2013 High School Winners

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Amundsen
Science
Community Herb/Bee Garden
Students will design and build an Herb Garden with a beehive to provide pollination and produce honey. Students will enhance interpretive signage and paths of all school gardens for school community.
James Doyiakos

Amundsen
Fine Arts
Express Yourself
Students will plan, create and work the first annual art festival in Winnemac Park. Students and community will join in art making, music and an art gallery show.
Denise Barba

Bowen NewMillennium
Life Skills
Kitchen Essentials
Kitchen Essentials is a project designed to teach students with low incidence disabilities the essential life skills needed to function independently in a kitchen setting.
Emily Barnowsky - Linda White

Bowen NewMillennium
Life Skills
B.F.F. PROJECT
Students with disabilities will make blankets and pillowcases to deliver to a homeless facility in the Chicagoland area. This project will also provide practical life skills for students.
Linda White - Emily Barnowsky

Brooks College Prep
Fine Arts
Shakespeare Experience
Students will study Shakespearian text to perform and teach that text to elementary students. The project will culminate with elementary school participants attending Brooks' spring production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
Britney Cooper-Robinson

Chicago HS / Arts
Performing Arts - Music
Jazz-Learn it Perform it!
Vocal jazz student singers and jazz instrumentalists will create a performance for an audience after months of cognitive activities involving ensemble work, creative improvisation, group mutual respect and diligence.
Gaye Klopack - Anthony Bruno

Chicago Military
Fine Arts
Images of Reality
Students apply contemplative photographic techniques to transform cell phones from distracting or discursive toys into tools for perceiving and sharing beauty in their everyday environments.
Ira Abrams

Chicago Vocational Career
Fine Arts
Manga Masters Art Club
Students will study the art, layout and literary techniques used in Manga -"whimsical pictures" - to create their own Manga focused on themes and issues unique to them and their communities.
Tamela Chambers - Charity White

Corliss
Service Learning
ROTC Cadet Blanket Club
Students will work individually and as a team to blankets to distribute to single parents. They will be learning to use eye-hand coordination skills.
Erwin Johnson - William McGuire

Curie Metro
Performing Arts
The Nutcracker
Inspired by comic artist C. Burns and choreographer M. Morris, Curie dance and art students will create and perform an original contemporary version of "The Nutcracke to Tchaikovsky's original score.
Melinda Wilson - Dawn Pavloski

Curie Metro
Fine Arts
More Than My Test Score
Students in my Printmaking classes will collaborate on a mural combining self-portraiture, text and symbols that represent intangible aspects of identity that cannot be measured on standardized tests.
Colin Ewald

Evergreen
Fine Arts
Yarn of Life
Students will become lifelong crocheters by learning how to crochet and read patterns. Students will use their new skill to create items to be donated to local charities.
Debra Polak

Graham R
Fine Arts
RGTCHS Football Helmets
Our students with special needs will be given the opportunity to learn about cities, states and symbols related to NFL teams. They will also express their artistic interpretation of what they learn.
Araceli Acevedo - Elizabeth Watson, Leticia Delgado

Hancock
Fine Arts
Community Walls/Prints
Students will research, write and create prints based on their findings about community as part of a service learning, interdisciplinary project with Chicago International Hostel and its guests.
Elyn Koentopp-Vanek

Harlan
Language Arts
These Walls Can Talk
Students interview members of their school community including peers, parents, teachers and staff in order to build a stronger sense of community through oral history. The interviews will be documented and put on a website.
Jessica King

Jefferson Alternative
Gardening
Karma Garden
Students and teachers together will create an outdoor green space for reflection, creation, discussion and instruction in environmental education, Common Core subjects and character education.
Jen Cullerton Johnson - Alex Moroz, Mary Rizzo

Jefferson Alternative
Fine Arts
A Community of Writers
Students will participate in a series of intensive writing workshops to find meaningful pathways to self-expression and to further their education. The writing created in these workshops will be published in a densely packed and widely distributed annual anthology of NBJ student creative writing and art.
Ryan Keesling - Ryan Keesling

Jones
Fine Arts
Student Run Gallery
The Student Run Gallery will provide students opportunities to learn the business side of the art world and to showcase their artistic talents to the surrounding neighborhood.
John Myers - Laura Boban

Kelly
Publications
Our Stories. Our Truth
Students will use publishing skills to write a book and develop a gallery exhibit to challenge stereotypes and tell the "real stories" of their neighborhoods, communities and cultures.
Amy Schwartzbach

Kenwood
Fine Arts
Photo Mosaic
Our students will be using special transfer paper to print student photographic images and artwork that will become fused with ceramic tile and permanently installed in common spaces in the school.
Elizabeth Osborne - Matt Milkowski, Janet Taylor

King
Fine Arts
Flying Banners
Students will create anamorphic banners to be hung forty feet in the air under skylights. The banners will be viewed looking up from the ground floor. They will be transparent with words and pictures.
Thomas Cinoman

Lane Technical
Performing Arts - Music
Ghanaian Drumming & Dance
Students will design, construct and tune their own handmade ceramic drums, then participate in a school wide performance celebrating West African percussion and dance.
Amy Moore - Adele Friedman, Brad O'Brien, Austin Flygt

Lane Technical
Science
Artistic Chemistry
Students will understand how chemical elements and processes are used in image transfer. They will transfer a self-created symbol onto glass that will be displayed in the form of a periodic table.
Kevin Kopack - Cynthia Smith, Amy Beeman, Ashley Rose

Lane Technical
Fine Arts
Clay and Arts Festival
Lane Tech art students and faculty will put on their second annual community Clay and Arts Festival. It will feature a student art exhibit and interactive art activities for the public.
Sarah Wain - Amy Diamond, Marjorrie Custodio, Liz Chisholm

Lane Technical
Performing Arts
The Lane Play Festival
Lane Tech students will write, produce, direct and perform 4-6 one-act plays for the public.
Brian Telles - Kate Laroche, Monico Yadao, Kirsten Hanson, Molly Meacham

Lane Technical
Fine Arts
Animated Compositions
Art students will collaborate with music students to create stop motion animations for original musical compositions.
Elizabeth Chisholm - Reed Flygt, Dawn Kulich

Lincoln Park
Fine Arts
Crossing Cultural Borders
Students will investigate personal, political and cultural borders that exist in their communities. They will create multimedia collages that allow them to cross borders and see the other side.
Didi Grimm - Helena Crow

Lincoln Park
Publications
Lion's Pause Literary Mag
Students write and read aloud their works which are published in the school's award winning "The Lion's Pause Literary Magazine." Students perform their works at the Barnes & Noble Webster Place.
Barton Hanson - Ahoo Kosari, Paulette Savage

Lindblom
Fine Arts
Metamorphosis: Mural
Students will learn to collectively generate a unique mural project, the first permanent art installation to transform Lindblom's historic school space and community.
Maureen Walrath - Duene Otero

Manley
Fine Arts
Windows of Culture
Students will identify, research and apply the steps necessary to discuss and design stained glass windows. They will write a proposal and present it and then create their stained glass windows.
Linda Comminos

Marine Military
Fine Arts
Mexican Muralists
Students from art and Spanish classes will study the history of the Mexican Muralists and create a large scale art installation in the style of David Siqueiros.
Sara Zoldan - Cynthia Gonzalez

Marshall
Performing Arts
Broadway in Chicago
All students may participate in an original adaptation of musical scenes from "The Wizard of Oz," "The Wiz" and "Wicked". Visual arts students will work on costumes, scenery, lights and sound. Students will experience the full range of skills needed to mount a production.
Raymond Wohl - Lilian Bityou

Marshall Metro
Performing Arts - Music
Voices Against Violence
Students will study the history and significance of protest music. Students will create original compositions to protest the violence they experience on a daily basis and they will distribute recordings of their original music to the community.
Kelly McCollom

Morgan Park
Performing Arts
Jazz: An Aural Tradition
Students will be immersed in the study of jazz through contact with live jazz musicians, audio recordings, quality repertoire and personal transcriptions of several master jazz musicians.
Shemeka Nash

N Lawndale - Collins
Physical Education
Teaching from Love & Fun
Students will experience integrating yoga and art-as-play into a visual art curriculum.
Sunny Neater-dubow

Noble St - Pritzker
Gardening
Edible School Garden
A school garden that allows students hands-on experience in Science, Health and Environmental sustainability. Our garden will incorporate the community, positive culture, education and nutrition.
Kaellagh Cassidy - Mark Rychlik, Laura Nikiel, Pam Lincoln, Emily Prettyman, Wes Siepiela, Nicholas Schmidt

Ogden International
Life Skills
Community Connections
Students with special needs will learn practical skills such as banking and budgeting and completing job applications and interviews; and, practice them in the community.
Laura Michalski

Orr
Fine Arts
re-Vision
Students will research the work of local community Upstanders as an inspiration for creating art furniture. Working with mentors, furniture will be sold through their entrepreneurial business and micro loans.
Jeanne Walker

Peace & Education
Science
Sustainable Sinclair
Students will learn about sustainable living by designing and building three raised vegetable gardens. They will also learn about ecosystems by building a butterfly garden.
Lora Abraham - Nicole Kravis

Phoenix Military
Fine Arts
Revolutionary Collage
Students will create a mixed media collage that synthesizes their study of revolutionary speeches, revolutionary artists, charcoal self-portraiture, acrylic pattern painting and lettering design.
Daniel McElgunn

Prosser
Science
Biodiesel Reactor Club
Students in an urban high school will manufacture biodiesel fuel from waste cooking oil, giving them a hands-on opportunity to perform scientific inquiry while learning chemical technology.
Allan Fluharty - Luis Navarro

Schurz
Fine Arts
Schurz Shutterbugs
Students will learn and practice techniques of black and white photography with "HOLGA" 120N cameras, developing film in the darkroom and then print photos following field work in the city of Chicago.
Mark Nelson

Second Chance
Gardening
Peace Circle
Students will study, plan and construct a landscaped space where students and Back of the Yards residents can gather to solve difficult problems and build community. The community will be involved in the planning and construction as well.
Brian Wittenwyler

Senn
Fine Arts
Art Gallery
Arts students will create a ten gallery wall on wheels to exhibit our exceptional student artwork. Student-curated shows will be held quarterly and will be open to the school and community.
Benjamin Jaffe

Steinmetz
Fine Arts
Student Totem Poles
Students will use clay to create an individual section of a large totem pole to be installed on the school campus.
Gina Szulkowski

Taft
Fine Arts
Art from Art
"Art from Art" is a painting project where students transform ordinary furniture pieces into extraordinary works of art. Students' artwork will be sold during a silent auction and the funds will provide college scholarships.
Jennifer Trejo

TEAM Englewood
Performing Arts
Ready! Set! Romeo!
Students will research, design and create costumes, sets and props appropriate to the Elizabethan era. They will share their work in a gallery walk as well as performances of Romeo and Juliet.
Katherine Dube - Denna Quillen

Uplift Community
Fine Arts
Symbols of Social Justice
While exploring themes of social justice and injustice within the Uptown community, students will create an installation in the "symbolic" style of Chicago-based artist Bernard Williams.
Catina Robinson-Hale - Maura Flood

Vaughn Occupational
Service Learning
Assisting Senior Citizens
Teachers and special education students will assist seniors with seasonal landscaping chores. Students and seniors will work together to plant annuals and perennials in the newly added school garden
Gerard Slania - Patricia Bonness

Vaughn Occupational
Fine Arts
Shadowboxes
Students will create group shadowboxes based on British Literature and Drama they have read in class, as well as individual, personal shadowboxes depicting something that they cherish.
Jennifer Bowman

Vaughn Occupational
Life Skills
Sharing the Warmth
Students with special needs will make fleece lap blankets and distribute them to residents of partner nursing homes.
Patricia Bonness

Vaughn Occupational
Life Skills
Made With Care
Students will collaborate to develop and simulate a small business. They will create and donate warm fleece projects to elderly residents of a local nursing home.
Shannon Fitzpatrick - Mike Troyke, Martha Cruz

Von Steuben
Fine Arts
Von Steuben Film Festival
The film festival is a year-long project where students work together in teams to write, direct, act, film and edit short films. The films are screened at our annual film festival.
David Bradburn

Von Steuben
Science
The Von Tower Challenge
Students taking engineering courses and those in the new engineering club will design and build a tower in teams as part of the Science Olympiad Tower building competition. Students Students will compete in two categories: most suspended weight and most efficient.
Aimee Karagiannis - Jennifer Roden, James Edstrom

Westinghouse
Fine Arts
The Art of Sound
Students, as part of their sound and acoustics unit in physics, will design a playable musical instrument. Students then will create their instruments out of durable materials like wood and metal.
Isaac Robinovitz - Joan Steck, Kelley Gossler, Lexi Coffee

Westinghouse
Fine Arts
Stories in a Pane
Students will create visual narratives with acetate to emulate stained glass techniques. The work will be displayed on the glass windows facing the courtyard.
Laura Larson - Isac Enriquez

York
Publications
Project Atlas
Project Atlas is a publication written, edited and designed by student authors attending York Alternative from inside the Cook County Jail. Their work is shared with at-risk Chicago youth.
Karl Schenk - Chelsea Armstrong, Renee Wisniewski

Young Magnet
Science
Hacking the Code of Life
Using developments from the open source biology/DIY biology movement, students will develop individual research projects that will further their appreciation for science and the DIY biology movement.
Edward Kang - Anna Gallardo