In on the act

Bolingbrook High School ACT-SO chapter honored for high participation level

The Bolingbrook High School Chapter of the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics has been honored for having the highest level of student participation among all west and southwestern suburban ACT-SO chapters over the past three years.

The DuPage County ACT-SO organization, which includes 27 high school ACT-SO chapters in Will, Kane and DuPage counties, issued the award in ceremonies attended by BHS ACT-SO Chapter Sponsor Pamela Pritchard and Principal James Mitchem.

ACT-SO is a nationwide youth initiative sponsored by the NAACP designed to recruit, stimulate and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African-American high school students. Each year ACT-SO holds regional and national competition in 26 categories, including the sciences, humanities, business and both the performing and visual arts.

Participation in the regional competition among BHS ACT-SO Chapter members has grown from 14 three years ago to more than two dozen last year. This year's numbers are expected to be even higher.

Between now and regional competition in late winter, BHS students will prepare for competition in their selected categories through enrichment programs, mentoring and a variety of other methods. They will take field trips to such locations as Argonne National Laboratory and Gallery Guichard and attend workshops on presentation and interviewing skills.

"ACT-SO is a big part of me," said BHS senior Brittany Greathouse, who earned a National Silver Medal in Entrepreneurship in 2007. "I want to be around people who want to succeed."

Those who work for, and with, ACT-SO are all volunteers, according to Pritchard, who credits her students' parents for the "phenomenal" job they do in fundraising, finding mentors and organizing and planning for the competition.