Reminder - we have partnered with Osco to secure 6,000 doses of the two-shot Pfizer vaccine for eligible students (must be 16 or older) in DuPage County. Students can receive their first shot on May 20 at Hinsdale Central or on May 26 at Downers Grove South. Their second shot will be administered three weeks later - i.e., June 10 at Hinsdale Central and June 16 at Downers Grove South. All inoculations will take place between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and be provided free of charge.

Families can learn more about this opportunity and/or register eligible students for an appointment by visiting https://conta.cc/2S90NU0.

We are currently seeking students and parents/guardians who are interested in serving on the Parent-Teacher Advisory Committee during the 2021-22 school year.

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting https://forms.gle/Au2BekgZosuvEgF59.

Below is the COVID-19 data for the district as of Friday, May 7.

You can access the dashboard where this information is being stored by visiting https://bit.ly/3d93aws.

In our update email on May 3, we invited students, staff, families, alumni and community members to help us celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week by sharing expressions of gratitude (e.g. kind words, artwork, photos, videos, etc.) about our teachers. Below are links to the submissions we received.

We thank all of our teachers for everything they do on behalf of our students, schools and community. 

Last week's edition of The Hinsdalean featured an article about Julie Baker, Christine Billie, Steve Gross and Pat Richards, who will be retiring from Hinsdale Central this year following careers in education that have spanned more than 100 years combined. You can check out the story by visiting https://bit.ly/3eooUqv. Photo credit to Jim Slonoff from The Hinsdalean.

We congratulate Ms. Baker, Ms. Billie, Mr. Gross and Mr. Richards on their retirement, and thank them for their hard work and dedicated service.

The Hinsdale South Student Council named Stephen Snider its Teacher of the Year. Below is what the group said about Mr. Snider, who teaches science and coaches tennis.

"Mr. Snider is one of the most incredible teachers I have had. It’s rare to find a teacher who puts so much energy, sleepless nights, and thought into every student. The way Mr. Snider connects with each and every one of us and the way that he guides us in every way makes class super fun and engaging."

We congratulate Mr. Snider on this well-deserved honor.

Keith Bockwoldt, who is the chief information officer for District 86 and serves on the board of directors for the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), was featured on a recent podcast produced by the American Consortium for Equity in Education. The main focus of the podcast was CoSN's annual State of EdTech Leadership Report. However, it also touched upon the critical role that education technology has played in helping schools navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. You can check out the podcast by visiting https://bit.ly/3toTZyF (Keith's portion begins at the 16:23 mark). You can also learn more about CoSN by visiting https://www.cosn.org/.

We thank Mr. Bockwoldt for his leadership on this important topic.

The faculty and staff from Hinsdale South created a video to let the members of the senior class know how much they appreciate them, and how proud they are of their accomplishments. You can check out two different versions of the video below.

Junior Armaan Panjwani and seniors Josh Keating and Chiara Gregor from Hinsdale Central excelled in their individual events at the state competition for the Illinois Design Educators Association (IDEA). Keating took third place in the 3D CAD Modeling event, while Panjwani and Gregor tied for third in the Architectural 2D CAD event.

We want to congratulate all three students on their success at the competition. We also want to thank teachers Matthew Gawlik and Jonathan Schmidt for helping the students prepare for their events.

Students from District 86 turned in outstanding performances on the world language national examinations that were administered during the 2020-21 school year. We are spotlighting the accomplishments of the students from Hinsdale South this week, and will highlight the achievements of the students from Hinsdale Central in an upcoming email.

Students from Hinsdale South earned eight gold medals, 10 silver medals, 12 bronze medals and 17 honorable mentions for the scores they received on the Spanish, French and Latin national exams. We want to give a special shoutout to Dimitrije Gujanicic, Parth Joshi, Mitchell Hanson, Diya Syed and Leah Tharian for being among the top scorers on the Spanish II, III and IV exams in the Chicago area, which resulted in them placing in the local chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). We also want to commend junior Andrew Metzger for earning honors on two different language tests (Spanish and Latin) for the second year in a row.

We congratulate the nearly 50 students from South who were recognized for their incredible success on the world language national examinations. You can access a complete list of the school's honorees by visiting https://bit.ly/2F4co00. We also want to thank world language teachers Dr. Peter DeRousse, Courtney Mikulcik, Amy Piccoli and Alison Vrtis for all they do to help our students learn, grow and achieve.

Despite the challenges created by the pandemic, the Science Olympiad team from Hinsdale Central had a strong season that was capped off by a ninth place finish at the 2021 Illinois Science Olympiad Virtual State Competition.

We congratulate the team and faculty sponsors Jon Schmidt, Pete Pintz, James Paige, Mel Zinnecker and Mark Wollschlaeger on their success this year.

Hinsdale South recently recognized its Breakfast Club winners for the fourth quarter. The honorees included:

Teachers nominate students for the Breakfast Club award based on their academic or extracurricular accomplishments, contributions to the community or school spirit/pride.

We congratulate these students on this honor.

Below is information about recent accomplishments by a pair of former District 86 students.

We congratulate Daniel and Mac on their tremendous achievements.

Below is information about activities that student groups from Hinsdale Central have organized to help people in need.

You can learn more about these activities by visiting https://bit.ly/3hcRgpH.

The next District 86 Board of Education meeting will be held on Thursday, May 13. The agenda and packet of materials for the meeting, as well as instructions for how to participate in the session, will be posted on BoardDocs (https://bit.ly/394u9as) and shared via email tomorrow (May 11).

In the meantime, we have updated the webpage that features bios and images for all of our board members. You can access this page by visiting http://bit.ly/2tjTYD7.

On May 23, The Community House will host the 14th Annual Walk the Walk for Mental Health. All of the money raised in conjunction with this event will be used to provide individuals and families with equitable access to critical mental health services.

You can access additional information about the event by visiting https://bit.ly/3gMt7Ga. You can also learn more about The Community House by visiting https://bit.ly/3aULtRD.