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.

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