The Richards High School team of Lilli Guerrero, Aliyah Negrete and Isabella Kwartnik took first place at the recent Moraine Valley Community College Culinary Arts Competition.

It’s the third time in the seven years of this contest that a team from Richards has won. Teacher Rob Staudacher leads the culinary program at Richards.

The team also took first place in both the Salad and Entree categories. Combined with Eisenhower winning first place in Dessert, District 218 schools swept first place in all three categories.

Culinary Arts falls into the category of Career and Technical Education. D218 has enjoyed another remarkable year of success in CTE — capped by Curriculum Director Frank LaMantia winning Administrator of the Year from the Illinois Association of CTE.

A Stagg High School Entrepreneurship lesson inspired lesson paid off for the program and for PAWS of Tinley Park as the program donated profits of more than $1,600 to the local animal shelter.

Teams of students determined a product to sell during lunch periods, forecasted sales and inventory to create a budget and developed a marketing plan. Teams pitched their ideas to a panel of “sharks,” composed of school and district administrators to seek a start-up funding investment. One team sold milkshakes and the other popcorn. In the end, their business models worked. After paying back the start-up costs, they turned a collective profit of more than $1,600 which was donated.

The Eisenhower High School choirs all won first place in their divisions at the Six Flags Music Competition on Saturday.

The Women’s Honors Choir won first place in their division while earning an overall rating of “excellent” from the judges.

The Honors Concert Choir won first place in their division with a “superior” rating.

The Eisenhower show choir, Express, took first with a “superior” rating.

Express Show Choir also received first place overall for the highest score of all the ensembles that competed throughout the weekend.

Proshred Security, in partnership with The American Institute for Cancer Research, offers its annual Shred Cancer event from 9 a.m. to noon June 1 at its office at 7700 Graphics Drive in Tinley Park.

Community members are invited to bring documents to be securely shredded while raising funds for cancer research. The event is free to attend and a suggested donation of $5 per box of documents to be destroyed will go directly towards funding AICR’s cancer research and education programs. More information is at aicr.org.

Send news to communitynews@southtownstar.com.

— Staff report