E-mail: darren@patch.com
Phone: 708-275-8365
Hometown: Andover, MA
Current town: La Grange, IL
Birthday: September 24, 1987
Bio: I was born and raised in Eastern Massachusetts, and first took an interest in journalism when I was named the National Correspondent of the Year for SchoolSports (now called ESPN Rise.) I relocated to Chicagoland in 2006 to attend the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where I wrote for a number of student publications. During my time in school, I also completed editorial internships with Chicago Parent and Vicon Publishing. Upon graduating, I became Western Springs Local Editor with Patch.com, and have since held several jobs in the company. Currently I am a Community Editor for DuPage County.
My interests/hobbies include sports, reading, fiction writing, gaming, and outdoor living (hiking/camping/canoeing.) I play both indoor and beach volleyball, and I'm passionate about golf (if not terrific at it.) I also author the online graphic novel Panthera as "D. Z. McRoy."
Politics: I am a registered Democrat; my politics are socially liberal and economically moderate.
Religion: I am a member of the United Church of Christ, though my practice is largely casual.
The student paper for the high school visits a massive journalism conference and take home several awards, including a huge coup with an Editorial of the Year prize.
There have been many iterations of Western Springs’ decades-old leaf-collection program; in the current one, the colorful leaves disappear from the streets in record time—with some small piques involved.
An evening of leaf play at the corner of Grand Avenue and Elm Street.
A Western Springs girl takes her first shot at climbing across Northeast Park's new monkey bars.
A line snagged in a tree on West 54th Street is being repaired.
The Western Springs Spangler family entered the 55-ft. blue spruce in their front lawn in a Chicago contest to win the title of Official Christmas tree at Daley Center.
Park Board approves bid, moves forward on new playground equipment and benches, to be installed by end of year.
Western Springs resident Mark Tobin's artistic home welcomes, displays and teaches local art.
T. J. Silvey nearly wins the entire tournament, but LTHS falls just short of moving forward as a team by a single stroke.
With victories in 10 of 12 events on Thursday, LTHS continues strong season as Meyering crushes personal diving records.
Here's the Western Springs police blotter from Sep. 27 through Oct. 3.
Hinsdale South shoots the lowest par-36 score in school history, but LT counters with its own year-low to bring the team to 7-1 in dual meets.
We haven't been using our Facebook and Twitter enough over these three weeks--that's going to change.
Laurie Jolicoeur is named the veterans’ organization’s Teacher of the Year for 2009-2010.
Western Springs seniors stay fit by working out at Grand Avenue's Senior Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Despite surprise strong performance by Lenz, LTHS drops to 4-1 in three-shot defeat.
Contractors close down 47th for a few hours to remove a pesky tree hanging over the road.
Western Springs Rotary Club annual event draws a crowd to Tower Green for pre-9/11 ceremony.
Here's the Western Springs police blotter from Sep. 7 through Sep. 13.
Western Springs’ police chief Pamela Church is the association’s 50th president, and the first woman to lead to lead the group.
