WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016

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Northwest suburbs

Daily Herald report

A group of six students atHoffman Estates High Schoolreceived the opportunity toconduct materials research atthe Argonne National Labora-tory Advanced Photon Source.Only 11 high schools werechosen for the Exemplary Stu-dent Research Program.The students submitted a

professional research pro-posal to use the device, whichproduces ultrabright, high-en-ergy X-ray beams for researchin almost all scientific disci-plines. Their proposal ranked1.7 on a 5-point scale, whichis a strong rating even for pro-fessionals that write propos-als all the time, according toa summary from the group’ssponsor, ChemMatCARS, andHoffman Estates High SchoolApplied Technology TeacherWayneOras.

Hoffman Estates HighSchool senior DillonVadgama, juniors HarpreetAuby, Jill Prigge, Miraj Shah,and sophomores AllisonSchrader and Matt Vlasaty

participated in the program.The students are conduct-

ing nanoparticle research thatcontributes to a large studythat could be the foundationof future technology.

“We are figuring out theproperties of a monolayer ofiron oxide, and in the futureengineers and scientists willfigure out what it’s useful forand where to go with it,” saidDillon.

“This is an unexploredregion of physics and science,and is very close to nanotech-nology,” saidMiraj.The students worked under

Prospect High School teacher LeighSapp searched for a pen pal programfor seniors in Advanced PlacementSpanish, and she found one—not in aforeign country, but right in their ownbackyard.For nearly six months, Prospect stu-

dents have beenexchanging letterswith a group of Span-ish-speaking studentsfrom one of North-west Suburban HighSchool District 214’salternative schools,its Newcomer Centerin ArlingtonHeights.Located within

the Forest View Edu-cational Center, itis the only full-time

secondary newcomer center in Illi-nois. It serves about 36 high schoolstudents who recently arrived to theUnited States or are new to the Englishlanguage.The two groupsmet for the first time

last week when Prospect studentshosted their pen pals for a pizza lunchthat definitely broke the ice.“I was really nervous at first. I didn’t

think we’d have anything in commonor would have anything to talk about,”said seniorMarisa Romanelli ofMountProspect on her initial thoughts aboutbeing a penpal.She found herself pleasantly sur-

prised once she started correspond-ing with Armando Ramirez of RollingMeadows.“We wrote about books and food. I

love trying different kinds of food andhe had lots of suggestions about Mexi-can food,” Romanelli said. “I was reallysurprised at how easily the conversa-tion flowed.He’s smart and articulate.“In fact, I thought he was my age,”

adds Romanelli, 18. “I was shocked tofind out hewas only 14.”When the two pen friends met last

week, they found they shared evenmore in common. Both are good stu-dents — Romanelli recently wasnamed a National Merit finalist andArmando hopes to pursue a career inmedicine.“Her letters are good,” Armando

said. “They’re about her life here andher family, but they help me to learnmore about theAmerican culture.”Another Prospect senior, Krzys

Chwala of Mount Prospect, related tohis pen pal, Rosa, as a fellow immi-grant. While Rosa recently came tothe Northwest suburbs from Mex-ico, Chwala’s family emigrated fromPoland.“My first letter was very artistic,”

Chwala said. “I drew elaborate designson it and even drew a self-portrait, butnow they’re more routine. She hasgreat ideas formusic to add tomy Spo-tify list.“But we’ve also exchanged what we

went through,” he adds, “andwhat theimmigrant experience is like.”Sapp describes the pen pal program

as “organic” in that the students haverun with the program and are learningfromeach other.

“It also has a practical applicationfor the AP test,” Sapp adds. “They haveto write a sample of an interpersonalcommunication, like an email. This isgoodpractice for that.”Teacher Mario Perez accompa-

nied the students from the NewcomerCenter. He coordinates the programand also teaches social studies and

reading.While he said forming friendships

through the pen pal program hashelped with the students’ culturaliza-tion, he also seesmore benefits.“It helps them feel as though they’re

tutoring instead of always being theones who are tutored,” Perez says. “It’sreciprocal.”

Bridging gaps

M A R K W E L S H / mwelsh@dailyherald.com

Prospect High School AP Spanish students check out the library with their penpals who are used to much more confined surroundings, as their school, theNewcomer Center, has a student body of about 36 students.

M A R K W E L S H / mwelsh@dailyherald.com

Prospect High School AP Spanish students have pizza with their pen pals who attend the Newcomer Center with a stu-dent body of about 36 students. Prospect senior Olivia Sullo, 18, talks with her pen pal David Sarmiento.

Northwestsuburbs

&Outabout

Tech Talk withPHPL ComputerClub: 2 p.m.Wednesday,Prospect HeightsPublic Library, 12

N. Elm St. Monthly discussiongroup about everything tech.This time common computerand technology jargon. Noregistration. Free.

Paint the NightAway: 6:30 p.m.today, Ridgesof Poplar CreekCountry Club, 1400Poplar Creek Drive,

Hoffman Estates. Paint theBlackhawks feather theme.$25 to paint a wineglass; $35to paint a canvas. Reserva-tions, (847) 781-3655.

Savvy SocialSecurity Planning:7 p.m. today, AdlaiE. Stevenson HighSchool, 1 Stevenson

Drive, Lincolnshire. Strategiesto maximize your benefits.Especially valuable formarried couples where onehas been a bigger earner.Preregistration required, (847)415-4000. Cost is $19.

‘Star Trek II TheWrath of Khan’: 7p.m. Wednesday,Elk Grove Theatre,1050 Arlington

Heights Road. Consideredone of the best movies inthe series, introduction andbrief Q&A following the filmby Patrick Bromley. 2ndWednesday film series,co-sponsored by the ChicagoFilm Critics Association. $6.

LED PaperHelicopters:7 p.m. today,Palatine Library,700 N. North Court,

Palatine. Teens can listento music and build a simplepaper helicopter with LEDblinking electronic. Sign upat (847) 358-5881, ext. 132,or visit www.palatinelibrary.org. Free.

Teddy Bear ToCome To Life: 1:30p.m. Thursday,Des PlainesHistory Center,

781 Pearson St. Germanhistorian Anette Isaacson the inspiring story ofMargarete Steiff, the womanbehind the teddy bear. Info:(847) 391-5399 or www.desplaineshistory.org. $3

Friends of theRolling MeadowsLibrary SpringBook Sale: Presale6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Thursday ($5), regular sale9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday, 9a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday,1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at 3110Martin Lane. Free.

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Prospect studentslearn language,culture as pen palswith NewcomerCenter students

Eileen O. DadayGood News

C O U R T E S Y O F D I S T R I C T 2 1 1

Hoffman Estates High School Jill Prigge and Dillon Vadgamaprepare the Langmuir trough, which must be cleaned and filledwith deionized water prior to applying a nanoparticle film.

C O U R T E S Y O F D I S T R I C T 2 1 1

Jill Prigge, a junior at Hoffman Estates High School, fills theLangmuir trough with deionized water for materials particleresearch students did at the Argonne National LaboratoryAdvanced Photon Source.

Three candidates arerunning in the Democraticprimary for Cook CountyClerk of the Circuit Court— the current clerk, Doro-thy Brown, Chicago Alder-man Michelle Harris and

attorney Jacob Meister.Brown and Meister

responded to the DailyHerald questionnaire;

Harris did not. Their com-pleted questionnairesare available online atwww.dailyherald.com intheir entirety; here is oneexcerpt. Answers were lim-ited to 250 words.

Q. Compared to some col-lar counties, the Cook Countycourt system is antiquated interms of online access to casefiles.What do you intend to doabout that?Brown: DuPage County

currently shows electronicimages to attorneys, regard-less of whether they are attor-neys-of-record to a case ornot. This is against the cur-rent electronic access pol-icy of the Illinois Supreme

Court, however, they musthave some special exemp-tion from the policy. I alreadyhave almost 200 million elec-tronic document images and

Candidates answer, is Cook County court system ‘antiquated’?

Exploring the unexploredHoffman Estates students do materials research at Argonne

PRIMARY 2016

See ARGONNE on PAGE 2

See Q&A on PAGE 2

PAGE 2 SECTION 5 DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016

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the guidance of scientists fromChemMatCARS, a nationalsynchrotron facility dedicatedto research in chemistry andmaterials research for theCen-ter for Advanced RadiationSources at the University ofChicago.After an initial meeting with

scientists Binhua Lin andYu-Sheng Chen of Chem-MatCARS, the team learnedabout Advanced Crystallogra-phy and Liquid Surface X-RayScattering Facilities. The stu-dents also met Sean Griese-mer, a University of Chicagoundergraduate researcher,and requested to workwith Liquid Surface X-RayScattering.To work in the laboratory,

students needed to learnproper safety procedures

and research protocols.The students conductedeight tests, and prepara-tion for each one was metic-ulous. One particle of dustor simply breathing on thefilm they were working withcould skew their data.Students said the experience

was informative and allowedthem to apply their educationto a real-world project. Formany of the students, it solid-ified their interest in workingwithin the scienceor engineer-ingfield after graduation.“This puts into context how

scientific knowledge can havea real-life application,” saidMatt. “From an engineeringstandpoint, taking the data,processing it, and figuring outwhat application it has in thereal world interests me. Work-ing on this project has helpedme develop a better sense of

what science actually is andhow it helps us.”The group will be collect-

ing their data and figuringout what it means. In May,

they will attend a meeting atArgonne where they will pres-ent their data along with sci-entists all over the world thathaveused the facility.

Submitted by Palatine Township SeniorCitizens Council

Guests arriving atThe Cotil-lion for the Palatine TownshipSenior Citizens Council’s 16thannual Caring Hearts Gala,“Gala of Thrones: A MedievalBall,” Feb. 20 entered by walk-ing under a decorated cas-tle arch featuring a life-sizeknight in shining armor.Decorations adorned the

ballroom and each tableincluded decorated medievalcastles, knights, shields andcandelabras.The evening began with a

complimentarycocktail recep-tion with horsd’oeuvres, fol-lowed by afour-coursedinner withwine. The eve-ning also fea-tured live andsilent auctions,cash raffle andcork pull, aswell as musicby the Orig-inal Rockin’Fenderskirts.There also was a Selfie Sta-

tion with a castle backdropand a Medieval King andplenty of props.Guests listened to guest of

honor Betsy Storm, author of“Bright Lights of the SecondCity: 50 Prominent ChicagoansonLivingwithPassionandPur-pose,” as the personal historianspoke about helping everydaypeople tell their life stories.Another highlight of the

evening was watching thevideo featuring the PTSCCHome Delivered Meals Pro-gram. John Melone of Pan

American Bank, the honorarychairman, spoke of the of theimportance of the programsoffered by the Palatine Town-ship Senior Citizens Center inPalatine Township and sur-rounding communities.C. Norman Andrews, the

evening’s auctioneer, show-cased the live auction items,which included Blackhawkstickets, a Zip Line CanopyTour in Lake Geneva, Bullstickets, White Sox tickets,and a one-week stay in theHamptons.Nearly 50 silent auction

items includeda Brinkmangrill, Water-ford crystal,and countlessgift certificatesto restaurants,symphoniesand theaterproductions.

“We couldnot accom-plish all we dowithout thehelp and sup-port of manyamazing peo-

ple,” stated PTSCC BoardChairman Karen J. Fay. “Weare especially grateful to RemStokes for his generous gift of$10,000 to the endowment toprovide funds to support theprograms and services of thePTSCC in perpetuity.”Members of the gala com-

mittee included ChairmanDonelda Danz, Dr. Glo-ria Abularach, Phyllis Ben-stein, Karen Fay, Jenny Gar-cia-Macko, Bob Haas, DianeIser, Kate Johnson, LaurenMilani, Kim Moore, CarolReagan,Marla Shapiro-Gillen,

Laurie Stock, andAnnVatch.The evening raised more

than $65,000 to continue toprovide older adults and theirfamilies with programs andservices within the PalatineTownship communities.“We really appreciate the

support of our gala sponsors,”said Carol Reagan, executivedirector at PTSCC.Thank you to Royal Cir-

cle Sponsors: BMO HarrisBank, Pan American Bank;Rem Stokes, inmemory of LeeStokes. Diamond Circle Spon-sors: Ray & Judy McCaskey,Palatine ParkDistrict.Platinum Circle Sponsors:

AddolorataVilla—FranciscanCommunities; Brandt Finan-cial Concepts Inc.; C. Norman

Andrews-auctioneer; LavelleLaw, LTD; Northwest Com-munityHealthcare.Gold Circle Sponsors: A.L.

Sittaro; Brookdale-Pros-pect Heights; CornerstoneNational Bank & Trust Com-pany; Moats Office Properties;TheGarlands of Barrington.Silver Circle Sponsors: Ape-

rion Care-Plum Grove; Com-fort Keepers; Plum CreekSupportive Living. Print-ing Sponsors: Carol & Den-nis Reagan and NorthrupGrumman.Music Sponsors: Ray & Judy

McCaskey.The Palatine Township

Senior Citizens Council oper-ates the Palatine Town-ship Senior Center, a private,

not-for-profit organizationproviding innovative, qual-ity, cost-effective services toadults 50 and better in Pala-tine Township and Chicago’sNorthwest Suburbs for morethan 40 years.PTSCC is one of only five

senior centers in Illinois thatis accredited by the NationalInstitute of Senior Centers.Its mission is to provide pro-grams and services that sup-port older adults and theirfamilies by encouraging inde-pendence, well-being, andconnection to the community.

The Recreation, Educa-tion, Health and Wellness,Noon Dining, Home Deliv-ered Meals, Adult Day Ser-vices, and Social Servicesprograms are available Mon-day through Friday from 8:30a.m.-5 p.m. Services are avail-able in English, Spanish andRussian at six satellite loca-tions. The Social Services staffalsomakes home visits.For information, visit www.

ptscc.org, like on Facebookat www.facebook.com/pal-atinetwpsrctr or call (847)991-1112.

C O U R T E S Y O F G E N E V A Y N R U B

“Gala of Thrones: A Medieval Ball” Honorary Chairman John Mel-one with Stacy Ruscheinsky at The Cotillion Saturday, Feb. 20.

C O U R T E S Y O F G E N E V A Y N R U B

Guests enjoyed dinner, dancing, and silent and live auctionsFeb. 20 at the PTSCC gala. Pictured, from left, at “Gala ofThrones; A Medieval Ball” are Chairman Karen Fay, Web Eby,Dan Fay and Betsy Storm.

Caring Hearts Gala raises funds for senior citizens

The evening raisedmore than $65,000 tocontinue to provideolder adults and theirfamilies with programsand services within

the Palatine Townshipcommunities.

C O U R T E S Y O F D I S T R I C T 2 1 1

The Hoffman Estates High School team in the Exemplary Stu-dent Research Program at Argonne National Laboratory is guid-ed by Binhua Lin and Sean Griesemer, right. Dillon Vadgama,left, and Jill Prigge study the monitors.

Argonne: Students see real-life applications for scienceContinued from Page 1

the related technology thatcould permit the images to beshown on the Internet today,however, in order to do so Ineed the followings: 1. A localcourt rule authorizing me toshow the images to attorney ofrecord for a case and the partyto the case (Currently have arequest into the Chief Judge toissue this rule); and 2. A spe-cial exemption from the Elec-tronic Access Policy of the Illi-nois Supreme Court, to showimages to attorneys who arenot of record to a case.Meister: The Cook County

court system is severelyantiquated and lags behindmany courts in northernIllinois, including the fed-eral court system and DuP-age County, in particu-lar. Both systems allow forpaperless online accessand have achieved efficien-cies that allow for increasedproductivity by all users ofthe courts and ultimatelysave taxpayer dollars. CookCounty needs to imple-ment a paperless online sys-tem that integrates with allstakeholders in the courtsystem.

Q. What other issues, if any,are important to youas a candi-date for thisoffice?Brown: I will continue to

implement an aggressivecommunity outreach pro-gram for the mortgage foreclo-sure surplus funds and annualExpungementSummit.• About $21 million in mort-

gage foreclosure surplusfunds sit in an interest-bear-ing account maintained bythe clerk’s office. I directed mytechnology staff to developa searchable database of theavailable surpluses on fore-closed properties, which isavailable online at www.cook-countyclerkofcourt.com. SinceI took office we have disbursed

over$16millionoutof this fund.Awell-funded, community out-reach program is needed tonotifycitizensof these funds.• Since 2005, the clerk’s office

has hosted an annual County-wide Expungement Sum-mit to help eligible individu-als clear their criminal records.More than 12,000 ex-offend-ers have participated in thesummits. The expungementsummits have proved suc-cessful and have led to com-munity-based expungementseminars. In 2015, the clerk’soffice co-hosted or participatedin expungement seminars inthe Little Village neighborhoodof Chicago and other locales.I will continue to promote

expungement summits andseminars.• Also, I will continue to urge

the Illinois Supreme Court topermit theClerksofCourtof Illi-nois to show electronic imagesto attorneys on the Internet,regardless of whether it is theircase or not. In 2016, with theapproval of the Chief Judge, Iwill make imaged documentsavailable over the Internet toattorneys of record and therelated parties to a particularcase.Meister: There is a near uni-

versal recognition amongjudges and attorneys that theclerk’s office is broken, bothoperationally and ethically: (a)courtroom services are inad-equate; (b) inadequate cus-tomer service leaves usersfrustrated and unable to nav-igate an, often times, overlybureaucratic system; (c) for-eign language interpretationservices are nearly impossibleto find; (d) police officers reg-ularly show up for court casesthat have beendismissed, end-ing up in wasted officer timethat could be better spent onthe streets, in our communi-ties; and (e) employee moralewithin the clerk’s office is at anall-time low.

From left, Dorothy Brown, Michelle Harris, and Jacob Meisterare Democratic candidates for Cook County circuit court clerkin the 2016 election.

Q&A: Clerk candidates weigh-in on online accessContinued from Page 1