In honor of National School Counseling Week (February 7-11), District 86 wants to recognize and thank our school counselors for all they do to help guide our students down the path toward their ideal future.

The theme for this year’s celebration is “School Counseling: Better Together.” It is with this theme in mind that we plan to share information via social media that highlights the vital and valuable work our counselors do to support the success of our students and help prepare them for life after graduation.

We encourage you to be on the lookout this week for Facebook and Twitter posts about our phenomenal counseling staff. In the meantime, please join us in expressing our admiration and appreciation for these dedicated professionals and the profound impact they have on our students, schools and community.

Below is an update on the work that is being done at Hinsdale South and Hinsdale Central in conjunction with our Future Ready Facilities plan.

The school's new fine arts addition was completed in November 2021. There has also been significant progress on the renovation and expansion of the natatorium, including the work being done on the:

The natatorium project is scheduled to be completed by the end of spring. 

You can check out photos of the new fine arts addition and the work on the natatorium by visiting https://bit.ly/3AXZqKm.

Work on the school's student services addition is nearing completion. Construction crews are painting and installing doors, hardware, millwork, flooring and exterior window shades prior to the space undergoing final inspections and being ready for use in late March or early April.

Work being done on the school's fine arts addition (scheduled for completion by May 2022) includes:

Work on the infill of the old pool (e.g., ceiling grid, lighting, flooring, etc.), which will become the new gymnastics space, is scheduled to be completed by the end of month. 

You can check out photos of the student services addition, fine arts addition and infill of the old pool by visiting https://bit.ly/3gtoiQJ.

Last week's edition of The Hinsdalean featured an article about Hinsdale Central's Jui Khankari, who was among the 300 high school seniors who were named scholars by the Society for Science in conjunction with the organization's annual science and math competition.

In the piece, Jui talks about her interest in artificial intelligence (AI), the research she has been working on under the guidance of Dr. Greg Zaharchuk from Stanford University and her desire to create an AI algorithm that can help save lives. She also shares some fun facts about herself, and discusses her goals for the future. You can check out the article by visiting https://bit.ly/3HuxvUF. Photo credit to Jim Slonoff from The Hinsdalean.

We congratulate Jui again on her incredible accomplishments, and wish her continued success in her amazing work with AI.

The chess teams from Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South are headed to state after finishing in sixth and ninth place respectively at the sectional tournament held at Glenbard East.

Below are the names of the players and coaches from each team.

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

On Feb. 9, Hinsdale Central will honor the students who have been named young scholars in conjunction with the school's Young Scholars Program. This program recognizes freshmen who earned at least a 5.0 GPA during their first semester. It also encourages them to remain committed to the pursuit of academic excellence by offering those who maintain a 5.0 GPA throughout high school the chance to receive one of two $1,000 scholarships that will be awarded around the time of graduation their senior year.

You can access the list of young scholars for this year by visiting https://bit.ly/3opz92z. We congratulate these students on this impressive achievement.

Hinsdale South named school psychologist Jenifer Cochran and Pam Conrad, who is the administrative assistant for the counseling department, the teacher and support staff member of the quarter. We congratulate Jenifer and Pam on this honor, and thank them for all they do on behalf of the school and our students.

Jenifer Cochran receiving the Teacher of the Quarter award.

Pam Conrad receiving the Support Staff Member of the Quarter award.

The speech teams from Hinsdale South and Hinsdale Central turned in outstanding performances at their regional tournament.

Hinsdale Central took third place at the tournament and had top three finishes in the following individual events:

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

The girls gymnastics teams from Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South had great showings at their regional tournaments.

Hinsdale Central came in second at regionals behind a dominant performance by Kelly Klobach, who took first place and qualified for the sectional tournament in every event. The school's other qualifiers for sectionals included Annette Sommers (third place on vault) and Charlotte French (fifth place on floor exercise).

Hinsdale South was led to a fourth place finish at its regional tournament by sectional qualifiers

Casey Fundator (fifth place on the uneven parallel bars) and Ashley Berg (fifth place in the all-around).

We congratulate both teams on their success at regionals, and wish those moving on to sectionals the best of luck in their events.

The wrestling teams from Hinsdale South and Hinsdale Central took second and fifth place at their respective regional tournaments, and had a number of outstanding individual performances. Below are the names of the student-athletes from both schools who finished in the top four in their weight class.

We congratulate the Hornets and Red Devils on their accomplishments at regionals, and wish those who are moving on to sectionals the best of luck.

We want to congratulate bowlers Dana Euske from Hinsdale South and Avery Andersen from Hinsdale Central, who qualified for sectionals after turning in outstanding performances at their regional tournament.

We also want to recognize junior Zakhari Williams from South and senior Cody McKay from Central on their outstanding seasons, which culminated in a trip to the sectional tournament for boys bowling on Jan. 22.

The Global Humanitarian Club from Hinsdale South is hosting a student-staff basketball game on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. to benefit Save the Children's efforts to provide food, shelter and medical supplies to children in Afghanistan. This event is being organized in conjunction with the club's annual efforts to raise money and awareness for a humanitarian crisis.

Admission for the game, which will take place in South's gymnasium, is $3. Please click the image on the right to access a flyer for the event.

The next District 86 Board of Education meeting will be held on Thursday, Feb. 10. The agenda and packet of materials for the meeting will be posted on BoardDocs (https://bit.ly/394u9as) and shared via email tomorrow (Feb. 8).

You can access a more detailed breakdown of this data by building at https://bit.ly/3d93aws.

Employees who work in the administration building or are not assigned to a specific school - 100%