Coveconnectionsummer

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CoveConnection

Cove’s Mission and Vision Statements

A quarterly publication for the Cove Community

The Cove School provides highly individualized education and life strategies for children with learning disabilities.

The Cove Graduating Class of 2016

The Cove School, a private K – 12 day school, is a national leader in educating children with learning disabilities. Cove was founded by pioneers in the field of learning disabilities in 1947. Cove provides children from diverse backgrounds with an individual educational experience in a safe and respectful environment. Cove’s dual purpose is to provide students with customized learning strategies to complete an academic curriculum and to facilitate the development of their social, emotional and self-advocacy skills. Cove’s approach to learning creates an environment for students to build the self-confidence necessary to make a successful transition to their community schools, or to make post-secondary choices.

THE

CoveConnection

The Cove Connection is a quarterly publication circulated to parents of the Cove community.

The content is provided by teachers, staff, and administrators. Photography and layout are handled by Abby Lasky, Development and Communications Coordinator. All questions regarding the Cove Connection can be directed to Abby at alasky@coveschool.org, or by calling

By Abby Lasky, Development and Communications Coordinator

The Cove graduating class of 2016 has diverse talents and accomplishments which are highlighted below. Many of our seniors participated in our Big Buddy program where they mentored and worked side-by-side with an elementary student at a variety of events throughout the year. Several of our seniors were part of our student council, and nearly all participated in Cove school musicals. Small but mighty, Cove would like to introduce our graduating class of 2016: Diana Ferraro

Paige Flowers

Diana attended all four years of high school at Cove. Next year, she will be attending Harper College in Palatine and hopes to get a certificate to become a medical assistant.

Diana enjoyed being in the school musicals each year as well as her internship at Walgreens. This year, Diana received the Illinois Principal’s Leadership Award. She is going to miss her teachers and friends and the support she received at Cove. However, Diana is excited about her future, and plans to become a Cove Alumni.

Paige attended Cove for two years, she also attended classes in her home school. After she graduates, Paige hopes to study Forensic Anthropology. She will be attending Triton College next year. Paige also worked as an intern at Walgreens and enjoyed riding in the cab to work with Diana. She is both excited and nervous about the future.

(847)562-2100 ext. 2221. Your suggestions and feedback are welcome!

Inside this Issue

Summer 2016

Luke Janosy Luke has attended Cove for the past two years. He interned in Mrs. Hollander’s elementary math class, and plans to study special education in college. Next year he continued on back page

Cove Graduates Director of Education Cove 5K Clinical Connections Art for the Senses

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Mic Drop Big Buddies Summer Reading Suggestions Elementary Update

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Junior High Update 8th Grade Reflections HS Student Council Parent Association Music & Theater

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Cove Prom STEAM Poetry Slam Cove Graduates cont.

Aaron Thal Scholarship

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From the Desk of the Director of Education

By John R. Stieper, III, Director of Education

We celebrated the successes of the Class of 2016 all throughout our last day of school this past June 10th, as 20 sixth grade students, 23 8th grade students and 6 high school seniors participated in three separate commencement ceremonies.

On behalf of the Cove faculty and staff, it gives me great pleasure to extend our heartfelt “Congratulations” to the Class of 2016:

High School Seniors: Diana Ferraro, Paige Flowers, Luke Janosy, Linda Rong, Mary Grennon Schutt, and Andrew Zitkus.

8th Grade: Zoie Claiborne, Jack Dickson, Joey Falk, Jose “Miguel” Fermaint, Michael Goodgold, Lindsey Hermann, Jacob Horne, Lee Kaufman, Dylan Kozlov, Abigail Leon, Andy Massari, Kevan McGarrigle, Ximena Mejia, Maxim Reininger, Angelina Scarlati, Jared Schor, Thomas Suarez, Charlie Torgerson, Ian Torres, Morgan Vangalis, Colleen Wallace, Nick Wilson, and Carlos Wojtasiak.

6th Grade: Theo Browne, Daniella Chung, Charlotte Coyne, Michael DeLara, Kyle Ellen, Albron Gabriel, Brandon Garibay, Luca Joseph, Caroline Keenan, Graham Kistenbroker, Alexandra Kowalski, Charlie Ladwig, Sarah Lisitza, Liam Lynch, Eli Resnick, Maddie Smith, Kipras Sulminas, Jack Vance, Brandon Weiner, and Grace White.

We are very proud of our students’ perseverance and their many accomplishments. Thank you again for partnering with us to make the 2015-16 school year a successful and memorable year for our students, staff, and families. We wish you and your family a very happy, safe, and enjoyable summer.

This Year’s Race Picked up the Pace!

Cove’s annual 5K Run One Step at a Time took place on June 18th. We were very pleased to celebrate another record breaking year in sponsorship and attendance! Over $12,000 was rasised through corporate donations. This year marks Cove’s fifth annual run/walk. The 5K was designed to be an all-inclusive Cove family and community event. It provides Cove an opportunity to introduce itself to local businesses and runners from all over the greater Chicago area.

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The race is also a chance for our Young Professionals for Cove (YPC) to volunteer their time and help out with all of the race coordination. This year’s chair, Ryan Lieberman stepped up in every way to help with sponsorship and coordinating volunteers on race day. We are so grateful for our YPC leadership on both this event and on our annual benefit.

Here is a list of all of our contributors to this year’s 5K:

Clinical Connections

By Dr. Robin Johnstone, Ph.D., NCSP Clinical Director

to increase our own self-reflection. What is our level of acceptance of our child’s abilities? Are we too over protective? Remember our anxieties, fears and frustrations are communicated-either verbally, nonverbally or even in a distorted manner.

Your child may not be able to label or understand your feelings, but they can be affected by them. This can be expressed by their emotional reactions, confidence and level of trust.

Recently, the Cove Parent Association sponsored a presentation by Dr. Warren Rosen that featured advice and strategies for students as they transition from high school. He described positive characteristics of students coupled with parental suggestions to increase independent functioning.

One critical step in this process includes understanding your child’s capabilities.

Does your child have good problem solving skills? Do they have the ability to conceptualize and link information? What foundational academic skills and compensatory strategies have they generalized?

Answers to these questions can lead you to determining goals for your child’s future. One key is to think in terms of a progressive series of educational steps.

Dr. Rosen suggested that we remove arbitrary deadlines.

In addition to understanding your child’s capabilities, several personality factors contribute to a positive transition. A child’s drive or passion can lead them to strive for goals. If a child does not possess much passion, or drive, who can cultivate this and how can it be done?

Children should be encouraged to develop self-understanding, self-acceptance and self-advocacy. Adults can promote this by gentle communication and clarity.

Foster a sense of self and understand the concept of relative strengths and weaknesses. Children also need to build their

sustained attention and task persistence.

They should be challenged and gain determination when surrounded by their peers.

Of utmost importance are executive functioning skills. These can include dressing and hygiene and the ability to remember to manage their medications. Keeping their rooms clean and learning how to do laundry. Children need to prioritize, plan and shift plans as needed.

What is a parent to do? Understand that you may have to alter your initial hopes and dreams for your child. Realize that you are on a journey that includes grief and letting go. Recognize the joys of identifying and celebrating your child’s successes. “We must let go of the life we had planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us”-Joseph Campbell Let us carry on this journey of growth as we watch our children flourish. May we respect them for who they are and proudly watch them become as independent as they were meant to be.

What is our level of acceptance of our child’s abilities? Are we too over protective? Remember our anxieties, fears and frustrations are communicated-either verbally, nonverbally or even in a distorted manner. Your child may not be able to label or understand your feelings, but they can be affected by them.

Social skills are critical for future growth.

Does your child connect with and like to be around people?

Can they independently pursue and develop peer relationships? As natural as this seems to most, for some children, these difficulties can be a barrier to independence.

As parents, we need

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Cove Students Enjoy “Art for the Senses” Program

By Mignon Dupepe, Art Therapist and Laura Silberberg, Art Teacher

All Cove students had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural “Art for the Senses “ program this year. This program combined the curriculum of Calm Classroom with calming art processes that incorporate sensory experiences. Cove’s school-wide adoption of Calm Classroom curriculum and recent addition of a sensory garden demonstrates our commitment to provide a variety of programming and resources that support our students and promote the best environment to learn, grow, and flourish.

Calm Classroom allows opportunities for students to develop calming strategies, self-regulation, self-awareness, and self-monitoring skills. The sensory garden permits learning in a multi-sensory format.

The “Art for the Senses” program united the principles of Calm Classroom, the sensory inspiration of the sensory garden, and meditative and peaceful art making processes. Five visiting

have been proven to promote relaxation responses in the body.

The “Art for the Senses” program highlighted these benefits and permitted the opportunity for students to experience these calming practices.

The high school students completed hand painted positive/ peace wood plaques that will be attached to cedar posts to be displayed in our sensory garden. Thank you to Chalet Nursery for donating labor to install our peace posts into the garden.

Junior high students painted tin squares with floral designs that will be assembled into an interactive quilt that will hang in the garden. A meditative, walking path or labyrinth for the garden will be designed with the hand painted stones our elementary students completed during art making sessions. Other activities included painted canvas potpourri sachets, watercolor painted landscapes and meditative circles, dog imagery pastel drawings, and Matisse style watercolor flower still life paintings.

Thank you to all students and staff for making our first “Art for the Senses” a success! Thank you also for everyone’s support to create a meaningful and calming experience for our students.

artists highlighted specific art making processes and mediums for students. All students had the opportunity to explore the art making process and participate in three art-making sessions. All sessions reflected on the potential of calming practices, sensory awareness, and art making processes contributing to self-regulation, greatest performance, and achieving a “flow” state.

These three areas of breath, sensory experience, and art making 4

It’s a mic drop for AT!

By Ruth Miller, Assitive Technology Specialist

More of our students are learning to use speech to text for their writing and, like their singer counterparts, when successful and proud of their performance, they dramatically drop their mic! Speech to text tools are used to eliminate the barriers of spelling and keyboarding for our students. While continuing to work on their spelling skills, speech to text tools provide our students with the opportunity to show what they know in a painless and accurate manner.

Changing Lives. Building Futures.

Save the Date Changing Lives. Building Futures.

for The Cove School Annual Benefit Changing Lives. Building Futures.

Celebrate Cove’s Platinum Anniversary Year

Saturday, February 25, 2017 Loews Chicago O’Hare cocktails • dinner • live and silent auctions • dancing

Cove’s Big Buddy Program Thriving

By Mignon Dupepe, Art Therapist and Mary O’Brien Social Worker

Cove’s Big Buddy Program concluded on Friday, May 13th with a celebratory picnic breakfast for elementary and high school participants. Buddies have gathered twice a month on Friday mornings to participate in structured activities that build on social skills, friendship, leadership, and citizenship. Meeting themes are designed around the principles of “Character Counts” school curriculum. These six pillars of character include: responsibility,

trustworthiness, citizenship, respect, fairness, and caring. Buddy pairs wrote Thanksgiving cards to veterans, created Valentine’s day cards for Cove staff, planted flower seedlings for Cove flower boxes, designed a collaborative quilt that explored our learning differences and getting what we need to learn, made stuffed animals and cards for children entering hospital emergency rooms through the Kindness Connection organization, and

developed and played games together during Big Buddy meetings this year.

Our program has grown each year with student participation up to fifty students this year! We could not do this program without the help of our Big Buddy volunteer support staff. Thank you to our staff members that have provided guidance and encouragement for student buddies to participate with success!

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Reading Team Suggestions for an Adventurous Reading Experience this Summer

By Mary Murray, Reading Specialist

Celebrate summer

Enjoy the great outdoors

•S tart a summer scrapbook and include souvenirs of any trips you take, photos, tickets stubs and any projects you work on during summer.

• Make a chart to keep track of all the books you read this summer.

• List all the books by your favorite author.

• Take a walk and write about the things you see in summer.

• Plan a family ‘booknic’ at a favorite spot, such as the beach, a park or the woods. Pack a lunch and plenty to read.

• Find something small to put in your pocket and write a story about it.

• Visit the zoo and make a list of animals, then find them on your list.

Taste the Season • Read the directions on a box of gelatin and ask a parent if you can help make dessert tonight.

• Read a story about food. Make and eat the food you read about.

Travel the world

this summer, read about your trip.

• Pick an important news event from another city, state or country. Find out as much information as you can by reading the news, listening to the radio or watching the news.

Talk about what you learned.

• Send a postcard of a place you visited and write a message to a friend.

Watch the skies •W ord game! Baseballs fly through the sky in summer. Find a list of baseball teams in the sports section of the newspaper and put them in A-B-C order.

• The first U.F.O. was reported in 1947. Read a science fiction book in honor of it.

• If you are going on a family vacation

Elementary Update

By Kristy Bonolo, Elementary Case Manager The past couple of months have been very exciting for the Elementary Unit. Students participated in Earth Day, Special Friends day and Shadow Day. The Cove Elementary Unit celebrated Earth day this year with a morning read-in and two afternoon activities. The read-in consisted of Earth Day related stations where the 6 Elementary Classrooms rotated between various classrooms.

During the first activity, students watched a ‘brainpop’ video about taking care of the Earth. Next, students created their own PSA on how they could take care of the Earth and make it a better place to live.

For the second activity, two Earth Day related stories were read to the students, The Cloud Spinner and The Giving Tree or More. From there, students had the opportunity to visit with Earth Related websites. Finally, the students created a ‘Helping Hand Art Project.’ For the 6

project, students traced their hands, or helped a friend, on colorful paper and stuck it to the bare tree branches. Then, students traced their hand on white paper and wrote down how they could help the Earth, and stuck it to the bare tree. As a whole unit, we were able to completely cover the bare tree with just our hands.

We were very fortunate to have our Grandparents and Special Friends visit Cove on April 29th.

Each of the classrooms participated in special crafts and activities with their Grandparents and Special Friends. The students loved having them here and introducing them to their teachers and friends. We look forward to seeing all the great pictures that were taken that day!

The 6th grade students participated in Shadow Day with the 7th graders. They were able to spend the morning with a 7th grade buddy, follow along in their morning schedule and ask any questions that they have about next year. It was a very successful morning!

We look forward to continued fun and success in the Elementary Unit!

Junior High Update

By Jan Diehl, Junior High Case Manager

8th Grade Reflections

By Jan Diehl, Junior High Case Manager and Tracee Gerber, Junior HIgh Case Manager

Eighth Grade Shadow Day Eighth graders enjoyed visiting high school classes in the spring for Shadow Day. Each junior high student was paired with a high school student and they traveled together throughout the day following the high school student’s schedule.

This experience was meaningful to the junior high students. They enjoyed seeing what classes will be like when they are freshmen, and they especially enjoyed handson activities. Also, junior high students were happy to be invited to the after-school trip with high school to Lifetime Fitness. What a fun day it was for all!

Lee Kaufman

If you were the teacher, what comments would you make about YOU? I would like my teacher to know that I am good at reading and Social Studies.

I would also like my teacher to know that I am funny.

Abigail Leon

If you were the teacher, what comments would you make about YOU?

Holocaust Museum Field Trip Eighth graders visited the Illinois Holocaust Museum on June 1st. We toured the museum and learned a lot from our tour guides. Teachers were impressed with our students’ questions and comments. There is so much to see and learn that many students expressed an interest in returning someday. We ended our visit by hearing a Holocaust survivor speak.

As the years go by, the list of survivors is dwindling, so we felt very fortunate to hear first-hand about this survivor’s experience.

I should raise my hand instead of saying the answer out loud.

Carlos Wojtasiak

What is one thing you would like next year’s teacher to know about you?

I want my next year teacher to know that I like weather.

Ian Torres

In what ways do you think you improved? (reading, writing, math, sports, dance, etc.)

I improved in my reading and writing in a lot of ways.

Jose “Miguel” Fermaint

In what ways do you think you improved? (reading, writing, math, sports, dance, etc.)

I think I really improved with being more social with my peers.

Jacob Horne

Cove is a place where I like to be. Cove is a good place because teachers understand me and help me learn.

Lindsey Hermann

Cove makes me feel excited and happy because it’s a good school. I can make new friends, and I am very thankful for my teachers because they teach us fun things.

Andy Massari

Cove is an awesome place where we learn.

I feel calm because we do Calm Classroom and we have a Calm Corner. I am very thankful for learning and working hard.

Jared Schor

Cove is a fun place to make new friends.

I enjoy learning science, my favorite subject. I am thankful for teachers helping me learn and write neatly. Cove makes me feel happy to learn new things.

Colleen Wallace

Cove is a place where teachers help me learn new things. I enjoy going to the mall every other Friday. Next year I am very excited to learn Spanish.

Morgan Vangalis

Cove is a place that helps me calm down when I’m upset. Cove makes me feel happy, calm, and relaxed. At Cove my teachers help me learn. I am very thankful for being at Cove.

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High School Student Council-Another Successful Year!

By Susie Gray, Speech Language Pathologist

A group of about 20 enthusiastic high schoolers got together 2 times a month, throughout the school year, for this years’ High School Student Council. The first part of the process was electing officers to guide the group. These student officers were

Christian West, President, Benito Moreno, Vice President, Katya Stillman, Secretary and Dora Hopkins, Treasurer and were supported by class officers and student council members.

Robin Johnstone, Susie Gray and Marla Altshul were the Cove

Staff members that supported this energetic and creative group of students throughout the course of the year.

A large part of what Student Council does is service related, therefore several service projects took place during the school year. In the fall, students collected clothing for the Evanston School Children’s Clothing Fund and personally delivered the items to them. A Food Drive also took place with boxes and boxes of canned goods collected for the Wheeling Food Pantry.

In the late winter, items were collected and given to Orphans of the Storm animal shelter to help care for needy cats and dogs.

A large group of students participated in the delivery and were able to provide some additional love and care for these vulnerable animals. The school year was “capped off” with a Book Drive where gently used and new books were collected and given to Lydia’s Children Home.

In between these projects Student Council members were seen greeting new guests to the building, doing the daily announcements and leading assemblies during various points of the school year. All in all, the 2015-16 High School Student Council had a rewarding year filled with lots of fun activities and many leadership opportunities.

Parent Association Wraps up an Active Year The last part of the year is a busy time for our Cove Parent Association! On April 12, we hosted our third General Parent Association meeting. Dr. Warren Rosen, member of the Cove Academic Advisory Board and recipient of the 2015 Prism Award, held an informative presentation on important transition considerations for parents. The meeting was very well attended. You can listen to the audio file of the program on our website under “Latest News.”

Other recent events included Health/Wellness Day and Grandparents and Special Friends’ Day. On May 2-6th, staff were recognized for their important efforts during Staff Appreciation Week. With the help of parent volunteers, staff enjoyed a delicious breakfast, treats, and baked goods, a surprise gift card for Panera, a staff lounge makeover with goodies and appliances, and a delicous lunch catered

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by Chef Fredy. Additionally, the faculty lounge was lined with dozens of missives from students stating how much they appreciated staff members at Cove.

Our kids also had opportunities to experience social activities outside the school setting! The Elementary and Junior High students ate and played arcade games at Dave & Busters in Vernon Hills on April 15.

We would like to take a moment and thank the volunteers that helped make all of these opportunities possible. Thank you for spending the valuable time helping our children in their school and social environments!

We look forward to seeing you next year.

Looking Ahead: If you missed the order date for school supplies, but would still like to get them, please

contact Betsy Crosswhite at thecrosswhites@sbcglobal.net.

Save the date for the annual Cove Picnic on Saturday, August 20, 2016.

If you would like to learn more about volunteer opportunities for the 2016-2017 year, please email Stephanie Sanderman at spritzker@coveschool.org. We would love your help.

Music & Theatre

By Dorothy Jean Lloyd, Music Drama and Digital Photogaphy

Sistema Ravinia Program There was a lot to celebrate Saturday, June 4th at Ravinia. The day marked the first public concert of the Ravinia Nucleo Sistema Orchestra. Four Cove students were part of the orchestra; Eric Eitel, Liam Lynch, Nicholas Sender, Wylie Spadino (members of the clarinet section).

Sistema Ravinia – Ravinia’s vision of an intensive and transformational orchestral music education program, fosters social development through exceptional music training for underserved 3rd-8th grade students in Chicago and Lake County public schools. Inspired by the influential El Sistema model, students in the program receive daily ensemble and

orchestral instruction in their instrument.

Special thanks to the Director Christine Taylor of REACH*TEACH*PLAY for inviting us to be part of this important musical program. Kudos to Isaac Sinnett (Program manager), Jessica Connor (Ravinia Nucleo Manager), Kristina Setka (Clarinet teacher), Talia Kohan (Assistant in the classroom), Ms. O’Brien (Cove social worker) and of course the Elementary Team for supporting the work!

tary Musical, during a visit from Quintet Attacca, The Cove School Variety Show, and Grandparent’s Day.

Since November our students have been practicing 5 hours per week at both Cove School and Ravinia. It has been a rigorous and exciting process. This year our clarinet students performed in the Elemen-

Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in joining the program and with any questions: dlloyd@coveschool. org. A tremendous musical adventure awaits!

After a moving performance with approximately 150 students from Lake County our students could say they learned an instrument, played in an orchestra, AND played at Ravinia! This wonderful opportunity is being offered again in the coming year to elementary students at our school.

Beauty And The Beast at Cove School It is always an honor and tremendous responsibility to bring to you the Junior High/High School Musical. It requires students to work long hours, dig deep in themselves to go above and beyond the typical expectations of our school day.

The teamwork, and camaraderie that develops over the rehearsal process is quite remarkable.

This year we had 65 students in the cast and crew – not to mention the numerous students who worked on the props/art projects. The sheer numbers attest to the desire for our students to express themselves in this theatrical format.

It is our steadfast commitment to bring theatrical arts/musical training to our

students because of the profound impact it has. A special thank you to staff, parents, The Gorton Community Center (in particular Grace Heatherington-Tilka), Kidstage, and finally the students who bring so much joy, and light to these wonderful shows!

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Cove Prom Night

By Abby Lasky, Development and Communications Coordinator

June 3rd was Cove’s annual High School prom night. Fifty students attended the event at Hilton Allgauer’s in Northbrook.

Also attending were 20 Cove staff members and three members of Cove’s YPC. This years theme “Hawaiian Nights” was a big favorite. A special thanks to Marla Altshul for organizing the event. The evening included a floral lei for each attendee, palm tree decor, and special Hawaiian themed centerpieces created

by Laura Silverberg’s high school art students.

Before the party started Cove parents came to take pre-prom pictures of their student with their friends. Dorothy-Jean Lloyd and Elizabeth Hanzel took photos against a green screen so that they could be enhanced with special Hawaiian backgrounds.

Dinner was a full pasta bar with a variety of “toppings” to choose from along with salad and dessert. Students

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watched a montage and then danced the night away!

Contests including Limbo, Hula, and “dance for the DJ” were fun for all and included prizes of two dollar bills.

Here is this year’s Prom Court: Freshman – Jasmine Becker and Timarcus Mathis Sophomore – Carli Kaufman and D.C. Carr Junior – Amanda DiFucci and Ricky Fonseca Senior – Diana Ferraro and Luke Janosy Prom King and Queen – Delaney Crawford and Christian West Cove high school students love being part of this special event each year. The opportunity to dress up, dance, and “hang out” together is a right of passage that they will remember for years to come.

Full STEAM Ahead - Building Bridges

Poetry Slam

By Patrick Black, Technology Facilitator

By Abby Lasky, Devlopment and Communications Coordinator

Students in the Elementary and Junior High STEAM classes have been working hard to design and build bridges. Using Tinkercad, the 3D printer and basic engineering principles students created and tested bridges they designed.

The high school unit celebrated the diversity and uniqueness of our students through the writing and performing of poetry. Students had the opportunity to study various types of poetry in their english class. Next, they had the chance to present a poem that they had written in front of their classmates during a poetry slam. Some students showcased their poetry in written form to be viewed and read during a gallery walk that preceded the poetry slam. During the poetry slam, students snapped their fingers to approve of the words they were hearing. Stuart Seale provided bongo rhythms to go along with the spoken words.

Alex Laube and Annemarie Bennett, dressed in their beatnik best, hosted the event.

Students began the unit by taking a look at different bridges and identifying arches, beams, trusses & suspensions. Using this understanding they were able to determine what makes a bridge strong. With this understanding students began designing their own bridge structure. Using graph paper, students designed a structure they thought would hold the most weight.

Our next step was to create the basic bridge deck. Students used the tools in Tinkercad to build a rectangle that was 170 mm long and 90 mm wide.

This rectangle was to represent the road. Students were then tasked to raise the rectangle up to a height of 30 mm. With the basic shape created students were asked to build support to hold up the rectangle. The challenge was that nothing could touch the ground under the rectangle (only at the sides), which forced them to create a suspension or arch system to support the weight.

Once the bridges were designed and printed they were tested. A basic bridge (created by Mr. Black) was tested first, as a standard to judge the other bridges by. A large weight (1.4 kg) was suspended below each bridge and we measured how much the bridge bent. Mr. Black’s bridge bent about 33 mm and was determined to be a very weak design.

Each student bridge was tested and anything less than 2 mm was considered a very strong design! Many of the student bridges bent less than 2 mm when the full weight was placed on them.

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2016 Graduates continued from page 1 will attend a community college and then hopes to transfer to Edgewood College in Wisconsin. Luke enjoyed playing basketball at Cove, especially being part of the CAAEL tournament. He will miss his friends, teachers and social worker. Luke plans to come back to attend Cove Alumni events in the future.

Linda Rong Linda attended Cove for two years and interned at Walgreens with Diana and Paige. She plans to attend community college next year and study biology. Her favorite Cove memory was prom night.

Linda will miss her friends and teachers from Cove, but is excited to find her dream job and meet new people.

Mary Schutt Mary has attended Cove for eight years.

Recently, Mary helped as a “ballroom specialist” for the play Beauty and the Beast.

Mary helped cheer on the Cove basketball team as part of the cheerleading squad, she was also part of the dance team. Mary had an internship at Anton’s Fruit Market in

Northbrook. Next year she will attend Lake Forest High School and looks forward to coming back as an alumni.

Andrew Zitkus Andrew is graduating after seven years at Cove. His favorite memory was being in the 7th grade with his best friend Eric. Andrew was part of the Cove basketball team and traveled to participate in several championships down state. He interned at both Anton’s Fruit Market and the Sachs recreational center. Next year Andrew will be attending a transition program and would like to eventually become a vet tech.

Whether they have been at Cove for two or eight years, all of our graduating seniors are excited about this turning point in their lives. We can’t wait to see what the future will bring. We wish them all the best of luck in their future endeavors, and hope that they will return to Cove as often as possible to share their experiences and see old friends.

Aaron Ryan Thal Transition Scholarship Aaron Thal was a 2013 Cove Graduate, and a beloved member of The Cove School Community. A tragic accident took his life in 2014. To honor Aaron and his memory, Cove established The Aaron Ryan Thal Scholarship. This scholarship will be awarded annually to a graduating senior to be used towards his or her post-secondary opportunity. We are grateful to our donors who continue to support our student body and the memory of Aaron. This years scholarship was awarded to Diana Ferraro.

The Aaron Ryan Thal Scholarship is awarded to a graduate that portrays characteristics of positivity, dedication, and leadership.

These qualities are also seen in their outlook on learning and in their desire to create relationships with peers, staff, and community. The individual receiving this award is respected along its senior class and the Cove School community for their positive contributions.

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Norma Thal, (left) mother of Aaron Ryan Thal, presents award to Diana Ferraro alongside Dr. Sally Sover