Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
At our annual celebration honoring the Italian students inducted into the National Honor Society, “Società Onoraria Italica-Sezione Cristoforo Colombo,” the Prospect High School Italian Program showcased the hard work of students at Prospect High and St. Raymond’s and honored members and organizations in the community who share the passion of Italian with the Italian students at Prospect.
The Copernico exchange students from Verona and Prospect teamed up with the SOAR Program at Fairview to send the beloved children’s book character Flat Stanley to Verona over the holidays. The SOAR children were presented with a framed collage of photos of Flat Stanley in Verona.
Additional recognitions were bestowed upon Mr. Tom Cuomo of the Cuomo Catering Company for his years of cooking delicious meals for all of our celebrations and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Mele of Little Villa in Des Plaines, celebrating 40 years of fine Italian dining to our community, who have hosted a party each year for the students in the Verona exchange program.
Honorees also included Mr. Joseph Papa, President of the Sons and Daughters of Italy in America, whose organization generously donated toward the awards for this year’s Honor Society induction, and the St. Joseph Club of Arlington Heights, which has given scholarships to students and uphold many Italian traditions within our community.
The Prospect students also recognized Mr. Patrick Capriati for providing the AP students the opportunity to create and broadcast a life segment on his radio program, Domenica Insieme, about internationally acclaimed Italian musical artist Laura Pausini. And last but not least, the students thanked Ron Onesti of Onesti Entertainment and the Arcada Theater, who has hosted the exchange students at his theater; provided Prospect students with affordable concert tickets to Italian artists such as Zucchero, Il Volo and Laura Pausini; and served as a guest lecturer in the Italian 4 Honors Class. Mr. Onesti has also provided Cirque de Soleil-style performers at a recent prom and more than 20 traditional Carnevale costumes for the students to wear at the Columbus Day Parade.
The 225 guests enjoyed musical selections performed by the 4th graders of St. Raymond’s under the direction of their teacher, Signora Marina Politzer; a beautiful acapella selection by two AP students; and the traditional tarantella performed by the Italian 2 students.
— Lyn Scolaro
