ETHS Junior Takes 4th in National Debate Competition

The following items were submitted by Evanston Township High School:

Evanston High School students celebrated among community volunteers 

Evanston community members joined the city of Evanston, Evanston Township High School (ETHS), the Evanston Community Foundation, and Northwestern University (NU) to celebrate outstanding volunteers on April 24, 2013. Local organizations and agencies nominated individuals to be recognized at the ninth annual Evanston Volunteer Recognition Reception at the McCormick Tribune Center.

ETHS seniors Rools Jean, Connor Siegel and Jernone Smith were honored this year for their outstanding service.  As members of the ETHS Community Service Club, the students have logged hundreds of volunteer hours and have been involved in many different Evanston organizations.

About 80 people attended the reception where Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl praised the community for its active culture of volunteering. Mary Collins, ETHS Community Service Coordinator, is proud to work with the students who were chosen by this year’s selection committee for their exceptional efforts. 

ETHS students make their mark at IHSA Journalism competitions 

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) held its journalism sectionals on April 20, with Evanston Township High School taking second place at the competition. Students from all grade levels competed at the sectionals event at Lewis University in Romeoville, IL. The top three competitors in each category of the sectionals qualified for the IHSA finals held on April 26 at Eastern Illinois University. 

Nine ETHS students qualified for the state finals: 

• Jessica Baum, senior - second place in editorial writing
• David Colton, junior - third place in review writing
• Alex Heuer, junior - first place in sports writing
• Rena Newman, freshman - second place in editorial cartoons
• Anna Nelson, junior - third place in newspaper design
• Ellen Schneider, senior - first place in headline writing
• Abby Seef, junior - second place in yearbook copy
• Rebecca Suennen, junior - second place in yearbook double spread design
• Caroline Vakil, junior - first place in copyediting

"It's nice to be recognized for all of the hard work and time that we put into the Evanstonian. It's sort of like the proverbial 'icing on top of the cake!'" stated ETHS teacher Rodney Lowe, who serves as the adviser on the student-produced Evanstonian publication.

ETHS junior Rebecca Suennen went on to capture fourth place at the IHSA state finals in the category of yearbook layout/double-page spread. “The students worked really hard at sectionals to write their best and move on to state.  Each year we keep improving,” remarked ETHS teacher and yearbook adviser Sara Williamson.

Complete tournament results are available online:

http://www.speechwire.com/r-ihsa-journ-index.php?seasonid=5.

Evanston Township H.S. junior finishes fourth in national debate competition

Evanston Township High School junior Aaron Clarke finished fourth in Congressional Debate at this year’s national Tournament of Champions (TOC) event. The 2013 TOC, held April 27-29 in Kentucky, is now in its 41st year and serves as a forum of competition for the nation's very best Lincoln-Douglas, Policy, Public Forum and Congressional debaters.

Clarke was among 115 students who qualified to the TOC in Congressional Debate by demonstrating exemplary success at other tournaments during the year. He advanced first to the semifinal round, with 44 other students, and then advanced again to the final round where he placed fourth out of 15 students overall. “This is an incredible accomplishment, made more impressive by the fact that the top three finishers were all seniors, making Aaron the highest finishing junior in the nation,” remarked Jeff Hannan, ETHS debate coach.

A public service of the University of Kentucky Intercollegiate Debate Program, the TOC strives to offer the national high school debate community the highest quality judging in a friendly atmosphere with impartial tournament officials. This is the second consecutive year that an ETHS student has competed in the final round of Congressional Debate at the TOC. Last year’s finalist, Noah Whinston (Class of 2012), placed third in the nation and served as an assistant coach in Kentucky.

Final results of the TOC Congressional Debate competition are included here: 

https://www.tabroom.com/files/tourns/1947/results/3516/TOCCongressResults2013.pdf

ETHS team finishes fifth in national math challenge

A team of five Evanston Township High School seniors finished fifth in the nation after competing in the Moody’s Mega Math (M3) Challenge on April 29-30, 2013. Congratulations to Maggie Davies, Caroline Duke, Laura Goetz, Katie Latimer, and Dina Sinclair who comprise the only finalist team from Illinois and share a $5,000 scholarship award.

The entry by the ETHS team was judged against a record number of submissions in the contest. Prior to the final judging round, each team's submission was assessed by professional applied mathematicians who narrowed down 1,054 entries to the top six teams. As a finalist, the ETHS team was invited to compete in New York City to make their presentation regarding plastic pollution and recycling in the U.S.

“We were told this is also the first time in the contest's history that an all-girl team made it to the national finals,” stated ETHS teacher Mark Vondracek who coached the team. “The team had a wonderful time on the trip, and obviously made us all proud!”

"What stands out the most is what a talented group of young people with mathematical skills can do in 14 hours," said M3 judge Kathleen Shannon in a press statement. "Just imagine what they will be able to accomplish with a little more education and a lifetime in which to tackle the problems the world faces."

The top six finalist papers are posted on M3 website: http://m3challenge.siam.org/about/archives/2013/winning.php. 

Team presentations can also be viewed online:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/m3-challenge. 

The Moody’s Mega Math Challenge is organized by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and sponsored by The Moody’s Foundation. For more information about the M3 Challenge, visit http://m3challenge.siam.org/.

Evanston High School team places eighth in division at National Science Bowl

Evanston Township High School's Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) competed at the National Science Bowl held in Washington, DC on April 25-29, 2013. The team placed 8th in their division at the competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The National Science Bowl is a highly competitive science education and academic event among teams of high school students who compete in a fast-paced verbal forum to solve technical problems and answer questions in all branches of science and math. Congratulations to ETHS students Nancy Cardenas, Nikolai Lenney, Carla Orduno, Rosa Palma and Jean-Luc Walthall who were coached by SHPEjr Club sponsor Michelle Vazquez and Northwestern University student Jesus Flores.

For complete results from the 2013 National Science Bowl, visithttp://science.energy.gov/wdts/nsb/competition/.

ETHS seniors receive recognition at Illinois Youth Summit

Two Evanston Township High School students joined nearly 150 students from 15 Chicago-area high schools at the 2013 Illinois Youth Summit held April 26, 2013. As delegates from ETHS, seniors Patrick McDaniel and Blake Rue received a project service award from the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago (CRFC) which recognizes student leaders from each school who complete a service project.

The Illinois Youth Summit creates awareness and fosters civic action on current policy issues of importance to students and their communities. In this semester-long program, students select public policies for study, conduct polling, develop related service projects, and post position statements using CRFC-developed materials. The program culminates with student delegates expressing their views in a town-hall style meeting where they vote on proposed laws.

According to ETHS teacher Dave Feeley, this marks the 10th year that the business law students from ETHS have participated in programs offered by the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago. Illinois Youth Summit participants spent a day at the Dirksen Federal Building, discussing controversial public policy questions with their peers and adult policymakers such as public officials and lawyers who volunteered as panelists and moderators. This year students shared research and made recommendations on topics that included lowering the voting age to 16 and decriminalizing possession of marijuana.

Based in Chicago, CRFC is a national leader in the design and implementation of quality law-related education programs and materials for elementary, middle, and high schoolstudents and their teachers. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, CRFC lessons and curricula emphasize current and historical controversies involving rights, law, and policy. For more information, visit http://www.crfc.org/.