Friday, March 18, 2016

The Spring Break Edition

Become a Booster Member!


Since 1970, the Fremd Viking Booster Board has been comprised of 20 – 40 dedicated volunteer parents.  Our Mission, “To enhance Fremd High School student experiences by raising funds and providing support services for academic, athletic and cultural programs.”  This year’s board will be hosting two orientation sessions for interested parents.  We are looking for new members to help fill the void of our graduating parents.  You only need to attend one session, they will be identical.  Please consider joining us on either April 6, or April 20 at 7 pm in the Incubator Classroom near the main entrance at Fremd HS.  We look forward to meeting you and communicating the opportunities available to our volunteers.  If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at fremdvikingboosters@gmail.com.


The Viking Booster Board Application can be accessed here.

Want to learn more about the Booster Club Subcommittees? Read about them here.

Highlights and Successes:
  • Congratulations to Coach Martin Zacharia and the Fremd Debate Team on their success at the Illinois Communication and Theatre Association Novice and Junior Varsity State Debate Tournament.  Award winners include:  Congressional Debate:  Shreya Mukherjee, Novice State Champion; Nick Parekh, Novice State Runner-Up; Shreya Mukherjee, Novice Best Quality Speaker; and Nicholas DeConcilis, Junior Varsity Best Presiding Officer.  Lincoln Douglas Debate: Andrew Ruan, Junior Varsity State Champion and Kashif Javid, Novice State Runner-Up.  Speaker awards were awarded to the following debaters: Kashif Javid (6th Novice LD) & Andrew Ruan (9th JV LD).  Public Forum:  Abhinav Balu & Adhith Palla, Junior Varsity State Runners-Up; Piyush Biswas & Matthew Grabianski, Junior Varsity Quarterfinalists; and Hannah Chen & Maegan Jong, Novice State Champions.  Speaker awards were awarded to the following debaters: Adhith Palla (5th JV PF), Hannah Chen (8th Novice PF), Eugene Kim (9th JV PF), & Abhinav Balu (10th JV PF).
  • Congratulations to Coach Kevin Palmer and the Fremd Scholastic Bowl Team on winning the IHSA Regional.  


Upcoming Home Activities and Varsity Events


March 18
Girls Badminton Invitation @ Buffalo Grove H.S. - 4:30 p.m.

Boys Gymnastics @ Hinsdale Central H.S. - 6:00 p.m.
March 19
GI/CP Sectionals @ FHS - 6:00 a.m.

Boys/Girls Track & Field Invitational @ North Central College - 8;00 a.m.

Girls Badminton Invitational @ Palatine H.S. - 8:30 a.m.

Boys Lacrosse @ York H.S. - 9:00 a.m.

Baseball @ Lake Zurich H.S. - 11:00 a.m.
March 21-25
Spring Break
March 28
Non-Attendance Day
March 29
Girls Badminton @ Elk Grove H.S. - 4:30 p.m.

Girls Water Polo @ Conant H.S. - 5:30 p.m.

Boys Lacrosse @ Glenbard West H.S. - 5:45 p.m.

Boys Water Polo vs. Conant H.S. - 5:45 p.m.

Boys Volleyball vs. Elk Grove H.S. - 6:00 p.m.
March 30
Boys Baseball vs. St. Charles East - 4:30 p.m.

Girls Softball @ Mundelein H.S. - 4:30 p.m.

Girls Water Polo vs. Schaumburg H.S. - 5:30 p.m.

Boys Water Polo @ Schaumburg H.S. - 5:30 p.m.

Boys Gymnastics @ Schaumburg H.S. - 6:00 p.m.
March 31
Girls Badminton @ Buffalo Grove H.S. - 4:30 p.m.

Boys Lacrosse vs. Hoffman Estates H.S. - 7:00 p.m.

Girls Lacrosse @ Hoffman Estates H. S. - 7:30 p.m.
April 1
Spring Craft Fair - 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Boys Baseball vs. Glenbrook South H.S. - 4:30 p.m.

Girls Softball vs. Grayslake North H.S. - 4:30 p.m.

Girls Soccer @ Buffalo Grove H.S. - 6:00 p.m.

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


Staff Spotlight

Name: Jason Jetel

Position: Health Education and Medical Terminology Teacher, Health Education Department Chair, Health Careers Club Sponsor, JV Baseball Coach


Years at Fremd: 12th year at Fremd High School


Life Before Fremd: I am a 1989 Graduate of Fremd, Eastern Illinois Graduate (1994), substitute teacher in 1995- 1996 for Districts 15, 211, and 214,  taught Physical Education in Gavin Elementary School District 37, Ingleside, Il (1996-1997), taught Physical Education in District 15 (1997-2003).


Hobbies/Interests: I spend a lot of time coaching my son in hockey and baseball and attending my daughter’s dance recitals, and now high school Lacrosse games. So,  most of my hobbies and interests are sports related…especially, the Cubs and Blackhawks.  However, I do enjoy a good movie, and traveling (when time allows).
Insider Tip for Parents:  Be friends with your kids, but more importantly be their parent.  Make sure you follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc…


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.

Friday, March 11, 2016

The TJ Strong Edition

Be The Match

Today, I’d like to share the story of Fremd Special Education Teacher, T.J. Valacak. In September 2013, T.J. was experiencing what he thought were migraine headaches. After weeks of testing, T.J. learned that he had two different kinds of leukemia. After successful chemotherapy treatments and a bone marrow transplant, T.J.’s cancer is in remission. Unfortunately, he is still dealing with some health issues that are common byproducts of the leukemia battle, and he has been unable to return to work.

Many students would list T.J. as their favorite teacher. He is kind, caring, and his sense of humor is always on display. T.J. is one of those coworkers who makes coming to work fun. Needless to say, Fremd High School misses T.J. and hopes he is able to return to work soon!

Since being diagnosed with leukemia, T.J. has become very active with Be The Match, an organization that provides support to leukemia patients and maintains a registry of possible bone marrow donors.

T.J. and his team will be participating in a Run/Walk at Montrose Harbor on April 16. If you would like to learn more about this event, check out the details here. If you want to contribute to the TJ Strong team for this event, click here.

To learn more about T.J., please read this week’s Staff Spotlight.


Students Wanted: Community Engagement

District 211’s Community Engagement sessions will continue next week, with sessions at Palatine High School (Monday, March 14) and Conant High School (Tuesday, March 15) from 7-9 pm. Both sessions will focus on the Academic Programming in our district, and your input will be used to help us create a five-year strategic plan.

We would definitely appreciate your participation in this process. I would encourage you to talk to your student about attending, too. We want to hear from a variety of voices, including those who experience our academic programming first-hand.


School Spirit Update

Check out the "flash mob" performed at the Boys Basketball Sectional Semifinal on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the team did not advance to the next round, but our school spirit was on full display.




Highlights and Successes:
  • Congratulations to the following Girls Varsity Basketball players for their post-season honors: Bryana Hopkins, 2nd Team All-State, Daily Herald All-Area Team, Daily Herald Honorary Captain; Brianna Lewis, Honorable Mention All-State, Daily Herald All-Area Team; Erin Lenahan, Grace Tworek and Amanda McCartney, Daily Herald All-Area Team.
  • Congratulations to Coach Kevin Palmer and The Fremd Varsity Scholastic Bowl Team on placing 4th in the Masonic State Tournament.
  • Congratulations to Coach David Yates and the Girls Basketball Team on their 2nd place finish at State!  
  • Congratulations to the following BPA State Award winners:  1st place Graphic Design Promotion - Jason Kim; 2nd place Small Business Management Team - Soon Myung Hwang, Mindga Zhang, Emma Liu; 2nd place Presentation Management Team - Yulia Odinokova, Shun Yamamoto, Kristine Yim.
  • Congratulations to Fremd’s newly competitive showchoir, Soundscape, and director Christina Collins.  They received 1st place in their division at their final competition at John Hersey High School.  They had a very successful first season of competition with two 1st place ratings and one 2nd place rating.  The group involves 41 singers/dancers and 6 instrumentalists in their combo.   Great job to all!

Upcoming Home Activities and Varsity Events

March 12
Girls Water Polo Invite  @ FHS - 9:30 a.m.

Boys Track & Field Quad @ York H.S. - 10:00 a.m.

Boys Water Polo Quad @ Stevenson H.S. - 1:00 p.m.

Scholastic Bowl Sectionals @ FHS - 7:00 a.m.
March 14
Girls Softball vs. Fenton - 4:30 p.m.

Girls Water Polo vs. Barrington - 5:30 p.m.

Boys Water Polo @ Barrington H.S. - 5:30 p.m.

Girls Badminton vs. Glenbard H.S. - 5:30 p.m.
March 15
Girls Badminton vs. Hinsdale South - 5:00 p.m.

Girls Soccer vs. St. Charles East - 7:00 p.m.
March 16
Girls Softball @ Prairie Ridge H.S. - 4:30 p.m.

Boys Water Polo vs. Palatine H.S. - 5:45 p.m.

Girls Water Polo vs. Palatine H.S. - 7:45 p.m.
March 17
Girls Softball vs. New Trier @ Duke Child - 4:45 p.m.

Boys Gymnastics @ Barrington H.S. - 6:00 p.m.

Girls Soccer @ Lake Zurich H.S. - 6:15 p.m.
March 18
Girls Badminton @ Buffalo Grove H.S. - 4:30 p.m.

Boys Lacrosse @ FHS - 5:00 p.m.

Boys Gymnastics @ Hinsdale Central H.S. - 6:00 p.m.

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

Staff Spotlight

Name: TJ Valacak

Position: Special Education Teacher

Years at Fremd: 17 years. I started at Fremd back in 1999.

Life Before Fremd: I graduated from THE Northern Illinois University in December of 1994 with a bachelors degree in finance.  Luckily, I had a terrible job working in the accounting department at Ben Franklin’s corporate headquarters in Carol Stream.  I ended up leaving that job and enrolling in the Masters program at NIU in Fall of 1995 to work on a degree in Special Education.  As an undergrad at NIU, I had taken some special ed classes because I enjoyed them.  I thought about switching majors, but felt I was too far into my finance degree and needed to graduate and work.  Having a not so fun job really fueled a desire to go back to school and be a teacher. So, I went back to NIU and worked on my degree in special education. I graduated with my Masters in Fall of 1997.  My first job was working at a junior high in Tinley Park.  I was there for 1 ½ years before coming to Fremd.

Hobbies/Interests: My family likes to make fun of me for my hobby – collecting baseball cards.  The majority of my collection consists of cards that predate the 70’s.  I also collect other sports cards, autographs, and sports memorabilia.  I have quite a collection of memorabilia and autographs from the 2004 World Champion Red Sox.  Outside of that, I enjoy time with my family – whatever activities that may be.

Insider Tip for Parents: School does not end at 2:45. Encourage your children to be active in after school activities.  That could be a club, drama, music, sports.  Whatever the activity, I think it is important to participate within your school.  There are so many learning experiences involved in being part of a group or team. I believe that participation fosters pride in students and their performance.


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.

Friday, March 4, 2016

State-Bound Edition

Take the School Climate Survey


District 211 uses the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory to gather information from students, parents and staff regarding areas of improvement for our school. The survey asks questions related to physical and emotional security, learning programs, student wellness, and school connectedness.


Many of you are participating in our Community Engagement sessions (the next ones are on March 14 and 15). Although this survey is not related to these experiences, your participation with this form of feedback is just as important. I have used the results from last year’s survey to make many decisions, including the professional development experiences that we provided to our staff throughout the year.


Please take 15 minutes to fill out the survey here.



Only at Fremd

On Monday, we hosted the Super-Sectional for our Girls Basketball team. Needless to say, our team earned a berth at State for their victory in front of a packed house, including the largest student section I have seen in my five years at Fremd.



Students poised to storm the court
Toward the end of the game, when our victory was imminent, I shouted into the student section, “No storming the court!” At many schools, this request might be met with name-calling, boos, or direct defiance. When I explained that I was concerned about the other teams’ safety, our students worked with me to develop a plan to celebrate with our team AFTER Huntley's team cleared the area.

The game ended. Cheers of jubilation filled the air. As the teams lined up to shake hands, our students poured out of the bleachers. But instead of spilling onto the court, they patiently waited on the sideline for their moment to celebrate.


There are many moments like this where I am thankful for strong parental support and positive, respectful student behavior that shape our school culture. This is my public acknowledgement of gratitude for all of the things our students are doing “the right way,” embodied in just this one example.

Keep up the good work, Vikings!


Did You Know

Our Girls Basketball Team is not the only Fremd team competing in a State Competition this weekend in Bloomington-Normal. The Scholastic Bowl Team is competing in the Masonic State competition Saturday at Bloomington High School. If you're staying overnight in Bloomington, check the Fremd High School twitter account for Saturday's competition times.



Highlights and Successes:
  • Congratulations to the Fremd Jazz Ensemble, under the Direction of Matt Moore and the Jazz Combo under the Direction of Sam  Simpson on being  awarded straight “Division 1/Superior” ratings for their performances at the 31st annual “Jazz in the Meadows” Festival.  Each ensemble performed a fifteen minute set in front of a panel of collegiate jazz educators.  Following their performances the ensembles received outstanding feedback and clinics from the adjudicators.   
  • Congratulations to Coach Chris Grattoni and the Fremd High School Math Team for earning first place at the ICTM Regional Competition. The Senior Pre-Calculus Team (Julia Cai, Amy Chen, Mark Guo, Angie Peng, Varshini Ramanathan, and Daniel Tokarz) earned second place. Mark Guo and Daniel Tokarz earned second and third place, respectively, with their individual scores on this event. Oralists Adam Quinn and Kevin Chen earned first place in their event.
  • Congratulations to Kevin Chen, Mark Guo, Edward Li, and Adam Quinn for qualifying to take the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination). Students must score in the top 5% of all AMC 12 Math Contest participants to qualify to take the AIME. Kevin Chen has been recognized by the MAA with the highest score in the school (123.0) and both Kevin Chen and Ed Li were recognized with a Young Student Certificate of Achievement for scoring so highly as underclassmen. The AIME is being administered on Thursday, March 3rd.
  • Congratulations to Coach David Yates and the Girls Basketball Team on winning the Super Sectional game vs. Huntley and advancing to the State Tournament.
  • Congratulations to the Fremd Debate Team for earning the 2nd Place Sweepstakes Award at the ICDA Congress Championship at Harper College. The following debaters won individual Chamber awards: Anusha Thotakura (1st Place, Championship Division), Shreya Mukherjee (1st Place, Invitational Division), Brad Posdal (1st Place, Invitational Division), Srivats Prakash (2nd Place, Invitational Division), Nicholas DeConcilis (3rd Place, Invitational Division), and Nicholas Parekh (3rd Place, Invitational Division)
  • Congratulations to Coach Jerry Moon and the Fremd Chess Team for their 14th place finish (out of a record 146 teams!) at the IHSA Chess State Tournament! This represents the highest finish from an MSL team, with our rival Palatine High School finishing 20th place and Barrington High School finishing 31st place. Not only that, this year's 14th place finish is the highest finish ever in the history of the Fremd Chess Team, surpassing the previous record of 18th place from 2013!  Another highlight from the state tournament was Matthew Kennedy, a junior at Fremd, winning an individual medal on Board 6.  Other highlights from this season include winning the MSL Team Tournament (again - for the 4th year in a row!), as well as a 3rd place trophy at the Glenbard South Team Tournament (out of 46 teams). Congratulations to the team on a very successful year!
  • Congratulations to Boys Varsity Basketball players Patrick Benka, Payton Kim and Kyle Sliwa who were named MSL All-Conference!
  • Congratulations to the following Girls Varsity Basketball players for their post-season honors: Bryana Hopkins, 2nd Team All-State, Daily Herald All-Area Team, Daily Herald Honorary Captain; Brianna Lewis, Honorable Mention All-State, Daily Herald All-Area Team; Erin Lenahan, Grace Tworek and Amanda McCartney, Daily Herald All-Area Team.



Upcoming Home Activities and Varsity Events


March 4
Boys track & Field @ Proviso West H.S. - 5:00 p.m.

Girls Basketball State @ Redbird Area - Normal - 6:30 p.m.

Boys Basketball Regional @ Barrington H.S. - 7:00 p.m.
March 5
Girls Basketball State @ Redbird Area - Normal

Girls Track & Field @ Proviso West H.S. - 9:00 a.m.

Boys Track & Field @ Homewood-Flossmoor H.S. - 9:30 a.m.

Boys Gymnastics @ Glenbard West H.S.- 10:00 a.m.
March 7
Winter Sports Awards - 6:00 p.m.
March 8
Boys Basketball Sectional @ FHS - 7:00 p.m.

Late Start - 8:50 a.m. start
March 9
Boys Water Polo vs. Buffalo Grove H.S. - 4:30 p.m.

Girls Water Polo @ Buffalo Grove H.S. - 5:30 p.m.

Boys Basketball Sectional @ FHS - 7:00 p.m.
March 10
Boys Gymnastics @ Barrington H.S. - 6:00 p.m.
March 11
Boys Basketball Sectional @ FHS - 7:00 p.m.


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



Staff Spotlight


Name: Kevin Palmer
Position: Social Studies Teacher – Scholastic Bowl Head Coach

Years at Fremd: 26 (29th year of teaching)

Life Before Fremd: - Before Fremd? Was there life before Fremd? I taught for three years in Southeastern Indiana – Shelbyville. A very different place than Fremd – 20,000 residents and pretty much working class. And before that, I worked in Washington, D.C. for U.S. Congressman from Indiana Elwood “Bud” Hillis and Indiana U.S. Senator Richard Lugar. I decided that the life of politics did not fit in with my values and chose to leave. Before I went back to school to get my teaching license, I was offered a Reagan White House appointment to the Department of Health and Human Services but I turned it down. I have my B.A. in Political Science and an Area Certificate in Public Affairs from Indiana University and a M.A. in History also from Indiana University. I started life as a farm boy in Northwestern Indiana near Purdue in the town of Wolcott, Indiana.

Hobbies/Interests: I love to travel – especially to France. I collect McCoy Pottery and anything Art Deco. I very much love foreign language films and when I can I try to write my dissertation for my Ed.D on Integrated/Interdisciplinary Curriculum.

Insider Tip for Parents: I think that parents are Fremd’s best allies and I always tell parents to contact teachers directly if there is a question, concern, or an issue and we can work to resolve it. The best advocacy for our students is communication. We like to hear from parents good or bad, but mostly good….just like parents like to hear from us that their child is doing well, or to prevent a course failure so that we can right the student back on to the correct path to success


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.