Programs 
NRC and Volunteers Help Spruce Up Bateman
Thanks to the help of community volunteers, Bateman Elementary
auditorium now has a fresh coat of paint! On Saturday, January 15th, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, NRC partnered with U.N.I.T.E. Civic Association, Indiana University student teachers, and teacher mentors from UNITE to help with beautification efforts at Bateman. Volunteers from Chicago Cares were also present that day and worked on many other projects throughout the school. Thank you to Principal Dasko and Bateman for the opportunity to serve!
Murphy School Receives Over 1,000 Books From Community and NRC
On Friday, January 21st, State Representative Deb Mell, 40th District (center), joined NRC and Albany Park Chamber of Commerce staff and leaders to present over 1,100 books to the Murphy Elementary School for their library. Community and business leaders donated the books this winter as part of NRC’s Education Resource Bank. NRC intern Kristin Hamilton, NRC staff Elizabeth Derry (not shown), NRC VP of Education Julie Putterman, Chamber director Liz Griffiths and State Rep Mell presented the books to Murphy Principal Christine Zelenka and members of the student council at an all school assembly.
Students Learn the Fundamentals of Building an Orchestra with LSSO.
This past fall NRC worked with the Lake Shore Symphony Orchestra (LSSO) to promote “Building an Orchestra,” a free concert for local public school students. NRC outreached to all NRC community schools and about 800 children from 6 schools attended including students from North River Elementary, Palmer Elementary, and Peterson Elementary. The concert took place November 19th at Mather High School where Russell Vinick, music director and conductor of LSSO, donned a hard hat and tool belt to explain the components of an orchestra and the tools that musicians can use to create different sounds. The children enjoyed the performance, especially when the musicians popped confetti during one of the songs! LSSO regularly performs at North Side College Prep High School and their performance schedule can be found at lsso.org
Dictionary Project
This winter the North River Commission teamed up with the Dictionary Project and The Rotary Club of Chicago Northwest to distribute brand new dictionaries to 1163 third grade Chicago Public School students in 13 North River area schools. The value of these donated educational resources is estimated at $13,956.
These wonderful resources include helpful study guides like the American Sign Language Alphabet, a map of the Solar System, and a list of all U.S. Presidents. Thanks to the Dictionary Project, since 1992 over 12,278,184 children nationwide have received a dictionary. A very special thank you to Linda Tomkova of The Rotary Club for all her hard work coordinating this project, and to the teachers at Henry, Solomon, Waters, St. Hilary, Cleveland, Volta, Sauganash, Hibbard, Peterson, St. Edward, Haugan, Disney II, and Palmer Elementary Schools!