Schools
District 228 Board of Education Recognizes Volunteer Chris Toppen
Ms. Toppen has been like a 'second mom' to hundreds of band members
At its meeting on November 21, the D228 Board of Education presented Ms. Chris Toppen with its Recognition Award. Chris is a mother of four children including three graduates of Oak Forest High School including Elizabeth (2012), Jacob (2013), and Megan (2016). Her son Cody will graduate from Oak Forest this year.
While she is known as "mom" to her own children, 115 music students at OFHS may look at her as their school mom. She always makes the time to ensure that students in the OFHS Music Department are well taken care of and puts their needs before her own.
In her working world, Chris Toppen is a nurse. For almost seven years, she has spent her hard-earned vacation time sleeping in the luxury of a cinderblock college dorm room at North Central College. There, she monitors 100+ high school band students as they prepare for marching season during their summer camps by tending to every fall, bee sting, allergic reaction, "I left my deodorant at home," and 2nd degree sun burn with her Mary Poppins-like care, attention and wit. As if this were not enough, Chris has fed 115 teenage students and parent volunteers five times in a two-month period... for multiple years!!!
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Some may say that being a parent and having a full-time job does not allow time to be involved in the school community, however, the level of commitment, love and character that Chris Toppen has demonstrated throughout her time at OFHS is truly inspiring. As her son graduates in May, the OFHS staff has realized that filling her shoes will require the work of many parents. That information is all it took for the D228 Board to recognize Ms. Toppen's efforts. The recognition represents a decade of students who have enjoyed having a very special "second Mom" in their home away from home.
Pictured are Oak Forest HS Band Director Mr. Nick Rojek and Ms. Chris Toppen; Ms. Chris Toppen, Oak Forest Band Director Mr. Nick Rojek, and District 228 School Board Member Mrs. Kim Kampwirth; and Megan Toppen, Ms. Chris Toppen, and Cody Toppen.
