Jessica Hurt, the assistant principal for curriculum and instruction at Hinsdale Central, has been named the Assistant Principal of the Year for the DuPage Region by the Illinois Principals Association (IPA).

This award recognizes and celebrates individuals who demonstrate a positive impact on education and advocacy for children; ensure the school climate is positive and reflects high staff and student morale; demonstrate creativity and imagination in bringing about positive change; are willing to take risks to improve student learning; move actively to implement the goals and objectives for the school; work collaboratively with teachers and other staff to improve the educational program and student achievement; anticipate emerging problems and act effectively to resolve them; and involve the community in the life of the school and the use of community resources for students.

Ms. Hurt and the other regional winners from across Illinois are now eligible for IPA's State Assistant Principal of the Year award, which will be announced in late winter/early spring of 2023.

We congratulate Ms. Hurt on this well-deserved honor, and wish her the best of luck in the next round of the competition.

The math teams from Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South were dominant in the second meet of their respective seasons.

In its matchup against Downers Grove South, Morton West and Willowbrook, Central came in first and won all 10 of its events. The Red Devils were led by Kiran Gitzlaff and Wilbert Chu, who had perfect papers in Algebra 2. Chu also formed a Junior/Senior 2-Person Team with Sebastian Attlan that scored 56 points for their squad. Central has won both of its meets this year, and is currently in first place in the overall standings for the West Suburban Math League (WSML).

South had an equally successful day in its matchup against Addison Trail, Glenbard West, Morton East and Romeoville. The Hornets placed first in all 10 of their events, and received notable performances from Rishikesh Joshi (perfect paper in Algebra 1) and the pairing of Anastasia Galinski and Parth Joshi (first in the Orals competition for the meet; hold the top spot in the category for the entire league). South is currently fourth in the WSML standings.

Both teams will look to continue their success when they square off against each other in a four-school meet on Jan. 24 that will also include York and Lyons Township.

Below is information about recent accomplishments by the athletic programs at Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South.

The Hinsdalean's latest student-athlete profile featured a Q&A with Hinsdale Central senior Avery Anderson, who is captain of the girls bowling team. In the piece, Avery talks about how long she has been on the team, what she enjoys most about the sport, how she handles the mental aspects of the game and her goals for the season. She also shares the best advice she has gotten from a coach and her plans for next year.

You can check out the profile on Avery by visiting https://bit.ly/3hjiMnD. Photo credit to Jim Slonoff from The Hinsdalean.

The Hinsdale South chess team turned in an outstanding performance at the Bolingbrook Raider Invitational on Dec. 3.

The Hornets finished second out of 34 teams in the varsity tournament and fourth out of 21 teams in the individual/team open tournament. They were led by Daniel Pinnow, Aayush Modi, Konrad Kremper, Martic Lazar, and Isaac Choi, who medaled at the event and finished the day with a combined record of 15-3-2.

We congratulate the team on its success at the tournament.

Journalism students from Hinsdale Central have taken part in some interesting and exciting experiences this semester.

Earlier this fall, Journalism 2 Honors students from the Devils' Advocate and yearbook attended the Medill High School Journalism Day at Northwestern University. During the event, they participated in workshops about topics such as photography, interviewing, storytelling and podcasting. They also had the chance to talk with university professors and professional reporters about the dynamic changes happening in the world of journalism.

This month, students took a field trip to the Museum of Contemporary Photography where they were given an interactive guided tour through the exhibits by professors from Columbia College. They also checked out the dark room at Columbia and learned about the chemical processes associated with film and experimental photography.

Representatives from the board and the Ventimiglia family delivered the donations during the WGN Morning News on Dec. 9 in conjunction with the station's 20th annual WGN Morning News Toy Drive. You can check out photos of their visit to WGN on South's Facebook page.

On Dec. 1, the Latin Clubs from Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South participated in their second Certamen gathering of the year with their peers from Lyons Township and Benet Academy.

The students from Central (Yusuf Ahmed, Hank Bolenbaugh, Jonathan DeToro, Lucas DiGuido, J.J. Levinthal, Zed Lillioja, Michael Sahs, Rowan Whelan and Ben Yan) took first place and set a school record for points (490) at the upper (Latin III/IV) level, tied for first place at the lower (Latin II) level and took third place at the novice level (Latin I).

As for South, the team of Sofiya Antonova, Sami Khalil, Arooj Nasir and Ash Paoola took first place at the novice level, while Philemon Rassi, who competed solo against multi-person teams for the second gathering in a row, took second at the upper level.

We congratulate both clubs on their continued success this season.

The next District 86 Board of Education meeting will be held on Dec. 15. The agenda and packet of materials for the meeting will be posted on BoardDocs (https://bit.ly/394u9as) and shared via email tomorrow (Dec. 13).

Please visit https://bit.ly/3B4pHHk to access the latest COVID-19 data for our district, community and county. Below are the metrics we plan to update on a weekly basis.