December 12, 2014

A Few Words From Mr. Tenopir

I recently read an article titled, "5 Questions You Should Ask Your Principal." While a principal wasn't necessarily the audience for this article, I found it to be a good source of reflection for what I prioritize and how I spend my time. To save you the time of asking me these questions, I will post my answers to these questions here. Due to the potential length of the responses, I will answer these questions over the next few blog posts.

Question #1 - What are some ways you connect with your school community?

In one of my first blog posts I shared with you that one of my goals this year is to increase school spirit and our sense of community. I have tried to do this in many ways. The first way is to be as visible as possible. In a school of 2,700 students, it’s difficult for me to know every student, but I want every student to know who I am. There’s nothing more awkward for a student (or me) when I hear someone say, “THAT’S our principal?!” Never mind that they should be using a pronoun (he, instead of that) to indicate my status as a human being--I take no offense.

Getting out of my office is sometimes a challenge, but I try to conduct my business by meeting with people in their area of the building instead of through email. This way, I get to interact with many students and staff with whom I otherwise wouldn’t be able to visit. I am often in the hallways and department offices. Remarkably, I notice that this reduces the number of emails I receive since I can conduct some of my business while walking around.

To further connect with students, I ran the Spirit Wear Cookie Contests and a few football game tailgates. These events gave me a reason to visit classrooms and/or visit with students in a way that isn’t possible otherwise. I will be looking to implement other fun things for students to do, both during the school day and after. The main objective is to make it so that students are eager to come to school and connected to someone/something once they get here.

Another area that helps me connect with both students and parents is my presence at school-related events. At the recent Choir concert, I ran into a student in the hallway who incredulously said, “You really COME to these things?!” I can’t help but smile when I recall the look on her face when she saw me walk up on stage to sing the Hallelujah Chorus with the Combined Choirs! Afterward, I was able to visit with many parents. Most of our conversations didn’t tread beyond small talk, but I did have the opportunity to answer some questions that wouldn’t have happened outside of the convenience of being face-to-face with people who know Fremd well through their students’ experiences here.

As you see, these are all small gestures, but I have found them to go a long way toward building relationships with people. When your student leaves Fremd High School, I want him/her to have nothing but happy memories. Participating in fun activities under the direction of positive, supportive teachers is the best way to ensure this goal is achieved.

Highlights and Successes

• Congratulations to Coach Chris Grattoni and the Fremd Math Team for earning first place at the North Suburban Math League Meet.  The Freshman Team, Sophomore Team, and Junior Team all earned first place, and the Senior Team earned second place. The following students completed perfect papers: Kevin Chen (freshman), Edward Li (freshman), Shingo Ito (sophomore), Airi Nakayama (sophomore), Julia Cai (junior), Amy Chen (junior), Mark Guo (junior), Anqu Peng (junior), Daniel Tokarz (junior), Lingqi Kong (junior), Ann Rajan (junior), and Emily Yin (junior). Oralist Soumyaa Mazumder (senior) was awarded first place in her competition.
• Congratulations to December English student of the month  Soumyaa Mazumder.
• Congratulations to Matthew Nicholson (senior), Roshan Rajan (senior), Jennie Yang (senior), and Elizabeth Perez (freshman) for their achievement and participation at QED, Chicago’s Youth Math Symposium. A Math Symposium is similar to Science Fair, except that the projects focus on math instead of science. Matthew, Roshan and Jennie co-wrote a paper titled “It All Hinges on This: Spatial Efficiency of a Bi-fold Door,” and Elizabeth wrote a paper titled “The Mathematics Behind the Monty Hall Problem.”  All four earned an award of “Distinguished Mathematical Research.”c
• Congratulations to the following ILMEA 2015 All-State Students:  Band:  Roy Cho, Nathan Cornwell, Grace Liu, Hazuki Okuda, and Melanie Shaffer;  Choir: ChloeCHo, Quinn Jackson, Emilie Kouatchou, and Vance Lehman; Orchestra:  Andres Carrero, Justine Chee, Nathan Du, Andrew Hwang, Brian Lin, Nathan Mo, Jennie Yang, and Emily Yin; 3rd place Arranging Category- Anthony Fu.
• Congratulations to the following Speech Team award winners at the Elk Grove Invitational:  1st place - Emma Davies, Informative Speaking; 1st place Varshini Ramanathan, Impromptu Speaking; 2nd place Emma Davies, Radio Speaking; 4th place Abby Cohen, Special Occasion Speaking and finalist Rachel Lucas, Oratorical Declamation and finalists Braden Kobeski and Matt Baughman, Humorous Duet Acting.  
• Congratulations to senior Jennie Yang, captain of the Varsity Scholastic Bowl Team, for being named the top individual scorer at the Rockford Auburn Harvard Mirror Tournament on Saturday.  Jennie  averaged 86.84 points per game which helped carry the team to a 5th place victory with a 7-3 record for the day.
• Congratulations to Coach Elise Ference and the Girls Gymnastics Team on their 1st place finish at the Big Purple Invite.  Award winners include:  Vault:  3rd place Carly DeFilippo, 4th place Chrissy Radochonski; Bars: 3rd place Emily Neal, 5th place Carly DeFilippo; Beam: 2nd place Emily Neal, 3rd place Chrissy Radochonski; Floor: 2nd place Chrissy Radochonski, 3rd place Carly DeFilippo and 3rd place All Around - Chrissy Radochonski.
• Congratulations to CAD student Scott Lenz on winning 1st place in the First Annual D211 House Design Challenge.  Scott beat out over 50 other competitors at Fremd High School and Palatine High School.  Scott's house design will now be used as the next house design for the Fremd and Palatine building trades classes to build starting in August 2015.
• Congratulations to Varsity basketball player Xavier Williams on being named the Daily Herald Player of the Week.

Upcoming Home Activities and Varsity Events

December 13	Booster Holiday Craft Fair
December 15	Girls Bowling vs. Wheeling - 4:30 @ Arlington Lanes
December 16	Winter Band Concert Boys Basketball vs. Hersey - 7:30 p.m.
December 17	Girls Bowling vs. Prospect - 4:30 @ Arlington Lanes
December 18	Girls Gymnastics vs. SHS/Buffalo Grove 6:00 p.m.
December 19	Orchesis Holiday Show Boys Swimming & Diving vs. Barrington - 4:30 p.m.
December 22- Jan.2	Winter Break

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

Staff Spotlight

Name: Keith Sorensen

Position: Technology Coordinator

Years at Fremd: two

Life Before Fremd: I started out teaching elementary school for seven years before taking on what was the best job I ever thought possible: I became a technology integration facilitator at a junior high school. I worked with a team of teachers to rewrite lessons, activities and assessments to take advantage of all the latest technology and then I co-taught the lessons in their classes. Ten years ago it was a really innovative program that we designed, and in many ways the things I do today are modeled after that program that we created from scratch. After that I worked as a high school technology coordinator for two years and then a district technology director for four years. Working at a district office taught me how to see the big picture – for every decision made there is always a bigger impact that needs to be considered.  I learned so much from working in the district office, but nothing is better than working with students and teachers in a classroom on a daily basis. I’ve been doing just that at Fremd for two years now and I couldn’t be happier.

Hobbies/Interests: I love the city of Boston and I go there once or twice a year. I’ve been really lucky to see Aerosmith play a concert at Fenway Park, I’ve watched the Boston Marathon a few times, and I was at the World Cup in Boston on the 4th of July. I even somehow won a raffle to ride on the USS Constitution which is the oldest Navy ship in the world at over 200 years old.  Something good always happens to me when I am in Boston. I still like biking and running even though I don’t do nearly enough of either one. I am a huge Xbox gamer and there is no shame in that. Gaming is a lot of fun and gamers are far more social than what most people tend to expect. I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions because I think if we need tto make changes then we should do so right away, but I am still thinking that this will be the year that I start taking guitar lessons. Life’s too short not to try new things.

Insider Tip for Parents: I’ve worked in six different buildings in my career, and I can easily say that Fremd has the most distinct identity and culture. There is so much going on at Fremd! My insider tip is to get involved as much as possible. Encourage your kids to get involved in something they are passionate about, and then as a parent you should also personally get involved with the school as well. The parents at Fremd do some amazing things to make the kids’ lives better, and the parents also support each other and get involved in ways that make being a parent at Fremd a very special thing. Get involved!

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.