I’m Grace, your newsletter editor, here to provide you with a weekly line to all things The North Star and news. We’ll keep you updated about what’s going on in Naperville North, the local area and break down the big stories of the week.
Here are this week's local stories:
Naperville schools are ranked in Illinois’ Best Public High Schools list
Several Naperville high schools were ranked highly on Niche’s list of the best public high schools in Illinois.
Naperville North is ranked as number 21 on the list of top 25 top schools for the 2022-23 school year.
Nationwide, over 92,743 public schools, and 11,820 school districts were ranked by Niche.
The rankings were based on both academic performance and student input. 82% of students at Naperville North say that they feel safe at school and 75% of students and parents agree that the teachers show genuine care for their students.
Other Naperville schools ranked highly on the list were Naperville Central at #22 and Neuqua Valley at #11.
In NNHS news
- Naperville North’s drivers’ education classes will now utilize electric cars. Read the story here.
- Director Jordan Peele has become a major name in the horror genre. Read what this writer had to say about his three feature films here.
- Be sure to watch this year’s first edition of the NOW during Homeroom on Tuesday, Oct. 4. You will learn more about what changes are coming to Naperville North, a popular new addition and your monthly sports updates! Don’t miss it!
18 Naperville North students have been named National Merit Scholar semi-finalists
18 Naperville North students were recognized as National Merit Scholarship Semi-finalists at the District 203 Board of Education meeting on Monday.
More than 16,000 students across the country qualify as semifinalists. Once recognized, students complete a rigorous application process in the hopes of qualifying for $2,500 scholarships, corporate sponsorships or college-specific scholarships.
Students recognized at Monday’s meeting took the PSAT-NMSQT last Oct., which is the first step of the selection process for a scholarship. The selection criteria varies from state to state.
All juniors at NNHS will take the PSAT-NMSQT on Oct. 12, 2022, and undergo the same process to be considered for a merit scholarship.
Spotlight: Homecoming Olympics
Naperville North is home to a variety of clubs, classes, students and teachers. Polaris will be featuring one of these activities, individuals or events that make North unique. This week: NNHS’s Homecoming Olympics.
Homecoming week sparked the return of many Naperville North traditions, one of which being the Homecoming Olympics. As the student body watches, teams organized by each grade level’s student board face off in different challenges.
Students were excited to show their pride for their school and respective class, especially after the Olympics were canceled last year. Junior Cecilia Lu explains why she was excited for the return of the NNHS Homecoming Olympics.
“I was bummed about missing it in the past… I was excited to hear that it was coming back,” Lu said.
This year, Homeroom was utilized for individual class competitions. Tuesday was the competition between juniors and seniors, while Thursday was between freshman and sophomores. Senior Gabriella Chinnici discusses why she was excited to be participating in the Olympics for the first time since her freshman year.
“Last year we were devastated when it got canceled… we’re so excited to compete this year” Chinnici said.
Both Olympics assemblies consisted of four events: musical chairs, egg-in-the-face trivia, a relay race and tug-of-war. In the upperclassman battle, three of the events were won by seniors. The juniors won egg-in-the-face trivia, which was led by junior Mae Adams.
On Thursday, the underclassmen were full of energy and excitement. Freshman Betsy Cordeiro explains why she wanted to be a part of the Olympics this year.
“It seemed like it’d be fun and I wanted to try it,” Cordeiro said.
Both underclassmen teams fought hard to win amid the continuous neck-and-neck competitions. The freshmen won the first two rounds while the sophomores won the second two. Though it was close, the sophomores won by cheering their class chant the loudest.
Students and staff are happy for the return of yearly traditions. Juniors, sophomores and freshmen were able to experience their first Homecoming Olympics and seniors were able to experience the beloved tradition one last time. As school events begin to ramp up, the spirit and connection of the students continue to soar higher.
Here's what's going on nationally:
First, The CDC announces new mask regulations in healthcare facilities
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced that universal mask-wearing is now optional in healthcare facilities.
The reasoning behind this change includes greater herd immunity from the virus due to widespread COVID-19 vaccinations and a loosening of mask mandates. Despite this decision, a majority of communities have not improved enough in COVID-19 cases to loosen mask mandates.
The CDC recommends that patients and healthcare personnel continue wearing masks in healthcare facilities and requires masks in high transmission areas.
Healthcare personnel with up-to-date vaccinations against COVID-19 are not required to wear masks when not around patients. DuPage County is currently a low-risk transmission area.
Next, TikTok is could face a privacy lawsuit
The social media app TikTok could be fined $29 million in the United Kingdom for processing data of children under the age of 13.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) released a report with findings of the company collecting and releasing private data of 13-year-old users on the app without parent consent. The ICO also found that TikTok was unable to provide information about private data in a transparent way. In addition, the app illegally processed special category data including racial origin, political opinions, genetic or biometric data and other personal information. These actions breached the U.K.’s data protection law between May 2018 and July 2020, establishing the grounds for a lawsuit.
The ICO is still gathering evidence for the case and noted that “no conclusion should be drawn at this stage that there has, in fact, been any breach of data protection law or that a financial penalty will ultimately be imposed.”
TikTok has 30 days to respond to the decision. If the company defends how they handle childrens data, the ICO can reduce the amount they intend to penalize.
This week's Polaris was written by Bella, Sarah, Avery and Ryan
Encourage your friends to receive Polaris! Add their email to this form.
Suggestions? Email: geainger@stu.naperville203.org
Credits:
Created with an image by NotjungCG - "Night sky with stars sparkling on black background"