Millennium Elementary School provided the perfect way for families to bond while browsing for a special something with its annual Winter Market. Along with featuring over 40 vendors selling everything from jewelry to tasty treats to hand crafted items, the event also offered a place for children to shop – with the help of one of Santa’s helpers – for low-cost gifts for mom and dad.

It seems counterintuitive to enjoy a city more when its winters make travel a nightmare, when its windchills provide an extreme endurance challenge as good as any and when, at its worst, most of its outdoor attractions are off limits. But those are the types of things that discourage normal folks, and for me that means an opportunity to explore a usually bustling cityscape without as much of the bustle.

“That sour taste is something that doesn’t go away,” T-Bolts coach Mike Pila said. “They think about it when they’re summer wrestling, lifting, in the preseason, in the practice room — it’s always there in the back of their minds.”

A big-time community bash held in July put together by John Yudt, who officially became an Eagle Scout in November, raised more than $2,000 worth of supplies for the PAWS of Tinley Park animal shelter.

Tinley Park High School’s library was temporarily transformed into a student art gallery where presentations and subsequent critiques were not only encouraged, but required. Students from all four high school gathered for a morning of gallery walks and general feedback sessions followed by individualized group critiques led by the district’s art teachers.