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.