The LP Link is published bi-weekly during the school year to highlight the latest districtwide news and events at Lake Park High School. Contact Sherri Anderson, Director of Communications, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for content.
Spotlight on Lancers First
Each month, the LP Link will spotlight an area of District focus with the goal of sharing valuable information and resources with our school community. This month highlights Lancers First, which began during the first semester of the 2020-21 school year with this vision: Lancers First is a group designed to enhance and support the learning and post-secondary planning experience of the Class of 2023 students who will be the first in their families to attend schooling beyond high school in the U.S. Students will be challenged and inspired to seek out information, experiences, and the development of relationships to foster the achievement of their highest career potentials.
Serving All Different Types of Students
Senior counselors and Lancers First sponsors, Ali Levato and Mike Sakiewicz, share a passion for working with first-generation students and teaching them how to be self-sufficient. Together they host monthly Lancers First meetings during the school day and share resources through Google Classroom. Through the years, they have aligned their topics to the Illinois PaCE expectations. Some of these topics include college and career exploration as well as relationship building, particularly during COVID-19. While membership has grown as families self-identify during online registration, a core group of 40-50 students actively participate in the meetings and events. It’s important to know that Lancers First serves all very different types of students who should feel proud to join! If your child is in the Class of 2023 and would like to participate in Lancers First, contact the counselors directly.

College Field Trips
In addition to the monthly meetings and engagement through Google Classroom, the counselors have arranged for field trips to expose Lancers First to a variety of college and university settings. Last school year, the first field trip was taken to Elmhurst University because of the local proximity as well as the substantial number of Lancers who attend there. This semester, Lancers First organized an out-of-state trip with financial support from the Lake Park Educational Foundation to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a school known for its support of first-gen students (25% in the freshman class). The most recent field trip was to DePaul University to expose students to a private institution. View some candid photos from recent campus visits.

National First Generation College Celebration Day: November 8
Since 2017, institutions, corporations, non-profits, and K-12 schools from across the nation have celebrated first-generation students, faculty, staff, and alumni on November 8 and highlighted the important contributions made within their communities. Although Tuesday, November 8 is a non-attendance day due to the election, Lake Park plans to celebrate all week with a display case highlighting prominent first-generation figures, daily student announcements, wearing college t-shirts, and identifying teachers who were first-gen college students with a sign placed on their classroom doors. Read more about National First Generation College Celebration Day.
National Merit Scholarship Program
Lancers earn prestigious academic recognition.
Congratulations to Lake Park students who have earned academic recognition through the 68th Annual National Merit Scholarship Program. About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Students and their families were recognized during the regular Board of Education meeting on Monday, October 24.

Commended Students: Seven Lake Park High School seniors have been named Commended Students in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program. The Commended Students are: Sammy Carstens, Alejandro Hernandez, Anthony Hugunin, Laasyasri Rangu, Kelci Saele, Rushil Shah, and John Walters. About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2023 competition for Merit Scholarship Awards, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.6 million juniors who entered the 2023 competition.

College Board National Recognition: Six Lake Park High School seniors have been selected for the 2023 National Hispanic Recognition Program Award. The selected students are: Christopher Alvarado, Cecilia Cooper, Alejandro Hernandez, Brandon Su, Carolyn Torres, and Izabella Zang. The College Board's National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) identifies academically outstanding African American, Hispanic American or Latinx, Indigenous, or students who attend school in a rural area or small town. Each year, the NHRP honors about 5,000 of the highest-scoring students from over 250,000 Hispanic/Latino juniors who take the PSAT/NMSQT.
State Spirit March and Sendoff
Girls tennis celebrated for IHSA state competition.

Congratulations to Lancer Girls Tennis players Lauren Dell'Acqua (12) who placed third in the Singles Sectional Tournament, and Tanvi Murkonda (11) and Jacqueline Cozzi (11) who also placed third in the Doubles Sectional Tournament. As a result, they qualified to compete in the IHSA State competition held on October 20-22. Lake Park came in second at the sectional tournament.

The girls tennis program is led by Head Coach Christian Pawlak and Assistant Coaches Katie Ratterman and Craig Cichowicz.
Winter Athletic Registration is Now Open
New all-electronic athletic registration system is easy-to-use and intuitive.
Lake Park is proud to partner with FamilyID for athletic registration beginning with the Winter Season. This new, all-electronic registration system allows users to upload physicals and insurance information in electronic form (no more bringing them to the nurse or athletic office). Also, families can now register for multiple sports within a single season and their registration information will remain in the system and not have to be re-entered when registering for other athletic seasons. Ultimately, FamilyID will be an easy-to-use, intuitive registration system for Lancer families.

Please use this link to access the new registration system: Lake Park FamilyID Athletic Registration.
Parents/Guardians will be asked to create an account that they will use for all registrations.
Inaugural Film Appreciation Society: Casablanca
November 2 screening will also feature an in-depth panel discussion and trivia.
Lake Park's new Film Appreciation Society is launching its inaugural presentation on Wednesday, November 2 at 7:00 p.m. in the West Campus auditorium. The event is open to the community and admission is free.

The featured film for the evening is the 1942 classic, Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. Casablanca is #3 on the most recently curated (2008) American Film Institute list: The 100 Greatest American Films of All Time. The run time of the film is 1 hour, 42 minutes.

Community film buffs are invited to attend the cinematic presentation and stay for an in-depth panel discussion regarding the background and history of the featured film. Patrons and theatre enthusiasts can cast their vote for the film selection of the next presentation on Wednesday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m. in the West Campus auditorium. The Lake Park Film Appreciation Society aims to engage the community in the presentation, exploration, interpretation, and critical discussion of classic cinema.
FAFSA Completion Night: November 3
Class of 2023 invited to attend a free FAFSA completion workshop.
Please join the College & Career Center's second Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Completion Workshop on Thursday, November 3 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the West Campus College & Career Center, room 231A.

Resources to assist students and families with completing the FAFSA:

Any graduating Lancers and their families who have questions or need assistance with completing the FAFSA or the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid (Alternative Application), intended for qualifying undocumented and transgender students, are invited to attend. Limited computers will be available, so students are encouraged to bring their Chromebooks or laptops.

Questions? Contact Lake Park's College & Career Counselor Laura Michaels at (630) 529-2283.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" Takes Center Stage
Lancer thespians embrace Shakespeare's work in this fall production.
Lake Park Theatre presents Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, a play that explores themes of the irrationality of love, desire, friendship, possession, jealousy, and magic.

According to director Erik Uppling, the classic Shakespeare comedy takes place just before the marriage of the Duke (Phillip Howlet) to Hippolyta (Kacie Cooper), but there are several subplots that make the play so much fun. Four lovers (Mia Manella, Caroline Bisceglie, Akul Sharma, and Grant Gordon) succumb to the trickery of a fairy named Puck (Lauren Troutman) and fall in love with the wrong person. Meanwhile, the Fairy King (Luke Thomas) and Queen (Arianna Alvarez) are having problems in their relationship, and lastly, a group of blue-collar workers aim to present a play before the Duke at his wedding. Rounding out the cast are a host of fairies who bring this magical piece to life!

Tickets, which may be purchased at the door, are free to seniors and LP students, $3 for non-LP students and $5 for adults. Performances run Thursday, November 10; Friday, November 11; and Saturday, November 12 at 7:00 p.m. in the East Campus Dice Auditorium.
Community Connection
Beatles tribute band American English to perform a veterans benefit concert.
Once again, after a one year absence, Lake Park's Veterans Service Organization (VSO) is honored to partner with American Legion Post 1084 in Roselle to sponsor a "Veterans Benefit Concert" in the West Campus auditorium on Friday, November 11. To help raise funds to support Veterans programs, Post 1084 will host a concert featuring the popular Beatles tribute band American English.

Tickets cost $15 and all proceeds benefit Post 1084's Veterans Programs. The last Veterans concert raised over $7000 for programs that directly benefit area veterans. These programs include, "Gifts to the Yanks" which provides comfort items to veterans in local nursing homes; Operation Comfort Warrior that supports wounded soldiers and their families; and the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans.

The doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the concert begins at 7:00 p.m. Advanced tickets are available in the East Campus main office or the West Campus Activities Office. Tickets will also be available at the door.
Night of Fine Dining & Theatre
Tickets are now on sale for the Educational Foundation’s annual fundraiser.
On Friday, December 9, the Lake Park Educational Foundation will host an exciting evening of fine dining and theatre at Lake Park’s East Campus.

Guests will enjoy an elegant 4-course holiday dinner prepared by Lake Park culinary students and reserved seating for the holiday play, A Good Old-Fashioned Big Family Christmas. Guests can also bid on a wide array of silent auction items throughout the dinner. Tickets are $40 per person and include dinner and the play. Reserve your tickets today!

The LPEF is seeking in-kind donations for its silent auction that evening. Items such as restaurant and entertainment gift certificates, sports memorabilia, and experiences are being sought. Learn more about donating to the silent auction.
Important Dates:

Oct 28 ............Institute Day (Student Non-attendance)
Oct 28 ............Parent-Teacher Conferences
Oct 29 ............VEX Robotics Tournament
Nov 3...............FAFSA Completion Night
Nov 4...............DECA: Dodgeball Tournament
Nov 8.............. Election Day (Offices Closed)
Nov 11.............Veterans Day
District Tip Line (630) 250-6039