Ask the Principal Edition

Ask the Principal

Typically, the "Ask the Principal" feature of my blog is located near the bottom of the page. In recent weeks, I’ve received quite a few questions from parents, so I have decided to place your important questions “above the fold,” as they say in the newspaper business.

Q: With the Media Center remodel, will there still be books?

A: It is true that the purpose of a library is evolving in many ways, but books will still have plenty of physical books on our shelves. To prepare for the remodel, our Media Center staff sorted out books in the collection that haven’t been checked out in five years or more. This eliminated roughly one-quarter of our books. Are students still reading books? Yes! But our digital downloads surpassed physical check-outs three years ago.

Q: I heard there’s going to be a Starbucks in the new Media Center.

A: That would be cool, but the answer is no. We will have a cafe where students can purchase hot and cold drinks, as well as breakfast and lunch items. As part of  the “evolution of libraries,” we are envisioning ambient music and lighting to promote a relaxed, positive atmosphere for our students.

Q: Where do find my student’s class rank?

A: Many years ago, District 211 stopped tracking class rank. Colleges and universities stopped relying on class rank in the admission process, so class rank became an unnecessary, unhealthy competition among students (and parents) that sometimes resulted in decision-making about course selection that had more to do with staying on top and less to do with preparing the student for college and career.

Q: We’ve had a relatively mild winter, but I’m still curious about our cold weather guidelines for canceling classes. What are the guidelines?

A: You’re in luck! Superintendent Cates just put together a video with a group of Schaumburg High School students to explain our procedures. Watch the video here. Spoiler alert: There has to be a Wind Chill Warning (-15 degree temperature or -30 real feel according to www.weather.gov.

Highlights and Successes:

• Congratulations to Coach Kevin Palmer and the Scholastic Bowl teams for their success at the Fremd Invitational Tournament. The Varsity A Team took 2nd  and the B Team took 5th  in the competitive Academic Division, which had some of the top teams in the state. In the Frosh-Soph tournament, the A Team took 2nd in the competitive Academic Division and the B Team won the Scholar Division. Additionally ,the Varsity team took 2nd overall Stevenson High School’s History Bowl tournament..
• Congratulations to Coach Kevin Palmer and the Fremd Scholastic Bowl Team on their success at the Northern Illinois University Huskie Bowl tournament.  The Fremd Scholastic Bowl teams placed three teams in the Elite Eight with the A team winning the tournament. High Scorers for the tournament were Alex Guan who placed 6th overall and Varun Cidambi who placed 10th overall.
• Congratulations to Coach Katie Giegler and the Fremd Speech Team on placing 3rd at the MSL Conference Tournament.  Award winners include:  Ben Mathew, 1st place - Poetry Reading; Brian Rosenwinkel, 1st place - Original Comedy;  Jack Rosenwinkel, 1st place - Extemporaneous Speaking; Paige Dirkes Jacks, 1st place - Dramatic Interpretation; Ben Mathew & Joey Barrett, 2nd place -  Dramatic Duet Acting; Brian Rosenwinkel & Paige Dirkes Jacks, 3rd place -  Humorous Duet Acting; Jack Rosenwinkel, 3rd place - Impromptu Speaking; Joey Barrett, 3rd place -  Humorous Interpretation; Katie Haggett, 3rd place - Prose Reading; Katie Haggett, 4th place -  Humorous Interpretation; Safa Saied, 4th place - Impromptu Speaking; Andrea Rodriquez & Nicole Suarez, 5th place -  Humorous Duet Acting; Anmol Desai, 5th place -  Prose Reading; Sofia Oliver & Sophia Ladios, 5th place -  Dramatic Duet Acting; Devin Dionne, 6th place -  Radio Speaking; Kellie Liu, 6th place -Special Occasion Speaking; Stephanie Hu, 6th place - Original Oratory; Hannah Chen - Finalist - Informative Speaking;  Missy Wallace, Finalist - Poetry Reading and Lucy Jiang - Finalist - Original Oratory.
• Congratulations to Coach Lindsey Corcoran and the Fremd cheerleaders on placing 4th at Sectionals and qualifying for State.
• Congratulations to Coach David Yates and the Fremd Girls Basketball Team on clinching the MSL West for the 8th straight year!
• Congratulations to Coach Elise Saisi and the Girls Gymnastics Team on taking 2nd place at the MSL Conference.  JV took 3rd place with Riley Kruse winning the All ARound Champion.  The Freshman Team was the MSL Conference Champion with Abby Rydberg winning the All Around Championship.
• Congratulations to Coach Dan Ruettiger and the Boys Wrestling Team on placing 5th at the MSL Conference.  The following award winners include:126 Jack Riemer Fr. 6th, 138 Cole Riemer Jr. 1st, 145 RJ Cortez Jr. 5th, 152 Adam Kemp Jr. 4th, 160 Quinn Bergles Sr. 1st, 195 Logan McMillan So. 6th, and 285 Zack Nemec Sr. 1st.
• Congratulations to Coach Martin Zacharia and the Fremd Debate Team on their performance at the ICDA Tournament.  Arash Abbas, Shruthi Kumar, Shreya Mukherjee, and Nabeela Syed all advanced to the TOC Finals Chamber! Award winners are as follows: Nabeela Syed, 1st Place; Shreya Mukherjee, 3rd Place; Sid Karnam, Varsha Krishnan, Danny Lu, Mayur Popuri, 2nd Place Awards; Nicholas DeConcilis, Bill Gao, Faithan To, Sarah Yoon, 3rd Place Awards; Nicholas DeConcilis, Sarah Yoon, Best Presiding Officers. 
• Congratulations to Coach Martin Zacharia and the Fremd Debate Team on their performance at the Carl Sandburg PF/LD Invitational. Miguel Mercado and Andrew Kim were PF Novice Champions! Award Winners are as follows: Novice: Eileen Peng, 3rd Place & 3rd Speaker; Jessie Huang, 2nd Speaker; Nikhil Sriram & Sharon Wu, 4th Place; Kylie Zhang, 5th Place; Sharon Wu, 4th Speaker; Miguel Mercado, 6th Speaker; Nikhil Sriram, 8th Speaker; Nipun Velupally, 9th Speaker; JV: Justin Yung, 5th Place & 8th Speaker; Michael Murakami, 3rd Speaker; Varsity: Piyush Biswas and Matt Grabianski, 2nd Place; Andrew Ruan, 5th Place; Kashif Javid, 2nd Speaker; Matt Grabianski, 4th Speaker; Mingda Zhang, 6th Speaker; Piyush Biswas, 8th Speaker; Sharbik Dutta, 9th Speaker.

Upcoming Home Activities and Varsity Events

February 3	Variety Show - Auditorium, 7:00 p.m. Boys/Girls Basketball vs. Barrington H.S. - 6:00 p.m./7:30 p.m. Competitive Cheer State Finals Boys Wrestling Regional @ Wheeling H.S. - 9:00 a.m. Girls Bowling Regional @ Poplar Creek Bowl - 9:00 a.m.
February 4	Variety Show - Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
February 6-10	Writers Week  - Auditorium
February 7	Late Start - 8:50 a.m. start Girls Gymnastics Sectional @ FHS - 6:00 p.m. Girls Basketball Crossover
February 8	Girls Basketball MSL Championship - 7:30 p.m.

For a more complete list, please visit our Athletics Page.

Ask the Principal

Are you curious about something at Fremd but have never asked? Email me at ktenopir@d211.org. If your question is pertinent to a wider audience, I will include it in the next blog post.