Spotlight: Class of 2024 End-of-Year Celebrations

Each month, the LP Link will spotlight an area of District focus with the goal of sharing valuable information and resources with our school community. This month highlights upcoming recognition events to celebrate the graduating Class of 2024. This marks a special time of year for Lancer students and families.

Decision Day

On Monday, May 13, students are encouraged to wear their college, trade, military or work gear to show their plans for next year. During lunch periods, Lancers can decorate the cafeteria windows with their post-secondary plans, take photos, and enjoy a tasty treat!

Cap and Gown Distribution

Graduation caps, gowns, and 5.0 medallions will be distributed during lunch periods on Monday, May 13 and Tuesday, May 14 in the student cafeteria. or starting Wednesday, May 15 between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. in the Main Office at West Campus. As a reminder, families already paid for and ordered caps and gowns during online registration for the 2023-2024 school year. 

Scholarship Recognition

Lake Park will host the 44th Annual Scholarship and Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, May 21 at 7:00 p.m. in the West Campus auditorium to honor graduating students for national, state, school and community-level scholarships. West Campus Principal Dr. Alexia Ellett sent electronic invitations this week to students who will be recognized.

In prior years, the College & Career Center has gathered outside scholarship and award data from seniors, which were mainly from the schools students planned to attend. This year, due to the national delays in FAFSA processing, many colleges have pushed back their enrollment deadlines beyond the traditional May 1 Decision Day, which explains why Lake Park pushed it later this month. Many seniors have not yet received financial aid award information from their colleges and may still be deciding where to attend even into the summer months. To not add more stress to students, and due to the many logistical and data verification pieces, outside award information was not solicited from students this year.

Graduation Rehearsal

New this year, students will be required to attend graduation rehearsal at Willow Creek in South Barrington on Tuesday, May 28 from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. Graduates will learn their seating arrangements, practice the processional/recessional, and receive final instructions to make everything run smoothly during the graduation ceremony. 

Graduation 

Lake Park's 67th Commencement will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 29 at 7:00 p.m. at Willow Creek. Tickets are not required and doors will open at 6:00 p.m. for open seating. Families with graduating students are encouraged to visit the Class of 2024 Graduation website for additional resources. 

Graduation Videos

Purchase a keepsake today! Graduation videos will be available for a minimum donation of $20.00 to the Lake Park Educational Foundation and available approximately a week after the event (shared via email as a video file). Visit www.lphs.org/GraduationVideo for more information and to complete an order form.

As the 2023-2024 school year draws to a conclusion this month, the Lancer community looks forward to celebrating the Class of 2024. Congratulations to our graduates and their families! 

Senior Department Recognition

Congratulations to 19 seniors honored during a ceremony on April 25.

Congratulations to 19 senior Lancers honored on Thursday, April 25 during a ceremony designed to recognize their academic contributions to each department.

The students were joined by their family members and introduced by a faculty representative of each department.

Teachers expressed pride for the character and academic achievement of this impressive group of Lancers

Biological Science - Aashna Bhatt

Business - Jacqueline Cozzi

Computer Tech - Maya Krolikowski

Drama - Mia Mannella

Education Services - Nicholas Waldrop

English - Kelly Hanssen

ESL - Alvaro Roblejo Ferrera

Family & Consumer Science -

Georgiana Kondracki

French - Edith Ramirez

German - Jack Johnson

Math - Kailen Patel

Music - Akul Sharma

Physical Education - Derek Ittner

Physical Science - Sofia Ranallo

Social Studies - Henry Thiele

Spanish - Sona Thomas

Technology Center of DuPage - Natalie Nowak

Technology & Engineering - Angelo Gambino

Visual Art - Jack Kaemerer

Please note the information previously published was outdated. This corrected version reflects the 2024 student participants.

Congratulations to 20 DECA students who represented Lake Park and competed in the International DECA Conference from Saturday, April 27-Wednesday, May 1 in Anaheim, CA. The students earned this opportunity having placed in the Top 5 in their respective categories during the DECA State competition held February 29-March 2 in Rosemont at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare.

The DECA sponsors are Katie Bestvina, Patryk Pliszka, and Brittany Simpson.

Congratulations to two seniors who represented Lake Park at the first Illinois Individual State Tournament (IIST) for Science Olympiad. Aashna Bhatt took second place in Forensics and Ellie Sprandel took sixth place in Write It Do It! Hosted on Saturday, April 20 at McHenry County College, the IIST for Science Olympiad was intended for students who earned a medal at their Regional Science Olympiad Tournament, but whose team did not earn a bid to the Illinois Science Olympiad State Tournament. Special thanks to club sponsors Chris Roleck and Mike Howard.

Congratulations to freshman Moksh Majmudar who qualified for the IHSA Journalism State Series in sports writing. Moksh competed in this category with 10 other students on Friday, April 26 at Heartland Community College in Normal. Thanks to Lake Park Perspective newspaper sponsor Mike Bundalo for helping to represent Lake Park among nearly 75 high schools competing in18 different events during the State Series.

Community Art Project

Art honor society students design wooden birdhouses.

Over the last several months, the National Art Honors Society (NAHS) has worked in conjunction with the Roselle Arts and Culture Foundation (RACF) to create three custom birdhouses that will be used by the Roselle Park District. In October, NAHS students formed teams of two to five students to create birdhouse designs. Once the designs were approved, the students color mixed and painted their birdhouse base coats and then added the fine details based upon the approved designs. Students will present these birdhouses to the Roselle Park District at a ceremony opening the new Turner Park on Saturday, June 1.

Head Boys Varsity Basketball Coach Billy Pitcher was recently named one of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Class 4A Coaches of the Year. This well deserved honor came after Coach Pitcher led his Lancers to their 2nd-consecutive IHSA Regional Title, our first-ever DuKane Conference Championship where the Lancers were a perfect 14-0, and tied the all-time program record for season wins at 29. The entire Lake Park community was energized by this special season which was a great source of pride for all of us.

This is the fifth time in his career Billy has received this honor having been recognized in 2016 and 2018 when he was the head coach at Lake Zurich High School and again in 2019 and 2020 in his first two seasons at Lake Park. Billy came to Lake Park in 2018-2019 after leading the Lake Zurich Bears to a Sectional title in 2018, ironically knocking Lake Park out of Regionals that year! In his now six (6) seasons leading our program Coach Pitcher's teams have amassed 129 wins (an impressive .719 winning percentage), and have captured four (4) IHSA Regional Championships and one DuKane Conference title.

Retired Lake Park Girls and Boys Swimming Head Coach Dan Witteveen was recently inducted into the Illinois Swimming and Diving Association (IDSA) Hall of Fame. This honor is truly well-deserved for "Coach Dan," as he is affectionately known by our swimmers, in recognition of his 29 years of dedicated leadership of our Girls and Boys Swim programs. The evening was particularly special as Dan was accompanied by his son and current Lake Park Head Coach, Bennet Witteveen, two Lancer for Life Swimmers currently on our swim staff, Tim Layer and Lauren Zalon, and the 2023-2024 Lake Park Girls and Boys Swimming All-State Athletes, who were also honored at the event.

Throughout his Hall of Fame career at Lake Park, Coach Witteveen guided LP Swim teams to 14 Team Sectional Titles, coached 21 All-State Athletes, and nurtured 1 IHSA State Champion.

Giving DuPage Days Ends Today

Lake Park Educational Foundation Fundraiser.

There is still time to donate! On this last day of Giving DuPage, Friday, May 3, please consider sharing your generosity and support. Giving DuPage Days is a county-wide fundraiser event to celebrate, support, and raise awareness for nonprofit organizations serving DuPage County. From May 1-3, the entire county has come together to send a resounding message of HOPE to local nonprofits. The Lake Park Educational Foundation joined this initiative of focused online giving and has been participating all week with a goal of raising $2500. Special thanks to the donors who have contributed already! If you are interested in learning more, contact Executive Director Becky Wyatt at (630) 295-5264.

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