We are excited to announce that 30 seniors from District 86 are among the 15,000 individuals from across the country who have been named finalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. In order to qualify as a finalist, students must continue to meet specific requirements and criteria, including having a "record of consistently very high academic performance in all of grades nine through 12 and in any college course work taken."

Below are the names of the students from Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South who earned this honor. Each of them will receive a Certificate of Merit and have the chance to win a Merit Scholarship award this spring/summer.

You can learn more about the National Merit Scholarship Program by visiting https://bit.ly/2Zup73M. We congratulate our students on this incredible achievement.

Great job, everyone. Way to finish your seasons strong.

Hinsdale South's Kelsey Pettry had an outstanding performance at the state final for girls bowling. She finished in third place in the wheelchair division after scoring over 100 in all six games during the two rounds of the tournament. She also recorded the fourth best single game score (146).

We want to congratulate Hinsdale South's Anya Patel on the strong showing she had at the state final for girls gymnastics. She finished in the top 25 in the all-around, tied for 13th on the uneven parallel bars in the preliminary round with a score of 9.125, and tied for 20th on the floor exercise in the preliminary round with a score of 8.925.

We also want to congratulate Hinsdale Central's Audrey Austin on the 8.200 she scored on the floor exercise in the preliminary round for the tournament.

Great job, Anya and Audrey. We are very proud of both of you.

The boys swimming and diving team from Hinsdale Central was dominant at sectionals. The Red Devils won the sectional title for the second straight year, took first place in every individual event, had 20 top three finishes and qualified the following individuals for the state tournament:

Meanwhile, Hinsdale South came in fifth place at sectionals, had six top five finishes in the individual events, and had sophomore Parker Chan qualify for state in the 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke.

We want to congratulate both teams on their success at the sectional tournament, and wish those moving on to state the best of luck. We also want to congratulate Central's Bob Barber on being named the sectional swimming coach of the year, and Central's Steve Miller on being named the sectional diving coach of the year.

The following students from Hinsdale Central earned awards during the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America's (FCCLA) regional competition.

We want to congratulate these students on their achievements, and wish them the best of luck at the state competition. We also want to thank Elizabeth Meersman and Dawn Oler for the support and leadership they provide in their role as faculty sponsors for the school's FCCLA student organization.

The world language teachers from Hinsdale Central select a Star Student two times per semester. These are students who:

Below is the list of individuals who have recently been named Star Students. We congratulate them on this accomplishment.

Each month, the world language teachers from Hinsdale South nominate individuals for recognition as the World Language Students of the Month. These students have a strong interest in a world or classical language, demonstrate the traits of being accountable, respectful and engaged, and perform actions and exhibit an attitude that exemplify what it means to have South Pride.

Below are the students from South who earned this honor for February.

A delegation of nine Latin students from Hinsdale Central (River Collis, Jon Levinthal, Henry Bolenbaugh, Zed Lillioja, Ben Yan, Yusuf Ahmed, Emerson Bolenbaugh, Michael Sahs and Gabriela Veliz-Hernandez) attended the recent Illinois Junior Classical League Convention. During the event, the group participated in various competitions and connected with fellow Latin students from across the state.

We want to congratulate the entire delegation on taking second place in the spirit competition, the members of the lower level team on taking third place in their Certamen competition, and Yusuf Ahmed and Michael Sahs on their success on the academic testing (Yusuf took first place on Decathlon, third place on Reading Comprehension and fourth place on Mythology and Roman Private Life; Michael took third place on Roman Private Life).

Below are the staff members from District 86 who have been named Outstanding Activity Advisors by the Illinois Directors of Student Activities (IDSA).

Hinsdale South's Sean Beesley has been named a CTE (career and technical education) instructor of the year for the DuPage region. This award, which is sponsored by the DuPage Area Occupational Education System and College of DuPage, recognizes individuals who "demonstrate innovation, passion, and advocacy for СТЕ."

We congratulate Mr. Beesley on this incredible honor, and thank him for his tireless commitment to the success of our CTE program and students.

We want to thank everyone who attended the district's fourth Community Conversation on Feb 15. You can access the video from this event, which featured a presentation and discussion about final exams and an update on the district's curriculum alignment process, by visiting https://youtu.be/1YwfkWsJQq4.

We also hope you will save the date for the next Community Conversation, which is scheduled to take place on March 8 from 7-8 p.m. in the library at Hinsdale Central. This session will focus on the earned honors credit pilot the district launched at the start of the 2022-23 school year.

Reminder - Hinsdale South and Hinsdale Central will be offering preschool programs in April and May through their Child Care and Development classes. These programs, which are open and available to all families regardless of whether they live in the community, focus on developmental appropriateness, creativity, safety, independence and social skills. Discounts are available for any District 86 employee who is interested in enrolling their children.

If you have questions or need more information about the preschool program at South, please email Laura Hughes at lhughes@hinsdale86.org. If you have questions or need more information about the preschool program at Central, please email Lisa Sopiarz at lsopiarz@hinsdale86.org.

The next District 86 Board of Education meeting will be held on Feb. 23. The agenda and packet of materials for the meeting will be posted on BoardDocs (https://bit.ly/394u9as) and shared via email tomorrow (Feb. 21).

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.