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Health & Fitness

Twenty JWHS Students Advance to State History Fair

Sixty-one Joliet West High School American Studies students recently participated and received recognition at the 51st Annual Regional History Fair on Saturday, March 2...

 

Sixty-one Joliet West High School American Studies students recently participated and received recognition at the 51st  Annual Regional History Fair on Saturday, March 2 at Northern Illinois University.
 
This is the third year students from Joliet West have participated in this event, and 20 of the participants from JWHS earned high enough scores on their projects to secure a spot at the State History Fair to be held in May.
 
The fair featured projects, performances and documentaries created by over 1,000 students from over 25 junior high and high schools throughout northern Illinois.
 
Sponsored by Joliet West High School teachers Luke Yaklich, Janice Sheehan and Olivia Gerk, students have spent the past few months researching and preparing for the fair.
 
“Ultimately, our project ties into the Common Core State Standards, which are going to be part of virtually every high school curriculum from now into the future,” Yaklich said. “It’s multi-faceted for our students and it helps develop their skills on several different levels.
 
Illinois is one of 45 states to adopt the Common Core Standards (CCSS). The CCSS are learning expectations for students in English Language Arts and Mathematics. The curriculum is aligned from Kindergarten to Twelfth Grade (K-12) to aid students in preparing for success in college or careers. The national Common Core Standards will replace the state learning standards statewide, and will be the most significant change to public education in many years.
 
Each project was judged through a lengthy process that involved about 100 volunteers. Projects received a title of “superior,” “excellent” or “good” based on the presentation and argument given by the students.
 
“In all, 20 students received superior ratings, 36 students received excellent ratings and 7 students received good ratings,” Yaklich said.
 
Students who received a rating of superior include: Elizabeth Mateo, Jessica Soukup, Antoniette Martin, Andie Zadorozny, Jonathon Fowler, Lauren Hill, Anna Gatson, Brian Keene, Noah Slowik, Brian Lyman Jose Galvez, Yaritza Hernandez, Anthony Panateri, Ryan Rambo, Brett Tacchia, Anastacia Smith, Jordan Smith, Alondra Lopez, Elizabeth McHugh and Morgan Scarano.
 
Students who received a rating of excellent include: Justine Carlson, Kalaya Creal, Davisha Pulley, Alexis Edmon, Daisy Diaz, Alex Dorris, Dianna Escalona, Jasmine Zamudio, Darriell Foster, Diamond Fuqua, Alexis Grantham, Yanitza Rivera, Jocelin Gutierrez, D’Vonta Jones, John Miller, Taylor Shaw, Karen Leyva, Stephanie Perez, Jordan Lickert, Stephanie Salgado, Jonathon Meditz, Gage Miller, Carla Mireles, Elsa Olivares, Kaitlynn Wrenn, Cassandra Ortiz, Aaron Seidler, Mike Sexton, Morgan Ryerson, Oscar Vargas, Valencia Lewis, Julianne Kowalski, Christian Reyes and Helena Perez.
 
Students who received a rating of good include: Helena Perez, Jennifer Bayuk, Mecie Franklin, Jordan Brown, Keith Gray, Francisco Ortiz, Tafera Angion and Beatriz Ramirez.
 
Students who received superior ratings at the fair will advance to the State History Fair Exposition which will be held on May 3 at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield.
 
“We are very proud of our students’ projects, effort, research, collaboration, behavior, and, most importantly, academic growth over the past three years as a result of the History Fair Experience,” Yaklich said.  “We are excited to continue to offer this experience to students next year, and we look forward to the State History Fair Exposition.”
 
Yaklich was featured in the following article written about the fair in the Northern Star: http://northernstar.info/campus/news/article_58aade06-8478-11e2-a17d-0019bb30f31a.html
 
 

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