Winter Sports Awards

Winter Sports Awards

The Winter Sports Awards Night is Monday March 7th at 7pm in the main gym.  As with every Sports Awards, we are asking parents to sign up and bring in cookies for a post event snack.  You can drop them off at the tables in the main hallway on your way into the ceremony.

With over 400 participants this fall, we will need well over 80 dozen cookies to have enough for the kids and their families.

Please sign up for Winter Sports Awards Cookie Signup!

Here's how it works in 3 easy steps:

1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/7Bj6XK

2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on VolunteerSpot)

3. Sign up! Choose your spots - VolunteerSpot will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy!

Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.

Viking Booster Club Scholarships

The Viking Booster Club is proud to announce they will be awarding between 15 and 20 scholarships in the amount of $1,000 each to the 2016 graduating senior class. The recipients will be chosen on the basis of their accomplishments in the areas of Leadership, Community Service, School Activities, and an All Around category.

We encourage ALL seniors that are planning on furthering their education at four year colleges and universities, as well as, community colleges and trade schools to apply.  This scholarship opportunity is not based upon financial need or academics.  The family only needs to be a member of the Booster Club.  Applications must be completed and returned to the collection box in the Fremd Student Services Office in a sealed envelope no later than 3:00 pm Friday, April 1, 2016.  Instructions for completing the application can be found on the Booster webpage.

Highlights and Successes:

• Congratulations to Fremd Automotive Technology students, CJ Hoy and Alex Wysocki, for taking top honors at the UTI Top Tech Challenge. Fremd’s other team, Dom Wrobel and Brody Martin, placed tenth out of 25 teams from Illinois and Wisconsin.
• Congratulations to Leonard Lee for advancing to Quarterfinals in the Congressional Debate Division of the Harvard University Debate Tournament, the largest high school debate tournament in the country.
• Congratulations to the following Speech award winners at the State Competition:  Devin Dionne - 5th place Radio Speaking and Jack Rosenwinkel - 6th place, Extemporaneous Speaking.
• Congratulations to wrestler Alex Jacobs on winning 2nd place at the State Competition!
• Congratulations to Coach Kristen Newby and the Boys Swimming & Diving Team on winning 4th place at the Sectional Meet.  Award winners  include:  3rd place and State Qualifier Diving - Zach Mega; 4th place and State Qualifier  Diving - Chase Jauch; 4th place and State Qualifiers 200 Medley Relay - Tony Lee, Yoochan Lee,  Nick Seroni and Nick Nevins; 6rh place 200 FR - Arnas Maciunas; 3rd place and State Qualifier 200 IM - Nick Seroni; 4th place and State Qualifier 50 FR - Kenny Benjamin; 5th place and State Qualifier 50 FR - Nick Nevins; 2nd place and State Qualifier 100 Fly - Nick Seroni; 6th place 100 Fly - Arnas Maciunas; 4th place and State Qualifier 200 FR Relay - Nick Nevins, Kenny Benjamin, Yoochan lee and Arnas Maciunas; 4th place 100 BR - Alex Schillinger; 4th place and State Qualifier 400 FR Relay - Nick Nevins, Conor Dunne, Nick Seroni and Arnas Maciunas.
• Congratulations to Coach Kevin Palmer and the Fremd Scholastic Bowl Team on winning the Fremd Masonic Sectional and advancing to the Masonic State on March 5th in Bloomington.
• Congratulations to Fremd’s new competitive showchoir, Soundscape.  They won 1st place in their division at their competition at El Paso-Gridley High School.  
• Congratulations to the Fremd Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Combo, Jazz Lab Band, and three a cappella choirs for their performances at the 17th annual “Jazz and Java” concert.  The ensembles performed a wide variety of jazz, latin, and funk music to an almost full capacity audience in the cafeteria.  The jazz bands also had the opportunity to perform with jazz trumpet virtuoso Kirk Garrison on the concert.

Upcoming Home Activities and Varsity Events

February 26	Boys Swimming & Diving State @ Evanston H.S.- 12:00 p.m. Boys Track & Field @ Huntley H.S. - 4:30 p.m.
February 27	Girls Track & Field Quad @ Glenbard West H.S. - 9:00 a.m. Boys Swimming & Diving State @ Evanston H.S. - 12:00 p.m. Operation Snoball - 2:00 p.m.
February 29	Girls Super Sectional vs. Huntley @ FHS - 7:00 p.m.
March 2	Boys Basketball Regional @ Barrington H.S. - 6:00 p.m.
March 4	Girls Basketball State @ Redbird Arena - Normal Boys Basketball Regional @ Barrington H.S. - 7:00 p.m. Boys Track & Field @ Proviso West H.S. - 5:00 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.

PARCC Update

PARCC Update

For the second year, our freshman students will take the PARCC exams, which have replaced the former versions of the state assessments ISAT (elementary and middle school) and PSAE (high school). PARCC testing at FHS will take place starting April 19.

All freshmen will take the English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA) test.  The ELA test consists of three units; students will take the first two units on April 19*, which is being changed from a Late Start day to an early release day and the third unit on April 27.  All students in Algebra I classes will take the Mathematics test, which consists of three units that will be taken April 20-22.

For more information on PARCC testing or to review a practice test http://www.PARCConline.org is a helpful resource.

*Please note that April 19 was originally scheduled to be a Late Start attendance day for all students. Due to PARCC testing (freshmen) and the ACT (juniors) being held that day, sophomores and seniors will not attend on April 19.

Highlights and Successes:

• Congratulations to the following State Qualifying Girls Gymnasts:  Lisa Radochonski, Alyssa Garcia, Mariah Gura, Grace Korn, Maggie Betti, Abby Moran, Carly DeFilippo, Gab Lytle, Hayley Husar, Kate Watson, Kaylin Lemajeur, Courtney Ng, Melanie Ng, and Kayla Baum.
• Congratulations to Director Christina Collins and Fremd’s new competitive showchoir, Soundscape.  They participated in their first competition ever on Saturday at Manteno High School.  They were 1st runner up in their division, which included eleven schools from around the Midwest.  Their score highlighted their strength in vocal performance.  The group involves 41 students in grades 9-12.  
• Congratulations to February English Student of the Month Annie Zheng.
• Congratulations to Coach Kristen Newby and the Boys Swimming & Diving Team on winning the MSL Conference Championship.  Medal winners include:  1st place 200 Medley Relay - Tony Lee, Yoochan Lee, Nick Seroni, Kenny Benjamin; 4th place 200 Freestyle - Arnas Maciunas; 1st place 200 IM - Nick Seroni; 2nd place 200 IM - Alex Schillinger; 1st place 50 Fr - Kenny Benjamin; 2nd place 50 Fr - Nick Nevins; 4th place Diving - Chase Jauch; 5th place Diving - Zach Mega; 1st place 100 Fly - Nick Seroni; 4th place 100 Fly - Yoochan Lee; 3rd place 100 Fr - Nick Nevins; 3rd place 500 Fr - Arnas Maciunas; 1st place 200 Fr Relay - Nick Nevins, Alex Nicholas, Yoochan Lee, Kenny Benjamin; 6th place 100 Backstroke - Tony Lee; 5th place 100 Breastroke - Alex Schillinger; 6th place 100 Breastroke - Yoochan Lee; 1st place 400 Fr Relay - Nick Nevins, Conor Dunne, Nick Seroni, Arnas Maciunas.
• Congratulations to the following State Qualifying Wrestlers:  1st place Alex Jacobs 220 and 4th place Aaron Cortez 195.
• Congratulations to Coach Katie Giegler and the Fremd Speech Team on taking 4th place at Sectionals.  State Qualifiers include:  Connor Bradshaw - 2nd place Dramatic Interpretation; Jack Rosenwinkel - 3rd place Extemporaneous Speaking; Ben Mathew - 1st place Poetry Reading; and Devin Dionne - 2nd place Radio Speaking.

Upcoming Home Activities and Varsity Events

February 19	Wrestling State Meet - State Farm Center Boys Track & Field @ Glenbrook South H.S. - 4:30 p.m. Girls Basketball Regional @ Warren Township H.S. - 7:00 p.m. Boys Basketball vs. Schaumburg H.S. -7:30 p.m.
February 20	Girls Track & Field @ Rolling Meadows H.S. - 9:00 a.m. Wrestling State Meet - State Farm Center Boys Swimming & Diving Sectional @ Stevenson H.S. - 12:00 p.m. Girls Gymnastics State Meet @ Palatine H.S. - 5:30 p.m. Boys Basketball vs. Lyons Township @ Lake Zurich H.S. - 7:45 p.m. Scholastic Bowl Masonic @ FHS - 7:00 a.m.
February 22-26	Writers Week
February 23	Late Start - 8:50 start Girls Basketball Sectional @ Stevenson H.S. - 6:00 p.m. Jazz & Java Concert - Cafeteria, 7:00 p.m. Boys Basketball vs. Rolling Meadows H.S. - 7:30 p.m.
February 24	Boys Basketball MSL Championship @ FHS - 7:30 p.m.
February 25	Orchestra Chamber Night - Music Dept. 6:00 p.m. Girls Basketball Sectional @ Stevenson H.S. - 7:00 p.m.

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

Staff Spotlight

This segment will return next week.

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.

The Busy, Fruitful Week Edition

Highlighting the Highlights and Successes

I’m going to keep my thoughts short this week in an effort to shine the spotlight on all the great things going on in our building. Please take a moment to read through this long list of accomplishments. It is absolutely a great time to be a Viking!

Pictures courtesy of Boom Entertainment and accessed through their official Facebook page.

Highlights and Successes:

• Congratulations to the following 2016 National Merit Finalists:  Julia Cai, Amy Chen, Daniel Classon, Melinda Coleman, Chloe David, James Feng, Bissem Gill, Jiamin Huang, Abigail Iuorio, Chiranth Kishore, Eshwar Kishore, Alexander Knox, Shijie Li, Jessica Lu, Rohan Menon, Ann Rajan, Varshini Ramanathan, Kevin Stevens, Anusha Thotakura, Daniel Tokarz, Daniel Xu, Nathan Xu, Xuemeng Yin and Annie Zheng. This is the most finalists in Fremd’s history.
• Congratulations to the Fremd High School Math Team for earning first place at the District 211 Conference Meet on Wednesday, February 3rd. Oralists Kevin Chen and Adam Quinn earned first place in their competition, and following students wrote perfect papers: Suchet Kumar (freshman), Edward Li (sophomore), Andrew Hwang (junior), Julia Cai (senior), and Mark Guo (senior).
• Congratulations to Coach Katie Giegler and the Fremd Speech Team on taking 1st place at Regionals.  Award winners are as follows:  2nd place Dramatic Duet Acting – Connor Bradshaw & Katie Haggett; 2nd place Dramatic Interpretation – Connor Bradshaw; 2nd place Extemporaneous Speaking – Jack Rosenwinkel; 3rd place Humorous Duet Acting – Abby Cohen & Brian Rosenwinkel; 1st place Humorous Interpretation – Paige Dirkes Jacks; 2nd place Impromptu Speaking – Varshini Ramanathan; 2nd place Informative Speaking – Elisa Kim; 3rd place Oratorical Declamation – Iris Crouch; 1st place Original Comedy – Brian Rosenwinkel; 1st place Original Oratory – Abby Cohen; 1st place Poetry Reading – Ben Mathew; 1st place Prose Reading – Katie Haggett; 1st place Radio Speaking – Devin Dionne; 1st place Special Occasion Speaking – Zoe Che and 1st place Performance in the Round - Julia Dirkes Jacks, Celia Bugno, Mike Downing, Johnny Whitfield, Niki Badey, Sneha Kumar, Vaishnavi Vembar, Lizzi Lopez, Maria Luca and Amy Ma.   
• Congratulations to the Frosh-Soph 200 Yard Medley Relay Team for breaking a 27-year record at the Conference Meet.  The relay team swimmers are Paul Ponte, Nicholas Flowers, Danny Konishi and Cameron Dunne.   
• Congratulations to the following wrestling award winners from the Regional Meet:  Cole Reimer – 1st place 126; Grant Barwacz – 2nd place 132; Adam Kemp – 3rd place 145; RJ Tarallo – 3rd place 145; Matt Kurtishi – 3rd place 152; Quinn Bergles – 3rd place 160; Joaquin Grace – 3rd place 170; Aaron Cortez – 1st place 195; Alex Jacobs – 1st place 220; and Zachery Nemec – 1st place 285.
• Congratulations to Coach Paul Hardy and the Fremd Robotics Team on winning 1st place at the Annual District #214 Robot Rumble.  The robotics team consisted of approximately 20 students who witnessed the true application of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).  The team designed and constructed two battle robots that competed against teams from Elk Grove High School, Buffalo Grove High School, Wheeling High School, Prospect High School, Hersey High School, East Lyden High School, Palatine High School, Conant High School and Baypath High School (Boston, MA).  In all, 38 individual robots competed in a double elimination tournament over the two days.  The Fremd robot, SideWinder, won the competition.  It was the team effort that made this championship so special.  Team members include:  Albert Xu, Michael Zawisza, Kyle Scharm, Abhy Venkatasubramanil, Alvin Shanmugam, Ankit Singh, Suneal Tolliver, Pupalla Rohit, Aakash Lilaramani, Kevin Liu, Liam MacGillivray, Carson Mahon, Martin Michalski, Sheyah Prasad, Alexandria Kapko, Sharvath Kathi, Joey Corso, Marko Dedovic, and Ishan Bhatia.
• Congratulations to Coach David Yates and the Girls Basketball Team on winning the MSL Championship. It was their 7th straight Division championship and 4th straight Conference championship.
• Congratulations to Coach Elise Ference-Saisi and the Girls Gymnastics Team on qualifying for State. The team qualified on an at-large bid after competing in a tough Sectional, outscoring most of the winning teams of the other Sectionals.
• Congratulations to Fremd Automotive Technology students, CJ Hoy and Alex Wysocki, for taking top honors at the UTI Top Tech Challenge. Fremd’s other team, Dom Wrobel and Brody Martin, placed tenth out of 25 teams from Illinois and Wisconsin.

Upcoming Home Activities and Varsity Events

February 12	Wrestling Sectional @ Barrington H.S. - 4:30 p.m. Boys Basketball vs. Conant H.S. - 7:30 p.m.
February 13	IHSA Sectional Speech Tournament @ FHS D211 Honors Orchestra Concert @ HEHS - 7:00 p.m. Boys Swimming & Diving MSL Championship - @ Barrington H.S. - 9:00 a.m. Wrestling Sectional @ Barrington H.S. - 9:00 a.m. Bowling Sectional vs. Rolling Meadows @ Brunswick Zone Mount Prospect - 9:00 a.m. Boys Track & Field @ McHenry high School West - 9:00 a.m.
February 15	Presidents Day - No School
February 16	Girls Track & Field Quad @ Glenbrook S. H.S. - 4:30 p.m. Band Benefit Dinner/Concert - auditorium, 6:00/7:30 p.m.
February 17	Girls Basketball Regional @ Warren Township H.S. - 6:00 p.m.
February 18	Wrestling State @ State Farm Center Scholastic Bowl Tournament MSL West - 3:00 p.m.
February 19	Early Dismissal Day - 11:50 a.m. Boys Track & Field Invitational @ Glenbrook S. H.S. - 4:30 p.m. Girls Gymnastics State @ Palatine H.S. 5:00 p.m. Girls Basketball Regional @ Warren Township H.S - 7:00 p.m. Boys Basketball vs. Schaumburg H.S. - 7:30 p.m. Bowling State @ Cherry Bowl Lanes

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

Staff Spotlight

Name: Ashley Soriano

Position: Spanish Teacher, Student Council Sponsor, Winterfest organizer

Years at Fremd: 6

Life Before Fremd: I graduated from Guilford High School in Rockford, IL. I then received my Bachelor of Arts in the Teaching of Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While in college, I studied abroad in Costa Rica and worked at La Voz Latina Resource Center in Rockford during my summers.

Hobbies/Interests: I enjoy cooking and baking, running, yoga, boxing, and rock climbing. I also love trying new foods and restaurants, reading, being with my family, and petting every dog I see!

Insider Tip for Parents: Allow your student to be creative and explore their interests. Encourage them to find their passion through clubs and activities in and out of school. Offer them opportunities like job shadowing, volunteering, or a trip to a new place to discover new things about themselves!

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.

ACT and PARCC Update

Standardized Testing Update

Here are some "Save the Date" details for you:

Juniors will take the ACT (without Writing) on April 19. The District is preparing a formal statement that provide more details about the schedule and attendance requirements for that day.

The PARCC exams will be administered to freshman students enrolled in English 9 and/or Algebra 1. Students will only take the tests for the course(s) in which they are enrolled. Testing is set to begin on April 19. More information about the testing schedule will be provided within the next couple weeks.

Highlights and Successes:

• Congratulations to Coach Martin Zacharia and the Fremd Debate Team on their recent successes:  Illinois Congressional Debate Association Tournament #5 & Tournament of Champions Qualifier @ Wheeling High School:  Congressional Debate, Tournament of Champions Qualifying Chamber: School Sweepstakes, 1st Place; Anusha Thotakura, 2nd Place Chamber Award; Shruthi Kumar, 3rd Place Chamber Award.  Carl Sandburg High School LD/PF Invitational:  Lincoln Douglas: Angie Peng, Varsity Champion; Kashif Javid, Junior Varsity Champion; Andrew Ruan, Junior Varsity 2nd Place.  Speaker awards were rewarded to the following debaters: Angie Peng (9th Varsity LD) & Kashif Javid (9th JV LD).  Public Forum: Speaker awards were rewarded to the following debaters: Eugene Kim (3rd Varsity PF), Ishan Taparia (8th Varsity PF), & Abhay Adhyapak (9th Varsity PF).
• Congratulations to Coach Lindsey Corcoran and the Fremd Cheerleaders on placing 5th in their Sectional and advancing to State!
• Congratulations to the following Wrestling Conference award winners: 2nd place Cole Riemer; 2nd place Grant Barwacz;  3rd place Quinn Bergles; 1st place Aaron Cortez; 1st place alex Jacobs and 1st place Zack Nemec.
• Congratulations to Coach Elise Ference-Saisi and the Girls Gymnastics Team on being  MSL Champions!  Individual awards:  Carly DeFilippo- 2nd on Vault, 5th Uneven Bars, 3rd in the All Around; Gab Lytle- 3rd on Vault; Lisa Radochonski - 4th Vault; Molly Blanke - 4th Vault; Melanie Ng - 5th Balance Beam; Maggie Betti - 5th Balance Beam; and Abby Moran - 4th Floor.
• Congratulations to Coach Ruben Hinojosa and the Girls Bowling Team on finishing 6th in the Conference.  Congratulations to Becca Rukowski and Hannah Evenson on receiving All-Conference honors.
• Congratulations to Coach Katie Giegler and the Fremd Speech Team on taking 2nd place at the MSL Conference.  Individual results are as follows:  1st place Dramatic Interpretation - Connor Bradshaw; 1st place Original Comedy - Elisa Kim; 1st place Impromptu Speaking - Jack Rosenwinkel; 1st place Humorous Interpretation - Paige Dirkes Jacks; 2nd place original Oratory - Abby Cohen; 2nd place Dramatic Duet Acting - Connor Bradshaw and Katie Haggett; 2nd place Radio Speaking - Devin Dionne; 2nd place Informative Speaking - Elisa Kim; 2nd place Extemporaneous Speaking - Jack Rosenwinkel and Julia Dirkes Jacks; 4th place Original Comedy - Brian Rosenwinkel; 4th place Humorous Duet Acting - Jared Narter-Slezak and Paige Dirkes Jacks; 4th place Prose Reading - Katie Haggett; 4th place Impromptu Speaking - Varshini Ramanathan; 6th place Radio Speaking - Emily Helbing; and 6th place Original Oratory - Varshini Ramanathan.
• Congratulations to Coach Chris Grattoni and the Fremd High School Math Team for earning first place at the District 211 Conference Meet. Oralists Kevin Chen and Adam Quinn earned first place in their competition, and the following students wrote perfect papers: Suchet Kumar (freshman), Edward Li (sophomore), Andrew Hwang (junior), Julia Cai (senior), and Mark Guo (senior).

Upcoming Home Activities and Varsity Events

February 5	Competitive Cheer State Boys Basketball @ Palatine H.S. - 6:00 p.m. Girls Basketball @ Palatine H.S. - 7:30 p.m. Winterfest - 6:00 - 11:00 p.m. in auditorium Orchesis Show - 7:00 p.m. in auditorium
February 6	Competitive Cheer State Wrestling Regional @ Glenbrook South H.S. - 9:00 a.m. Bowling Regional vs. Palatine H.S. @ Brunswick Zone - 9:00 a.m.
February 8	Girls Gymnastics Sectional @ Schaumburg - 6:00 p.m.
February 9	LATE Start - 8:50 a.m. start
February 10	Girls Basketball MSL Championship @ Fremd H.S. - 7:30 p.m.
February 11	College Planning Seminar - 7:00 p.m. auditorium
February 12	Wrestling Sectional @ Barrington H.S. - 4:30 p.m. Boys Basketball vs. Conant H.S. - 7:30 p.m.

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

Staff Spotlight

Name: Jeremy Herriges

Position: English Teacher/ Head Girls Track Coach

Years at Fremd: 10

Life Before Fremd: I attended Deerfield High School and the University of Iowa. I came to Fremd immediately after graduating from college.

Hobbies/Interests: Journalism and fiction writing. I write boxing articles for several sports magazines and websites, and have interviewed numerous world boxing champions. I’ve coached track for 10 years and specialize in the jumping events, especially high jump. I run a track club called the Inverness Track Club and coached an athlete to a second place finish in high jump at 2015 USATF National Championships.

Insider Tip for Parents: Ask specific questions about what your son/daughter is reading in class. It helps to keep them sharp and contemplate the real world message behind the text.

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.