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You are here: Home / Archives for Samina Hussain

Daniel Cudzich (NW 2020) Receives Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship

May 1, 2023 By Samina Hussain

Click here for complete article

Illinois News Bureau, April 18, 2023

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Illinois students Daniel Cudzich, Max Fan and Aidan Lindsay were awarded Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for their potential to contribute to the advancement of research in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Goldwater, who served 30 years in the U.S. Senate. The program encourages the continued development of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding scholarships to sophomores and juniors from the U.S. who intend to pursue doctorates. The scholarship provides recipients $7,500 annually towards undergraduate tuition, fees, books or room and board.

This year’s 413 scholars were selected from among an estimated pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors from across the country who sought to become among the 1,267 students nominated by faculties of colleges and universities nationwide for the award, according to David Schug, director of the National and International Scholarships Program at Illinois.

“With so many amazing STEM students and research opportunities at Illinois, just being nominated by the campus for the Goldwater is quite a feat, as is evidenced by three of our four nominees earning the national award,” Schug said.

Daniel Cudzich

Cudzich, a junior from Niles, Illinois, and a graduate of Niles West High School, is pursuing a degree in materials science and engineering. Cudzich has compiled a 4.0 GPA as a member of both the college James Scholar Honors Program and the Campus Honors Program. He began researching novel battery types in high school. For the past three years, he has been working in the lab of Illinois materials science and engineering professor Paul Braun, under the mentorship of doctoral candidate Carlos Juarez-Yescas, developing solid-state electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries. Cudzich also participated in research experiences with Argonne National Laboratory, Panasonic and Apple Inc. At Illinois, he is active with THRUST, a student group striving to build a rocket that can reach the Karman line (100 km in altitude) with a liquid-fueled engine. Cudzich said he aspires to work at a national laboratory using electrochemical design to improve solid-state battery technologies.

 

Daniel Cudzich
Photo by Della Perrone/University of Illinois

Filed Under: alumni

Martin Yousif Zebari (NN 2011) Playwright and Actor in “Layalina”

March 28, 2023 By Samina Hussain

Playwright draws on immigrant and Skokie life experience to pen ‘Layalina’ at Goodman Theatre

Pioneer Press/Chicago Tribune

Mar 27, 2023 

Direct link to article
Link to another article in Al-Jazeera, by Yasmeen Altaji, Published On 21 Mar 2023
Martin Yousif Zebari, who wrote the play "Layalina," playing at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, drew on memories of his youth in Baghad, Iraq and Skokie, Illinois. - Original Credit: Goodman Theatre

Martin Yousif Zebari, who wrote the play “Layalina,” playing at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, drew on memories of his youth in Baghad, Iraq and Skokie, Illinois. – Original Credit: Goodman Theatre (Liz Lauren / HANDOUT)

Memories of his childhood in war-torn Baghdad, and later starting as an immigrant fourth-grader in Skokie, had been running through Martin Yousif Zebari’s mind for years, but it wasn’t until the pandemic paused the actor’s stage career that Zebari had free time to shape those thoughts into a play.

The result, “Layalina,” running at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre through April 2, taps into Zebari’s memories of being a young child in an Assyrian family in Iraq and Syria and then living in Skokie’s thriving Assyrian-American community. It also continues the love of theater he honed at Lincoln Junior High and Niles North High School, where he acted in shows and tried his hand at set building and costume design.

The first act of “Layalina” shows how the close-knit Ibrahim family lived in Baghdad, celebrating family joys but enduring the stresses of protests and war, and then making the difficult decision to send the children off to safety in a place they knew only the name of—Skokie, Illinois. Act 2 shows the same family years later, when the children who were kindergarten age in Act 1 are wrestling with challenges of young adulthood, and some are finding their LGBTQ identities to various degrees.

Zebari, who uses they and he pronouns, said that while writing the play, he worked with the fact that his memories of Iraq were from a young child’s perspective.

“I lived in the Middle East until age 9, so many of my memories are more environmental and atmospheric than they are direct memories,” said Zebari, who was born in 1993 and said their family lived in Baghdad until they were six, then they moved to Syria for three years before coming to the United States.

“The play is loosely based on my family’s story of immigration, but it’s definitely not autobiographical,” Zebari said. “It’s based on memories I have and conversations I grew up listening to and relationship dynamics I witnessed, so while not everything is true to my family, it all comes from a firsthand experience of growing up in a torn childhood, because of immigration.”

Even as a young child, Zebari felt the danger in Iraq, and got the sense that their family was wrestling with wanting to stay in the place where their ancestors were born versus leaving to keep their children safe.

The family finally left the summer after Zebari completed third grade, and in the fall, he started fourth grade at Thomas Edison Elementary School. He’s grown up speaking Assyrian, then learned Arabic to go to school in Syria, then had to learn yet another language once he arrived here.

Martin Yousif Zebari drew on memories of his youth in Baghad, Iraq and Skokie, Illinois to write the play "Layalina," playing at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. - Original Credit: Goodman Theatre

Martin Yousif Zebari drew on memories of his youth in Baghad, Iraq and Skokie, Illinois to write the play “Layalina,” playing at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. – Original Credit: Goodman Theatre (Liz Lauren / HANDOUT)

 

Zebari came with his parents and three siblings, because two older brothers had already grown and gone out on their own. The family of six lived in a two-bedroom apartment.

“My dad was a successful business person and had some big deal degrees,” Zebari said. “My family was doing really well financially but then when you have to change your life…sometimes the money goes with it. We moved here and became a working class family.

“That’s another thing the play touches on is–what do you have left, what do you rely on when you don’t have the wealth and status you once had? How does that affect your new home and way you view the world?”

Zebari’s main responsibility at that age, of course, was to go to school. He remembers taking theater classes for his entire time at Niles North and participating in seven to nine shows a year there before going to Illinois State University and majoring in acting and costume design, then working as an actor.

Zebari has lived in several Chicago neighborhoods and moved to Los Angeles about a year ago, but is staying here through the run of “Layalina.”

Thinking back on his time in Skokie, the village’s cultural, religious, ethnic and racial diversity stands out for him. Most of his friends were Jewish, he said, and he remembers going to shabbat dinners and hanging out with their families.

“Because (Skokie) was my first experience in America, I grew up with a spoiled sense of diversity because i thought the rest of the world was that way,” Zebari said. “Then I learned other areas of the city were extremely segregated.

“I had a really beautiful rich childhood in America. I got to experience the country in a way most people don’t.”

If you go: Layalina, at Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, Illinois. https://www.goodmantheatre.org/

Filed Under: alumni

James O’Malley (NN 1983) Finalist for Golden Apple Award

March 17, 2023 By Samina Hussain

Click here for full article

Earlier this month, District 69′s Thomas Edison Elementary School teacher James O’ Malley was announced as a 2023 Golden Apple nominee. The nonprofit Golden Apple Foundation is committed to encouraging and recognizing great teachers, according to its news release.

James O'Malley.O’ Malley, who has taught at Edison for 29 years, is one of 30 Illinois fourth-through-eighth grade teachers named as a finalist for the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.

A Skokie native and Niles North High School graduate, O’Malley noted he was always intrigued by the possibility of instructing children.

“I felt school was a positive, happy place, as it should be,” he said. “When I ended up at a school, I wanted to make sure I was a teacher that remained cognizant of the things that allowed me to succeed as a student.”

O’ Malley teaches fifth grade in a science-themed classroom where children are allowed to handle fossils and artifacts, and he presides over the elementary school’s annual Science Fair and Science Olympiad.

“Kids, I have found, are naturally drawn to science, and to me, science is a hook that draws kids into education, whether it is reading or writing. It inspires them and it has really been a tool to help kids succeed,” O’Malley said.

He is also the sponsor of the school’s chess club.

O’ Malley’s efforts extend beyond Morton Grove as the Grayslake resident is an assistant coach on Grayslake Central’s High School football and track teams. He is also a National Board Certified Teacher, an adjunct professor at Southern Illinois University and teaches at a satellite location of College of Lake County.

His Golden Apple nomination follows other previous honors including being one of four teachers, O’ Malley received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from President Barack Obama.

O’Malley emphasized he loves supporting and interacting with his students.

“I get to know them as individuals and then responding to whatever they need as an individual to continue to succeed is super important but it is also fun to process who they are, what they are interested in and what needs they have and do my best to provide them with those needs, whatever they might be,” he said.

O’Malley’s Golden Apple nomination was enthusiastically greeted at his home school.

“Dr. O’Malley has had an incredible impact on the students of District 69. His ability to build strong and meaningful relationships, engage students in innovative and creative ways in the classroom, and his commitment to supporting community events is truly inspiring,” Edison School Principal Andy Carpenter said in a statement. “We are so proud of this recognition for Dr. O’Malley!”

Filed Under: alumni

Niles North NCAA Stars Shine!

March 14, 2023 By Samina Hussain

We are very proud to have two Niles North alum competing in the 2023 NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament.
Senior Damaria Franklin (NN Class of 2018) currently plays for Memphis whose team just won its conference tournament, defeating top ranked Houston. 
Sophomore Aquan Smart (NN Class of 2020) currently plays for Southeast Missouri State whose team also won its conference tournament to earn a berth in March Madness. 

Filed Under: alumni

THANK YOU TO BARRY (NW ’72) and TAFFY BERGER FOR THEIR GENEROUS SUPPORT (1/12/2023)

January 12, 2023 By Samina Hussain

Barry and Taffy Berger have decided to give back to their communities which included a generous donation of $20,000 to the Education Foundation.  We are extremely grateful to the Bergers for this gift.  Here is an article detailing the Berger’s generous support to Barry’s childhood community.

Filed Under: Bottom2

Irena Petryk (NW 2020) Named 2023 Rhodes Scholar

January 11, 2023 By Samina Hussain

‘Natural diplomat’ Irena Petryk named a 2023 Rhodes Scholar

Northwestern senior is interested in foreign policy and will study economic development at Oxford University in fall 2023

Northwestern Now
November 14, 2022 |
By Stephen Anzaldi
(Link to article)
irena petryk
A Weinberg College senior from Morton Grove, Ill., Irena Petryk majors in economics and international studies. She is interested in U.S. foreign policy and strengthening international commitments on economic development.
Northwestern University student Irena Petryk has been named a 2023 Rhodes Scholar.

A senior in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Petryk is majoring in economics and international studies. She is interested in U.S. foreign policy and strengthening international commitments on economic development.

The Rhodes Scholarships, the oldest and perhaps best-known award for international study, provide all expenses for multiple years of study at the University of Oxford in England. Scholars are chosen not only for exceptional academic achievement but also a demonstrated ambition for social impact.

“I am so proud of Irena, whose amazing scholarship, dedication and hard work represent what Northwestern strives for in all things,” President Michael Schill said. “Being named a Rhodes Scholar is an incredible accomplishment, and I cannot wait to see how Irena uses this opportunity to make an even greater impact on the world.”

The daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, Petryk is lending a hand to help support Ukraine and shine a light on the country’s plight at a time when the Russian invasion has stretched beyond 250 days and the fighting continues.

“My mother was actually in Ukraine at the start of the war,” Petryk recalled. “She told me to focus on school instead of worrying about her. Of course, that lasted one day. At the time, I felt frustrated and useless.”

That’s when she joined fellow Ukrainian Americans, international students and friends to create the Ukrainian Club at Northwestern. Since the invasion began in February, the club has helped raise awareness and money — selling ribbons and baked goods, and hosting movie nights, a campus vigil and a recent concert for Ukraine featuring Northwestern musicians.

“It feels good to help support organizations on the ground there,” Petryk said, “especially considering all the senseless violence. This conflict was not inevitable — it was the product of choices made by people in power.”

The Rhodes Scholarships, the oldest and perhaps best-known award for international study, provide all expenses at the University of Oxford in England. Scholars are chosen for exceptional academic achievement and their ambition for social impact. (Getty Images)

 

Even before she arrived at Northwestern, Petryk had service on her mind. As a high school student in nearby Morton Grove, Ill., only a half-dozen miles from Evanston, she learned to appreciate the value of education and the impact she could have on the world. She volunteered with Expanding Lives, a Chicago non-profit that hosts young women from Benin and Niger, Africa and empowers them to become leaders in their home communities.

“These women are the first in their family to attend high school,” Petryk said. “Getting to know them, I became struck by their stories of how difficult that really is. I’d taken my access to education for granted, but I realized then how special it was to attend school without worrying about financial and cultural barriers.”

This year, Petryk is one of 32 Rhodes Scholars selected from the U.S. With these latest elections, 3,610 Americans now have won Rhodes Scholarships, representing 327 colleges and universities.

“The Rhodes Trust seeks scholars who ‘stand up for the world,’” said Elizabeth Lewis Pardoe, director of Northwestern’s Office of Fellowships. “At only twenty years old, Irena has already devoted her remarkable talents to the service of others in West Africa, Southeast Asia, the American Midwest and Ukraine. She’s a natural diplomat with the unflappable intelligence needed to confront and diffuse conflict.”

Through her research at Northwestern, Petryk uses quantitative analysis techniques with detailed data from Thailand as she seeks to understand how poor households in developing countries respond to difficult events like floods and family illness, and how communities come together to help each other out, according to her advisor Lori Beaman, a professor of economics at the Weinberg College.

“We are thrilled to see a Weinberg College student recognized as a Rhodes Scholar,” said Dean Adrian Randolph. “Irena’s service, work and vision for the future embody the mindset at the College — to not only understand the pressing issues our world faces today but to transform them into promising new opportunities for the future.”

This fall, Petryk is serving as an intern with the White House Council of Economic Advisers, which is charged with advising the president on economic policy based on data, research and evidence. She spent the summer of 2022 working at the U.S. Department of State, and she has also interned at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Northwestern students interested in pursuing scholarship and fellowship opportunities can contact the Office of Fellowships.

Filed Under: alumni

Coach Jim Sullivan (NN 1976) Celebrated

December 5, 2022 By Samina Hussain

Coach: Just don’t call Jim Sullivan ‘the old man on the end of the bench’

By Jon Cohn
Coach’s Corner
Updated11/29/2022 12:04 PM
(Link to Article)

After coaching for many years at Maine West High School, where he had a tremendous eight-year run -- the best in the school's history -- Jim Sullivan finally stepped away from coaching. Or so he thought.

After coaching for many years at Maine West High School, where he had a tremendous eight-year run — the best in the school’s history — Jim Sullivan finally stepped away from coaching. Or so he thought. (Courtesy of Jim Sullivan

Coach Jim Sullivan has been there and done that in the Chicago suburban high school basketball scene for many years now, winning regional and sectional titles, getting a team downstate and being inducted into the Illinois High School Basketball Hall of Fame.

But just about every time he thinks maybe it’s time to step away and take some time off, something or somebody keeps calling him back.

His latest return to the high school hoops scene? With our very own Glenbrook North Spartans as the lead assistant to third-year head coach Quinn Hayes.

“Just to show you how old I am,” says Sullivan, “I used to coach against Quinn when he was in high school and played for St. Viator. He was a heck of player back then. We scouted all kinds of ways to stop him and he still put up 25 points on us with regularity.”

Better to be with him than coach against him, I guess. Sullivan joined the GBN staff 3 years ago, and now the two work closely together.

The seeds of their relationship were planted all along the way. Hayes kept in touch with Sullivan after high school, and when he finished his college playing career and started coaching, he would constantly tap Sullivan for advice and expertise.

It was just a matter of time before the two connected in a closer way.

“A few years ago, Quinn mentioned to me he may be taking on a new coaching job (Hayes at that point had been the longtime coach at his alma mater, St. Viator), and he asked would I be interested in joining?” Sullivan said.

“I had just left one coaching job and was thinking of taking some time off, but I was intrigued by this new challenge, and always respected Quinn and thought it would be fun to coach with him.”

Actually, the theme of “trying” to take some time away, but continually getting called back into coaching, kind of runs through Sullivan’s illustrious coaching career.

After coaching for many years at Maine West High School, where he had a tremendous eight-year run — the best in the school’s history — winning four regional titles, sectional titles, and bringing a star-studded team led by future college stars Lucas Johnson and Kevin Frey to a fourth-place state finish, Sullivan finally stepped away from coaching.

Or so he thought.

It wasn’t long after his first attempted “step away” before his phone was ringing. Schaumburg coach Bob Williams contacted him and asked him to join his staff, so Sully, who had taken a couple years off, decided to jump back in the game.

Good move. He was on the bench when that Schaumburg team made one of the great underdog runs in IHSA history, eventually winning the state championship over a powerful Thornwood team.

After that great run, Sullivan stepped away from coaching again, finally seeking time to get some rest. The time off was short-lived. When young coach Matt Walsh was named the new coach at Schaumburg, guess who received one of his first calls?

Back to coaching it was for Sullivan, and he had a good three-year run, a second time around, with the Saxons.

Now, finally time for a break? Nah. Nearby Hoffman Estates High School had just hired longtime Schaumburg assistant and good friend Luke Yanulle to be their head coach. Yanulle’s first contact to find an assistant? Bingo. Back to the coaching grind for Coach Sully, this time for the mighty Hawks.

“I thought going to Hoffman Estates would be an interesting challenge. New environment, new program, new coach, and I thought it would be nice to work with Luke in his first head coaching job. I really enjoyed it there, and working with Coach Yanulle was great.”

That lasted a solid seven years, finally ending when Yanulle decided to step down to spend more time with his ailing father.

So, at long last, the hall of fame coaching career was finally going to come to a close.

“That was the plan,” laughs Sullivan. “I was actually thinking of moving to Arizona and made a few contacts down there for potential jobs. I was kind of looking forward to it, but my father passed away and I made the decision to stay here and help out with my mom.”

If we haven’t learned the lesson by now, it is that if Coach Sullivan is not employed, and is anywhere in the general vicinity of a Chicagoland gymnasium, his phone will start to ring.

Sure enough, new Glenbrook North coach Quinn Hayes contacted his good friend and gave coach his best sales pitch … and off to the green and gold he went.

“I got some definite flak from my old Maine West players,” says Sully, laughing. “Back then our number one conference rival was Glenbrook North, so they couldn’t believe I was now going over to ‘the dark side’ to join their program.

“I told Coach Hayes when I took the job, I wanted to be actively involved. I didn’t want to just be the old guy on the end of the bench, and he has been great about it. He allows me to have a voice, both in practice and in games, and I feel like I have an impact with the team and the kids.”

This year, his third with the program, Sullivan runs the Spartan defense. I asked him what keeps bringing him back to the game of basketball? Especially since he was a baseball and hockey athlete while attending Niles North High School, circa 1976.

“I love the activity and the speed of the game most of all. The end-to-end action,” Sullivan said. “I have always been fascinated with the strategy and the chess match that goes on within the game. It was never my plan early in my career to get that heavily involved into basketball coaching, but I kind of just fell in love with the game along the way.”

So, after some 40 years coaching at various ranks, Sullivan will have a seat again this year on the Spartans hoops bench and — rest assured — it won’t be at the end of the bench. Coach Sullivan will be right next to head coach Hayes, and the two will work their coaching magic together.

Filed Under: alumni

Will’s Place starts construction for cafe in downtown Skokie; will provide jobs for disabled adults

November 3, 2022 By Samina Hussain

By Elena Ferrarin
Pioneer Press

Nov 02, 2022 

(Link to Article)
William Schejbal is all smiles as he and others are about to rip out a wall at the Oct. 25 groundbreaking of Will's Place, 7927 Lincoln Avenue, in downtown Skokie. The cafe and shop will employ adults with developmental disabilities.
William Schejbal is all smiles as he and others are about to rip out a wall at the Oct. 25 groundbreaking of Will’s Place, 7927 Lincoln Avenue, in downtown Skokie. The cafe and shop will employ adults with developmental disabilities. (Elena Ferrarin / Pioneer Press)

William Schejbal can’t wait to make “yummy sandwiches,” and those who know him say they can’t wait to taste them and get a dose of his sunny disposition.

The 22-year-old was all smiles last week at the groundbreaking of Will’s Place, a café and general store expected to open in the spring at 7927 Lincoln Avenue, in downtown Skokie.

Will’s Place will employ adults with developmental disabilities, and Schejbal, who lives in Lincolnwood and has special needs, will work there, too.

The venture is backed by Schejbal’s family, including his mother, Joan Hallagan, and his aunt Cathy Maassen, who plans to retire from the Skokie Public Library when Will’s Place opens.

Joan Hallagan, left, talks about her son, William Schejbal, 22, second from left, who gets a hug from Hallagan's sister Cathy Maassen, at the Oct. 25 groundbreaking for Will's Place in downtown Skokie. William's family joined forces to launch the cafe and shop, which will employ adults with developmental disabilities.
Joan Hallagan, left, talks about her son, William Schejbal, 22, second from left, who gets a hug from Hallagan’s sister Cathy Maassen, at the Oct. 25 groundbreaking for Will’s Place in downtown Skokie. William’s family joined forces to launch the cafe and shop, which will employ adults with developmental disabilities. (Elena Ferrarin / Pioneer Press)

Schejbal’s cousin, Chicago-based chef Michael Pfeiffer, will create the “chef-driven, ingredient-focused breakfast and lunch menu,” and another cousin will run the cafe. The general store will feature pre-packaged food like sauces, fresh pasta and charcuterie boards, as well as baked goods, fresh flowers, and home goods made locally.

The family has created a nonprofit named Will’s Place and is fundraising via a GoFundMe page.

The space on Lincoln Avenue used to hold Mini Man Monkey Brains, a candy store where people on the autism spectrum could develop occupational skills.

The groundbreaking for Will’s Place on Oct. 25 drew a crowd of relatives, friends, elected officials, and representatives and clients of agencies who serve people with disabilities.

“If there is anything that gives a spark of brightness to the downtown in Skokie, it’s this kind of development,” Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen said.

William Schejbal, left, and friend Veronica Grde at the Oct. 25 groundbreaking of Will's Place, 7927 Lincoln Avenue, in downtown Skokie. The new cafe and shop will employ adults with developmental disabilities.
William Schejbal, left, and friend Veronica Grde at the Oct. 25 groundbreaking of Will’s Place, 7927 Lincoln Avenue, in downtown Skokie. The new cafe and shop will employ adults with developmental disabilities. (Elena Ferrarin / Pioneer Press)

The village of Skokie is supporting the new business with a commercial corridor storefront enhancement program grant of up to $41,098 for interior and exterior work. The village board approved the grant Oct. 18.

The groundbreaking was also attended by Lincolnwood Mayor Jesal Patel, who said William “had a presence about him” since he was a little boy.

Schejbal, who loves to cook, turned 22 this year, and there just aren’t enough employment options for adults with disabilities, Hallagan said. Will’s Place hopes to employ up to 30 people once business is in full swing, she said.

A total 41.1 million non-institutionalized adults have a disability, representing 12.7% of the population, but only 7.9 million of those ages 18 to 64 were employed, according to the 2019 U.S. Census American Community Survey.

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky spoke at the event about the need to provide more employment opportunities for adults with special needs, whose public benefits largely end at age 22.

“We need to change the rules of the game. We can’t always rely on not-for-profit organizations,” Schakowsky said. “We have the richest country in the world at the richest point in history, and certainly we can find the funding and the way to make sure that all people can contribute.”

Schejbal, who was homecoming king in 2019 at Niles West High School, was adopted as a baby in Vietnam. Hallagan, his mother, said she later found out that he’d suffered a stroke at birth, caused by malnutrition, that had done neurological damage.

Despite his challenges, Schejbal learned to walk and use alternative means of communication —last week, he used the iPad app TouchChat, which turns typing into spoken words — while making friends wherever he went, his mother said.

“As a parent of a disabled child, I’ve spent years managing my expectations as it became clear that this world isn’t always designed for children like my son,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page. “The joy and love that William has brought into my family and his community is impossible to articulate or measure. My goal is to give back to William the happiness he has given all of us.”

William Schejbal, second from left, and others rip out a wall at the Oct. 25 groundbreaking of Will's Place, 7927 Lincoln Avenue, in downtown Skokie. The new cafe and shop will employ adults with developmental disabilities.

Schejbal never fails to stand out, said Antoinette Cox, a youth mentor/tutor for the nonprofit Marillac St. Vincent Family Services, based in Chicago.

“He’s so sweet and well-mannered,” Cox said. “He’s always helpful, he’s always extending a hand. He is just so jolly and so happy. You’ll never forget him.”

 

William Schejbal, second from left, and others rip out a wall at the Oct. 25 groundbreaking of Will’s Place, 7927 Lincoln Avenue, in downtown Skokie. The new cafe and shop will employ adults with developmental disabilities. (Elena Ferrarin / Pioneer Press)

Filed Under: alumni

NILES 1962 60th REUNION COMMITTEE: $2,500 on 9/29/2022

October 11, 2022 By Samina Hussain

Thank You to the Niles Class of 1962 Reunion Committee:  Barbara Graff Dorfman (Chair), Linda Levine Wiesmeyer (Vice Chair); Bill Nimmo (Vice Chair); Pat Fulkerson Larrabee (Webmaster); Mike Kiss (Treasurer); Fran Barron Hoffer; Diane Gross Goodman; Paul Thielmann; Jerry Dulkin; Lori Immergluck Schuyler; Marlene Ruttenberg Greenberg; Charlene Selk Hermes; Mike Weintraub; Richard Ross

Filed Under: Bottom2

Skokie man scales summits of Pacific Crest trail as he fights two rare diseases

September 23, 2022 By Samina Hussain

By Elena Ferrarin
Pioneer Press
Sep 19, 2022 at 5:18 pm

(Link to Article)
Adam Rubinberg, 25, of Skokie has two rare diseases but was able to make arrangements to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. He is shown in June at Clouds Rest in Yosemite Valley, California. He has to receive IV injections in the homes of “trail angels” who help hikers. – Original Credit: (Adam Rubinberg / HANDOUT)

Adam Rubinberg is hiking the circa 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, a daunting undertaking for most people, while managing two currently incurable diseases.

The 25-year-old from Skokie set off March 8 to hike the trail spanning California, Oregon and Washington, starting from the Mexican border and hiking north to the Canadian border. His mother Amy Rubinberg said Monday he may be returning home as soon as Sept. 25, partly due to wildfires in the West and partly due to a health setback.

He’s hiked between 12 and 25 miles per day, depending on the terrain and how he’s feeling, carrying a backpack weighing about 30 pounds, he said earlier in a telephone interview from a town near the trail where he stopped to get an IV infusion.

Rubinberg has Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease estimated to affect more than half a million people in the United States. He also has primary sclerosing cholangitis, a rare disease that attacks the bile ducts. About 50,000 people in the United States have PSC, and the majority also have inflammatory bowel disease, according to information from UChicago Medicine, where Rubinberg is being treated.

Adam Rubinberg, 25, of Skokie has two rare diseases but was able to make arrangements to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. He is shown in June on his way hiking out of Yosemite Valley, California. He has to receive IV injections in the homes of “trail angels” who help hikers. – Original Credit: (Adam Rubinberg / HANDOUT)

Rubinberg takes 17 pills per day — most for PSC, some for mental health issues like ADHD and depression, he said – and battles occasional flare ups of back pain.

To treat his Crohn’s disease, he has to make a stop every four weeks to get an IV infusion. There is no FDA-approved treatment for PSC, which claimed the life of Chicago Bear great Walter Payton in 1999. However, Rubinberg is participating in a two-year clinical trial that started in October 2020 at UChicago Medicine to evaluate the efficacy of the medication cliofexor on PSC patients. Because it’s a double-blind study, neither Rubinberg nor his doctors know if he’s taking the medication or a placebo. Rubinberg said he feels much better, and his liver enzymes have been within the normal range since late last year.

“I’m very fortunate to be in such good hands,” he said during a telephone interview a few weeks ago from Dunsmuir, California, where he got an IV infusion.

Adam Rubinberg, 25, of Skokie has two rare diseases but was able to make arrangements to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. He is shown in June on the the summit of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, California, which has a 2,500 foot vertical drop. He has to receive IV injections in the homes of “trail angels” who help hikers. – Original Credit: (Adam Rubinberg / HANDOUT)

“The fact that I am still out here, after all that’s happened to me — that alone says a lot,” he said. “Some days I want to quit, but I won’t do it unless I feel that way consistently for a week. Other times, I feel intensely happy and grateful.”

Rubinberg was diagnosed with both diseases in 2019 after he took a blood test at the insistence of his mother, who noticed his exhaustion and loose bowel movements. His elevated liver enzymes led to more tests before the final diagnoses.

Rubinberg is a “remarkable young man,” said Dr. David T. Rubin, co-director of the Digestive Diseases Center and section chief of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at UChicago Medicine.

Crohn’s disease is often diagnosed in young people, and about 10% of patients also have inflammation in their liver and bile ducts, Dr. Rubin said. It’s unknown if one causes the other, and treating one doesn’t guarantee the other goes away, he said.

The medical field has made “incredible progress” in treating Crohn’s disease, so that patients should expect to be in remission, he said. “They should be able to do anything and everything they’ve ever wanted in their life.”

Dr. Rubin also credited nurse associate Jaqueline Lopez, who went “above and beyond” to help Rubinberg in his quest to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Lopez found the company Home Infusion Options, which worked with Rubinberg’s family to ship his medication and hire traveling nurses who administer the IV infusion in the homes of “trail angels,” people who lend their homes to help hikers along the route.

Dr. Gautham Reddy, a liver disease expert at UChicago Medicine, is overseeing the clinical trial that will end in October. Rubinberg plans to enroll in an optional “open label” study extension, where he will be taking the medication, Reddy said.

“At the onset of trial, he was not feeling well. He was run down, fatigued. He just felt ‘blah,’” Reddy said. “Now, his general disposition is much sunnier. He seems like a happier, more energetic young person.”

“I am so happy to hear that he is super functional and able to do the things that he wants to do,” Reddy added. Still, he cautioned about making assumptions about the potential benefits of the medication until the clinical trial data is available.

Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail had been Rubinberg’s dream since 2018, Rubinberg said, crediting his parents and medical team with managing the complex logistics.

Adam Rubinberg, 25, of Skokie has two rare diseases but was able to make arrangements to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. He took this photo in May of California’s Kings Canyon National Park. He has to receive IV injections in the homes of “trail angels” who help hikers. – Original Credit: (Adam Rubinberg / HANDOUT)

In preparation, he hiked Vermont’s 273-mile “Long Trail” last September. That’s where he earned the trail nickname “Bard,” after he rewrote the lyrics to Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” as an ode to that trail, he explained.

To help finance his current hike, Rubinberg took a weeklong break in July to work at a golf tournament in South Lake Tahoe, California.

The best part of the journey has been meeting “amazing people,” said Rubinberg, who’s written entries in a blog.

“Hikers are some of the nicest people you’ll meet. The most trusting, most trustworthy people,” he said. “With the trail angels and the trail community out here, it’s one of the best communities of people you’ll ever meet.”

The hard part is that, because he has to stop every four weeks, he also has to separate from hikers he meets along the way, he said.

“Being alone on this trail is a whole mental challenge, because the only person to motivate you is yourself,” he said. “It’s kind of redefined for me what my limit is. Physically and mentally, it’s pushed me to, and beyond, my limits.”

There also have been major glitches, like having to be medically evacuated, twice: once in May due to altitude sickness on Mount Whitney, California, and once in July, when he had a 102- degree fever and was diagnosed with COVID-19. He spent a few days in isolation at a hotel in South Lake Tahoe, where his mother was able to send him groceries.

“Thank God for modern technology,” Amy Rubinberg said.

Last week, nausea and throat issues forced him to backtrack 10 miles to Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, where he had to get transportation to the nearest medical center for blood work his doctor ordered, Amy Rubinberg said. He’s taking an antibiotic because, she said, PSC can lead to infections in the liver that can in turn lead to serious consequences.

Rubinberg also has a propensity for losing stuff, like his satellite messenger, a device for communicating with the world beyond the trail. He thinks he dropped it at a park after a sprinkler unexpectedly went off, he said, laughing. That was less funny to his parents, who rushed to buy him a new one and ship it to his next IV infusion destination while enduring the stress of not knowing where he was for a few days.

Adam Rubinberg, 25, of Skokie has two rare diseases but was able to make arrangements to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. He has to receive IV injections in the homes of “trail angels” who help hikers. He took this photo in May on the west slope of Mount Whitney, along the southernmost portion of the John Muir Trail. – Original Credit: (Adam Rubinberg / HANDOUT)

Amy Rubinberg said she worries about her son constantly, but she and her husband are both very proud of him and his determination.

“With all of these trials and tribulations, there are a lot of things that could have made someone else give up and quit. But he kept persevering and kept going,” his mother said.

His father, Robert Rubinberg, agreed. “Even before he was diagnosed, it certainly seemed like a huge dream (to hike the Pacific Crest Trail),” he said. “He’s very driven. He’s wanted to do this for a long time, and he has been able to push himself.”

Rubinberg worked at REI’s store in Northbrook for about five months before he set off on his hike in March. He hopes to work there again and perhaps apply to become one of the company’s outdoor guides, he said.

He encourages everyone, regardless of their physical condition or ability, to go hiking.

“Doing any distance, on any trail, in my mind is impressive,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you do the whole thing or not. Just getting yourself out there and enjoy nature — it’s amazing what it can do for you.”


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