Latest news with #Hester
Chicago Tribune
2 hours ago
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Oak Park and River Forest High School hires former Homewood-Flossmoor, Naperville administrator
Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 has hired an administrator experienced in curriculum to be its new assistant superintendent for student learning to replace Laurie Fiorenza who resigned, effective June 30, without explanation in April. Fiorenza's replacement will be Jen Hester, who has worked for the last five years as the director of student curriculum, instruction and professional development at Homewood-Flossmoor High School District 233, a one-school district like OPRF. Prior to working at Homewood-Flossmoor, Hester worked as the top academic or curriculum administrator at Naperville Community Unit School District 203, which includes Naperville Central and Naperville North high schools, and St. Charles Community Unit District 303 which includes St. Charles East and St. Charles North high schools. She served for eight years as the chief academic officer at Naperville District 203 before that position was eliminated in a cost cutting move. She was going to be reassigned to be a reading specialist at a middle school in the district but instead worked for a year as consultant before being hired at Homewood-Flossmoor. 'I'm thrilled to have Dr. Hester join the district,' OPRF District 200 Superintendent Greg Johnson said in a news release. 'She really stood out among the other candidates for her array of experience in large, diverse districts, expertise in curricular knowledge, passion for classroom instruction and understanding of data and school metrics. She'll be a tremendous asset as we work to ensure all students can achieve their full potential, both here at OPRF and once they graduate.' Hester was chosen from a field of 90 candidates and underwent three rounds of interviews. The first rounds of interviews included teachers and students as well as administrators. Hester grew up in York, Pennsylvania, where her mother, grandmother and an aunt were all teachers. After graduating from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania she began her career teaching sixth grade in Hanover, Pennsylvania. After teaching sixth grade for three years she came to Chicago to attend graduate school at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she earned a master's degree in educational leadership and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction. Much of her graduate work focused on reading and literacy Hester worked for the Chicago Public Schools for three years starting as a literacy specialist and rising to become the manager of high school literacy at CPS before going to St. Charles as a literacy coordinator before rising to curriculum director. Hester, whose husband John Schalk grew up in River Forest and graduated from OPRF in 1989, said the OPRF job appealed to her because of shared values. 'I feel like my core beliefs and values really align with Oak Park and River Forest's vision and mission,' Hester said, adding she is especially committed to work to improve the academic achievement of Black and Hispanic students. 'I come from a long line of educators and I've had lots of help myself along the way from those educators and I definitely believe that all kids can and will succeed at high levels.' At Homewood-Flossmoor, Hester led a detracking program somewhat similar to what has been implemented at OPRF in the Honors for All freshman program. At Homewood-Flossmoor, Hester said, lower level classes were eliminated in an attempt to give all students exposure to rigorous core classes. 'We did some work there with detracking and ensuring that all kids were in the rigorous, grade level core curriculum,' Hester said. 'I'm also very proud of being part of and leading, with my team, a lot of our equity learning and work,' Hester said. While Homewood-Flossmoor High School and OPRF are similar in size, OPRF is a little bigger, and both have diverse student populations their demographics differ. According to the most recent school report card 73.6% of H-F students are Black, 12.3% are white and 9.7% are Hispanic. At OPRF, 51.8% of students are white, 19% of Black and 15.4% are Hispanic. While both H-F and OPRF were designated as commendable schools by the state last year and both have reputations as excellent schools, OPRF's recent academic performance has been significantly stronger. According to the 2024 Illinois School Report Card, only 26% of H-F juniors scored high enough on the SAT to meet the state's tough English Language Arts proficiency standards compared to 64% of OPRF juniors. In math only 18% of H-F students met the state's proficiency standard compared to 55% at OPRF. According to the state, OPRF has a higher percentage of low income students, 20%, than H-F where 14% of students are designated as low income. Like many schools across the nation Homewood-Flossmoor has a wide gap in test scores between white and Black students although its achievement gap is not as wide as it is at OPRF. At H-F the gap between the percentage of white students and Black students meeting state proficiency standards was 38 points in ELA and 33 points in math while at OPRF it was 52 points in ELA and 51 points in math. Hester said her first priority upon starting her job at OPRF on July 1 will be to get to know the school better. 'My first goal is always to make connections to everybody who's there and really seek to understand what's important to them, what matters, what makes OPRF OPRF,' Hester said. She said she is not ready to comment in detail about the Honors for All Program which just completed its third year. The first Honors for All cohort took the ACT in the spring and will be seniors in the fall. 'I need to get in and learn,' Hester said. 'I need to come to Oak Park and River Forest and really learn what Honors for All means and understand the goals more deeply than you can through an interview process and then the goal is, always, for all kids to learn at high levels.' Hester will be paid an annual salary of $195,000 at OPHF.
USA Today
a day ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Bears' Devin Hester, Brian Urlacher named to NFL All Quarter Century team
Bears' Devin Hester, Brian Urlacher named to NFL All Quarter Century team The Chicago Bears have struggled over the past couple of decades, but they've had some impactful players along the way. None bigger than linebacker Brian Urlacher and return specialist Devin Hester, who were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018 and 2024, respectively. ESPN's Aaron Schatz and Seth Walder unveiled their NFL All Quarter Century team, which includes a slew of Hall of Famers, future Hall of Famers and some of the most impactful players in the game. There were two Bears players who made the cut, and they're two of the franchise's most recent Hall of Fame inductees: Linebacker Brian Urlacher and return specialist Devin Hester. Urlacher is the latest in a long line of Hall of Fame linebackers for the Bears, where he established himself as an incredibly athletic and gifted player in the NFL. He spent all 13 seasons with Chicago, and he's the franchise's all-time leader in solo tackles (1,040). Urlacher was named first-team All Pro four times and was selected to the Pro Bowl eight times. He also earned Defensive Rookie of the Year (2000) and Defensive Player of the Year (2005) honors. Urlacher was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018. "The Urlacher-led Bears had the third-best defense in terms of EPA per play from 2001 to '12," wrote Walder. "His 22 career interceptions are the second most by any linebacker in the past 25 years, behind only Lewis' 26. Urlacher ranks fourth among all players in plus-EPA per game at minus-3.59, too." Hester is widely considered the greatest return specialist in NFL history as he forever changed how the game was played as a returner. Hester's a three-time first-team All Pro and four-time Pro Bowler who boasts an impressive resume. He has more punt returns than anyone in NFL history with 14, his 20 total non-offensive touchdowns are also the most in league history, and he has the highest average yards per punt return among those with at least 300 returns in NFL history. "Though Hester is remembered for scoring on the opening kickoff in Super Bowl XLI, he was actually more prolific as a punt returner," wrote Walder. "Fourteen of his return touchdowns came off punts; no other player recorded more than four in that same span. In 2024, he became the first return specialist to be inducted into the Hall of Fame." Urlacher and Hester played together in Chicago for seven years (2006-12), where they led a 2006 team that played in the franchise's last Super Bowl, which they lost to the Indianapolis Colts. Still, Urlacher and Hester both left a lasting impact on the NFL's most storied franchise.
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Bell Potter Remains a Buy on Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (CU6)
Bell Potter analyst John Hester maintained a Buy rating on Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (CU6 – Research Report) today and set a price target of A$4.90. The company's shares opened today at A$2.18. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter Hester covers the Healthcare sector, focusing on stocks such as Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Mesoblast Limited, and Telix Pharmaceuticals. According to TipRanks, Hester has an average return of 4.3% and a 46.74% success rate on recommended stocks. Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has an analyst consensus of Strong Buy, with a price target consensus of A$6.15, a 182.11% upside from current levels. In a report released on June 15, Wilsons also maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a A$8.25 price target.
Business Insider
12-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Bell Potter Remains a Buy on Radiopharm Theranostics Limited (RAD)
Bell Potter analyst John Hester maintained a Buy rating on Radiopharm Theranostics Limited (RAD – Research Report) today and set a price target of A$0.05. The company's shares closed today at A$0.03. Confident Investing Starts Here: According to TipRanks, Hester is a 4-star analyst with an average return of 7.3% and a 50.55% success rate. Hester covers the Healthcare sector, focusing on stocks such as Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Polynovo , and Mesoblast Limited. Currently, the analyst consensus on Radiopharm Theranostics Limited is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of A$0.05. The company has a one-year high of A$0.05 and a one-year low of A$0.02. Currently, Radiopharm Theranostics Limited has an average volume of 4.33M. Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 12 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is positive on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders buying their shares of RAD in relation to earlier this year.
Business Insider
11-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Bell Potter Sticks to Their Buy Rating for Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (CU6)
Bell Potter analyst John Hester maintained a Buy rating on Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (CU6 – Research Report) today and set a price target of A$4.90. The company's shares closed today at A$2.39. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter According to TipRanks, Hester is a 4-star analyst with an average return of 7.2% and a 50.00% success rate. Hester covers the Healthcare sector, focusing on stocks such as Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Polynovo , and Mesoblast Limited. Currently, the analyst consensus on Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is a Strong Buy with an average price target of A$6.22, representing a 160.25% upside. In a report released on June 5, Canaccord Genuity also maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a A$6.74 price target.
