Highland Park High School Students Inducted to Rotary Interact Club

The information below comes from District 113.

Several Highland Park High School students were inaugurated into the Rotary Interact Club on Oct. 12. 

The club launched at HPHS last year with the help of the Rotary Club of Highland Park/Highwood. Rotary's goal is to provide humanitarian service throughout the world and in participants’ communities. The world-wide organization recently started sponsoring clubs at high schools. There are 18 high school Rotary Clubs in Northern Illinois, including the one at HPHS. 

HPHS Rotary currently has 39 members and its first Board was inaugurated on Oct. 12 as well.

“Your motto is service before self,” Burt Schmarak, Rotary Club of Highland Park/Highwood Co-President Elect, told students at the event.

Students gathered and sang “Heal the World” by Michael Jackson in front of a crowd of family members there to celebrate the inauguration. 

HPHS teacher and club co-sponsor Melissa Zientara is extremely proud at how much progress the club has already made.

“Authentic relationships grow between different students while they perform service,” she said. “It’s so nice to see.”

Last month, HPHS Rotary members participated in the Long Grove Heritage Walk to raise money for Lake County PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter). Similar events are scheduled throughout the year. 

Halloween Concert Spooktacular

Walk through the doors of the Highland Park High School auditorium. Look to the left. A mummy welcomes you to his tomb.

Look to the right. A zombie greets you from the shadows. Look up. Dusty cobwebs and frightening ghosts drift over your head. Look to the stage. The Highland Park High School Band students are costumed as ghouls, goblins, witches, and other frightful characters ready to captivate the audience with their annual Halloween Concert.

The annual Halloween Concert will be held on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 3 p.m. in the Main Auditorium at Highland Park High School.

As the lights dim and the fog begins to rise, the audience sits back as the band performs the first notes of some of the greatest Halloween favorites. The music to be performed by the combined high school bands features a variety of Halloween classical and popular favorites. Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,” Edvard Grieg’s “March of the Trolls,” “Ritual Fire Dance” by Manuel da Falla, and “The Noon Witch” by Antonin Dvorak along with Moussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” made popular in Walt Disney’s animated film Fantasia, and the old television theme from Alfred Hitchcock Presents, “Funeral March for a Marionette” by Charles Gounod, fill out the classical portion of the program. Popular favorites such as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr, “Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett, “Time Warp” by Richard O’Brian, and “Evil Ways” by Santana will be interspersed throughout the afternoon program.

As scary as this music may sound, it is a most entertaining concert for young and old. Immediately following the concert, children are invited to take a magical trip down the Haunted Hallway for some early trick-or-treating. The night is full of musical tricks and treats of all kinds! 

Admission is free and children are invited to dress in costume.

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