District 86 has experienced an increase in positive COVID-19 cases during the past few weeks (we had nine cases on April 22, 17 cases on April 29 and 82 cases on May 6). With this in mind, we want to share information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about ways you can help slow the spread of the virus.

You can access additional recommendations from the CDC by visiting https://bit.ly/3ylNrGZ. You can also access the latest COVID-19 data for our district, community and county by visiting https://bit.ly/3d93aws.

In our update email on May 2, 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.

More than 120 students from District 86 earned the Seal of Biliteracy during the 2021-22 school year. They received the award for scoring a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement exam last spring, or performing well on a qualifying language proficiency test this year.

There were also several students who earned this honor in two languages, including:

You can access the full list of awardees by visiting https://bit.ly/3vIxJnJ.

This accomplishment will be included on the high school transcripts and diplomas for these students to help convey/communicate their language skills to colleges/universities and potential employers. It may also earn them college credit.

You can access additional information about the Seal of Biliteracy, including the dates that qualifying tests will be administered in the fall, by visiting https://d86.hinsdale86.org/Page/2255.

We want to congratulate our students on this tremendous achievement, and commend them for their hard work and dedication. We also want to thank our teachers for all they do to support the growth, development and success of our language learners.

We congratulate the students from Central and faculty sponsors Jon Schmidt, Melissa Scheldrup, James Paige, Peter Pintz and Mark Wollschlaeger on their accomplishments at state.

The boys gymnastics teams from Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South had strong showings at the sectional tournament on May 2. The Red Devils took second place overall, while the Hornets took fourth. Both teams also had several student-athletes finish in the top 10 in their individual events, including:

We congratulate both teams on their success at sectionals.

Hinsdale South recently held a competition for students that was based on the television show Shark Tank, which features budding entrepreneurs making pitches/presentations to industry leaders in hopes of securing funding for their ideas.

Below are the students who earned the top three spots in the competition.

Several other students had ideas that earned them a trip to the finals, including:

We want to congratulate the students on their success, and commend them on the creativity, ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit they exhibited throughout the competition.

We want to thank the business leaders who served as the judges/sharks, including Steve Bougdanos, Tom Ellis, Mike Munro and Jared Smith.

We also want to thank the teachers who lent their time and talents to the event, including Alex Bitto, Jim Bondi, Nick Chavarria, Vince Doran, Ben Goodell, Chris Gumban, John Madden, Hope Mayer, Steve Moore, Mike Moretti, Andrea Smith and Ashley Yurchak

The following students from Hinsdale Central earned recognitions during the Poetry and Prose Contest hosted by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English (IATE).

We want to congratulate Aadit, Luka, Priya, Ajay, Sebastian and Karan on their accomplishments. We also want to thank teachers Gina Chandler and Cherise Lopez for helping these students hone their skills and find their voice as writers.

The girls badminton teams from Hinsdale South and Hinsdale Central continued their dominance at sectionals.

The Hornets won their second straight sectional championship, and their 18th title in the past 20 years. The team also took the top two spots in singles (Maggie Chen was first; Megan Tai was second) and two of the top three spots in doubles (Gabrielle Alcantara and Rachele Cameli were first; Amelia Hoch and Savannah Morford were third).

Meanwhile, the Red Devils won their eighth straight sectional championship, and their 17th title in the past 20 years. The team also took the top two spots in doubles (Tiffany Tu and Hannah Fang were first; Ivy Shen and Aishvarya Godlas were second) and two of the top three spots in singles (Jessica Han was first; Maria Jiao was third).

We congratulate both teams on their success at sectionals, and wish them the best of luck at state.

The following Special Olympics track athletes from District 86 earned gold medals and qualified for state during their recent regional competition.

We congratulate these student-athletes on their accomplishments at regionals, and wish them the best of luck at state.

The Hinsdale Central Latin Club finished its season strong against fellow regional winners from across the state. The Red Devils took second place at the novice level (Latin I) and third place at the lower level (Latin II) during the final round of the Certamen competition.

We congratulate the club on its success this year.

Registration is still open for the district's summer school program. The first semester will take place June 13-30, while the second semester will be held July 5-21.

Please visit https://d86.hinsdale86.org/domain/641 to register for courses or learn more about our program.

The next District 86 Board of Education meeting will be held on Thursday, May 12. The agenda and packet of materials for the meeting will be posted on BoardDocs (https://bit.ly/394u9as) and shared via email tomorrow (May 10).

The Indian Prairie Public Library is hosting a free webinar titled "Insider's Guide on the College Planning Process." During this webinar, which will take place on May 16 at 6 p.m., families will learn about:

You can access additional information about or register for the event by visiting https://bit.ly/indianp516.