The Mooseheart Chapter now has a new Sunshine Child. He is Ben Coleman. Ben is new to Mooseheart this year. Ben is 11 and is in the 7th grade. His birthday is June 7th. For more information on our new Sunshine Child, please go to the Photos section of the website.

You can write to Ben at:
Ben Coleman
c/o Sunshine Department
115 James J. Davis Drive
Mooseheart, IL 60539

'Game On!' Jen Antonson's Spirit Earns Nomination
For Kane County Educator of the Year Award

MOOSEHEART, IL, April 14 -- Two words, "Game on!" describe Jen Antonson's
attitude toward, well, just about everything.

So when she was asked to move from her long-time primary-grade classroom at
Mooseheart to become the school's Computer Education teacher, Antonson responded
with a "Game-on!" attitude. When working with her students, who come with a wide
variety of skills, her response is identical: "Game on!"

If you've seen Antonson work with her own children, one with a unique series of
birth defects, the attitude was the once again: "Game on!"

Antonson brings a uniqueness to her game of life, and it's a big reason why
she's been nominated as Mooseheart's candidate for the Kane County Regional
Office of Education-sponsored Kane County Educator of the Year award, a series
of honors that will be announced on May 6 at a dinner at the Pheasant Run Resort
Mega Center in St. Charles. Antonson has been nominated in the Private School
Educator of the Year category.

"Jen has always been someone who's blessed with a great deal of patience and
understanding, and her ability to connect with kids is where, in her words, her
game is on," Mooseheart Superintendent of Education Gary Urwiler said.

Even on the toughest of days, Antonson approaches a day the same way a rodeo
rider heads to a Brahma bull. She knows she's going to stay on, no matter what
twists and turns may await her. On the first day back from Spring Break, for
example, Antonson worked with a room of Elementary School students whose minds
were more or less on their schoolwork. Everyone got focused on their work and
their teacher never seemed even remotely flustered.

"She really does have a calm spirit about her and she doesn't get rattled too
easily," Urwiler said. "She always has a way of managing any situation. She's
very positive and I think it comes across in every facet of her life. She's one
of those people who seems like she's always walking 1,000 miles a minute. She's
always moving and interacting with the kids."

"Game on" isn't something Antonson just says to motivate others. It's something
she says to herself, says to her classes and keeps as a sort of way of
approaching everything.

"I've always tried to look at the glass as being half-full," Antonson said.
"It's just always been my motto: 'Game on, we can do this.' My junior
vocational kids wanted to try this new program. It was a small enough group and
I said, "Game on, we can learn this as a team and bounce ideas off each other
and do this together.' Sometimes it makes it a little bit easier to have a
lighthearted view on things."

But if Antonson is a bright star at Mooseheart, she's not one who likes to bask
in her own radiated light. The word that keeps coming up in discussions is
"humble."

"That should speak about the Mooseheart community," Urwiler said. "I think we
have humble people who find the opportunity to show the benefit of everyone else
here who works hard. It's not that they don't want to be recognized for what
they do. But they want everyone to know about the people who make the things
here function the way they do and allow us to have the success we do."

From Antonson's perspective, she's doing her job the best she knows how. That
said, she has some strong feelings for what it means to be a teacher, and
especially a teacher who works with most of the 180 school-age children at
Mooseheart in the course of a school day.

"You know you can make a difference," Antonson said. "Some of our kids are
getting a second chance. Some are getting a third chance, and you realize that,
at this point in time, this is the best place for them. They come from the rough
side of the tracks. Everyone in the teaching profession has the chance to make
an impact, but I think it's more so here. A lot of them need a solid education,
which we can provide for them here so they can overcome the challenges and
obstacles outside Mooseheart."

Because Mooseheart teaches students from kindergarten through high school,
Antonson now finds herself working with students she previously had as an
elementary teacher. And she knows the elementary students she works with today
will someday be middle-school and high-school students in her computer lab. And
that is one of the beauties of teaching at Mooseheart.

"It's the rewards that you come across every day," Antonson said. "You do not
realize that what you are saying and how it may be impacting on a kid. I have
had children such as Oumaru Abdulahi or Cayana Samuelson. I have had them since
second and third grade. Cayana's graduating this year. They will say 'Miss, do
you remember when we did this and this?' Some of them I do remember, but you
never realize when you are going to make that impact on a kid that they will
remember."

Soon after graduation from Northern Illinois University, St. Charles native
Antonson was hired by Mooseheart as a teacher's aide in 1997, and she taught a
variety of elementary-level classes through her first decade at the school.
Three years ago, she made the to fill the role as the school's Computer
Education teacher.

"Our elementary numbers had been dwindling," Antonson said. "There weren't
enough positions, and I had the least seniority. I was slotted to be a classroom
aide until another teaching position came along. I subbed in the computer lab
for a few months and they had trouble finding a computer teacher with the right
education background."

Eventually, Antonson took the job full-time, and she and the class have had
their collective "games on" ever since.

"One of the biggest blessings is that Jen is an elementary teacher at heart and
she was moved into the computer department," Urwiler said. "This job has given
her the chance to influence the scope of our entire student body."

The challenges in teaching technology at Mooseheart involve more than simply
dealing with children of different ages. Children come to Mooseheart at varying
points in their educational lives. Some have had advanced education before their
arrival -- while others need to have their skills brought to significantly
higher levels.

"We have a very wide foundation of how the kids come to us," Antonson said. "A
lot of our kids, like everywhere, are very tech-savvy. They have their
cellphones and their video games or iPods and mp3 players. They may have a
Facebook account. But they're lacking in the general core foundation of computer
literacy. They're able to use the Internet, for example, but they don't know how
to use the Internet to their best ability. They need to learn the specific
search skills and how to write a report using the Internet; how not to
plagiarize, for example."

Antonson said the elementary curriculum has undergone a significant upgrade
since she took over.

"The elementary kids used to come in and play online games like Math Blasters
and others," Antonson said. "I worked with the elementary teachers and have
taken their reading program, which integrates science and social studies and
technology; I take the technology aspect of it and then expand on it, building
up from scratch with the elementary curriculum. We've done that with the high
school curriculum as well."

Those changes will surely continue. Integrating computers into classrooms is
something that has been evolving for years and surely will continue to evolve.

"Technology is always changing," Antonson said. "We're a little behind the times
here (technologically). But we're still able to allow those kids who graduate
with the Computer Business vocation, to leave with a very solid foundation in
the computer skills that are out there for word processing, spreadsheets,
database and typing skillset, and they get a little exposure to Web design and
graphic imaging. It's not grandiose but they leave with a solid grounding."

"Game on!" extends beyond Antonson's life at Mooseheart. She and her husband
Jeff have two children, 8-year-old Tommy and 5-year-old Rosie. Rosie was born
with extremely rare chromosomal disorder: partial trisomy 10q, a disorder that
affects only about 100 children worldwide.

Because the condition, which causes severe mental retardation, affected a
further chromosome, Rosie's condition is unique. From the day she was born,
Rosie has had a team of specialists and has spent countless days and hours in
hospitals.

"There are a lot of unknowns," Antonson said. "Half of the children affected
don't make it past their first year of life. Rosie was fortunate. She has
numerous health issues, but none obviously as significant as the other
children."

But how does Antonson approach it? Game on!

"I feel everything happens for a reason," Antonson said. "Whether it was with my
son, who I am blessed with, or my daughter, who I am equally as blessed with --
or the reason I am working here, which I am also blessed with. You take whatever
you are given, try to put a positive spin on it and realize that I have been
given an opportunity to make the best out of what has been given to me."

Actually, that "Game on!" spirit is not just a "Jen Antonson" attitude, but is a
family trait.

"I admire Jeff and Jen," Urwiler said. "They are incredible parents. I am sure
it's not easy. They find ways to make it look pretty darned easy. They provide
for their children no matter what circumstances they face and they do it with
such energy. Rosie is remarkable and it's because it's being instilled in her by
her parents. And their son Tommy? Rosie couldn't ask for a better big brother."

To see Rosie is to see a happy, bubbly child, and Antonson brings her children
to eat at the campus cafeteria on school breaks and also to visit with the
campus for athletic contests and other events - and the Mooseheart children get
a chance to interact.

"Rosie is the happiest kid and she loves social settings," Antonson said. "She
just can't express herself. The Mooseheart kids are the most loving and caring
kids with her. They want to know if they can hold her or take her for a walk. I
think the kids here like to see the teachers outside the classroom. And they
take interest, not just in myself, but also in the rest of the family."