News Briefs: Highland Park honors its awardees; WJH band earns recognition; Library to host children’s book sale; Giants hooper has big day

The recipients of the annual Highland Park Awards were celebrated on April 9 in a ceremony at Highland Park High School.

The program from the City of Highland Park recognizes residents “who have made positive, sustained, and impactful contributions to the community in their respective category.”

The winners are (descriptions from the City of Highland Park):

• Arts Award: Time to Dance, co-founders Lynne Belsky and Lisa Gold, for innovative work to improve the lives of local adults, age 50 and better, through affordable, accessible dance classes that are tailored to individual needs.

• Environmental Award: Habitat Highland Park, for its focus on establishing a corridor of sustainable wildlife habitat by planting native trees, ensuring food and water resources, decreasing the use of pesticides and chemicals, and encouraging community members to integrate wildlife-friendly practices into garden sustainability.

• Humanitarian Award: Terri Olian, executive director of the Highland Park Community Foundation, for her decades of personal and professional service to the Highland Park community.

• Character Counts Pillar Award (for trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship): Ximena Aragon, Chadd Berkun, Alexi De La Cruz-Ramirez, Stella Edison, Diana Ergang, Neve Felsenthal, Kenia Flores, Lindsay Hernandez, Hannah Juergens, Quentin Kelley, Melissa Kerpel, Shay Kessel, Anderson Kinsey, Daniela Lopez, Eliot Lupa, Maggie Martinez, Anderson Pflug, Ray Samson, Ella Scharg, Owen Scholl, Isaac Smeyers and Marie Tomaszewska.

Capture the Heart of Highland Park Photography Contest (140 entries): Arts & Architecture — “Elizabeth in the Afternoon,” Jeff Kolthammer; Daily Life — “Fisherman,” Lynn West; Environmental — “My Mystical Morning Walk,” Nate Kinard; and Community Favorite — “Music Lives Here,” Marcela Verschoor.

For more information on the recipients, see the full release from the City.

WJHS band bound for Champaign

The Wilmette Junior High School’s symphonic band was one of seven junior high bands from Illinois to earn a spot in the 2025 University of Illinois SuperState Band Festival, which is scheduled for May 9 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts on the university’s campus in Champaign.

Children’s Book Fair on Saturday in Wilmette

The Friends of the Wilmette Public Library will host the Spring Children’s Book Fair from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 19, in the auditorium at the Wilmette Public Library, 1242 Wilmette Ave.

Items range in price from 50 cents to $1 at the cash-only sale. During the event, donations will also be accepted in support of Los Angeles-area libraries affected by the recent wildfires.

Highland Park guard leads way in Jewish Basketball Showcase

Simon Moschin, a Highland Park High School senior, scored a game-high 26 points for Team Jerusalem in its 68-64 victory against Team Tel Aviv in the second Chicagoland Jewish Basketball Showcase on April 6 at Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Skokie.

The friendly matchup featured 14 of the top Jewish high school senior basketball players from the area (Highland Park, Glenbrook North, Evanston, Deerfield and more) to raise money for Hadassah and the Hadassah Medical Organization’s hospitals in Israel.

Moschin and Glenbrook North’s Jordan Cohen caught fire in the second quarter combining for 16 points, and Team Jerusalem took a 36-33 lead into halftime and led by just two points at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Team Jerusalem got a critical basket from Deerfield’s Milo Solomon to seal the victory.

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