Class of 2014 Clarissa Dean was recognized for earning a Letter of Commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). About 50,000 Commended Students were recognized throughout the nation for their exceptional academic promise. Dean placed among the top five percent of more 1.5 million students who entered the 2014 competition by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

Dean is an active member of the school's Anime Sci-Fi Club and Visual Arts Club. Dean is an honor roll student and has a 4.3774/4.0 GPA and is ranked in the top fifteen of her class. <<read more>>

OLCHS awarded Academic Letter Awards to seniors who maintained at least a 3.75 GPA for both semesters of the 2013-14 school year. Seniors who earned the award for the first time received a chenille embroidered honors patch while students who achieved the honor again were presented with gold bars for their patches.

Students earning the honor for the fourth consecutive year included Mohammad Abuosbie, Jacob Allen, Natalia Bak, Melissa Barragan, Stephanie Barragan, Musaab Bashir, Stephanie Brito-Miranda, Julia Bugaj, Jeffrey Burzinski, Nicholas Chovancek, Martin Cisneros, Clarissa Dean, Natalia Gawelda, Bushra Hamad, Jordan Hepburn, Haley Hiljus, Tara Hill, Morgan Jozsa, Daniel Kalinin, Kamile Lazauskaite, Amanda Leone, Rebecca Mackowiak, Maynard Dane Madriaga, Kathleen Mancillas, Kristen OConnor, David Oliver, Andrea Pacetti, Megan Pacetti, Kayla Reichert, John Saldivar, Emily Salomone, Adam Smith, Jason Snyder, Mitchell Swatek, Nayfah Thnaibat, Kelsey Townsend, Shelby Trybula, Isabel Valle, and Kamila Zaremba.  <<read more>>

Twenty-eight students were recently recognized with the South Suburban Conference (SSC) Activity Academic All-Conference Award. The award recognizes students who have earned at least a cumulative 3.5 GPA and have at least one full season of Varsity SSC Conference and/or State competition in one or more of the following activities: Chess, Drama/Group Interpretation, Journalism, Mathletes, Forensics, and Scholastic Bowl.

The students included Jacob Allen, Stephanie Brito-Miranda, Julia Bugaj, Fajjar Butt, Riley Faille, Vincenzo Gudino, Jordan Hepburn, Paige Jarzabkowski, Meghan Jean, Daniel Kalinin, Bailey Kean, Kurt Kuzur, Kamile Lazauskaite, Taylor Lindemann, Maynard Madriaga, Kathleen Mancillas, Lauren Montesano, Kristen O'Connor, David Oliver, Megan Pacetti, Kathleen Plutz, Megan Pripusich, Emily Salomone, Derek Schapiro, Markelle Scott, Jason Snyder, Riley Spreadbury, and Kamila Zaremba.  <<read more>>

As the spring sports season concludes, the Illinois High School Association and the South Suburban Conference rewarded student-athletes for their prowess in the classroom with Scholastic Achievement Awards. OLCHS saw several of its athletes get the award for holding a grade point average of 3.5 or better. Seniors were honored by the SSC and juniors and seniors were honored by the IHSA.

Here are the recipients with their GPAs and sport: Omar Abdelrahman (4.1515/Track), Mohammad Abuosbie (4.2553/Track), Stephanie Barragan (3.8511/Soccer)), Abigail Castanon (3.5882/Soccer), Elisabeth Childers (3.7917/Softball), Nicholas Chovancek (4.24/Track), Rachel Costello (3.7941/Track), Rebecca Craig (3.5405/Badminton), Olivia Dankowski (3.6389/Badminton), Calvin Demski (3.56/Track), Matthew Dunne (4.2128/Baseball), Mary Garbacz (3.7714/Soccer), Kaylee Gattone (3.8235/Track), Natalie Glab (3.7568/Soccer), Mitchell Gonsch (4.0278/Track), Dana Greene (4.2571/Softball), Melissa Greiman (4.087/Badminton), Kaleigh Hayes (3.8286/Softball), Tara Hill (3.9787/Badminton), Paige Jarzabkowski (3.7609/Track), Morgan Jozsa (4.3913/Softball), Bailey Kean (3.7347/Track), Lukasz Kopec (4.0588/Track), Jacob Kupres (3.5/Track), Megan Kusturin (4.0857/Badminton), Kurt Kuzur (4.2444/Track), Kyle Kuzur (3.5349/Track), David Le (3.6863/Tennis), Gabrielle Lenihan (3.6458/Track), Jennifer Magana (3.7647/Soccer), Alexis Martinez (3.6122/Track), Marlene Martinez (3.5957/Soccer), Alec McCarthy (3.7222/Volleyball), Nicholas Micele (3.5278/Track), Ilaris Milan (3.6286/Soccer), Nicholas Minnella (4.2059/Track), Marcus Montes (3.8158/Baseball), Cassandra Moustis (4.0541/Track), Emmet Nugent (4.6897/Volleyball), Megan Pacetti (4.0612/Soccer), Tomasz Parzadka (3.6667/Track), Johnny Pilny (3.6765/Track), Brandon Quillin (3.5278/Baseball), Nicholas Raymer (3.8529/Track), Kayla Reichert (4.5208/Softball), Peter Ruane (3.6286/Track), Viviana Sanchez (3.6735/Track), Jason Snyder (4.4468/Volleyball), Alan Spies (3.5143/Baseball), Mitchell Swatek (4.3478/Baseball), Senad Sweis (3.9362/Track), Nayfah Thnaibat (4.1875/Badminton), Shelby Trybula (4.56/Softball), Alondra Valencia (3.5294/Soccer), Naihal Wajid (3.5806/Track), Matthew Witkowski (3.7297/Baseball), and Agnes Zabawa (3.7292/Soccer).  <<read more>>

The spring sports season has come to a close, and student-athletes did their best to represent their teams, their school and their community. Last month, these athletes were honored at the Spring Sports Awards Night.

Badminton is a great place to start with the heart-warming story of senior Tara Hill qualifying for the Illinois High School Association State Finals. Hill was also named team Most Valuable Player. Nayfah Thnaibat earned a conference championship and got the Sportsmanship Award for her team.

Girls Track saw Victoria Jones advance to the State Finals in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash. She was also named as the team's MVP, while Bailey Kean earned the Sportsmanship Award. Jessica Sciaky was the conference champion on the frosh/soph level in the 3,200 run. As a team, the Spartans earned the South Suburban Conference Red Sportsmanship Award.

Boys Track saw David Michaels win the conference championship in shot put, and he was named as the team's MVP. Vincent Olejniczak got the Sportsmanship Award. <<read more>>

As for the individual specialty awards, LaTondra Brooks was chosen as the Geri Vandekreke Most Valuable Female Athlete, and Swatek won the Bill Godby Most Valuable Male Athlete Award. Girls varsity volleyball coach Dennis McNamara was chosen as the Fred Parks Coach of the Year. Joe Pajac Scholarship winners were Dunne, Pacetti and Swatek. Steven Boetscher won the Tim Nickos Memorial Scholarship.  <<read more>>

At the school's annual student recognition assembly, juniors Peter Ruane and Afreen Yasin were recognized as the J. E. Lynch Outstanding Junior Award recipients. The J. E. Lynch Outstanding Junior Award was established to annually honor the Most Outstanding Junior Boy and Girl. The award is presented to students who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and/or leadership in an academic area and/or extracurricular activity. Congratulations Peter and Afreen!  <<read more>>