Profiles

Being born in Palermo and growing up in Sicily, Monica Valenti Niespodziany used to gather her friends and play “pretend school,” putting herself in the role of the teacher. When she decided to become a teacher, her family wasn’t the least bit surprised, she says. Valenti Niespodziany has taught Italian at St. Joseph Catholic Academy in Kenosha since 2016. There, she has grown the Italian language program by starting an Italian Honor Society, launching an AP Italian course, and partnering with a school in Rome through the Italian Consulate in Chicago. She is also the world language department lead at …

During a stellar 38-year military career, Eric Marella served in the Marine and Army Reserves, as an enlisted man and officer, in a dozen countries during times of peace and war. The youngest of four sons, Eric Marella was born in Melrose Park to Dominic and GraceAnn (Russo) Marella. He grew up surrounded by family on both sides. His father’s parents emigrated from Marche and Tuscany, and his mother’s family from Basilicata. The family sat down to Sunday dinners of pasta with neck bones and sausage, never knowing who might stop in. “It’s always great when you hear a knock …

A standout centerfielder at Bartlett High School, Josh Colaizzi has all the attributes of a pro player according to his coaches. Among all the athletic luminaries honored at the 2024 Chicago Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame ceremony gala in November, Josh Colaizzi was the only one too young to enjoy a celebratory glass of wine. Colaizzi, 17, took home the evening’s Future Star Award for all the baseball accomplishments he’s managed to rack up as a teen. Colaizzi, a centerfielder, made the Bartlett High School varsity team his freshman year and quickly established himself as a star player and leader. …

A former college professor and administrator, Joseph Scelsa spearheaded the creation of the Italian American Museum in New York to bring our community’s countless stories vividly to life for the general public. The Italian American Museum in New York reopened in October after a massive, six-year transformation and expansion. The unveiling was the culmination of 23 years of work by Joseph Scelsa, the museum’s founder and president, whose vision and tenacity made it all possible. With a doctorate in sociology and education from Columbia University, Scelsa’s resume also includes serving as dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute …

Il Volo will be performing at the Chicago Theatre on March 14, having first appeared there more than a decade earlier in the course of their first international tour. In 2009, the career paths of three young singers — one from Abruzzo, one from Sicily and one from Bologna — converged at a musical competition on Italian TV. One of them won the contest, but they all emerged victorious. The show’s director, Roberto Cenci, saw something in the teens that led to a remarkable musical journey. He thought of bringing them together in the spirit of the original Three Tenors: …

The Italian American community knows Jean Parisi best as La Befana, the good Christmas witch who made appearances for decades at yuletide celebrations throughout the Chicago area. But that’s just the tip of the cultural iceberg for this veteran community arts activist. Over the decades, she has created massive community art installations, staged plays with puppets of her own making and performed commedia dell’arte, the traditional Italian improvisational theater. She’s also taught a range of visual and performing arts to students of all ages and experiences including families, senior citizens and individuals with special needs. And for 30 years she …

On his way to becoming a history teacher, Michael Bodenhagen stumbled onto teaching Italian. Now, he’s found his passion, he says. Bodenhagen grew up in Homer Glen, Illinois, in a family that was very proud of its Italian heritage, he says. His maternal grandparents moved from Bari to the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, and relatives on his father’s side came from Termini Imerese, Sicily. “My mom and nonna would speak to each other in Italian, which would be the driving factor in my desire to learn Italian,” he says. “In addition, we would have big family parties …

For Christopher Derks, finally becoming president of the Columbian Club of Chicago is an honor … and a bit of surprise. “You work your way up through the ranks, so you know it’s coming,” he says of the presidency. “It has come a lot quicker than I was expecting.” Derks will assume the presidency on Jan. 1, but the club’s annual installation dinner has been moved from its traditional time slot in January to April 12 at Cuneo Mansion. Joining Derks as officers will be First Vice President Gerald Iannuzzelli, Second Vice President Edoardo Izzi, Third Vice President Michael Quaid, …

Assigned to a motor transport unit in Vietnam, Michael Pawelek drove a variety of vehicles while tackling other duties such as working the switchboard, manning bunkers on night duty and setting up ambush sites. Michael Pawelek was born in Chicago to Edward and Marie Sartor Pawelek. The family lived in an apartment behind Edward’s barbershop on the South Side until moving to Park Ridge when Pawelek was 5 years old. His maternal grandparents emigrated from a town near Venice, Italy, settling in Eveleth, Minnesota, and his paternal grandparents from the area around Warsaw, Poland, settling in Summit, Illinois. “In the …

A generation removed from far northeastern Italy, Micky Dolenz skyrocketed to fame as a driving force behind one of America’s most beloved ’60s pop groups and he’s still performing today. “Hey! Hey! We’re the Monkees!” was a familiar ditty that drew so many of us to our black-and-white television sets with the “bunny-ear” antennas on Monday evenings in the mid-’60s. For me, it was the Saturday morning reruns of the ’70s that bound me to America’s Marx Brothers-esque answer to the Mop-Top British Invasion. Davy Jones, the British heartthrob and tambourine playing vocalist; Peter Tork, the simple, soft-spoken bassist; and …