Wow!
What a great year for RHS. It started with the AARP Foundation celebrating their 50th year by giving away $1,000,000 in grants to high schools around the country that have special after school programs. They wereparticularly interested in schools who involved neighborhood elementary children in their programs. Over 1000 schools applied for the grants. Six $100,000 and forty $10,000 awards were given out.

Roosevelt High School, our little inner-city school, was awarded$100,000 for its fabulous theatre program directed by music teacher Cliff Gabor. Pretty good don’t you think? This was followed by a fantastic performance of Beauty and the Beast. As has happened in the past all four performances were very well attended and there were many RHS alumni in the audiences.

ALUMNI EVENTS
Next year’smusical will be The Wizard of Oz and we are happy to announce that our alumni  night will be FridayMay 1, 2009.  This is agreat way to visit the school and meet old schoolmates. Refreshments will be served in Room 117 beginning at 5:30 pm. The playwill start at 7:00 pm. There will be reserved seats in Alumni Hall Auditorium. The cost is only $20.00 per person.

Another event last year wasRoosevelt’s inaugural Sports Hall of Fame Dinner. It was also very successful with over 150 people in attendance.  We inducted three coaches, eight players, and one team. We received many comments about how well the evening went and how good the food was. Master of Ceremonies Manny Weincord did a great job and he as well as fellow inductee Jerry Malitz were ashilarious as ever.

We are pleased to announce the second annual RHS Sports Hall of Fame Dinner. It will be held at RHS on Friday, May 8, 2009. We will induct the following 13 players and coaches:
• Ted Rashkow (June 1946-Football)
• Ed Cvikota (June 1947-Baseball)
• Paul “Butch” Bloomberg (June 1948-Basketball)
• Jack Ikenn (Jan. 1950-Basketball)
• Al Barkow (Jan. 1950-Golf)
• Neal “Mookie” Miller (June 1952-Basketball)
• Fred Rosen (June 1954-All Around-10 Letters)
• Bill Bergman (June 1964-Football)
• Wayne Natko (1978-Basketball)
• Steve Arnum ( 1977- Swimming & Swimming Coach)
• Joe Fiorentino (1977-Football)
• Danielle Green (1995-Basketball)
• Jerry Taylor (28 years Varsity Girls Basketball Coach)

Each inductee will receive aplaque with his high school picture, year of graduation, and also the sport(s) he or she participated in. There will also be a plaque mounted in the Sports Hall of Fame section next to the boy’s gymnasium for each inductee. The evening will begin at 7:00 pm and the costfor the dinner and festivities will be $60.00 per person. ($30.00 for children under 12)

CLASS REUNIONS
Congratulations to the classes of June 1948, Jan. 1958, June 1958, and Jan. & June 1968 who had successful reunions in 2008. All are remembered in our Alumni Hall. The class of 1968 celebrated their 40 year reunion at RHS in the lunchroom on October 25th. It was one of the most successful reunions I have seen. People dressed casual and had a wonderful time cruising the hallways with other classmates. Theytalked about their lockers, the auditorium, study room 249 and got all the latest gossip from their friends.  The atmosphere was warm and friendly, and everyone had a wonderful time. They were  also very generous in their contribution to the school. 

To other classes planning reunions, RHS isthe perfect place to go. Call me and I can arrange getting the space for you.

MUSIC ROOM NAMED
Congratulations to Norm Brown (June 1953) who recently had the RHS music room named in his honor. Norm, who had the idea for our Alumni Hall plaques, is a large supporter of them. He is also quite active helping our nationally-acclaimed theatre program. During his years at Roosevelt, Norm was very involved in our music program and also helped form a band outside of school.

ROOSEVELT ALUMNI NEWS
Congratulations to Joe Fiorentino (1977) who continues to win Grappling (Ju-Jitsu) championships. Joe was ranked #1 Directors Grappler in the nation for 2008.Among his championships was the 2008 Midwest Ju-Jitsu tournament heavyweight division.

Congratulations to Jeannie Blum (June 1967) who recently was the recipient of the Queen  of Hearts award on behalf of DesertArc (Palm Desert, California). The award was presented for the work Jeannie has done for people with developmental disabilities.

The following piece is the first published by Shel Silverstein (RHS June 1948), our famous alumni who created many children’s books and cartoons. Shel wrote “ODE TO A PIG” in March 1948 for the Roosevelt weekly. Some of you may remember who he was talking about… can you guess??
 
OUR FUNDS ACTIVITIES
Here is what we did financially to support RHS this last year:
• Equipment for RHS Wrestling Team
• Contribution to RHS AfricanAmerican Club
• 25 Tank Tops for RHS Track Team
• Contribution to ad book-for Beauty & The Beast
• 2 Plaques for RHS Scholarship winners
• Contribution to Albany Park Theatre Project (for RHS Students)
• Expenses for Beauty & The Beast(11 musicians)
• Contribution Senior Activities Committee
• Entrance fee for Holiday tournament boys varsity basketball team
• 24 uniforms boys varsity baseball team
• Materials for Music Department
• Expenses for The Wizard of Oz
• 12 Home (white) uniforms for girls varsity basketball team
• 12 Away (blue) uniforms for girls varsity basketball team
• 28 Plaques for inductees to RHS Sports Hall  of Fame

 In addition we purchased a new scoreboard for the gymnasium to support volleyball,basketball and wrestling sporting events.

SCHOLARSHIPS
Waidalee Mahmud and Cesar Rojas were each awarded $1250 from the Manny Weincord RHS Scholarship Fund. Waidalee had a 4.0 GPA and was four year player on the basketball, softball and volleyball teams. She is now attending the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

Cesar had a 3.6 GPA and was a four year swimmer. He is attending the University of Illinois 
in Champaign. TheHoward RuskinScholarship winners this year were Vanessa Romero, Cesar Rojas, Jassem Almousowi and JenniferRector. They will each received $5000 over a four year period. Also awarded was a $1000 scholarship to Wanta Fontanez.

RHS LOGO APPAREL
See the enclosed flyer for great gift ideas for RHS Friends & family. New hooded sweatshirts are also available for only $35.00 each.

ALUMNI HALL PLAQUES
So far we have sold 378 plaques and we are still receiving more interest from alumni.  If you would like to be permanently remembered at Roosevelt or want to honor or memorialize someone please fill out the enclosed flyer and return it to us with your check.

The help we have provided to the kids at Roosevelt has been terrific. Hopefully with continuing alumni support the school will do even better. Please fill out the enclosed donation form as generously as you can, and try to come to the school and attend one of  the alumni events we have scheduled.

Sincerely, 

ARNIE KAMEN (June 1950)
Roosevelt High School Athletic Fund

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Enclosed is my donation of $_________ to help Roosevelt continue its great tradition.

Please make your donation check payable to one of our three funds:
__ RHS Athletic Fund   or   __ Manny Weincord Scholarship Fund    or    __ Jerry Bresler RHS Music Fund

 

Name _____________________________________________________________________________   Class Year _______________
 
Address_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
City__________________________________________________________________________________  State_________   Zip_________________
 
Phone_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Email _______________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Mail your check and this form to:

Roosevelt High School Athletic Fund
P.O. Box 1414, Highland Park, IL 60035-7414
847-432-2773