Daniel Wright
Students Achievements Recognized
The School Board this week recognized students for their highest level of achievement in a school club or sport. The following groups were recognized. Please enjoy pictures of the event as well as a video recording.
National Competition
Science Olympiad
The Daniel Wright Science Olympiad team took third place at the 39th National Science Olympiad tournament held at Kansas State University over the weekend. There were 120 schools and over 2,000 students who competed in 23 events and 3 trial events. The team has competed at the National tournament for 12 consecutive years.
Individual medals won by DW students included one 2nd place, one third place, three 4th place, one 5th place, and two 6th place. The 15 students who competed on the varsity team included Ananya Anand, Bavesh Sai Arambakum Madhu, Abhijyotsingh Chadha, Saachi Churiwala, Alex Gou, Ananya Iyer, Jeremy Lei, Kenny Lin, Rishi Mohan, Nikhilan Rathina Kumar, Sanjay Senthilnathan, Shivaani Sivaraman, SriMedha Veerathu, Royce Zhang, and Ryan Zhang, as well as alternates Pranit Kosaraju and Olivia Li, who competed in trial events.
“Last year our team placed 6th. When they announced we took 3rd place yesterday, our entire team and group of parents erupted in cheers,” said Lisa Solesky, who coaches the team with Eric Rexer with the assistance of dedicated parent volunteers.
Science Bowl
DW Science Bowl Academic Team returned from Washington, D.C., with a national first-place trophy in the cyber technology challenge. The five-member team coached by Tony Hafner and Maggie Patel also represented Illinois on the national stage by making it to the double-elimination round in the academic challenge. Students included Ananya Iyer, Whenhan Li, Sanjay Senthilnathan, Anirudh Srinivasan, and Eric Zhang. Great job team! The U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl® is a nationwide academic competition that tests students’ knowledge in all areas of science and mathematics. The Science Bowl has competed at nationals 11 out of the pas 13 years.
Science Bowl Car Team placed two teams in the regional race. The car teams placed first and third in the speed competition. The team also placed first and third in the design/interview competition. The Science Bowl Car Team consisted of Abhijyotsingh Chada, Wesley Deheck, Anish Deorukhkar, Jatin Murukuti, Rishik Ponnamaneni, Krishiv Raj, Amarjot Singh, and Arush Vangala.
MATHCOUNTS
Congratulations to Eric Zhang and the Illinois team for placing eighth at this year's MATHCOUNTS National Competition in Washington, D.C., The top four individual competitors from each state competition comprise a team to represent their state. Other DW competitors included Wenhan Li, Daniel Li, and Claire Wang.
History & Geography Bees
Daniel Wright's Geography and History Bee students are advancing to the National Championship held in early June, hosted by International Academic Competitions. The main areas of competition include a History Bee and History Bowl and a National Geography Bee competition.
The History Bee team is coached by Kristine Rickert. Congratulations to those who qualified for this high level of competition and we wish you the best of luck at nationals:
Eighth-Grade Division
Joseph Neela - Champion (Internationals), Ananya Anand - 2nd place (Internationals), Chris Wang - 3rd Place (Internationals), Spencer Manning- finalist (Internationals), Ethan Wang - finalist (Internationals), Shreyan Sahoo - finalist (Internationals), Varad Bhave - finalist (Internationals), Sanjar Salomov, Eeshan Gudapati, Robert Guziec, Rishik Ponnamaneni, and Nikhilan Rathinakumar - finalist (Internationals).
Seventh-Grade Division
Sidharth Raman - Champion (Internationals), Shankar Harikrishnan - 2nd Place (Internationals), Ethan Zhu - 3rd Place (Internationals), Sanjay Senthinathan - 3rd Place (Internationals), Chandresh Gopal -finalist (Internationals), Royce Zhang - finalist (Internationals), Tyen Cheng Yang - finalist, Olivia Santosuosso - finalist (Internationals), Nicholas Tsirline - finalist, Ekaansh Ravuri, Henry Tang, and Neil Singla.
Sixth-Grade Division
Henry Merkley - Champion (Internationals), Ali Madian - 3rd Place (Internationals), Shrinath Beeram -finalist, Shubh Sharma - finalist (Internationals), Archit Killedar - finalist (Internationals), Rishi Vasireddy - finalist, and Rishan Sinha.
The Geography Bee team is coached by Alissa Lyman. Congratulations to the following students:
Eighth-Grade Division
Eeshan Gudapati - Champion (Internationals), Ethan Wang - 2nd Place (Internationals), Varad Bhave -finalist (Internationals), Spencer Manning - finalist (Internationals), Joseph Neela - finalist (Internationals), Shreyan Sahoo - finalist, Chris Wang, and Ananya Anand.
Seventh-Grade Division
Ekaansh Ravuri - 3rd Place (Internationals), Ethan Zhu - finalist (Internationals), Chandresh Gopal -finalist, Tyen Cheng Yang - finalist, Shankar Harikrishnan - finalist (Internationals), Neil Singla - finalist (Internationals), Royce Zhang - finalist (Internationals), Olivia Santosuosso, and Avyukt Singh.
Sixth-Grade Division
Ali Madian - finalist (Internationals), Abhiram Gudapati - finalist (Internationals), Kevin Zhang - finalist (Internationals), Archit Killedar - finalist (Internationals), Irith Vijay - finalist (Internationals), Shrinaina Beeram - finalist (Internationals), Shobh Sharma, Henry Merkley, and Rishan Sinha.
State Competition
Cross Country
Eighth-grader Owen Moran competed at the state competition in Normal in the fall. Cross country is coached by Alex Lyman, Kevin Ballardini, and Maggie Marzinelli.
Wrestling
Three Daniel Wright students qualified and competed at the state wrestling competition in March. They are Daniel Nicolas Berdich, David Alexander Kupchenko, and Stefan Vihrov. The team is coached by Miguel Limon and Marc Favia.
Track & Field
Congratulations to Track state qualifiers Adam Foley, Grace Tosyali, and Ben Tosyali. Grace Tosyali qualified for state in shot put and also broke the Daniel Wright school record at sectionals. The team is coached by John L'Heureux, Miguel Limon, and Lauren Nelson.
Ben placed second in state for shot put. He also broke the school record for shot put and discus. Adam placed fourth for the 800 meter run and seventh for the 1600 meter run. He broke the school record for both events.
Scholastic Bowl Champs
Congratulations to the Warriors Scholastic Bowl Team for winning state. The team is coached by Jan Lamberti and Allyson Ward. Team members were Ananya Anand, Eeshan Gudapati, Rishab Konada, Spencer Manning, Cady Munkhbayar, Joseph Neela, Nikhilan Rathinakumar, Ani Srinivasan, Vibhav Vosa, Ethan Wang, Netra Wuppalapati, Eric Zhang, and Chelsea Zhao.
In the state tournament they competed among the top 16 schools in the state out of 380 participating schools. They played three preliminary matches winning all and advanced to the championship against Springfield Franklin, which they won in decisive fashion.
"We are so proud of our team this season. They demonstrated maturity, sportsmanship, and mastery of subject material," said Coach Lamberti.
Chess Team
Congratulations to the eighth-grade Daniel Wright Chess team for coming in second place in the IESA state tournament this year. Additionally, the eighth-grade team members Sanjay Advani, Sanjeev Anbumani, Eeshan Gudapati, Rishab Konada, Anshu Shesham, and Atharva Singh all won six of eight matches each individually earning bronze medals and second runner-up overall.
The seventh-grade team finished in eighth place. The sixth-grade team finished in 14th place with only three players.The team consisted of players Mohammad Jawad Audi, Abhiram Gudapati, Ethan Hu, Aarav Kulkarni, Jason Chen Lu, Ebrahim Mahmood, Avyukt Singh, Shlok Sriwastava, and Frank Yuan.
The IESA State Tournament consisted of over 40 schools with more than 500 players who competed. The teams are coached by Doug Steffens.
Science Fair
At the Region 6 Science Fair, one student received a Bronze Medal, two students received Silver Medals and seven students received Gold Medals and invitations to the Illinois Junior Academy of Science State Fair. Aayushi Agrawal won the Exceptional Project in Category (EPIC) Award for her project in Microbiology. In addition, four students were invited to participate in The Thermo Fisher Innovators Challenge - Ishani Gupta, Dhriti Udayagiri, Ira Sidhani, Asha Sathasivaharan. The Thermo Fisher Innovators Challenge selects students from the top 10 percent of those participating in Science Fair to present their research and compete for additional prizes.
At the IJAS State Science Fair, the highest level of competition, all seven students won Gold Medals. These scientists are Aayushi Agrawal, Ishani Gupta, Yuvika Iyer, Ritwik Nimmagadda, Asha Sathasivaharan, Ira Sidhani, and Dhriti Udaygiri. Yuvika Iyer won the EPIC Award at the State level for her project in Chemistry and Asha received the EPIC Award at the State level for her project in Environmental Science. Ritwik Nimmagadda also won a special award for Excellence in Electronics for his website designed to analyze and improve energy usage in schools.
DW Science Fair gives students the autonomy to choose a project of interest, and with the help and collaboration of teacher facilitators, they ask thought-provoking questions, design experiments, analyze data, and draw meaningful conclusions. In this process, students develop a deep understanding of scientific concepts while honing their critical thinking, creativity, and communication skills investigating their own experiment or design project. Cheryl Cheifetz, Christine Namkung, Steve Beno, and Nadia Shams coach the students who participate in the Science Fair.
Special Olympics
DW's athletes competed in the Special Olympics Spring Games. Allied partners helped to coach and prepare athletes. Eighth-grader Luis Gonzalez qualified for the June state competition in the 100 m and 200 m run! Special Olympics is coached by Alex Lyman and Anna Healy.
Other Notable Competitions
Debate Team
The Daniel Wright Debate team participated in the Intermiddle School Debate tournament in March and received overall first place. Over 60 Daniel Wright students competed against two other middle schools in the local area. The students researched bills and prepared speeches to present to high school members of the Stevenson High School Debate Team. The Debate Team is coached by Athena Sotos and Karina Richter. Student participants included Aayushi Agarwal, Abhijyotsingh Chadha, Sarah Chafai, Saachi Churiwala, Namfan Guo, Yuvika Iyer, Sanvi Katta, Brendan Kim, Pranit Kosaraju, Kevin Liu, Giselle Miranda, Soha Parikh, Nayomi Patil, Shubh Sharma, Nicholas Tsirline, Netra Wuppalapati, Grace Xing, Yuvan Raveendran, Eric Zhang, and Ryan Zhang.
Girls Basketball
The seventh-grade girls A Team basketball finished the season undefeated and won the conference championship! The eighth-grade B Team won the conference championship, too! Overall, the girls basketball teams demonstrated great sportsmanship while developing their individual skill.
Seventh-grade coaches Anthony Hafner and Anna Healy coached Hannah Baker, Dalya Barron, Gianna Forman, Evelyn Honey, Lily Larsen, Sathvika Mannava, Anjali Ramji, Ria Uppu, Ainsley Wright, and Alice Yevtukhov.
Eighth-grade coaches John L'Heuruex and Justin Joneikis coached Aayushi Agrawal, Grace Bui, Saisha Chowdhary, Anushkka Dhawan, Anushka Dutt, Shriya Jain, Ellie Moise, Tanvi Puri, Eva Narula, and Sindhu Ratnakar.
Girls Volleyball
The seventh-grade girls volleyball team had a sensational season. The A team placed second in the regular season. Throughout the season, the players developed skills and worked together as a team. The team coached by Sheila Cummings and Alex Lyman included Hannah Baker, Anna Federov, Kristina Federov, Abby Harmann, Claire Hughes, Salma Kandel, Delilah Nelson, Goomaral Tuvshinjargal, and Alice Yevtukhov.
Boys Volleyball
The seventh-grade boys DW A Volleyball Team was named tournament champions winning the A bracket of the Patriots tournament. The team is coached by Mike Jerzyk and Sheila Cummings and the players included Noah Bae, Brady Brunner, Ali Eymen Gunes, Ethan Kim, Kun Ko, David Mirtsyn, Thomas Pak, Sanjay Prazad, Reece Tarnoff, and Lucas Xing.
Congratulations to the seventh-grade B team players Aiden Ali, Krish Bandi, Harsh Chaudhary, Evan Downes, Chandresh Gopal, Tanner Harris, Vitor Lara Nakazato, Ekaansh Ravuri, Arjun Razdan, Alexander Rodriguez, and Temujin Tumenbayar.
Congratulations to the eighth-grade boys A and B Volleyball Teams for being named conference champion as well! The teams were coached by Justin Joneikis and Kevin Ballardini.
A team players included Murphy Cai, Will Carr, Andrew Carr, Brandon Hersh, David Jung, Kavin Kabilan, Chirag Kapoor, Jason Kong, Jatin Murukuti, Graison Saiki, and Jack Stankiewicz.
B team players were Abhiram Chaturvedula, Dylan Cohen, Ishaan Dagar, Charlie Fox, Charlie Hansen, Max Kudlowitz, Ronav Lamba, Nathan Park, Aiden Romero, Brayden Roth, Nikhil Vijayakumar, Charlie Wolf, and Kevin Yang.
Spelling Bee
Eighth-grader Ira Chakraborty placed first in the D103 spelling bee and Rishi Vasireddy, sixth-grade, was named runner-up. Ira also competed against other students at the Lake County Regional Spelling Bee. Athena Sotos and Karina Richter oversee the district's spelling bee.
Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage
The roots of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month can be traced back to 1976 when Jeanie Jew, president of the Organization of Chinese American Women, contacted government officials in response to the lack of Asian Pacific representation in the U.S. bicentennial celebrations that same year. The observance began in 1979 as Asian Heritage Week, established by congressional proclamation. In May 1990, the holiday was expanded further when President George Bush signed a proclamation making it month-long for that year. On October 23, 1992, Bush signed legislation designating May of every year Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
School Schedule Reminders
As we close in on the end of the school year, please be aware of the following dates on the D103 school calendar:
- Friday, May 26: Last Day of School for eighth-graders. This is a full day of school. The end of the year eighth-grade activities can be found on the school website.
Monday, May 29: No school. (Memorial Day)
Thursday, June 1: Early Dismissal Day for Grades K-7 and Last Day of School. Report cards will be viewable on PowerSchool in the afternoon.
- All students will be dismissed at 11:30 a.m.
Partnerships
Volunteer of the Year
While all of our volunteers are amazing, Alissa Bencks' dedication and work ethic really shined this year, earning her the D103 PTO Volunteer of the Year for 2023 award! Alissa served the PTO in a dual capacity as both a lead member of the Parent Education team as well as a co-VP for Half Day School. Both roles have required a lot of Alissa's time and she rose to the challenge while always maintaining a positive attitude. Everything she touched was pulled off successfully! But it was her creativity, innovation, and fresh perspectives that gave the Parent Ed events and the HD Fun Fair the extra flair that made them so special.
Other nominees for Volunteer of the Year included Bree Kingshott, Maggie Roler, Kate Davidson, and Shruti Nagar. Congratulations to all our nominees and winner!
5K Run/Walk Raises Funds for DW
On Saturday, May 20, D103 PTO held its annual Run for D103 5K Run/Walk along the beautiful streets of Lincolnshire. Over 500 runners registered to take part in this fun family event. Top female runner Cristina Slomski finished with an impressive time of 21:01. Top male runner Owen Moran, a DW student, finished with an equally amazing 21:02. Backed by over 30 local area sponsors, D103 PTO was able to raise over $17,000 which will be donated to Daniel Wright JHS to improve the audio equipment in the gym. Thanks to all the runners and volunteers that helped make this event so successful! For pictures of the event, please visit the district's Google Doc folder. Please enjoy a brief video of the run/walk as well.
Books for Teachers
DW Teachers created classroom library wish lists in connection with the school's book fair. There are still books available for purchase, which could make for a great End of Year Gift! All purchases must be made by Monday, May 29, no later than 5:00 p.m. in order to be shipped to the school (free of charge).
To make a purchase, go to the Daniel Wright School Wish List on Anderson Book Fairs website https://www.abcfairs.com/daniel-wright-jh-staff-wish-lists. Select the teacher's name and then book(s) you would like to purchase.
At checkout, check the box 'Send to school for student pick up or pick up at Store' and select 'School Pick-Up' from the drop down. The book(s) will then be shipped to the school (free of charge) and delivered directly to the teacher. Enter the school name 'Daniel Wright' and location 'Lincolnshire' in the contact/billing information.
If your teacher is not listed, an eGift cards may also be purchased which allow the teacher to shop at their convenience. Follow this link for eGift card purchases: https://www.abcfairs.com/egift-cards
All proceeds from sales go directly to the Daniel Wright School Library.
Community News
Family Fun this Summer
The Village of Lincolnshire is gearing up for a full slate of summer special events you won’t want to miss! Whether it’s our inaugural Movies in the Park featuring Disney’s Encanto on June 2; Summer in the Shire concerts on June 15; or the Red, White, & BOOM! celebration, parade, 5K race, and cardboard boat regatta on July 3 and 4, we’ve got your family’s summer schedule booked! All residents are encouraged to enjoy their community at our special events. Learn more about the events on the Lincolnshire website.
Jr Talent Show at the Fair
The Lake County fair invites students under the age of 14 to participate in a Junior Talent Show at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, July 30.
Daniel Wright Information
Principals
- Principal Michelle Blackley, Ed.D.
- Assistant Principal Nina Nusbaum, Ed.D.
- Assistant Principal Melody Littlefair
- 847-604-5280
- Dw_attendance@d103.org