A new book by Lemont High School students includes some interesting pieces of history, such as teachers' homes destroyed by the deadly 1976 tornado.
“Some time ago, in 1976, a strong tornado came right through campus and the area across from us,” Noah Tienda said. “Many teachers in this building lost their homes.
“We thought it was really interesting and included it,” said Tienda, the company's senior supply chain executive Lemont Junior's Achievementwho made the book.
Or the old bridge that ran through the city and crossed the canal.
“It caused stress to people passing by and the bridge has since been demolished because the bridge was unsafe,” Tienda said.
These anecdotes are just a few of those found in Lemont Times, a book the students are putting together and plan to publish later this fall. They took on many publishing functions, including marketing, research, design and sales.
The book has 10 chapters:
- Companies that built Lemont
- Building Blocks: From Students to Entrepreneurs
- The Blue and Gold Standard: The Story of Lemont High School
- Lemont's Legacy: Events That Shaped Our City
- Exploring Lemont: One Story at a Time
- Artistic Expression: Lemont High School Student Exhibition
- Take on the Challenge: Daily Challenges for Inspiration and Growth
- Unlock Lemont: The Ultimate Trivia Challenge
- Taste of Home: Lemont's Favorite Dishes
- Honoring Lemont Greaters
“We have many important veterans who come from our community and tend to go unnoticed,” Tienda said of their inclusion in the Lemont Greats chapter.
Residents were invited to submit information and stories, and their responses included artwork, photographs of the community and history, and recipes for Polish and Lithuanian dishes, cookies and cupcakes.
Junior Achievement is a nonprofit organization founded in 1919 that promotes financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. The idea is to help students connect scientists to the real world.
This has been going on for decades at Lemont High School, with students receiving 10 Chicagoland Company of the Year awards over the past 16 years, including 2023 and 2024.
John Aspel, a Junior Achievement faculty advisor who teaches business, oversaw the project for 20 years. He said students' responsibilities include developing a business plan, conducting market research, development and design phase, production and delivery, usually in December.
But 35 to 40 students do the actual work, simply taking direction from Aspel.
“I believe in student-led organizations and … try to run the organization as much as possible without interfering with the process to allow them to really develop their leadership skills and run our company,” Aspel said.
Aspel said the focus is on more than just business.
“Everyone has a different background, not all students are interested in business,” he said. “They have an art background, which is nice because I need students to help design our product, the graphics we use, and (students who) have communication skills and language skills…to proofread documents and instructions if it's a game.
“They really help mentor our younger students to become our leaders of tomorrow,” Aspel said of the club’s leaders.
This work is part of the school's Entrepreneurship Club, which meets at 7:15 twice a week in the morning. Each group is led by a student council chosen by Aspel and the project's alumni, who are the “leaders”. In addition to Tienda, this year's board members include Michael Tilley, president; Mikala Kunickis, Head of Customer Service and Sales; juniors Kevin Collins, marketing team leader; and Braden Vasvery, finance group leader.
Tilley said his responsibilities include finance, revenue and profit, marketing, sending out surveys and posting announcements on social media, overseeing the supply chain, developing and creating evidence, proofreading and customer service.
Tilly's brother, who had been a student a few years ago and loved the club, invited him to join. Tilley has been involved since he was a sophomore and served on the executive board for the state runner-up.
“This project has helped me develop leadership skills, and by working with different departments and areas of the business, I need to be able to understand it all,” Tilley said. “I really enjoy leading everyone and being part of a real business that came out of nothing.”
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
