<Other News>

Congratulations to our 2007-2008 recipients Mr. George F. Hartmann, Class of 1960 and Douglas M. McCabe, Ph.D., Class of 1967. You have set the standard to which current students can aspire.

Induction for ICHS Distinguished Alumni will take place during Catholic Schools Week on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 8:15 a.m. in the IC Chapel. This award recognizes an Immaculate Conception High School graduate whose achievements reflect excellence, commitment, service and witness to the heart and spirit of Catholic education.

Immaculate Conception High School senior Jonathon Ellis was among four Chicago area high school Scholar-Athlete Award recipients that were honored by the National Football Foundation (NFF) on February 13th at Harry Caray’s Restaurant. Nominated by IC Head Football Coach Bill Schmidt, Ellis was selected by the NFF Chicago Metro Chapter Board of Directors for the 2008 Scholar-Athlete Award for his excellence on the football field, in the classroom and in the community.

During his football career at IC, Ellis garnered over 3,000 yards and 26 touchdowns as a running back. He was a two-time SCC All-Conference, All-Area and All-State selection. The two-year team captain also had five interceptions as a defensive back. Off the field, Jon has been active as a Varsity Club member, Knight Ambassador and youth football mentor. Ellis plans to follow two other IC alums and NFF Scholarship winners, Bryan Mulligan and Brad Paus, to DePauw University where he will team up with his former teammates to play football for the Tigers and study business.

Over 200 people attended the Awards Ceremony, where the Voice of the Chicago Bears, Jeff Joniak, was the Master of Ceremonies and University of Illinois Head Coach Ron Zook was the Keynote Speaker. During the ceremony, Jarrett Payton also spoke to the attendees about the wonderful work of the Walter Payton Cancer Fund.

Meg Kowieski of Elmhurst has been honored for her exemplary volunteer service with a President’s Volunteer Service Award.

The award, which recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities and their country, was presented by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program on behalf of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. Ms. Kowieski participated in the Spirit of Community program this year as a representative of Immaculate Conception High School in Elmhurst, where she is a senior.

Ms. Kowieski earned her award through her volunteer work in numerous community organizations. She has been a member of the Elmhurst Police Department Peer Jury since its inception four years ago and volunteered at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, DuPage Senior Council and Sisters of Charity soup kitchen. At IC, she serves as co-president of student council and president of the National Honor Society, both of which concern themselves with community service projects during the school year.

Sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program recognizes young people across America for outstanding community service activities. Nearly 250,000 young people from across America have been considered for these awards since the program began in 1995. Meg Kowieski, along with other award recipients was judged on criteria such as personal initiative, creativity, effort, impact, and personal growth.

ICHS would like to commend Meg Kowieski on being named to the 2007-2008 Daily Herald Leadership Team and Brendan Ryan on being named honorable mention. Meg was one of 10 students chosen from the DuPage Area. Members of this team were selected from a pool of students from nearly 100 high schools based on their exceptional volunteer and leadership activities.

Both Meg and Brendan are outstanding seniors and citizens of our community. We are very proud to have them represent ICHS on the Daily Herald Leadership Team. Click on either name to learn more about Meg and Brendan and their achievements.

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is pleased to announce the 2008-09 Illinois State Scholar finalists. The Illinois State Scholars program recognizes Illinois high school students for outstanding academic achievement.

Students ranking in the top ten percent of the state’s 147,000 graduating high school seniors have been named Illinois State Scholars. Selection is based on SAT I and/or ACT test score results and/or the students’ class rank at the end of the junior year of high school.

Immaculate Conception High School is pleased to announce the names of this year’s Illinois State Scholars:

Senior running back, Jonathon Ellis, was recently named to the IHSA All-State Football Team for the second straight year. In his high school career at ICHS, Jon rushed for over 2500 yards and tallied 25 touchdowns for the Knights. He was also named to the SCC All-Conference Team and Daily Herald All-Area Team.

Immaculate Conception High School is pleased to announce the team winners of the 20th Annual Junior High Math Contest, which was held on Saturday, November 17th. With over 100 seventh and eighth grade students in attendance they represented 16 different schools from the surrounding communities. ICHS would like to congratulate the top scoring grade school teams.

Results of individual winners have been sent to the participant’s home and school. Again congratulations to all the students who competed in this year’s contest.

The Knights Cross Country star Natalie D'Agostino finished in 9th place in Peoria at the IHSA State Finals on Saturday the 3rd. Congratulations to Natalie on an incredible year......and she is only a freshmen!!

After her team won four straight matches this past Saturday to advance to the championship game at the St. Viator Tournament, Jean Field stood on the threshold of 700 career wins. Wednesday night she crossed that threshold, recording her 700th career victory as the Knights defeated ACC 25-13 and 25-8. Coach Field is only the 8th coach in IHSA volleyball history to amass 700 career wins.

The recent accolades and honors tell only a small part of the Jean Field story. Coach Field brings a long tradition of winning and sportsmanship to the high school volleyball courts in the rugged Suburban Catholic Conference.

In 1981, the Field-led Lady Knights, with a record of 37-4-1, beat Mendota at the IHSA state championship. Three years later they repeated the feat when the 31-8 Knights beat Strasburg to capture the state title in 1984. In 1979, the 22-6 Knights were second in the state and in 1980 the 23-4 team also took second in the IHSA state tournament competition. Again in 1982, the 38-6 team was runner-up in the state tourney. An impressive list of accomplishments indeed.

This season marks the 33rd year that Coach Field has led the IC volleyball program. Starting the program, she has coached the team for thirty-three of the thirty-five years of the program’s existence, taking a break after her second season for the birth her first child. While amassing an outstanding record over her tenure as volleyball coach, she has had over thirty of her players go on to compete at the college level. Said Coach Field, “I’ve had a great time and worked with some great kids and great athletes.”

Though Coach Field is best known for her accomplishments in volleyball, she is clearly the “Dean of IC Girls Athletics.” She was originally hired as a PE teacher; cheerleading moderator and pep club advisor as there were no girl’s sports before Title 9 was enacted. Once the floodgates opened for girl’s sports, Coach Field led the charge at IC by directing the girl’s intramurals program. The following year she started and coached the girls track team.

During her thirteen years as track coach, 59 of Coach Field’s track team members qualified for state, including Linda Tulley who was a two-time state champion in the 800M. Coach Field also launched and coached the girl’s tennis team in 1973, a year after starting girls track. “My fondest memories are of all the kids I had the chance to work with,” said Field. “Girl’s sports were in its infancy when I started coaching.”

Her peers have recognized Coach Field as a leader in the field of coaching and academics. Her excellence as a coach and an educator has also been noticed on the national stage. This past year, the American Volleyball Coaches Association named Coach Field’s team a recipient of the AVCA Team Academic Award for the fourteenth year in a row; IC is one of only two high schools in the nation to achieve this feat. As Guidance Director at IC, she stresses excellence both on and off the court as is evidenced by her most recent squad that placed nine members on the SCC Academic All-Conference team.

ICHS Principal Pam Levar has worked with Coach Field for more than 20 years and says Field’s dedication and commitment play key roles in her success. “Her ability to work with student athletes both academically and on the court is a tremendous legacy for IC High School” said Ms. Levar.

State Championships	2
State Runner Up	3
3rd Place State	1
State Elite Eight	8
Sectional Championships	11
Regional Championships	18
Conference Championships	4
AVCA Academic Excellence Awards (began in 1992)	14

Congratulations to the ICHS Varsity Volleyball Team, led by Coach Jean Field, for receiving the 2006-2007 American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award. This award honors team academic excellence among collegiate and high school volleyball programs across the country. Teams must maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade point average on a 4.0 scale and a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale during the school year. Over 900 different schools have earned the award in the program’s 15 year history. Coach Jean Field and the ICHS Varsity Volleyball Team are proud to be the recipients of this award for the 14th consecutive year. Only one other high school in the country, Trinity Preparatory School in Florida, shares this honor.