LT News: Student Officers Elected, Notes from Film Festival

Student government officers for ’12-‘13

Students at Lyons Township have elected their student council officers for the 2012-2013, to oversee and assist with many of the largely student-run events and fundraisers throughout the school year. Each of the older three classes have also elected their Class Board officers, who serve in a similar capacity. (Incoming freshmen elect their Class Board officers in the fall.)

The 2012-2013 Student Council Officers are Joe Halpin of La Grange, Class of ’13  (President), Sydney Arsenault, of La Grange, Class of ‘14 (First Vice President), Thomas Cushing, of La Grange, Class of ‘15 (Second Vice President), Jon Jackson, of Western Springs, Class of ‘14 (Treasurer), and Amy Bazzoni, of La Grange, Class of ‘14 (Secretary). Alexandra Blaze, of Western Springs, Class of ’13 will serve as the Student Representative to the Board of Education.

The Class of 2013’s Senior Class Board is Brian McDonagh of La Grange (President), Joe Galin of La Grange (Vice President), Michael Thomas of Western Springs (Treasurer), and Dominic Faust of La Grange (Secretary.)

The Class of 2014’s Junior Class Board is Paul Nora of La Grange (President), Stephen Metroff of La Grange (Vice President), Brynn Burke of Willow Springs (Treasurer), and Alexandria Griffin of Western Springs (Secretary.)

The Class of 2015’s Sophomore Class Board is Josie Dunne of La Grange (President), Alexis Gutierrez of Indian Head Park (Vice President), Patrick Dunleavy of Western Springs (Treasurer), and Amanda Bolton of La Grange (Secretary.)

M.A.N.E. festival winners & entrants

Lyons Township recently held its annual M.A.N.E. (Media Arts Night of Entertainment) festival, featuring screenings of student films, a Q&A session with filmmakers and selection of prizewinning films. 

First prize in the “film” category went to La Grange senior Dan Dorsano for his drama Living Alone, with senior Garrett Gomez of La Grange Park taking runner-up for his documentary Music Is. In the animation category, juniors Seamus Coughlin of Burr Ridge and Lino Mogorovic of Western Springs won for Universe Boots Linux, with junior Mariel Montoya of La Grange taking second for Pencil Lines.

The most popular category for films was animation, including these animated pieces: A Day at the Dojo (Josh Kuntz,) A New Day (Josh Kuntz, Quinn McCloskey,) A Personal Problem (Stan Jatczak,) An Adventure (Becky Campos, Alyssa Laatz,) Blue (Nicolas Pucheta,) Bonehead (Nicolas Pucheta, Sha Rafiq,) Cat and Mouse (Dylan Jackowiak, Alexi Brandt,) Cultivation Park (Brendan Blaber,) Dancing Through Your Dreams (Emma Ahlert,) Fish to Bird (Grace Chambers, Amanda Lange,) Forgotten Island (Alyssa Laatz, Joe Dillon, Jon Hernandez, Bianca Pineda, Jeremy Rivera,) Whiteboard (Gabe Valdes,) Gary’s Fantasy (Jake Bernier, Kip Andreoni, Freddy Vallejo, Lean Nunez, Amanda Lange,) Glass Box (Graham Ellis,) In the Clouds (Taylor Judd, Leah Nunez,) Late (Brendan Blaber,) Liftoff (Brendan Blaber,) Making a Friend (Jake Bernier,) Mind Dining (Will Most,) Mr. Gopher’s Odd Day (Brian Holgren,) Optic Blue (Aidan Huddleston, Daniel Dinh,) Honey Trip (Seamus Coughlin,) Sentinel (Mac Koziarz,) Optic White (Aidan Huddleston, Daniel Dinh,) Morph (Peter Gajewski,) Play on Words (Alex Clark, Sebastian Correa, Kevin Kotil, Grace Chambers, Aidan Huddleston,) Rainy Day (Emma Heinz,) Reach for the Sky (Nicolas Pucheta,) Safari Adventure (Taylor Judd, Alfonso Navarro, Tom Nelson, Dillan Smejkal, Kyle Yang,) Savannah (Graham Ellis, Jovanni Romera, Max Larsen, Will Most, April Sanchez,) Skiing Bro (Paul Nora,) Snowball Fight (Daniel Dinh,) Splash (Grace Chambers,) Sputnik the Bug (Sean Slomka, Adam Kubil,) Super Powers (Daniel Dinh, Zach Romero, Sean Slomka, Erick Diaz, Juan Alcala,) The Crying Peach (Holly Carbis,) The Heist (Connor McElhaney,) The Mystery Forest (Ryan Krukowsi, Stephan Mahar, Michael Dean, Lindsey Arnston, Grant Younger,) The Odd Sea (Tony Burkes, Mia Phillips, Jack Hollinger, David Fiflis, Holly Garbis,) The Phone (Eric Mueller, Kevin Kotil) and The Space Fight (Emma Heinz, Cornell Barnett, Matt Grider, Andrew Saibert, Carter Buyer-Knuff. 

Also presented were music videos Stupid Facedd (Jacob Alderman,) Headlines (Mac Koziarz,) Nightmare (Madeline Stack,) Breathe (Abby Brown,) Henri’s Mix #2 (Mac Koziarz,) and Roll Out (Garrett Gomez,) comedies Cops (Dan Dorsano), Kidnapping (Dan Dorsano) and Lingering Pizza Guy (Dan Dorsano,) experimental Shake the Dust (Steph MacDonald,) drama Action! (Christian Allan) and documentary The Mind of Neil Miller (Mac Koziark.) 

Economics team places in state finals

A team of four Lyons Township Advanced Placement Economics students—seniors Jesse Anderson, of Brookfield, Jason Dolinski, of LaGrange Park, Ben Krueger, of LaGrange, and Karl Laubacher, of Western Springs—qualified for and participated in the Illinois Economics Challenge State Finals in April.

The students were one of only 10 teams (of nearly 350 students who participated in online competition) to qualify for the event.

According to a press release, “the Illinois Economics Challenge (ILEC) is designed to recognize Advanced Placement students who demonstrate high levels of comprehension and application of economics concepts and skills; and to reward teachers for outstanding practices in teaching economics courses.”

Lion announces 2012-2013 staff

Lyons Township High School has announced the staff of the Lion student newspaper that will be taking over operations next year. The award-winning paper is regularly considered to be one of the top student newspapers in the country, and recently brought home several awards for stories and photography by its student staff.

MaryCate Most, who recently won a first place award at the Illinois Women's Press Association's IWPA High School Communications Competition and a third place award in the federation's national contest, has been named the paper's editor in chief.

Patch blogger Lia Kass will also join the paper's staff as the multi-media editor for the Lion's website, and Patch contributor Gabbie Gresge will be a reporter for the paper.

Students selected for staff positions on the newspaper, 26 juniors and seniors in all, will work produce eight issues of the Lion next year.

Lion senior staff are MaryCate Most (editor-in-chief,) Brian McDonagh (managing editor,) Joe Halpin (art director,) Malcolm Dunlop (opinions editor,) Adam Conrath and Ben Schaefer (news co-editors,) Mary Clare Flaherty and Katie Norton-Williams (“Pulse” co-editors,) Tim Goldrick (sports editor) Siri Yelamanchili and Sam Ridge (head copy-editors,) Ben Larson (website content editor,) Lia Kass (website multimedia editor,) Sara Nutley (photo editor) and Maggie O’Brien (business manager.)

Juniors on the staff are Elaine Smith (assistant news editor,) Kristen Wuerl (assistant “Pulse” editor,) Steven Campbell (assistant sports editor,) Katie Grier (assistant copy editor,) and Mia Mologousis, Gabbie Gresge, Dayna Larson, Mikaela Colman, John Balch, Aly Buffett and Olivia Griffin (reporters.)