Naperville News Digest: Teen artwork to be displayed on streetlight controller boxes; forest preserve district wins $1.9M grant for trail, roads
City officials announced the teen artists selected for the project were Avani Aggarwal, Jumana Janoowalla, Soha Javaid, Olivia Mancha and Annie O'Boyle from Neuqua Valley High School and Alice Wang from Naperville Central.
Their artwork will be installed by June 30, officials said.
The city this spring solicited designs from students ages 13 to 18 and received 30 entries, a city memorandum said. Members of Naperville's ArtForum made the final selections.
Winning selections include colorful jungle scenes, hot air balloons, a look at the seasons, and rainbows and music.
Naperville resident Wing Yu Ng, a graduate of Waubonsie Valley High School, was awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the Illinois Municipal Utilities Association as part of its essay contest.
She plans to major in finance at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
About 70 high school seniors submitted essays from which four were selected to receive scholarships, a news release said.
Ng's essay, 'Daily Lifestyle Changes to Help Mitigate the Impacts of Climate Change,' discussed how everyday choices and changes can affect the environment, according to the nonprofit utilities association, which represents Illinois municipalities that own and operate public utility systems.
American Legion Post 43 has awarded $3,000 college scholarships to Naperville Central High School graduates Arwa Hameed and Lucy Ross and Naperville North High School graduate Madeline Pecak.
High school seniors were asked to submit an essay describing the responsibilities of citizens in a democratic society and were graded by four judges based on grammar, spelling, originality, context and content. Other factors considered were students' academic achievement, leadership, participation in school and community activities, honors, community service and patriotic involvement, according to a news release.
Hameed will be studying business and political science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Ross will be studying elementary education at Central Washington University; and Pecak will be studying psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Forest Preserve District of Will County is the recipient of a $1.9 million grant for trail and road improvements through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program of the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Meant to help expand local travel options and enhance a community's quality of life, the funds will support a trail that will be built in partnership with the city of Aurora and Wheatland Township Road District, according to a news release from state Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora.
It will stretch along the north side of Wolf's Crossing Road west from Carls Drive and on the south side east from Carls Drive, the release said.
Trail users will be able to head west to Hoffman Boulevard to connect to a system of Aurora trails or east towards the forest preserve district's Normantown Trail or the Naperville Park District's Tallgrass Greenway Trail.
The project is in the first phase of engineering, which includes a preliminary design alignment.
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