Community, Family Support Buoys Boy's Fight Against Leukemia

Lake Forest fifth-grader Jack Klinge inspires other kids to stay strong through tough times.

On Jan. 2, after spending a week in the hospital, 10-year-old Jack Klinge was surprised by a flash mob on the front lawn of his family’s Lake Forest home. “My friends were out there, chanting my name. They spelled out ‘Get Well Soon Jack,’ ” he said. “It made me cry when I saw the flash mob. It made our closeness a lot more obvious.” The Klinge family has lived in Lake Forest for four years after relocating from Los Angeles and Connecticut. John Klinge is a partner at KPMG LLC while his wife, Mary Lynne, is a full-time mom to Cassie, Jack and Will. Jack, a fifth-grader at Deer Path Middle School, is a sports fan, and loves playing baseball, soccer and hockey. On Dec. 18, a collision in a hockey game landed Jack in the emergency room with a…

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Lake Forest Duo May be New, But They Understand How to be 'Annoying' to Soccer Opponents

Danneker, Edwards earn coach’s award twice by showing aggressive play.

After each Lake Forest High School girls’ soccer game, coach Ty Stuckslager likes to reward aggressive play.  Stuckslager designates that player with the Squidward Award. The prize does not necessarily go to the team’s top scorer.  “It goes to the person who annoys the other team the most,” Stuckslager said. “It’s given on effort, not skill. It goes to who is out there, who is not afraid.”  Two players — junior Ali Danneker and freshman Lucy Edwards — have received the Squidward prize twice during this 12-2-3 season. Both Scouts are new to the team this year. Danneker moved here in September with her family from Sheboygan, Wis.  “We have to be aggressive, really aggressive. We have to push up (dribble) a lot,” Edwards said of the effort …

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Lake Forest Academy's Click Ready to Move to Head of the Pack

Lake Forest resident has shown he can come from behind. Now he has to prove he's a frontrunner.

Lake Forest resident Taylor Click began running as a Deerpath Middle School seventh grader and never looked over his shoulder again. “I won my first race,” Click said of the initial experience. “God blessed me with speed.” He was successful for the Braves and moved on to Lake Forest High School. As a sophomore, he was part of the Scouts' 1,600-meter relay team that advanced to the State Meet. He transferred to Lake Forest Academy as a junior.  When not running as a Brave, Scout or Caxy, Click is a Waukegan Invader. He runs with the club team when the school season is over, and last summer earned a trip to the USA Track and Field National meet in Sacramento where he took 12th in the 800 in 1:56.  Click ran that race hanging behind the …

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Deerpath Middle School Rocks With 'Bye, Bye Birdie'

Show runs Thursday, Friday nights.

Dust off your saddle shoes and break out the hair cream! It’s 1958 and teen singing swoon-sation Conrad Birdie has been drafted into the Army. But first he’s going to kiss Sweet Apple, Ohio sweetie Kim good-bye and single-handedly save Almaelou Music from bankruptcy by singing Albert’s new song on the Ed Sullivan Show. It’s the musical "Bye, Bye Birdie" as presented by Deerpath Middle School’s Brainstormers at 7 p.m. Thursday (April 28) and Friday (April 29). Tickets are $7 each and available at Deerpath Middle School's east or west offices, or at the door. Friday’s show usually sells out, so people are advised to get them ahead of time. Fifty fifth through eighth graders have been rockin’ and rollin’ over the past three months, preparing …

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Art Show Recognizes ‘Emerging Talent’ in Honor of Youth Art Month

Annual exhibit honors art aptitude in local schools, North Chicago community.

Founded in 1961, Youth Art Month is celebrated in March annually all over the world to support the value of art education in academic institutions. An excerpt from the “Nation and the Arts,” a paper drawn up by the Independent Committee on Arts Policy, states: “Well-developed programs of making and studying art serve many functions. They help students better articulate their perceptions and shape coherent responses to their experiences. When children learn to appreciate form and color…when they learn the importance of fashioning their own images of the world around them, they achieve greater discipline and self-confidence.” In observance of this commemoration, the Deer Path Art League’s Young Artist Enrichment Program celebrates its fourth…

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Deer Path Middle School Sports

Braves’ Wrestlers Follow Different Paths to Victory

Karkazis and Agins demonstrate success of Deer Path program.

George Karkazis and Vince Agins of Lake Forest charted very different courses for their wrestling careers, but both stood atop the victory platform as champions at the 38th Annual Deer Path Middle School Invitational Wrestling Tournament Saturday.  Karkazis, an eighth grader who won the gold medal in the 112-pound weight class, began wrestling as a second grader in Highland Park’s Little Giant program. He immediately sought out Braves Coach Jim Troemel as soon as he entered Deer Path as a fifth grader.  Agins, also an eighth grader and the 119-pound champion, came to Deer Path thinking about a basketball career in fifth grade. But by sixth grade, he was on the wrestling team and is now one of the team’s leaders along with Karkazis.  “I …

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Holiday Art Show Runs This Weekend at Stirling Hall

Annual event features the work of 28 local artists.

At the entrance to Stirling Hall is a mural designed by Lake Forest ceramicist Janet Austin, one of the 28 artists whose work will be displayed for sale at this weekend's annual Holiday Art Show at the Grove Cultural Campus in Lake Forest. Austin is as much the organizer of the mural as she is its creator. It is a collaborative piece — like much of her work — with contributions from young students at the center as well as other established artists whose work will be part of the show from 6-9 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. "Our community is a mosaic of people and so many people in Lake Forest, our students here from ages 5 to 70, came together to form this mosaic. It's their mosaic," said Katie Biderbost of the mural…

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First Graders Experience Pilgrim Lifestyle Hands-on

Everett School students see visual examples of classroom lessons.

After a few weeks of studying about the Pilgrims and the Mayflower ship's journey to America, Everett School first graders had an opportunity recently to experience several facets of life in the 1620s. Thanks to the Pilgrim Time Zone at Deerpath Middle School, teacher Kristin Victorson's class went from station to station to listen and engage in Pilgrim lifestyle activities.

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