Lane Tech TODAY The Lane Tech Alumni Association Magazine Summer 2018 • Vol. 37 • No. 3 Wherever You Go, Whatever You Do, Remember the Honor of Lane. Twenty-Three Reasons his issue of Lane Tech Today is these scholarships are unique and Horatio Alger pluckiness that echoes so Tdevoted to “Why?” Why does the personal gifts to a group of young many of our own experiences as Lane LTAA exist and why do so many of us people who for the first time, are able to students: single parent homes; immigrant get involved? There is no better place to call themselves Lane Tech Alumni. The stories; financial need; first generation start the exploration of that question than LTAA scholarship committee poured college responsibilities; and emerging with our Scholarship Program. Assisting over the application for each finalist, confidence from the depths of places Lane seniors in getting to college was the which included unbelievable grade point untapped… until attending Lane. first philanthropic endeavor that the LTAA averages, resumes full of leadership championed, and continues to be a pride- activities, athletic accomplishments, This year, recipients at the Senior Honors filled mission for our members, donors, service projects, impeccable attendance Assembly had been informed that they Board and staff. records and beautifully written essays. were receiving an LTAA Scholarship in These students are real achievers. advance of the event, but had no idea This spring the LTAA received more for what amount. Seared in our memory than 350 applications. Typically funded It is a special privilege to read the essays of is the expression of one senior who by, or in honor of alumni or faculty, the applicants. Nearly all of them share a received her award certificate at one end of the stage, bursting into tears by the time she arrived at the podium to shake hands, reading on the way that her scholarship would be $10,000. The realization that Katherine Baranek Victoria Bartoszewicz Jacob Berry Megan Bishop Naecy Bonilla Weronika Budek Destiny Caldwell this gift would get her to her Roman Mudry Engineering Kolb STEM Scholarship The Tom Wisniewski ’59 George Rico Music Aves Vocational Education Gurolnik Chemistry Harold D. Shepard Memorial Scholarship for Women Memorial Scholarship Scholarship Scholarship Scholarship Scholarship school of choice and set her University of California- University of California- University of Illinois- Belmont University Michigan Technological University of California- University of Louisville Berkeley Berkeley Champaign University LosAngeles on a path for success was overwhelming. Just one of twenty-three powerful reasons why we do what we do. Please join us in congratulating a group of truly exceptional Asia Callier Katherine Chambers Emma Fraterrigo Brianna Galvin Leonidas Georgopoulos Amelia Keating Emily Lee young people who have earned The Pauline & Gerald Kolb STEM Scholarship Barnickol Scholarship Rozdolsky Scholarship Kenneth S Roberts ’43 Aves Vocational Education Class of 1962 Reunion Kutzman Scholarship for Women University of Michigan Drexel University Math Scholarship Scholarship Educational Scholarship University of Tampa Northwestern University Northwestern University Roman Mudry Engineering University of Illinois- 2018 LTAA Scholarships Scholarship Champaign Washington State University totaling $150,000: Morgan Lyons Dylan Mahon Michael McMahon Clara Mikhail Lily Moore Tifani Panek Zachary Rogers Angelica Rodriguez Kabot Art Scholarship Mike Suttle ’63 Wrestling Coogan Scholarship for George Rico Music Walter Leibfritz Scholarship LTAA Barbara Cook Roman Mudry Engineering The Tom Wisniewski ’59 The Florence Academy of Art Scholarship English Excellence Scholarship University of Nebraska Scholarship Scholarship Memorial Scholarship Indiana University George Washington University University of Chicago Davidson College Saint Louis University Illinois State University Board of Directors President’s Message 2017 Meetings Schedule Why? September 27, 2018 November 29, 2018 While sipping margaritas in the Alumni Association Newsletter July 9, 2019 Vol. 37 • No. 3 western suburbs with a group Summer 2018 of Lane classmates this spring, Meeting locations and times vary. Please check one friend asked, “Do you get with the alumni office for details. paid to work on the Alumni Board?” “Nope”, I said with a smile, “in fact, it’s quite the Newsletter Deadlines reverse… I pay for the privilege Fall Issue October 15 to volunteer with the LTAA.” “Well then why do Winter Issue January 15 you do it?” she asked. I suddenly found myself Spring April 15 Editors in a situation where I needed to make a choice. I Mail to: Joanna M. Perez ‘95 could offer a glib response that might satisfy the Newsletter Editor Michelle Weiner ‘76 table but not tell the complete story, or I could share Lane Tech Alumni Association, Inc. my personal history and mission while watching P.O. Box 18200 Contributing Editors everyone gradually nod off, face-planting into their Chicago, Illinois 60618-0200 Grant Martin ‘63 enchiladas. I opted for the easier, and perhaps Ken Ortiz ‘76 more tidy option. But the exchange continued to Kevin Sheldon ‘75 gnaw at me. Lane Tech The truth is, on a sunny morning in September Alumni Association Production Managers of 1972, I stepped off the Western Avenue bus Jeff Juhasz ‘76 in front of Hero’s, looked across the street at that Board of Directors Steve Juhasz ‘75 giant monolith of a building and seized up, “What President in the world were you thinking Michelle? What Copy Editor Michelle Weiner ‘76 makes you think this ‘School of Champions’ has a Patrick Kasch Vice President place for you, (a girl)?” Well things turned out just Jim Guerin ‘72 fine. In fact, I had an exceptional experience full of Production Team Treasurer Brian Dolan ‘86 learning, laughing, friend-making, and preparation Kim Kidd ‘73 Secretary Fullline Printing for a truly gratifying career. Then thirty-four years later… déjà vu. Deidre Baumann ‘85 Board Members I walked over the threshold of the parking lot James Ascot ‘69 Past President entrance with my freshman son in tow, full of Herb Berg ‘67 the same reservations, “Would the ‘School of Marie Costa McJilton ‘76 Champions’ have a place for my amazing son… Stuart Eng ‘85 Past President despite his disability?” Those plaques on the Fred Glure ‘63 wall were for things he would never do. And how Joseph Lawniczak ‘69 could he survive in such a rigorous academic Avrom Litin ‘83 Sharon Manjack ‘77 Published quarterly for the atmosphere? Would he find acceptance and Tod McElhaney ‘83 alumni of Lane Tech College happiness in such a vast, competitive environment? Melissa Reardon Henry ‘80 Prep High School, Chicago The answers were yes, yes, and yes… thanks to Illinois. We reserve the right to Maurel Samonte ‘86 edit submissions for publication the exceptional faculty and staff, the continuing Kevin Sheldon ‘75 due to space limitations. Send culture of inclusion, and the tenacity of one young Marion Synowiec ‘64 Past President news and photographs (not man. His experience at Lane eclipsed mine. He returnable) to: graduated with a better class rank, participated Newsletter Editor in more extra-curricular activities, and graduated Table of Contents Lane Tech Alumni Association with more confidence than anyone would have 3525 West Peterson Avenue, #105 President’s Message ............................ Chicago, Illinois 60659-3314 predicted. It was nothing short of miraculous. Principal’s Message ............................. Mailing Address: I support Lane Tech through the LTAA, because Director’s Message............................... P.O. Box 18200 every young person in Chicago deserves the Reunions .............................................. Chicago, Illinois 60618-0200 opportunity to become a champion however that Inside 2501 .......................................... 773-935-9351 may manifest, and if we can help that along as Alumni News ........................................ www.lanetechalumni.org alumni, we are all the richer for it! Champion Makers ................................ Email: [email protected] Michelle (Milkovic) Weiner, ‘76 Alumni Spotlight ................................... Summer Events .................................... President, LTAA In Memoriam ........................................ Director’s Message My fellow Lane Tech Alumni, facilitate alumni connections are just a few examples. One area of Why did I choose to work for the LTAA instead of riding the Alumni Relations that we encounter wave of corporate excess? The answer is service. After quite often is archival research graduating from Lane, the cornfields of Urbana-Champaign requests for information on long lost were calling me where I attended the University of Illinois alums; best friends, parents and in and earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. I then some cases grandfathers dating returned home to Loyola University Chicago and received back to the early 1900s. These straightforward requests a Master of Science in Human Resources. have become meaningful moments in an unexpected way. They have allowed families to put their own histories The fifteen-year corporate career that followed was together when records of their loved ones are confirmed challenging and financially fulfilling, but my professional through Lane’s archives. It’s a glimpse into a past they life seemed unbalanced somehow as it began to move were not certain existed, and there is something special further and further away from what I found