Giving Back Cove Staff Members Keep Their Cool You want to see dedication and commitment amongst your Cove School staff? Invite them to go jump into freezing cold Lake Michigan in February for an incredible cause and then get out of the way! The 2017 Illinois Special Olympics Polar Plunge saw an amazing turnout of Cove School staff who truly took “freezin’ for a reason” to the extreme! The 17 member Cold Cove Cougars Team raised close to $6,000 for SO/ILL and accounted for a huge percentage of total plungers and total money raised at the Evanston plunge site, held on Saturday, February 18, 2017. Well done team! Led by team captains Daron Teske and Jeff Linforth, the Cold Cove Cougars consisted of Regina Aniolowski, Lauren Baylian, Heather Bergren, Ilyas Dagli, Kevin Farrell, Robin Johnstone, Alexandra Kocis, Talia Kohan, Barbara McKenzie, Sue Petersen (our Staff members gather before taking their plunge #1 fundraiser), Debra Prendergast, Ashley Stange, Adrienne Testa, Robert Wachowiak, and Amanda Zabel. The Hawaiian shirts theme kept everyone warm as the Cougars dominated those chilly waters! Special Olympics is a truly amazing global organization that unleashes the human spirit through the transformative power and joy of sport. The mission statement of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.
Cove Kids Jump for Joy Over Hoops for Heart On Wellness Day, April 20, 2017, students participated in a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. Elementary students participated in Jump Rope for Heart while Junior High and High School students participated in Hoops for Heart activities. While raising money for the American Heart Association, students also learned the importance and value of leading a healthy lifestyle.
This year’s Hoops for Heart and Jump Rope for Heart was a great success. The Cove School students and staff helped raise $1,538 for the American Heart Association. The largest funds raised this year were by Olivia Rodriguez, Dylan Clark and Angelina Scarlati. Congratulations to the students and families for caring about a great cause.
Student Council Elects to Give Back Did you know that Cove has an active junior high student council? Led by staff members Donna Torf and Anna Dishong, junior high student council representatives were elected each semester and met on a regular basis. During the last half of the school year, they were involved in several projects. Over the winter months they collected books for Bernie’s Book Bank. This program supports at-risk youth by donating a set of books for each individual book that is donated. They believe in “read, reuse and recycle!” The entire Cove community contributed to this effort. In addition this group collected specific breakfast products for the Deerfield Food Pantry and joined thousands of other students across the United States who participated in the Freerice program. This is a non-profit website that asks questions about various content areas, science, social studies, etc. and for every question that is answered. Grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Our students can feel good that a person is eating rice that they helped provide! Our senior high student council succeeded in voting in a new lunch program; the response was very favorable. The Senior High School Student Council was very busy throughout the year in leadership roles including greeting guests for special events. The year began with the annual clothing drive that supports the Evanston School Children’s Clothing Association (ESCCA). During the holidays, student council collected canned and boxed foods for the Wheeling Township Food Pantry. They also prepared small gift bags for children who have one or more parents who are incarcerated. In February, the members organized a drive to help support an animal shelter, Orphans of the Storm, in Riverwoods, IL. The students and the Cove community contributed pet food, supplies and newspaper. The end of the school year was busy with preparations for prom. With the support of Susie Gray and Marla Altshul, our students voted on the theme, contributed to ideas for decorations, provided suggestions for the music that is played and voted for the prom court. This year’s theme was a Royal Event and many of the students really dressed for the occasion! Finally, there were many discussions about goals for next year. The senior high school student council plans on starting off the year with a boost to our school-wide recycling initiative. Congratulations to the 2016-17 officers: President – Destiny Pough; Vice-President – DC Carr; Secretary – Katya Stillman; and Treasurer – Charlie Paul for a job well done!
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