It was a fresh start for students last week, as families returned to routines and schedules.  St. Mary of Gostyn and St. Joseph opened their doors a couple days earlier than District 58, starting school on Monday, August 22. Check out the District 58 website for a list of upcoming Curriculum Nights, and also a full back-to-school photo gallery. Looking for more back to school information? Check out information from our nation's capitol, including tips on packing healthful lunches. Look to the Patch each Monday for student achievements, school activities and all your school news needs. Here's …

District 58 Fairmount Fundraiser to Aid Tornado Victims Parents, staff and students of Fairmount School, 6036 Blodgett Ave., will join forces Saturday, June 4, to raise funds for victims of the recent tornadoes in Alabama. Parents and staff will wash cars for donations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., while children host lemonade and bakery stands at the north end of the parking lot.   “We have spoken directly with the Chief School Financial Officer of the Tuscaloosa County School System in Tuscaloosa, AL, Patrick Connor," said Principal Tony Coglianese. "Over 2,500 children in that county alone were …

St. Mary of Gostyn School Holocaust Survivor Speaks to Students St. Mary's eighth-grade students heard the lessons of their World War II unit brought to life when Holocaust survivor Janine Oberrotman accepted social studies teacher Maureen Drabik's invitation to speak to the class. As a young teenager in Poland, Oberrotman saw her world fall apart when the German army occupied her hometown of Lvov in 1941. Her life stories, including losing her father in a concentration camp and being separated from her mother, really hit home with the students. “Mrs. Oberrotman’s story had a big impact on me…

District 58 Team of District 58 Students Wins State, Heads to Nationals After taking first place in Illinois, a group of talented District 58 students is headed to Tennessee at the end of the month to compete in the Destination ImagiNation Global Finals. The team, called DI Dynamite, is comprised of Herrick Middle School seventh-graders Beth Jensen and Annie DeCero, and Whittier sixth-graders Abby Murphy, Hannah Krusenoski, Natalie Raden, Erin DeCero, and team manager Julie DeCero. They have been working together and competing as a team for more than six years.  Each team chooses a central …

Good Shepherd Lutheran School Students "Jump In" to Help Fight Heart Disease Good Shepherd Lutheran School proved it’s a small school with a big heart by raising more than $5,500 for the American Heart Association with a Jump Rope for Heart event on April 15. “Good Shepherd has done a wonderful job with both the heart health education and the dollars raised to fight heart disease and stroke”, said Sandy Wolfrum, of the American Heart Association.  “They raised more than double the amount an average school raises nationwide with only 89 kids. We applaud them for the great job they did with the…

District 58 Documentary Filmmakers Share Tales of Antarctica On April 19, students from Whittier, Hillcrest, Lester and Indian Trail schools learned of an astounding place where temperatures never climb above 50 degrees below zero and the sun only rises and sets twice in a year. This place doesn't exist in the mind of a science fiction writer or on another planet, but on our own Earth, in Antarctica, filmmakers Frida Waara and John Major told the students.  Waara and Major traveled to Antarctica to film footage for their documentary film “Condition One: Extremes and the Human Spirit,” which …

From District 58 Lester Second-Grader Earns Award from Fire Department When Lester second-grader Dylan Tlusty's dad, Tim, began to choke at the dinner table on March 30, 2010, Dylan sprang into action. He quickly dislodged the piece of meat that had been clogging his father's airway by performing the Heimlich Maneuver on him. Realizing his arms weren't long enough to get all the way around his father's rib cage from behind, the quick-thinking Dylan instead created a fist with his two hands, then pushed upward from underneath Tim's breastbone. Dylan had learned the maneuver at his Cub Scout …