Naperville News Digest: Trailblazer challenge offers prizes for nature-themed missions; Naperville residents named Presidential Scholar candidates
The Forest Preserve District of Will County is challenging residents to take part in the Be a Trailblazer spring session, which will give away more than $10,000 worth of prizes.
Starting this week and continuing through Saturday, May 24, the competition begins by downloading the free Goosechase app and entering the code PQNL75, a news release said.
Points are awarded for completing nature-themed missions, and a leaderboard will show who is in the top spots.
However, prizes will not be based on points, the release said. Each mission completed will count as an entry in weekly giveaways for themed T-shirts. Prizes also will be connected to specific missions, earning everyone who successfully completes that mission entry into a random drawing.
Sponsored by the Nature Foundation of Will County, prizes include kayaks, sleds, Fitbits, Yeti coolers, tent and sleeping bag packs, fishing equipment, hiking poles, picnic packs and more, the district said. There is no limit on the number of prizes that can be won.
Naperville residents named Presidential Scholar candidates
Numerous Naperville students from several high schools have been named candidates for the 2025 Presidential Scholars program, which honors distinguished graduating high school seniors.
The U.S. Presidential Scholars program, established in 1964 to recognize the nation's top seniors, selects about 4,000 general program candidates mostly based on test scores, a news release said.
About 650 students will go on to be named semifinalists and, from there, about 160 students will be selected as Presidential Scholars.
The Naperville candidates are:
Waubonsie Valley High School (Naperville residents): Mannsha Assudani, Sajiv Harikrishnan, Anjali S. Madheswaran, Sanvi Maganti, Rida Majeed, Shruthi Muthiah, Vikram J. Narasimhan, Wing Y. Ng, Prakrti Senthil and Akshath Sivachidhambara.
Neuqua Valley High School: Neel Chawla, Aditya Rakshit, Andrew Z. Wan, Andy W. Yu and Alexander Zhao.
Naperville North High School: Chloe S. Chen, Jai Gupta, Aanika M. Parekh, Anderson Peng, Sophia R. Xi and Cathy Yang.
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (Naperville residents): Shrikar Dulam and Kumara Venkata Sadkr Malladi.
Isaac Chang, of Naperville, also made the list.
Applications due Tuesday for KidsMatter SpringBoard Summer Series
Teens 16 and older who want to participate in KidsMatter's SpringBoard Summer Series must apply by Tuesday, April 15.
The free program allows high school students to explore various professions, completing classwork and having field experiences in a variety of career sectors, a news release said.
Now in its third year, the series has expanded to include a new Physical and Life Sciences program at Fermilab in Batavia. Other programs include Survey of Healthcare Careers, Pharmacy Technician Prep Course and Construction Management and Trades, the release said.
All costs are covered, including books and fees. Students should indicate on their applications if transportation assistance is needed. Sessions will be held in early June and early August.
Instruction is led by experts, and some programs provide college credit through the College of DuPage or the opportunity to complete the Teen Mental Health First Aid certification from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.
For more information, go to kidsmatter2us.org/springboard-series.
Naperville Woman's Club donates $26,000 to charities
The Naperville Woman's Club has distributed $26,124 to charity from the money raised through Glam Witches Night Out, the Clay Space Empty Bowls project, member donations and a partnership with the Downtown Naperville Alliance and local businesses.
Some of the recipients included Loaves & Fishes; Metropolitan Family Services; Families Helping Families; KidsMatter; Humanitarian Service Project; Ready, Set Ride; Naperville Riverwalk Foundation; Almost Home Kids; and the Alzheimer's Association.
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The committee looked at grading-related topics like re-takes, zero's, formative and summative assessments, the role of homework and extra credit in grading and resources for students with 504 plans and Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, and multilingual students. Formative assessments are 'low-stakes,' Johnson said at the school board meeting on July 7, and show students 'exactly where they are, what their strengths are and the areas in which they need to grow.' Summative assessments, on the other hand, are meant to measure the knowledge and skills that a student has learned. The rationale for the weighted grading system includes a focus on more equitable grading, Johnson said, since the grading system looks at students' mastery of topics and skills and lets students know what they're aiming for and what their grade represents. It also standardizes grading practices, Lee told the board. The district currently has over 250 different gradebooks, he said, to track and measure grades. 'That many, just, different forms of how we're valuing work…is inconsistent, sends the wrong message to students,' Lee said. Both administrators acknowledged that criticism of this sort of grading practice exists. Lee noted that, for example, weighting can devalue formative assessments, and impact student motivation to do daily work. But the district's sub-committee looking at formative and summative assessments, for which Johnson was a co-facilitator, ultimately landed on recommending this 80% and 20% grading system. A couple middle schools already have similar weighted grading systems, the district administrators noted. The board responded with numerous questions about the proposed system — and some concerns. Board member Susan Demming, for example, asked about the specific percentages that were decided on. Johnson said these percentages were common in looking at neighboring schools, and said that the committee felt the percentage for summative assessments couldn't be more than 80%. Board vice president Supna Jain asked if the idea is for this grading system to be a guideline or a requirement. Lee said the long-term plan is for it to be a requirement, but that there would be flexibility as to, for example, how assignments are categorized and how they're designed. Board member Mark Rising expressed concern about the weighting of formative and summative assessments. 'We have very different learners across our district,' Rising said. 'And when we're setting an 80/20, formative-summative (system), we are automatically setting up kids for failure, in my opinion. There are kids that their homework, their extra credit sustains their grade. There are some kids that have test anxiety. I fear we are creating not a more equitable system, I fear we're creating a more inequitable system.' To the board's questions, Talley noted that this sort of grading already exists in the district, meaning it's not an entirely new system, but it isn't standardized across district schools and classrooms. He said he asked this work to be done over three to five years because 'of the questions that people are asking' and that this is the beginning of the process for the district. Lee, too, pointed to the timeline as board members shared their questions and concerns. 'We want to provide a long runway for this,' Lee said. Meanwhile, the sub-committees are continuing to work on grading and implementation, Lee said. Re-takes, for example, are one point of concern. Lee noted that re-takes are common in college, for standardized tests and post-graduate examinations, and said they are evaluating what role they should have in classes in the district going forward. The weighted grading pilot will be starting in the fall, according to the presentation, and is set to include both teachers already implementing a similar system and some that aren't, Lee said. The total number of classrooms and teachers participating in it will not be finalized until teachers return in August, Lee told The Beacon-News. From there, Lee said the plan is to present data from the pilot to the school board in the spring, train teachers starting in August 2026, and potentially implement the grading system as standard policy in August 2027.
