By Brittany B.

"Say hello to Mickey Mouse!" said Dr. Nickisch to Miguel B. December 9 was a special day for some kids, kids who have not had the chance to experience the Magic of Disney World. The Sunshine Foundation invited Peacock Middle and Lake Park students and teachers to go to Disney World for a day.

The lucky students from our school are in Ms. Slykas’s and Mrs. Nulph’s classes. Ms. Slykas’s students include Billy Zalas, D.J. B., and Dennis T. Armando R., Miguel B., and Kara A. are from Mrs. Nulph's class. The Sunshine Foundation paid for their airfare, transportation to and from the airport, and a one day entrance to the Magic Kingdom. The group met on December 9 at 4:30 A.M. at Lake Park High School and drove from there to Midway Airport. They returned the same day.

The Peacock students had a wonderful time and saw all their favorite Disney characters, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Minney and Daisy too. D.J. B. loved Splash Mountain while Dennis T. liked the Disney characters best. Kara Altman was happy because her friend from Lake Park, William V., was there to help her. "It was fun to see all the characters and be at the Magic Kingdom," said Billy Z.

Interact at the Internet

By Nicole S.

Mr. Travis and Mr. Cousineau have put together the School District #10 web page. It contains a variety of important information. The links are on the left side or the middle of the main page on post-it notes. The choices are philosophy, mission statement, goals of District #10, events, calander, administration, schools and community and school links.

The mission statement and goals are exactly what they say they are. The mission statement is a brief paragraph describing the school districtís goal. The goals of District #10 detail the purpose and objectives at the schools.

Events contains a list of everything happening throughout the year. There are dates for hot lunches, PTO meetings, etc. The calendar has four links inside--Holidays and Vacations, District Calendar, Washington, and Peacock. Under the link Holidays and Vacations, you will find a list of all the days off school, and there are quite a few to look forward to. District Calendar, Washington, Peacock and Franzen all contain a list of sports games, concerts, hot lunches, Market Days and other important dates.

The office personnel are listed under Administration. Under Schools, there is a list of Itasca's schools and their phone numbers and addresses. This link contains two other links to Schools and Community. Under School links, there are other web sites of interest. And under community links, there is a city map, driving directions, and the white and yellow pages.

The entire web page fits on ten floppy disks. There are 500 separate graphics. Every picture was taken by Mr. Cousineau at the school. He merged them into different graphics. Mr. Cousineau is in charge of the graphics. Mr. Travis makes everything work and writes the web page in the special language. To first plan the web page, they put everything on post-it notes all over a door so they could actually see it. The organization took about a week. The entire project took about five months. They have made their own web pages before, but both Mr. Cousineau and Mr. Travis agreed that this was their biggest web project yet. If you haven't seen it already, check it out at http://itasca.k12.il.us

The Earth Club takes a revealing trip to Recycling Center

By Jeff R.

The Peacock Earth Club went on a field trip to the Dupage County Recycling Center on November 12. At the recycling center, the club was shown all of the steps needed to recycle paper, plastic, and cans. They learned about the high-tech machinery and hard work needed everyday to run the center. Inside the display room they were shown what things can and cannot be recycled. For example, some people try to recycle bowling balls. The club also learned how to make many toys, games, and crafts out of "garbage." There were many neat ideas, such as shrunken potato chip bag pins and Christmas ornaments made from a variety of different items. At the end of the tour, the guide passed around shoes, frisbees, shirts, purses and other products made from either reusing or recycling our trash.

Overall the field trip was a success. "It was interesting to see the workers sorting the recyclables," said S. Ericka H. and Joe K. said that it was "Cool." Ms. Karttunen, who heads the Earth Club, also thought the trip went well. She said that for anybody who thought that all of their recyclables ended up in a landfill, visiting a recycling center like this one would prove them wrong. She hoped that all Peacock students would try not to make as much waste because the first step in stopping littering is to reduce their garbage. If you are interested in information about the trip, see Ms. Karttunen or come to the Earth Club meetings every Wednesday after school.

Students make charity drive a success

By Snehal P.

Each homeroom (adviser group) collected money, cans of food, school supplies, hats, gloves, and new white shirts for the Stadium School in Chicago. Peacock students received a lottery ticket for each can, dollar or box they donated. The event was partly sponsored by the Chicago Bull's organization. The contest ran from December 1 through December 11. The entire school contributed nearly $9000 worth of food, money and clothing.

The top homeroom from each grade won a pizza party. The winning homerooms were Mrs. Six's sixth grade with $742 in contributions, Mrs. Karttunen's seventh grade with $1230.40 in contributions and Mr. Travis' eighth grade with $708.50 in contributions.

The top three students from each grade will receive two free Bulls tickets. Hosea H., Vivian C. and Mary W. were the sixth grade winners, Jeff R., Mike M., Matt M. were the seventh grade winners, and Brittany S., Tom C., Lisa P. won for eighth grade.

Sixth graders sail through first quarter of middle school

By Jason V.

Dr. Nickisch said that the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders did well during the first quarter. He was also very proud of all the kids at Peacock Jr. High for their good attitudes. A recent survey of sixth graders on how they felt about their performance during the quarter supported Dr. Nickisch's optimistic view.

"I thought that I did very well," said J.R. H. on the first quarter. "My favorite subjects in school are Social Studies with Mr. Tison, English and Reading with Mrs. Agnello, Math with Mrs. Kaye, and finally Gym with Mrs. Krisik and Mr. Anderson."

"I thought I did really well also," reflected Danny S. "My favorite classes are Industrial Tech with Mr. Cousineau, English with Mrs. Agnello, and Social studies with Mr. Tison." Bo P. thought he did really good. His favorite classes are Social Studies with Mr. Tison and Home Ec with Mrs. Knudsen. "I thought I did fantastic!" said Ron P. "My favorite classes in school are Science with Mrs. Six, Shop with Mr. Cousineau, and Home Ec with Mrs. Knudsen." Scott D. also did really good. His favorite classes are Gym with Mrs. Krisek and Mr. Anderson, Science with Mrs. Six, Social Studies with Mr. Tison, and Home Ec with Mrs. Knudsen.

Joe K. thought he did really well. His favorite classes are Science with Mrs. Six, Math with Mrs. Kaye, and Gym with Mrs. Krisik and Mr. Anderson. Anthony L. thought he did really well. His favorite classes are Gym with Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Krisek, Home Ec with Mrs. Knudsen, Reading, Language, and Spelling with Mrs. Laughlin, and Science with Mrs. Six. "I thought I did really well and my favorite Subject is Music with Mr. Travis," says Sean N. Mike R. thought he did really well and his favorite classes are Gym with Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Krisik, Lunch with Mrs. Slykas and Mrs. Karttunen, and Spelling with Mrs. Laughlin.

"I thought I did really well," said Andrew S. "My favorite subjects in school are Gym with Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Krisik, Social Studies with Mr. Tison, and Math with Mrs. Kaye." Scott S. thought he did really well and his favorite subjects are Math with Mrs. Kaye, Social Studies with Mr. Tison, and Art with Mrs. Dengler. Emily S. I thought she did really well likes all her classes.

Peacock students choose sides at Medieval Times

By Zareena J.

On Wednesday, November 12, the cast of Camelot as well as those students who had prepared food for the senior citizen luncheon took a trip back in time to the days of King Arthur at Medieval Times dinner theatre in Schaumburg. The entertainement before dinner included equesterian tricks and a hawk hunting demonstration. The dinner menu included vegetable soup, Cornish hens, BBQ ribs, roasted potatos and apple pie. All this was eaten by hand, and although it strayed from the medieval theme, the wet napkins came in very handy.

There was then a competition between knights to succeed the king when he died. "I was glad when our knight died, because he didn’t throw me a flower," commented one vengeful Peacock student. All the knights fought until the death. Only the green knight remained standing. He was then challenged by an evil knight whom he, of course, defeated. As theatre, the knights' performance was well done. The students generally seemed to enjoy the trip.

The dances are stupendous!

By Christa M. and Aleksia I.

"They went stupendously well!" was Zareena J.’s response when interviewed about the Student Council sponsored dances held in October and November. Both Zareena and Rick K., Student Council Vice President and President, felt that the majority of the people at the dances enjoyed themselves. They also liked the D.J. and thought he played a great variety of music. The slow dances were particularly popular.

With student council dances as an item on their agenda, Zareena and Rick would like to see the dance time lengthened and the cost of admission reduced. When asked why they thought some students did not attend the dances, they gave the following reasons: some could not get rides, some were too busy, and some just did not like going to dances!

Ten Peacock students were surveyed and asked which Student Council dance they liked better - the dance held in October or the dance held in November? Eight students preferred the dance in October because they were allowed to dance more and there were no games. The remaining two students liked the games held at the dance in November because the games gave them something to do.

People are needed for the spring musical production

By Amanda S.

Cinderella is the main character. She has cheeks as rosy as roses, a neck as long as swan's, hair as golden as the sun, and she is as charming and glistening as a star.

Prince is a true gentleman. He has many, many names. He is charming. In fact, he is Prince Charming.

King is the king of the kingdom and speaks his mind.

Queen is lovable. All she wants is happiness and joy for everyone.

Stepmother is incessantly rude and selfish, and everything an evil stepmother ought to be.

Joy is the exact opposite of her name. She always feels sorry for herself and is very obnoxious about it.

Portia is again the exact opposite of her name. She is nowhere near as intelligent as the lawyer after whom she is named. She is, however, very beautiful.

Godmother is a kind, gentle women who wants the best for Cinderella. She shows Cinderella that the impossible is possible.

Other Characters have one or two short lines.

Chorus - if you are not interested in singing a solo there are many chorus and group songs and dances.

Crews - if you do not want to go on stage you can also work on the light, sound, costume, make-up or prop crews. There are also places for those intrested in helping with set construction, as a prompter, set painting or choreography.

(Note: Some crews prevent you from being a cast member.)

Auditions are January 12, 13, and 14. All are before or after school or during eighth grade lunch. Call backs are on January 15. Results posted on January 16. For more information, see Mr. Travis.

By the way…

By Scott P.

By the way---The railroad was originally planned to go through Addison, and then Bloomingdale, but Col. Roselle Hough (from Roselle, of course) paid $10,000 to have the railroad rerouted through Itasca, Meacham (now Medinah), and Roselle. Now, $10,000 doesn't sound like much, but think of it this way - the old depot (now standing by the pool) was built for a mere $400!

Peacock artists decorate the Itasca Post Office

Peacock students Emily A., Zareena J., Bob K., Rick K. and John S. were asked to paint the Itasca Post Office for the holidays.

Under the guidance of Mrs. Dengler, the students choose the theme of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Students spent most of Friday, December 5, painting the windows. Stop by and check it out!