Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019

School officials are seeking a waiver from the state of Illinois to alter its driver education program. For many years, students have used simulators as part of the curriculum to supplement the state-required six hours of behind-the-wheel time. The waiver would allow SHS to replace two of those hours with eight hours of simulator driving beginning with the 2020-21 school year.

The waiver would allow teachers to put students through more than 200 situations that can’t effectively be mimicked behind the wheel, including:

• Driving in adverse conditions
• Consequences of driving and texting
• Driving different types of vehicles
• Various risk scenarios involving wildlife, pedestrians, bicyclists, etc.

The proposed waiver modification also would allow the school to make more efficient use of time for students enrolled in Driver Education. Currently, on days where all three teachers are driving with students — 33 days per semester — up to 16 students have free periods because there is nothing for them to do.

The District 125 Board of Education on Monday held a public hearing regarding the proposed waiver, the first step toward its approval by the state.

Sherwin Co-Authors New AP Textbook
Advanced Placement Human Geography teacher Greg Sherwin is co-author of a new textbook designed to help students succeed in the course and on the end-of-year exam. Human Geography for the AP Course, which will be available from Wiley Publishing in March, seeks to empower students to think critically about issues at the global, regional, national and local levels. Among Sherwin’s contributions to the book are test-preparation resources integrated throughout, including end-of-chapter questions and a full-length practice AP exam. This is the third textbook that Sherwin has written during his 20 years at Stevenson. He has served on the College Board’s Test Development Committee, spends his summers training AP teachers, and has served in many other leadership positions in the College Board. Sherwin also is a co-founder of the iScore5 app, which offers test-preparation in five AP subjects. The app launched in 2015.

Math Team Reaches Final Four of National Contest
Stevenson’s math team reached the final four round of the national Math Madness tournament. SHS defeated teams from five states in head-to-head contests before being eliminated last week by Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md. More than 250 high schools across the country competed in the event, which began in October. Students who participated in the tournament included:

Seniors: Andrew Zhuang, Akash Kumar, Emily Lu, Eric Gan, Josh Tsai, Richard Liu, Philena Liu

Juniors: Billy Bratton, Brandon Lu, Jared Machtinger, James Kim, James Xie, Praneet Rathi, Ram Potham, Sai Merneedi

Sophomores: Andrew Liu, Greycen Ren, Lillian You, Spandan Goel

Freshmen: Aadit Juneja, Ben Chen, Benjamin Prins, Brian Shen, Collin Fan, Jack Chen, Katherine Li, Matthew Zhu, Nathan Ma

Student Works Selected in Poster Contest
Six students are among the winning entries in the “Rise Above Bullying” poster contest sponsored by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office and its Young Ambassadors Board. One poster \was designed by the team of senior Zander Rich, sophomores Jake Ferstein, Matthew Garcia and Camille Sainte-Rose, and freshman Diego Biel. The other poster was done by freshman Sam Garmash.

The students received a certificate and a prize basket for their efforts. Their artwork will be turned into posters, bookmarks, safety cards and journals used to raise awareness throughout the community.

How Students Can Find Stress Relief
Stevenson‘s Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator, Dr. Cristina Cortesi, will share regular reflections during the school year in the Daily Digest. For more information on Dr. Cortesi and the substance abuse prevention program, visit her web page.

A study by the American Psychological Association found that teens experience significant levels of chronic stress. Common sources of student stress include school, homework, co-curricular activities, social changes, and transitions. With finals this week, encourage your teen to try these stress relievers: sleep, visualization, exercise, breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, music, healthy eating, positive thinking and affirmations. Click here for a description of each.

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