Dreams Fulfilled As College-Bound Athletes Made It Official Last Week On Signing Day
It took just a few seconds for those signatures to be scribbled along the dotted line. The reality is, though, Thursday’s Signing Day for 21 Stevenson senior athletes was actually many, many years of dreams, hopes and hard work in the making.
“It’s always been a dream for me to wrestle in college. I started as a little kid, since third or fourth grade. That’s been the goal ever since,” said senior Cole Rhemrev, a two-time place-winner at state who will be wrestling next year at Indiana. “And to be going to the D-I level, especially the Big 10, you can’t beat it. The Big Ten in wrestling is like the SEC for football. Every single year it’s the toughest conference and I like that. I want to challenge myself in every single way. I’m so excited to go.”
There were 20 other Stevenson athletes who shared in that excitement for their own futures, and with a synchronized stroke of their pens, they signed their National Letters of Intent in the Wood Commons in front of parents, family, friends, staff and classmates, solidifying their plans to continue competing athletically at the collegiate level.
Sports from swimming to soccer to lacrosse, wrestling, baseball, water polo, tennis and football were represented, as were colleges from every level: Division I, II and II. The athletes were all introduced by their coaches and then were given the opportunity to say a few words.
Swimmer Claudia Rzeznik, a flyer and freestyler who will be competing at Duquesne next year, was clearly moved by the moment, tearing up as she spoke so genuinely about what it meant for her to see her childhood dream actually become a reality.
“I was thinking about the memories and everyone who has supported me through the years because it’s been hard sometimes,” Rzeznik said. “Sophomore year, I was all over the place mentally, but my coach and my teammates had faith in me and then COVID cut our season short last year and I was so upset, but no matter what, every day we came with smiles on our faces and did the best we could.
“I just knew that I wasn’t sure how much time I had left, but I wanted to see how far I could take my swimming career. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer and a college swimmer, too. That was one of my dreams, and I started when I was 10. After all the time I’ve spent in the sport, it’s just so great to be here now.”
Here is the list of the senior athletes who signed on Thursday:
Baseball: Daniel Cabrales (Milikin), Sayuj Choudhari (Cal Tech), Owen Housinger (Wisconsin Oshkosh), Bryan Park (Loras), Jordan Skolmar (Milwaukee School of Engineering); Football:
Seamus O’Connell (Wheaton); Lacrosse: Michael Albrecht (Carthage), Cody Collins (St. Ambrose), Ryan Hynes (High Point); Soccer: Ella Hong (Wellesley), Kaitlyn Hong (Washington University), Lily Mahdavian (Kenyon), Jazmin Mule (Doane), Elli Pease (Carroll), Jordan Polen (Arcadia); Swimming: Norah Polonsky (Ithaca), Claudia Rzeznik (Duquesne); Tennis: Daniel Jaworski (Carthage), Alaina Kolli (MIT); Water Polo: Jacob Whiting (Pomona Pitzer); Wrestling: Cole Rhemrev (Indiana)
Lights, Camera Action! Thank Your Teachers…On VIDEO!
For the last week, in preparation for Teacher Appreciation Week May 2 through May 6, we have been asking you to share with us written messages of gratitude for your teachers. Thank you so much for your submissions!
Now, we’re moving on to the VIDEO PORTION of our tribute for our teachers.
Starting tomorrow, we will spend the next two days video-taping your messages of gratitude at select locations around campus. If you’d like to give a short video “shout out” to your teachers, stop by at any time during the lunch hours.
Tuesday: Skybridge At The Point (The Bridge/Walkway that is above the Point Entrance in the Forum)
Wednesday: Glass Commons/Patio Entrance
Let’s Go Green! Earth Week Starts Today!
Earth Week is an opportunity to celebrate our planet and increase awareness of what we can do individually and collectively to care for it.
Throughout Stevenson’s Earth Week this week, there will be various service and educational opportunities that align with the Earth Day 2022 organization’s sustainability campaigns. The events at Stevenson will be hosted by the Green Team and included this morning’s greenhouse tour. Tomorrow after school there is a vegan bake sale in the Wood Commons. There is also composting, up-cycling, chalk art, tree planting and a plastic cutlery reduction project. There will also be expanded vegan and vegetarian options all week at Jazzman’s.
And, as is the case with most special weeks at Stevenson, there are theme days during Earth Week, too. There is Meatless Monday today, “Tree-“ats Tuesday, Waste Wednesday and Thrifty Thursday.
Extra, Extra: Statesman Makes History; Wins First Sectional
The Statesman usually writes the headlines, but earlier this month, Stevenson’s award-winning news source, made some, winning its first-ever IHSA Journalism Sectional Championship.
Now, Stevenson’s journalists are headed to the IHSA State Journalism Finals at Heartland Community College in Normal on Friday.
At the Sectional, Stevenson defeated second-place Prospect by more than 20 points. Stevenson will be sending 17 students to the state finals to compete in 14 categories.
Sectional Winners (and state qualifiers) are: senior Raghav Khosla (Broadcast News), junior Aayushi Wadhawan (Editorial Writing), junior Kelly Liu (News Writing), junior Collin Fan (Newspaper Design), senior Bayarmaa Bat-erdene (Review Writing), senior Natalie King (Yearbook Captions), junior Surya Sethi (Yearbook Copy), senior Sophia Ismail (Yearbook Design), and seniors Thea Surya and Malini Pillai (Yearbook Theme Development).
Sectional Runners-Up (and state qualifiers) are: junior Anika Krishnaswamy (Copy Editing), senior Vaasu Kakuturu (Infographics), and a team of seniors Humza Qazi and Matt McGowan and sophomore Angela Guo (Video News).
Sectional Third Place (and state qualifiers) are: senior Dwija Ramesh (Editorial Cartoon) and senior Dylan Barbee (Sports Writing).
Ramesh also placed fourth in Advertising, senior Jasmine Sun competed in Features Writing, senior Griffin Brown placed fourth in Photo, and junior Lance Locker placed fourth in Headline Writing.
Two Years In The Making: Percussion Ensemble Concert On Tap For Tomorrow In The PAC
It’s been a long-time coming ~ two years, in fact. The Stevenson High School Percussion Ensemble will be staging its first in-person concert since the start of the pandemic and and students will be showcasing percussion stylings from classical to the contemporary of their instrument family.
This free and open-to-the-public concert, slated for 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Performing Arts Center, will feature many smaller ensemble pieces based on grade, along with three large ensemble pieces with all students involved. The freshmen will have a chamber-style performance of “Chipboard” by Josh Gottry. Sophomores and Juniors have a smaller piece played together, “Not Far From Here,” by Blake Tyson. And the seniors will be showcasing another chamber styling of “Persistence,” by Brian Blume.
The large ensembles are comprised of high energy pieces that involve six-foot dowels and choreography (Stick Schtick by Chris Brooks), full instrumentation with mixed time signatures (Luminescence by Nathan Daughtery) and a student-created piece that will wrap the concert (Oye Como Bap by senior Madison Rios).
Get Your Team Together For Spring Fling And Register Now!
Do you like playing recreational games? Want to commemorate the end of the year with friends? Then plan on participating in Spring Fling, an end-of-school-year celebration where students can socialize and build teams to go head-to-head in kickball, ultimate frisbee, volleyball and cricket! This year, Spring Fling will be held after school on Friday, May 20. Team registration has begun, and Captain’s Forms need to be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27. Anyone can form a team with 10 to 14 total players. Teams must be co-ed. Students who are interested should visit @stucostevenson on Instagram for more information or scan the QR code shown in the graphic to the right.
Final HEARD Meeting Of The School Year Slated For Tomorrow
DivCo will be hosting its FINAL HEARD meeting of the year! HEARD is an amazing opportunity to support diversity, equity, and inclusion as attendees can discuss real concerns or issues that have taken place within or outside of Stevenson. Each HEARD meeting is based on a theme, and the final meeting will be based on Arab American Heritage and Stevenson’s role in accommodating for Muslim students observing Ramadan. The meeting will be in Rooms 1912 and 1914 at 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday. Join Facebook, Remind, or follow Instagram to receive updates for HEARD next year!
Cheerleading Tryouts Have Been Postponed
Fall 2022 Tryouts for cheerleading have been postponed. Please check the Stevenson website periodically for new dates and information.
Athletic Results
Girls Water Polo: Stevenson (15-0, 3-0) hosted an 8-team tournament over the weekend, winning all four of its matches. Stevenson beat Hudsonville of Michigan, 9-8. Elizabeth White led in scoring with 4 goals. Becca Stone had 4 steals and Katie Delaney had 6 blocked shots. Then the Patriots took on Rockford, MI and won, 12-3. Stone had 4 goals and 3 assists. Delaney had 10 blocked shots. On Saturday, Stevenson defeated Grandville, 13-1. White had 5 goals. Faith Ma and Stone both had 2 steals. Mary Fouani had 2 assists. Delaney had 4 blocked shots. Stevenson then played East Grand Rapids and continued its winning ways, 12-4. Stone and Ma both had 3 goals apiece. White had 4 assists. Stone also had 5 steals. Delaney had 4 blocked shots. Next up for the Patriots is a road match at NSC opponent Libertyville at 6 p.m. tomorrow.
Baseball: The Patriots (11-4, 2-2) had a busy weekend taking on Grayslake North and Dundee-Crown on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Even though the Patriots scored 6 runs, they couldn’t get past Grayslake North, losing 10-6. Max Rosenkranz took the loss for the Patriots, going three innings and allowing 7 runs on 5 hits while striking out 3 batters and walking one. JR Nelson and Colin Schmitke each managed 2 hits. The Patriots then swept Dundee-Crown in a doubleheader 7-1, 8-5. Owen Housinger and Bryan Park both scored runs for Stevenson in the third and sixth innings. Brett Graynor was the winning pitcher in Game 1, surrendering 1 run on 3 hits over six innings. He also struck out 11 batters and walked just one. In Game 2, Rosenkranz singled on a 2-0 count scoring 1 run. In the fourth inning, Robert Seltzer’s sacrifice fly scored 1 run and gave Stevenson the lead for good. JR Nelson and Michael Belbot were among the offensive firepower for the Patriots, driving in several runs. Seltzer got the win for Stevenson. He lasted three innings, allowing 2 hits and 2 runs while striking out 1 batter. Next up for the Patriots is Warren at 4:45 p.m. today at Warren’s Almond Campus.
Boys Volleyball: The Patriots (17-2, 1-0) traveled to Grant High School for the Lake County Invite and were crowned champions after the two-day tournament. Stevenson defeated Lake Zurich, 25-18, 25-9, Grant, 25-23, 25-18, Grayslake North, 25-13, 25-17 and Carmel, 25-14, 25-11. Stevenson took on Grant again in the championship game and swept, 25-13, 25-16. Murad Shahzadah had 15 digs on the day along with two aces. Sam Nuudel had 25 kills and 18 digs. Daniel Nuudel had 64 assists, 27 digs, and 12 kills. Chris Ehler had 8 block assists and 6 kills. Karl Lutz contributed 22 kills, 2 block assists and 11 digs. Christian Headley added 14 kills and 18 digs and Eric Hartman with 5 kills and 5 digs. Next up for the Patriots is Hersey at 6 p.m. tonight in the Sportscenter.
Boys Lacrosse: The Patriots (7-1, 0-1) defeated Glenbrook North in a thrilling overtime game, 8-7. Stevenson was up 5-3 at halftime. However GBN took a 6-5 lead in the second half and then Stevenson tied it up at 6. GBN took the lead again at 7-6. Once again, Stevenson tied up the game with a goal from Ethan O’Gradney with just 42 seconds remaining in the quarter. The Patriots then won the opening face off and Justin Lucas scored the winning goal. Goal scorers on the day included: O’Gradney with 3, Colin Livesay with 2, and Caleb Lee, Ryan Hynes, and Lucas all with 1 goal each. Next up for the Patriots is Grayslake North at 4:45 p.m. tonight at Stevenson’s Field 14.
Girls Soccer: Stevenson (7-1) fell to Loyola Academy 1-0 during the semifinal game of the Lou Malnati’s Classic. The entire game was a hard fought battle with the lone goal coming off a corner kick in the 62nd minute. Goalkeeper Mandy Meliker had 20 saves. The Patriots begin conference play at 6:45 p.m. tomorrow at Lake Forest.
Girls Lacrosse: The Patriots (7-2, 0-1) won their game on Saturday, 9-7 against Oak Park-River Forest. Lili Sorenson was the leading goal scorer with 5, followed by Teagan Hendricks, Jordyn Ackerman, Emma Sturgeon, and Aliyah Omran with 1 goal apiece. Megan Randol had another impressive game with 14 saves. Next up for the Patriots is a road match at NSC rival Lake Zurich at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
Boys Tennis: Stevenson had to battle against the wind and a tricky opponent in Warren, but came away with a 7-0 victory on the road to open North Suburban Conference play. Victories came from the following: No. 1 singles Ashy Madhushankar (6-0 6-1), No. 2 singles Nick Stec (6-3 6-1) No. 3 singles Dustin Zhao (6-4 6-3). On the doubles side, victories came from the No. 1 team of Gabe Visotsky and Gautham Kappaganthula (6-2 6-3), the No. 2 team of Ervin Perkowski and Daniel Jaworski (6-2 6-0), the No. 3 team of Sammy Cohan and Alex Jang (6-2, 7-5) and the No. 4 team of Owen Hayden and Rithvik Mandumula (6-1 6-2). The Patriots traveled to Deerfield for a Quad tournament on Saturday and played Deerfield, Fremd, and Lake Forest and won the event, defeating Deerfield 6-1, Fremd 6-1 and Lake Forest 5-2. The Patriots are busy this week with Libertyville tomorrow, Glenbrook South on Wednesday and Lake Zurich at home on Thursday.
Gymnastics: The Patriots (5-1) traveled to York for the Ken Scorza Invite and took third place with a score of 140.05. Stevenson’s Santi Gonzalez tied for third place in the floor exercise with a score of 9.0. Thor Mace and Finlay Oyston came in fifth and sixth respectively with scores of 8.0 and 7.9 on the still rings. Oyston came in third on the vault with a score of 8.8 and fourth on the parallel bars with a score of 8.15. Mace scored an 8.4 on the horizontal bar. Rounding out the all-around competition, Mace came in fourth with a score of 49.05, Oyston was fifth with a score of 47.15 and Gonzalez finished eighth with a score of 42.30. Next up for the Patriots is the Independence Conference Championship at Stevenson in the Sportscenter on Wednesday starting at 6 p.m.
Badminton: The Patriots (10-0, 5-0) took Warren on Thursday and won 18-0. The No. 1 doubles team of Ema Akutsu and Katherine Li won their match convincingly, 21-4, 21-3. Other notable matches included the No. 2 doubles team of Ruhi Sachar and Meghana Dixit who won, 21-4, 21-5. No. 1 singles player Anvi Harish won her match decisively 21-1, 21-6. Next up for Stevenson is a home match at 4:45 p.m. tonight against Glenbrook South in the Fieldhouse.
Softball: Stevenson jumped to an early lead against Conant on Saturday but suffered an 8-6 loss. The Patriots were up 5-2 as Michaela Duffy went 2-for-3 with a triple and a double. Haley Langer’s groundout RBI sparked 2 runs in the first inning while junior Megan Orgler (3-for-3, 2 RBI) had a 2-run single and Annie Grisamore had an RBI single in the second. Orgler’s home run (the Patriots’ first of the season) tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the sixth before Conant got the 2 runs in the bottom of the inning. Senior Olivia Ringham (5 innings with 6 strikeouts) and freshman Aubrey Jepson handled the pitching for the Pats.
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The Week Ahead
Mark your calendars for these events and see the Stevenson Calendar for details on these and future programs.
Apr. 18-22: Earth Week
Apr. 18: District 125 Board Of Education Meeting
Apr. 19. Percussion Ensemble Concert
Apr. 20: Senior Awards
Apr. 20: PPA Bake Sale
Apr. 21: Late Arrival
Apr. 21: NHS Induction
Apr. 23: Prom 2022
Stevenson Daily Digest 