In April, The Forest Scout visited Lake Bluff Elementary School to discuss journalism with fifth graders. Since then, the young reporters have worked hard to pitch story ideas, interview sources, write drafts, edit stories, and create graphics.  Today, we are excited to bring you four of their stories.

Quinn Acello: From The Beginning

Hailey Acello

Who is Quinn, and what is Lacrosse?

Quinn is a freshman on the varsity lacrosse team at Lake Forest High School. Quinn has been playing lacrosse since he was in kindergarten. Quinn’s number at Lake Forest is 27. Quinn has been doing so good in his season, a commentator even said, “ Freshman number 27 is making a big difference at the x.” Quinn was also not a starter at the beginning of his lacrosse season, but now he is a starter. This is how Quinn became a starter: he worked hard, and when you work hard, you can do anything you want to, and that is what Quinn did. He worked hard and became a starter on the Lake Forest Lacrosse team.

What is Quinn’s position?

Quinn does faceoffs for lacrosse. Faceoffs are the first thing you do in a lacrosse game, and after every goal and all four periods.

What are Quinn’s life goals?

Quinn Acello has life goals, and some of his life goals are to play lacrosse at a D1 school. Quinn’s dream schools are Army and Denver University.  After Quinn graduates from college, he wants to become a police officer and own his own landscape business.

What about Quinn’s family? 

Quinn Acello has a big family. He has 5 siblings, and his siblings’ names are Dakota, Annie, Dom, Charlie, and Hailey. Dakota plays on the girls’ Varsity Lacrosse Team at Lake Forest High School, and she is committed to playing D1 lacrosse at UMass Lowell. She is a goalie. Another one of his siblings is Annie. Annie plays on the girls’ varsity basketball team at Lake Forest High School. Her dream is to play basketball in college. His brother’s name is Dom. Dom plays lacrosse as well. Dom is in 8th grade. He is a great lacrosse player, and he is hoping to be on the Lake Forest Varsity Lacrosse team next year. His fourth sibling’s name is Charlie, and she loves to run. She is on the Lake Bluff Middle School track team and the cross-country team. And then there is his youngest sister, and that is me! I am Hailey, and I also play lacrosse! I’m a goalie, and my dream is to make varsity as a freshman just like my big siblings! Quinn also has his mom, whose name is Jennifer, and his dad, whose name is Brian. Brian and Jennifer are so kind and great parents.

How does Quinn get better at lacrosse?

Quinn also works hard outside of practice, so he can get even better than he already is. One thing he does to get better at lacrosse is he goes to a lacrosse field and works on his shot on the goal. He also works on his faceoffs every single day, so he can win in his games. Quinn’s favorite quote is “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”

Mr. Nilles – A Bridge Between LFHS and LBES

Marilyn Blom, Abby McNiven, Nora Valente 

Imagine this. You are meeting your teachers for high school. Then you see your 5th-grade teacher. Still the same look in his eyes, but more lively, same smile but happier, everything is the same. Then you go up to talk to him and remind him who you are. Then you ask, “Do you still teach 5th grade?” and he says, “Yes. I think I have your little reading buddy. They have grown so much.”

Well, that 5th-grade teacher is Mr. Nilles. He has two jobs- one coaching LFHS baseball and teaching, and he works both without a problem.  There are so many things about Mr.Nilles that we do not know, like his split passions, what students and teachers think about him, and other teachers with split passions. In this report, you will find out everything.   

Split Passions 

Do you have a split passion?  Well, Mr. Nilles does. He has been teaching for 10 years. His first year of teaching was multi-age, which was a combined class of 4th & 5th-grade students.

Then, he started teaching 5th Grade. Did you know that Mr. Nilles did not go to college to teach, but then he went back to college to get his master’s degree?  He is also licensed to teach history at the middle school. 

This is also his 9th year coaching baseball at LFHS. He also had other baseball coaching jobs with Lake Bluff Baseball, LFBA, and Slammers. 

Mr. Nilles said, “I try to keep my teaching priorities during the teaching day, and all my baseball priorities after my teaching day is done. However, there are times in my head when baseball is on my mind in school. And vice versa.” 

Thoughts

Mrs. Lenox, another 5th-grade teacher at LBES, said, “Mr. Nilles is an exceptional teacher. He engages his students and makes school/learning fun! He connects with his students and creates a classroom environment that encourages focus and respect. He is creative and uses innovative strategies to make learning engaging and memorable for his students. He challenges his students, but he is also encouraging when students struggle to grasp a concept. He cares deeply about  his students, and it’s important to him that you all enjoy coming to school each day!” 

We sent out a survey for the students in Mr. Nilles’ class, and when we got the results for the question “Is Mr. Nilles a good teacher?” Well, the answer is YES. 23 out of 23 students think he is amazing.

Another question in the survey was, “Has Mr. Nilles taught you a lot this year?” Everyone said “Yes.” One person even said, “I learned the most this year than all my other years.”

More Split Passions

There are plenty of other teachers with split passions, but here are two, Mr. Werhane and Mr. Ellis. Both of them coach multiple sports.

Mr. Ellis is a fourth-grade teacher and he coaches at Lake Bluff Middle School and Highland Park High School.  He coaches co-ed soccer, boys volleyball, boys basketball, and JV lacrosse. 

We asked if coaching affects his teaching, and Mr. Ellis feels that when he coaches at the middle school or high school, it reminds him of what level his students are at.

We also asked him what he liked better, teaching or coaching kids. Mr Ellis replied that, “I don’t really like one more than the other. They both help people. So both. I can’t see doing one without the other.”

We also asked him if he has any conflicts between sports, or between school and sports, or vice versa. Mr. Ellis replied that he sometimes has time conflicts between sports. He also said that sometimes he’s coaching one sport and thinking about another, but that it doesn’t really interfere. 

Mr. Werhane teaches special education, and he also coaches Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse at Highland Park High School and Lake Bluff Middle School boys basketball.

We asked Mr. Wehane if coaching affects his teaching, and he said, “It allows me to see different age groups, and it allows me to see growth in different people. It allows me to be mindful of what I say and do in certain situations.” 

We also asked Mr. Wehane, ” What do you like more: Teaching or coaching? And he said, “Teaching kids here because I live here and I like seeing and helping kids in the community.”

We also asked him if he ever had any conflicts between his sports and when he teaches. Mr. Werhane said, “Yeah, sometimes there are conflicts. I have meetings after school, or I have to take an email or phone call during school. But it doesn’t happen that much.”

Mr. Nilles 

Mr. Nilles has one of the best lives! I am sure you do too. He has amazing jobs. I remember when I used to hear, “Mr. Nilles is the best,” and “ I think Mr. Nilles should teach everyone”. But then later I realized that it is a better experience to have him in fifth grade or maybe in high school again, if you play baseball. I mean, how cool would that be to have your favorite teacher as your baseball coach? Mr. Nilles has two jobs and rocks both, as a teacher and a baseball coach. Maybe you can relate to him if you work two jobs too. You also would know it might not be easy, but he does it with a smile! I hope you like our article. Thanks for reading!

Eighth Graders Going to High School!

Liora Simon

The 8th graders from Lake Bluff Middle School are going to graduate soon!

8th grader Elora Simon said, “I feel excited about going to high school. Although I’ll miss middle school, I am so ready to get out of there. If you know, you know. In simple terms, I’ll say that lots of drama happens. Elementary school didn’t prepare me whatsoever for what was going to be happening. The interesting part, though, was that most of the people in my grade are the firstborn in their family.’’

High school must be a pretty big and hard obstacle, just like Elora Simon said, “It’s going to be extremely hard because for the next four years, I’m going to have to learn everything I may need to know for the future. High school will be very stressful with all the homework I’m going to have to face. But, I think middle school has prepared me for this transition.’’

Different 8th graders are going to go to different high schools, like Loyola and Lake Forest High School.

Elora Simon said that she is going to LFHS. LFHS is a really good school. It has lots of clubs and activities. It is a big and very beautiful school.

A lot of 8th graders liked 8th grade! ELora Simon said she liked 8th grade. Soon, the 8th graders are going to say,’’ Goodbye 8th grade! Hello, high school!’’

Get ready, high schoolers! The 8th graders are coming!