Journal & Topics Media Group

Dist. 54 Recognizes Staff Efforts To ‘Ensure Student Success’


Schaumburg Township School Dist. 54 announced the following recipients of the district’s new Ensuring Student Success Awards:

  • Julie Kenny, director of the Therapeutic Day School at Jane Addams Junior High School in Schaumburg, won in the student support personnel category.
  • Sharon Barrick, a teacher at Frost Junior High School in Schaumburg, won in the classroom teacher category.
  • Adeela Qureshi, a special education assistant at Lakeview Elementary School in Hoffman Estates, won in the educational service personnel category.
  • Rod Craig, the mayor of Hanover Park, won in the volunteer category.
  • Ruiyan Xiong, a Chinese Immersion teacher at Campanelli Elementary School in Schaumburg, won in the early career educator category.
  • The Dist. 54 Happiness Team of Hobbs Behrouzi, Paul Goldberg, Julie Gorvett, Erin Knoll, Danette Meyer, Dilshad Patel, Jillian Sagan, Ming Shelby, Mandy Stochl and Quinn Wulbecker won in the team category.
  • Danette Meyer, assistant superintendent of language and culture, won in the administrator category.

Dist. 54 had this to say about the winners:

Julie Kenny

Julie Kenny leads a staff of eight at Dist. 54’s Therapeutic Day School located at Addams Junior High School. Her strength lies in her knowing each student’s needs, so she can work with her staff to tailor the program to the individual, ensuring success for each student and the program as a whole. Julie spends a lot of time meeting with students, letting them know that they are valuable and cared for within the program and outside of school. She goes out of her way to ensure that the students and their families can continue to be successful at home and in the community by coordinating with community resources and meeting with parents. Julie always presents a calm, optimistic and forward-looking attitude and searches for solutions that promote growth even in the most difficult and stressful situations. Julie maintains genuine and caring relationships with staff, is always available to anyone who needs help or advice, and works collaboratively with the building administration to ensure the best environment for the students and the staff.

Sharon Barrick

Sharon Barrick is always thinking of ways to help her students at Frost Junior High School and best meet their needs. Sharon sets attainable goals for her students based on their abilities, and she comes to her students’ classes to support them even when she is not scheduled to be there. She will put in as many hours as the student needs to help them complete their work and do it well. Sharon knows how to help her students achieve the right mindset to produce their best work. This is accomplished in part by developing relationships with the children as individuals. She has attended their extracurricular events, and meets her students when they come to school early to play basketball so she can talk to them about their work and what they need to accomplish that day. She also works with other teachers, helping them better serve their own students and recognizing them for their efforts.

Adeela Qureshi

Adeela Qureshi’s care and compassion for children is present in every interaction at Lakeview Elementary School. She is a paraprofessional assigned to the highest-need students, and she builds strong relationships with these students by seeing the best in them, setting high expectations for them and treating them with respect and dignity. As a Lazlo Club leader, Adeela builds relationships with students struggling to be respectful, responsible and safe throughout the day. While she regularly supports fifth-grade students, Adeela has chosen to be a leader for kindergarten, first- and second-grade students to expand her relationships throughout the school. Adeela facilitates an alternative lunch environment that was created at Lakeview for students who struggle to be successful in the regular lunch and recess environment. During lunch, she provides them with a supportive, engaging and kind environment where they are able to thrive. Adeela brings care, compassion, dedication and positivity to all she does. Adults and students want her on their team.

Rodney Craig

Hanover Park Mayor Rodney Craig works hand in hand with the schools to ensure a successful future for the youth of our community. He regularly visits Dist. 54’s Hanover Park schools. He reads with students, speaks on Veterans Day, attends evening functions such as open house, and much more. As he walks through the hallways, he stops to chat with students and staff. Mayor Craig attends events in support of the PTAs and serves on the Dist. 54 Education Foundation Board of Trustees. He often speaks of his pride in being a part of Dist. 54 and advocates on the district’s behalf throughout the area and in Illinois. He regularly engages superintendents, principals and parents in conversations about how we can all work together to ensure student success. Mayor Craig’s Kids at Hope Initiative supports the belief that all children are capable of success without exception, and he has spearheaded the Kids At Hope Resource Fair every spring to introduce families to programs, organizations and businesses that will support the whole child.

Ruiyan Xiong

During her three years as a Chinese Immersion teacher at Campanelli Elementary School, Ruiyan Xiong has made incredible contributions to her students, to the school and to the Chinese Immersion program in Dist. 54. Ruiyan began as a Chinese Immersion support teacher working with small groups of students across grade levels. Along with planning and developing engaging lessons, Ruiyan also ran several clubs including Chinese drumming, dance clubs and coding club. As the program was rolling up to the upper grades, Ruiyan worked alongside the Chinese Immersion Coach to write the curriculum for social studies, math and literacy acceleration in Chinese. As a classroom teacher, Ruiyan spends significant time and effort incorporating student interests into her lesson design to encourage students to do the hard work of learning content in a second language every day. At a district level, Ruiyan coordinates activities for students to learn about the Chinese culture at the Dist. 54 Multicultural Event and was an early participant in the district’s Digital Learning Task Force, applying what she has learned to further motivate her students.

Happiness Team

Dist. 54 is focused on creating a school community that recognizes the importance of positive psychology to strengthen our core mission of Ensuring Student Success. The 10-member Happiness Team, which includes district and school administrators and staff, has been leading that work throughout Dist. 54. The team planned the inspirational all-district Happiness Summit that kicked off the school year featuring Shawn Achor, author of “The Happiness Advantage”. Thanks to the team’s incredible commitment and enthusiasm, Dist. 54 schools have embraced the principles of “The Happiness Advantage”, which focuses on how positive psychology creates a happy, healthy and engaged learning community; deepens student, family and community development; improves performance; and fuels student success. Throughout this school year, the team has conducted daylong Happiness Advantage training sessions with more than 2,400 Dist. 54 employees and continues to guide staff in implementing positive psychology across the district. Not only is positive psychology supporting Dist. 54 staff, it also gives staff another tool to serve Dist. 54 students.

Danette Meyer

Danette Meyer’s passion for serving students is the driving force of all that she does. Whether proactively advocating for state policy changes on ACCESS cut scores, re-evaluating language proficiency criteria or actively participating in the Illinois State Bilingual Advisory Council, Danette strongly pursues the success of every child. She is also an innovative and creative leader. Dist. 54 was recently honored as a national District of Distinction for its highly successful Targeted Assistance Program to support English-learner students in developing their writing proficiency. Danette developed and launched the program, which benefited more than 1,200 students in Dist. 54. Danette develops and promotes summer institutes, including the Dist. 54 Summer Culture Camps and Target Language Workshops, for students to expand their learning and appreciation of diversity. Danette is a tireless champion for students and staff who takes on whatever task is necessary to ensure success, and exudes positivity that is motivating, challenging and inspiring.

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