EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Denise Danihel, Class Of 1977

EVERGREEN PARK, IL - Chicago’s south suburban region includes dozens of cities, villages and towns that offer unique characteristics, but for one elected official, her current city closely reminds her of the place she grew up.

Denise Danihel - a 1977 alum of Evergreen Park Community High School, an Evergreen Park native, and current 7th ward alderwoman for the city of Oak Forest - said the similarities between the two municipalities is what originally attracted her and her husband to Oak Forest.

“The reason my husband and I decided on Oak Forest to raise our family was because of the close-knit community it is,” Danihel, who was elected to the Oak Forest City Council in 2015, said.

“It reminded me of Evergreen Park and how everyone knew everyone.”

Upon graduating from EPCHS, Danihel earned an administrative assistant degree from the Southwest School of Business and went on to work as an administrative assistant at a law firm in downtown Chicago for a few years.

Soon later, she landed a job as a closing officer for a title company in the south suburbs and then worked for an attorney for 10 years before getting married and starting a family.

That work, preparing real estate closing files, led to Danihel creating her own business from home, which lasted 15 years. During that time, she decided to get her real estate license in 2004.

In 2008, Danihel said it was “a friend’s suggestion” that led her to working for Consolidated High School District 230, which includes Sandburg, Stagg and Andrew high schools in the further south suburbs, as a paraprofessional. She still works at Andrew in Tinley Park serving several multi-needs students, according to the city of Oak Forest website.

Her role as an elected official has been an “eye opener,” Danihel said.

“I love serving the residents of Oak Forest,” she said. “Sometimes it can be time consuming, but also very rewarding. It really has been an eye opener and educational to see how government works on the local level and how it also depends on the government on the state level.”

The rewarding part specifically comes from “when you can help out the residents with an issue they may be having, or passing ordinances that help the community as a whole.”

But even 45 years after graduation and branching out to another town, Danihel still calls Evergreen Park “home.”

“What I remember most about my time at Evergreen Park High was all the new friendships I made and still have today,” she said. “I loved growing up in Evergreen Park and cherish my memories at EP High… I still consider it home.”