The Talon

Boys tennis take sectional win as they head into state championships

hdjtalonblog — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:17:02 +0000

By Julia Italiano
News Editor
An overall record of 11-5 sparked an unprecedented win at sectionals for the boys tennis team this past weekend, leaving the team of 29 players exhilarated and ready to take on State next week.
“Jacobs has never won sectionals before; we always come in top four and have always been competitive, we just never have had the depth to finish first. It’s fantastic,” said Coach Benson.
The team’s doubles play ultimately contributed to the big win, as they went undefeated in their matches with final set scores of 6-0 and 6-3. The singles play followed closely behind, and both the singles and doubles were able to qualify for state.
With ambitious goals of placing top 20 out of the 128 teams participating at state, Jacobs has confidence that they will be able to measure up to the competition.
“In the past, no player of mine has ever made it to Friday, the final day of competition. I think that both of our singles are good enough to make it to Friday, and the same for our doubles. I think that doubles will finish top 32, and singles have the potential to do the same. So we’ll see,” said Benson.
Saying goodbye to the seniors has proved hard for the four-year coach.
“I’m really going to miss these guys. My first year coaching was their first year playing, so I’ve been with them awhile. Next year we are really going to feel the void they’ve left, but I think that the underclassmen are up for the challenge of filling that void and taking on their role as leaders on the team,” said Benson.

Jacobs special olympics team runs, sprints and jumps for the gold

hdjtalonblog — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:36:51 +0000

By Coach Allen
Jacobs Special Olympics Track & Field team won multiple medals at the Area 13 Northern Illinois Meet at Lake Zurich High School. Jacobs will be represented by 6 state qualifying athletes at the State Meet held on the campus of ISU-Normal/Bloomington, June 14-16. The 4x100m relay team of Nathan Lewandowski, Mark Myers, Brandon Matias, and Peyton Wingett (Noe Trevino – alternate) took the first place Gold, while Nathan, Mark, Brandon, and Noe also won individual golds in the 100m, 50m, long jump, and softball throw. Angela Zoellner and Sara Van Doorn took gold and silver respectively in the softball throw. David Gould, Sara, and Peyton won Silver medals in their heats of 50m and 100m dash, just missing gold by a hair.
“The kids have done a great job working hard to craft their particular events as individuals and as a team,” said Coach Allen.

Jacobs’ Sara Ciavarella awarded sixth congressional district award for academic excellence

hdjtalonblog — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:17:15 +0000

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06) announced Sara Ciavarella as Harry D. Jacobs High School’s 2013 recipient of the Sixth Congressional District Excellence Award, honoring her for demonstrating academic excellence and extraordinary leadership qualities. Harry D. Jacobs High School could select one outstanding senior with a GPA of 3.5 or higher who has exhibited leadership qualities through extracurricular activities, school citizenship and community service.
“I am pleased to recognize Sara Ciavarella for her achievements in her school and community,” said Roskam. “It’s important to take the time to highlight the hard work and dedication students like Sara exemplify. I look forward to watching her accomplish great things in the future.”
Sara Ciavarella was honored by Congressman Roskam at a ceremony May 9th at his District Office in West Chicago.

– Press release

Jacobs’ schedule evolves

hdjtalonblog — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:06:18 +0000

By Jamie Kentgen
There is one major change to the upcoming school year 2013-2014; that is a nine period day.
At Jacobs, there have been many different schedule arrangements: block scheduling, eight period day, and now the nine period day.
In past years, Jacobs has had block scheduling, where each class was 90 minutes long, but the eight period day allowed students to have the opportunity to take more classes in the year. It also helped students graduate in advance.
The nine period day will go into effect next year. Another shift at Jacobs high school is the new seven minute five minute passing period, just like the normal late start passing period time.
There are both positives and negatives to this situation. Positives include longer lunches and more chances to take classes. A negative is the allotted time to get to class.
“It is really hard to get to class in only five minutes because some are all the way on the other side of the school,” said a junior, Lauren Rebodos.
During the nine period day, students can expect to get homework in all classes. This will make school nights dreadful, as they will be crammed with after school sports and activities and an enormous amount of homework to complete.

Accumulating a summer bucket list in Chicago

hdjtalonblog — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:03:16 +0000

By Jamie Kentgen
As summer is coming around the corner, students are putting their focus towards their summer plans and goals.
During the summer, families take the opportunity to travel to different places; many popular locations include San Diego, Washington, D.C., New York City, Orlando, and the number one spot, Chicago.
This summer, Chicago has many different activities and events to participate in.
“Just for Laughs” is a comedy festival hosted by TBS in mid-June. Many comedians will be performing at many different locations including the Chicago Theater and Park West.
In the past, comedians such as Seth Meyers, Steve Martin, and Demetri Martin have performed at the festival.
“Taste of Chicago” is a 10 day event that allows local restaurants to give samples of a specialty entre to the 6 million visitors that come to this festival annually. While eating, the costumers will be able to enjoy live music.
One of the most popular events in Chicago during the summer is “Lollapalooza”.
Lollapalooze is a three-day long event is held in Grant Park during August.
Some of the most popular bands in the line-up are Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, The Killers, Ellie Goulding, and many more.
The Chicago Park District Air & Water Show has been an annual event since 1959.
The 2 day free event will be held at North Avenue Beach.
It showcases daredevils, parachute teams, and jets and is visible throughout the city of Chicago.
Chicago has a lot to offer to visitors this summer. What are you going to do this summer?

Foreign language clubs celebrate the end of the year

hdjtalonblog — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:01:09 +0000

By Genevieve Goelz
Spanish, German, and French Club all have something in common; they all look forward to celebrating the end of the year with a restaurant field trip.
This year, the German Club celebrated the retirement of the club’s sponsor, Frau Katzenmayer.
“We had a surprise party for Frau on the last meeting of German Club,” said senior Clay Bahl, the Vice President of the club. “We are going to Fritzel’s.”
“It’s just kind-of a year well done for all we do in German Club, like the advent calendar sales and the work at Crystal Pines that we do. I think that everyone that’s planning on going is pretty excited,” said senior Adam Faurot, the co-President.
Spanish Club is having an end-of-the-year fiesta at Pablo’s, a local Mexican food restaurant.
“We are also having raffles for the end of the year,” said junior Heather Ruiz, the President of Spanish Club.
“[The trip] is going to represent the different foods of Spanish culture,” said Ruiz.
French Club is also looking forward to an annual field trip for a spectacular dinner.
“On May 9th, we are going to go to D&J Bistro in Lake Zurich,” said senior Sam Baran, the Vice President of French Club.
“After school we are going to meet up and hang out in the French room and watch French movies,” Baran said.
All three of the foreign language clubs have accomplished many things this year, and they are all excited to celebrate an accomplished school year.

Ultimate aims for win at league playoffs

hdjtalonblog — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:00:31 +0000

By Julia Italiano
The ultimate Frisbee season may be starting to wind down, but the intensity of their games has only increased. After taking 3rd out of 36 teams two weeks ago at a tournament in Hopkins, Minnesota, the boys had already set their sights on taking first at the league playoffs this past weekend.
Though they entered the Hopkins tournament seated in 17th place out of the 36 teams, the boys proved their abilities by finishing with a notable record of 6-1, impressing competitors, coaches, and even the tournament director.
“They did really, really good. The tournament director actually came up to me to tell me that, saying that ‘your boys are really good’,” said Coach Miocic.
Two weekends ago marked the start of the league playoffs, but Jacobs had a bye because of their first place seat in the league. The boys anticipate winning the league playoffs.
In preparation of the playoffs, the team has been working in practice on their zone offense, zone marking, positioning, and defense.
Following the league playoffs, the boys have State on June 1 and June 2.

Become a big brother or sister

hdjtalonblog — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:49:40 +0000

By Courtney Desmond
Big Brothers Big Sisters is a nationwide organization that helps children in need. District 300 is a part of this major organization and tries to encourage as many students to participate as much as possible. This year has been a great turn out for Big Brother Big Sister for both the children and the students.
The purpose of this program is to have older students to look over younger children while having fun with them. The kids range from fifth graders to eighth graders that need to be mentored and Jacobs works with Big Brothers Big Sisters to partner high school students with elementary and middle school students and once every week they will be with the children they are assigned with for about an hour. The children and their mentors are allowed to work on homework, play games or just talk to each other. The students that are willing to participate have to go through a mandatory training session before they are allowed to be put with a child. Anybody from the grades nine through twelve can join Big Brother Big Sister, but have to commit to showing up every week.
“Attendance is very important. It is very disappointing to the “Little” if their “Big” doesn’t show up. This is a great opportunity if you want to give back to the community and do community service!” said Ms. Adler
“I believe in the importance of young students having a mentor to look up to, and it’s also important for the high school students to be able to help someone else,” said Adler
Most people look at this organization as being community service, but it’s much more than that. Big Brother Big Sister encourages people any age to participate, but especially the high schools of D300. The organization is always looking for new participants to join and help with the children.

Baseball looks to get back on track

hdjtalonblog — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:30:55 +0000

By Jake Dziewulski
Sports Editor

The varsity baseball team has been putting together one of the best seasons in Jacobs history. The Golden Eagles, with a record of 18-11 (10-8 in FVC), have beaten some tough opponents this season.

“The best game we played this season is when we beat Huntley 1-0,” said junior Grant Kale. “Ledinsky pitched a gem and that really helped us to get the win.”

The Golden Eagles have been close to winning their games this year with 17 of their games decided by 3 runs or less. Pitching from Nick Ledinsky and Evan Blunk has been a big help to the Golden Eagles success.

The struggle has been being able to get that extra couple of runs to help the team get a few more wins.

“Although we’ve hit a bump in the road the last couple of games, we need to just relax and go out there and have some fun. When you’re having fun the you will start winning games; if we try to do too much we will just be digging ourselves into a deeper hole,” said sophomore Ryan Sargent.

“Despite the last couple of games I think that we are still contenders for the regional title,” said Kale. “We just have to get back to the basics because we have a very solid team.”

The team has one regular season game remaining against Dundee-Crown and is looking to get back on track before regionals where the Golden Eagles are looking to get their first ever baseball regional title.

What being happy taught me

hdjtalonblog — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:41:48 +0000

By Alyssa Pfeffer
With the weather warming up and the sun making itself present more often, I find myself smiling more. Such a miniscule thing to find delight in, yet it makes me truly realize the importance of being happy
Like most teenagers, it’s not always easy for me to take the time to appreciate the little joys that life has to offer. Between finals coming up, last minute attempts to raise my GPA, and shuffling to and from work almost every day doesn’t give a person much time to “stop and smell the roses.” However, if I have only learned one thing in my 16 years, it is that through it all, there is always some reason to be happy.
Everyone complains about going to school and spending another day in the un-air-conditioned, stark halls of HDJ, but does anyone realize what a child in another country would give for an opportunity for an education? Something easy right there to be happy about.
If that doesn’t do it for you, think about your clothes, your house, your car, your iPhone and everything else you take for granted every day. Are you seriously going to complain when you are already better off than 95% of children your age in another country, when you can find joy in the life you were blessed with?
I have learned to smile and I have learned to laugh at the little things, but my joy hasn’t always been a prevalent part of my life. After going through some grueling mental image issue and fake friends, I learned that being happy is just a simple way to improve my life. Embracing my time on this planet has been one of the best decisions I have ever made for myself.
Now, I find it easy to look outside and smile at the world around me. If only everyone could find this happiness and inner-peace, there would be such a decrease in the amount of tragedies we see every day. From the bullying in our own halls, to the massive attacks that take lives, the root of every problem boils down to a lack of happiness.
So, think before you complain, never count on tomorrow and constantly smile. Because take it from me: there is always something to be happy about.