The state of Illinois and the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization recently awarded some of the staff at Grayslake North.

The world language department, as well as CTE department chair Gina Schuyler, were awarded Those Who Excel awards from the state of Illinois

The award represents Grayslake North as having the most excelling students in language. All the language teachers got an email from the district. The district said in the email that they were nominated for the award.

You may be wondering why Grayslake North was selected. This is because out of all the schools in the state, Grayslake North’s language team is special. The language team at North has a very specific and fun way to entertain the students as well as teach them the language.

“We have a special way of doing things,” said Valerie Padgett-Krause, world language department chair.
This is a big award. There were three different levels of this award. Grayslake North achieved the highest level. The school won this award from the teachers basically sending in their work from students. They sent work in French, Spanish, and German.

“We won the award from Spanish, German, and French, mostly from Spanish and French,” Padgett-Krause said.

Gina Schuyler also won Those Who Excel for Administrator Meritorious Service.

“It was a great celebration of the innovative people and initiatives. It was an honor for the D127 to recognize these people by submitting their names and an even bigger honor to be chosen and recognized by the state,” Schuyler said.

The school recognized this achievement and wanted to celebrate. The school set a celebration for the teachers in the library. This celebration was held on April 19. There was food and Dr. Roscoe gave a speech for the teachers to show the school’s appreciation for their hard work.

“It was really nice. They had a really nice night,” Padgett-Krause said.

“The evening was a beautiful dinner where we (celebrated) with each other as well as with the district administration and board,” Schuyler said. “I am truly honored to work in a district that takes the time to celebrate these acts of innovation!”

Not only did Those Who Excel get awarded in the library during the celebration, Noah Scibbe won the VFW Teacher of the Year Award for the local district. This award was given to him from the local VFW, Veterans of Foreign Wars. Mr. Scibbe teaches classes like U.S. History, Government, and Economics.

The VFW award was initially presented in December but the Those Who Excel night was on April 12.

“I try to make students see the impact of the content on their lives so that they are emboldened to do something about it and make positive changes for the future,” Scibbe said.