Most people don’t have 38 sisters, unless you’re 11-year-old cancer patient Lindsey Eyles, who has gained the attention of the girls’ tennis team. For her story, see...
Features, page 9
District changes class ranking system By Maddie Conway Executive News Editor
The lunchtime rush Graphic by Ian Magnuson
Independent restaurants push to keep business up despite franchise competition in community By Sharon Lee Associate Editor-in-Chief In one short six-month period, the 900th Chipotle, the 300th Five Guys and the 450th Jersey Mike’s opened up shop at Randhurst. One mile away, Jim Photopoulos, owner of the twobranch Photo’s Hot Dogs, was feeling uneasy. “I’ve never seen so much competition in the past six years, and the next six years are going to be much worse,” Photopoulos said. “I see it, and I know it.” Photopoulos may be right. The transformation of Randhurst Mall into an outdoor-lifestyle center in spring 2011 will bring many new businesses into the community with the availability of retail space inside the 100-acre shopping center. Jim Conroy, director of development for Casto Lifestyle Properties, said there are half a dozen restaurants in the process of legalizing and developing their businesses at Randhurst. “This will strengthen the retail market of Mount Prospect and make the whole area more viable,” Conroy said. “I really think this can help the entire village of Mount Prospect.” But with 21 years of experience in independent business, Photopoulos sees the redevelopment of Randhurst in a different light. “I’m not happy with the competition,” Photopoulos said. “National franchises — they’re tough. With all these new franchises coming [to] town, my biggest concern is how long we’ll last before it’s all franchise in this world.” John Mavraganis, owner of Heffy’s Hot Dogs, said he has lost an average of 40 to 50 customers a day because of franchise restaurants.
“Franchises kill everything,” Mavraganis said. “They’re no good for [independent businesses].” Photopoulos believes one key reason independent restaurants are struggling under the competition of franchise businesses is because of a lack of a loyal customer base. According to Photopoulos, Chicago used to be a tough market for chain restaurants because people in Chicago were extremely loyal to their mom and pop businesses. However, in recent years, Photopoulos noticed a shift in loyalty. Photopoulos said there were 1,200 customers coming in every day in the 90s, but today, he gets 50 to 100 people coming in each day per location. Photopoulos said that with new generations, people don’t care about family-operated independent businesses and are more interested in the technology that makes the franchises “alluring.” According to Photopoulos, franchise businesses have more power over independent businesses because of their strong marketing system. “[As] independent people, we do have a data base,” Photopoulos said. “We do have a YouTube and a Facebook page, and we try to keep it electronically hip, but we don’t have the power or strength to compete. It’s a constant battle.” However, Photopoulos still believes the future of the independent restaurant is possible, but only for “sharp, smart owners.” According to Photopoulos, “aggressive marketing” is one of the most important factors that help independent restaurants continue to survive in the
See RESTAURANTS, page 2
Out of the 549 graduates in the class of 2010, 92 graduated with a weighted grade point average (GPA) of over 5.0, meaning that nearly 17 percent had over an A average by the end of high school. Despite that A average, some of those students did not even rank within the top 15 percent of their class. Current upperclassmen and previous graduating classes have been ranked numerically within their classes based on their cumulative GPA out of a five-point scale. That statistic is recorded on the students’ transcripts and sent to colleges during the application process for review. But freshmen, sophomores and future classes will now be placed in a quartile, or quarter of their class, based on GPA. For example, a student whose GPA would normally rank 50th in his or her class would be placed in the top 25 percent. Colleges will have access to that statistic rather than the number 50. According to Superintendent Dr. David Schuler, when discussion about changing class rank began last fall, the
district originally considered getting rid of it altogether; however, because there was concern that not having any kind of class rank would leave a “blank” on students’ college applications, the district considered and approved the new quartile system. Schuler said that the goal of revising the ranking system was “to try and create a structure or system that would not penalize our students” for the competitive level of the district, in which students could be ranked 40th, for example, and still have over a 5.0. “If you’re writing down that rank [of 40 or 50] and applying to a college, that’s really unfair to compare students in a large, high-performing school [to less competitive schools],” Schuler said. “So we wanted to see if we could figure out a way in which our students had the maximum opportunity to be looked at by colleges and universities.” Principal Kurt Laakso also said the quartile system would have a positive impact on students, especially in light of Prospect’s academic competition. Laakso also said that he
See CLASS RANK, page 5
On Prospectornow.com...
Photo by Ian Magnuson
Science teacher Deborah Connors enjoys the inflatable slide with her son at the Back-to-School Bash on Tuesday, August 24. For photos of the event and a story on how the idea for the Bash came about, go online at Prospectornow.com.
To see what else is online now, see News, page 2
Football strategy
District differences
Many Prospect students are fans of rap music. Has the genre gone soft? For the answer, turn to...
The football team has found success with an intensified focus on their ground game. For more on their offensive approach, see...
How does the spirit of the other schools in District 214 compare to Prospect? Find the answer in...
Entertainment, page 12
Sports, page 15
Has rap lost its touch?
Features, page 10