EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Larry Symanski, Class Of 1976

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — A member of the Evergreen Park Community High School District 231 Board of Education for the past dozen years was once one of the most involved students at the school in which he now serves as a leader.

A lasting memory for Larry Symanski, EPCHS Class of 1976, is receiving his diploma at graduation from his father, who was on the Board of Education at that time. Little did the younger Symanski know at the time, that he’d be the one handing out countless diplomas to future Mustang graduates 40-some years later.

“I think having my dad on the board and hearing his stories about what the board did put the thought in my mind,” said Symanski, who was elected to the school board in 2011 and has served in that capacity ever since. “I was approached by a board member in 2010 who encouraged me to run, so I started going to meetings to see if this is something I really would be interested in doing and decided to run.

“We all hear the idea of giving back, so I thought what a great way to give back to the community that I love and grew up in.”

The board’s accomplishments over the past 20 years have been impeccable. Symanski points to the district consistently maintaining an “excellent” financial rating from the state of Illinois and nearly an “exemplary” rating that could come as soon as next year.

“We have, and continue to, remodel our upgrade the facility, which includes the football field, Auditorium, science labs, cafeteria, LRC and, most recently, the baseball and softball fields,” Symanski said. “For me, the purchase of the Evergreen Bath and Tennis Club and converting it to the EPCHS Sports Complex was the best investment while I was board president.”

The amenities listed above are worlds away from what EPCHS boasted in the 1970s, when Symanski was a member of the Mustang football team for four years.

“Freshman year we had so many guys come out for the team they had to split us as ‘A’ and ‘B’ team,” Symanski remembers. “With no skill set other than the love of the game I ended up on the ‘B’ team.”

One year later, Symanski was a member of a sophomore team that went undefeated and won conference. He also threw the shot put his junior and senior years and managed the basketball team, taking stats and running the scoreboard.

Post-graduation, Symanski enrolled at Moraine Valley Community College and moved on to the Milwaukee School of Engineering for a year before working in retail management. He was employed by ABN AMRO working on a help desk for clearing and execution of trades for customers using their electronic trade platform, and, for the past 18 years, has worked for Corvel Corporation, a healthcare management solutions company.

Outside of work and his time on the school board, Symanski has found a passion for community theater.

Twelve years ago, Symanski remembers “a church friend asked my youngest son to be part of the kid ensemble for ‘The Music Man’ and I was asked if I would be willing to work backstage, which we both agreed.”

“Seeing how much fun my son had on stage I thought I would like to give it a try. The next year the club put on Spamalot, which I built up the courage to audition for and got a part in the adult ensemble,” he said. “Since then I was bitten by the stage bug and have been performing ever since.”

He’s performed for the Palos Village Players, Beverly Theatre Guild, Galaxy Theatre Group and Stray Dog Theatre, all community theater groups on the South Side or Southwest suburbs.

Symanski plans to finish his 4-year term on the school board and retire from the board from there. Then he’d like to “retire from work, travel and hopefully visit grandkids.”