School could probably all teach us a few tips having done well recently at a pair of tournaments.

As part of the “Good News” portion of Normal’s Unit 5 School Board meeting at district headquarters on May 12, PJHS’ Chess Club was honored for recently participating in two out-of-state tournaments, and bringing home trophies to show for their efforts.

Coached by Garrett Scott, assisted by Gary DeBo, team members have been to two tournaments over the school year. First, at the Junior High National Chess Tournament in Minneapolis, Minn., the team of eighth grader Justin DeBo, sixth graders Trevin Kafer, Connor Kennedy, and Timmy O’Brien recently took second place.

At that same competition, in individual divisions, two of the PJHS Chess Club members brought home trophies. O’Brien placed third in his division and Kennedy placed 11th.

At the U. S. Junior Chess Congress in Indianapolis in February, seventh grader Benjamin Nielsen tied for second out of hundreds of students who participated.

Kingsley Junior High’s “Good News” Times 2: There were two pieces of good news delivered to the Board from Kingsley Junior High School. First, it was announced that Ericka Jensen, a 7th grade science teacher at Kingsley Junior High School was honored at the meeting with the second mention of ‘good news,” as she recently received a $1,000 grant from the Ecology Action Center. The grant is for composting equipment and additional recycling bins.

The next item of good news for KJHS was about teachers’ aide Geralyn Miskulin. Miskulin, who has been revitalizing KJHS’ Environment Club, received a $1,000 “One Class At A Time” Grant from Peoria’s WHOI-TV. WHOI news anchors Mark Welp and Gretchen Wirtz came to the school and surprised Miskulin with the grant.

School officials later learned that, unbeknownst to any of them, Hayley Shields, a sixth grader and active KJHS Environment Club member, had submitted Miskulin’s name for receiving the grant.

Miskulin has been helping encourage recycling to students, including organizing cleaning up landscaping in front of the building, and made daily announcements concerning recycling opportunities.

WHOI-TV aired the segment of Miskulin receiving the grant money during newscasts on April 21 and 22, to coincide with Earth Day.

District Speech Therapists Recognized: The last item of “good news” honored 36 speech pathologists employed by the district for all the work they do for the district, and to recognize them as part of May being “Better Speech & Hearing Month.”

The 36 speech language pathologists recognized were: Candice Adams; Heather Anderson; Patti Anderson; Melissa Blaum; Chasity Bogay; Lisa Bova; Sonya Cail; Cindy Diekhoff; Erin Fabish; Rachel Gannaway; Anna Gomez; Amy Hohulin; Carolyn Howald; Cally Hutson; Amy Johnson; Natalie Karr; Jana Kelly; Vickie Mahrt; Kristi Menestrina; Angie Mier; Peg Modglin; Jaime Moore; Stacy Munsell; Carla Orr; Stacey Panizo; Tom Parton; Christine Peterson; Jamie Schlipf; Brandy Sherrick; Karen Showalter; Melissa Soluri; Sara Thompson; Doug Valverde; Jeanna Walker; Amy Yacucci; and Laura Yost.

No Change For School Start Times: District Superintendent Gary Niehaus told Board members there will be no change in school start times when school opens for the Fall Semester in August. The Board is still considering a change in middle school start times at some point in the future. Niehaus said Board members will be given a report on the affects of a school starting time change at a future Board meeting.

New Glenn Elementary Principal Named: Niehaus introduced Julia Schoonover as the new principal of Glenn Elementary School, beginning this fall. Schoonover had been School Administration Manager at Pepper Ridge Elementary. She replaces Carmen Bergmann, who will become principal at Prairieland Elementary.Schoonover’s husband, Geoff Schoonover is also getting a new place to work. Currently principal at Brigham Elementary, Geoff is going to be the new principal at the new Cedar Ridge Elementary when it opens at the beginning of the 2010-11 School Year.

Construction Update: Richard Ach, project manager with Chicago-based Turner Construction, presented a construction update to Board members regarding the two new elementary and one junior high currently being built as part of the $96.7 million referendum passed by voters in 2008.

At Cedar Ridge Elementary, Ach said, a final cleaning in the school gym is underway; furniture deliveries have begun; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment startup is ongoing; completing paint work in second floor classrooms is underway; and metal stud framing is complete in the second floor classroom wing.

The school’s first floor classroom wing will be ready for Unit 5 to take it over from the construction company by June 14, with the second floor classroom wing ready by July 1. The construction company handed over the school’s gymnasium wing in April.

At Benjamin Elementary, the installation of the gym wood floor is complete; cafeteria flooring will be completed; ceiling tile installation in the gym wing is complete; first floor classroom painting is being completed; exterior face brick is complete; and window installation in the classroom wing is complete.

The construction company handed over the school’s administration area to Unit 5 in April. The school’s gymnasium wing is scheduled to be handed over to the district this week. The first floor classroom wing should be ready to hand over to Unit 5 by July 7. The second floor classroom wing should be ready to hand over by July 26.

Among the things being done by work crews at the site of the new George L. Evans Junior High School, window installation in the north classroom wing has begun; masonry bearing walls have been completed in the second floor art rooms; geothermal well drilling has been completed and horizontal piping is underway.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 10:41 pm and is filed under The Normalite, Unit 5. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.