Gifted students from West Chicago win top state award
By
Anna Madrzyk | Daily Herald Staff
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Gifted students from West Chicago won first in the state for their project
to get a fence built around railroad tracks near their elementary school.
Pioneer Elementary School fifth and sixth graders are set to compete in
June with students from around the world - but their cash-strapped school
district can't afford to send them.
"We're very determined that we're going to go," said teacher
Kathy Grogan.
The eight students in the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) class need
to raise approximately $7,000 to attend the International Future Problem
Solving Competition, June 9-14 in Wisconsin. The students won top honors in
their division in the community problem-solving category for Illinois.
The class project was to get fencing or warning signs in English and
Spanish put up around the tracks, which run through a field where children
often play. A 3-year-old girl was struck and killed there two years ago.
The students researched pedestrian-train accidents in Illinois, collected
signatures and put together a detailed proposal for the fence. As it turned
out, plans for a 5-foot-high cyclone fence were already underway, part of the
city's settlement after the Canadian National Railroad's merger with the
EJ&E. But the youngsters' efforts were recognized with a $500 Do Something
grant and a $200 donation from ABC 7, which will be used to buy the warning
signs.
Students from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Great Britain and
Canada as well as 32 states will compete at the five-day event on the campus of
the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse.
This is the third year Grogan's students have qualified for internationals.
Last year, her students took first in the state for their Hug in a Bag project
to help the homeless. The previous year, Grogan's class took first in the state
and third internationally for a playground-improvement project at Pioneer.
This year, though, the state's financial crisis has left West Chicago
Elementary District 33 forced to make budget cuts. And next year, District 33
is focusing on math in its gifted program, so the class will no longer be able
to do the community-solving project, which was part of the gifted reading
curriculum.
"This will be the last time we're going to be able to do this," Grogan
said.
Her students are working to raise money through bake sales and other
efforts, and are also looking for sponsors. The class is also working on the
DVD, display and scrapbook required for the international competition.
The eight students are sixth-graders Gabby Gallegos, Lourdes Rosales and
Nayeli Lara and fifth-graders Theresa Carriveau, Taylor Dehaeseleer, D'riah
McCarroll, Guillermo Orizaba and Christopher Reyes.