Rock Island/Milan School District News

Education Foundation

Tom Thoms, Kelly Bishop, Kayla Jackson, Lizandra Gomez Ramirez, DeAuna Ivy and Lindsay Womack The Thoms Family Above & Beyond Scholarship announced Kayla Jackson as the $5,000 top scholarship winner during at the January 22 meeting of the Rock Island-Milan Board of Education. Kayla’s project, The Art of Giving, was based on the goal of starting an art program at the high school beyond the traditional classes. Her project included an art show of creation by the students and teachers of RIHS. With entry fees, raffles, and ticket sales, Ms. Jackson raised the seed money to start a program. Kayla explains, “My goal is to establish a program which allows students to express their artistic abilities and give back to our community.” Stuart Thoms, founder of the scholarship fund, stated,... 

The Rock Island-Milan Education Foundation received two large donations from community members totaling $55,000 to establish two new scholarship programs for Rock Island High School graduates. The two scholarships, named the Chet Schultz Scholarship and the Darrell and Mary Anne Reynolds Reach Scholarship, will be available to Rock Island High School seniors next spring. Chet Schultz’s family members founded the scholarship in his honor with a $30,000 donation. Mr. Schultz taught at Rock Island High School for 31 years, implementing and teaching drivers education and serving as the head coach of the wrestling team for 17 years. One of Chet Schultz greatest accomplishments was coaching the 1967 state championship Rocky wrestling team. He excelled at wrestling during high school, and it was... 

District-wide

It is that time of year again – for the Night of 1000 Dreams! This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the event – and it is going to prove to be a great night of food and fundraising! There’s a new venue this year – Jumer’s Casino & Hotel! And the event will showcase a sampling of signature dishes from some of the finest restaurants in the QC – Atlante’s Trattoria, Bent River Brewery, Blue Cat Brewery, Dr. Gyros, Gendler’s Black Ram, Goombaz Big City Eatzz, Hill & Valley, Hungry Hobo, Jumer’s, Legends Corner Bar & Grille, Mama Bosso, Mama Compton’s, OH Nuts and more, O’ Melia’s, Pagalo’s Pizzeria, Pizza & Subs, Stern Beverage! You could also have a chance at winning the Grand Prize – A Rock... 

Superintendent Oberhaus presented the award to the Longfellow Student council. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced in January that Longfellow Liberal Arts was being awarded the 2012 Academic Improvement Award for the schools outstanding improvement in test scores in reading and mathematics. Longfellow showed an overall improvement of at least 7.5 points in reading and mathematics from the previous years test scores. The school is one of only 81 schools across the State of Illinois to receive the award. Superintendent Oberhaus presented the Longfellow Liberal Arts Student Council with the award at a school-wide assembly on Friday, Feb. 22. He congratulated them on a job well done and encouraged all of the students to keep working hard during the ISAT testing the following... 

Four students in the Rock Island-Milan School District advanced on to the Regional Spelling Bee in the school district competition on Thursday, Feb. 7 at the Rock Island Center for Math & Science. Stephanie Kerno, Washington Jr. High (8th grade) Kaylyn Lemmon, Longfellow Liberal Arts (6th grade) Carson Verstraete, Thomas Jefferson Elementary (5th grade) Jasmine McAfee, Earl Hanson Elementary (4th grade) Stephanie Kerno was crowned as the Rock Island-Milan School District Spelling Bee Champion. School Board member Dr. Kim Armstrong, Rock Island Mayor Dennis Pauley and Kai Swanson from Augustana College served as judges for the event. Sandee Luster, the Dispatch/Argus NIE Coordinator served as pronouncer. Spelling Bee winners advance to Regional Bee! Pictured: Stephanie Kerno, Carson Verstraete,...