Oak Forest HS Alum Kalli Lambros Named Golden Apple Scholar

Congratulations to 2017 Oak Forest High School Alumna Kalli Lambros who was recently named a Golden Apple Scholar at a ceremony at North Central College on August 12. Being named a Golden Apple Scholar is a great honor and also provides opportunities for more than double the amount of classroom experience prior to getting a teaching position, and professional development support after a Scholar retains a teaching position. In return for this honor, Golden Apple Scholars agree to teach for a school-in-need in Illinois for five years after graduation. Lambros said, “I just wanted to take a moment to give credit to OFHS teachers Kimberly Flannigan and Jennifer Schanz, as well as my family for helping me achieve this huge accomplishment and for always supporting me in every endeavor. It is such a blessing to be able to be a part of such an amazing program that makes such a difference in the lives of students as well as the teaching profession.” Lambros said that she applied for the Golden Apple Scholarship through a partner university, which was DePaul University in Lambros’s case. “At DePaul, I would have been student teaching during the last quarter of my senior year,” Lambros said. “With the Golden Apple Scholar Program, Scholars will be in classrooms every summer during a summer institute.” This extra experience will help Lambros become a very confident teacher. While at DePaul, Lambros plans to major in Special Education and minor in American Sign Language. In fact, the ASL minor is the reason why she chose DePaul as her university. This Golden Apple Scholarship program is a very competitive program. Approximately 2,000 applications were received and 700 interviews were granted. Out of those people, only 234 Golden Apple Scholarships were awarded. Six of those Scholars are at DePaul. Lambros is the daughter of Lisa and Chris Lambros of Oak Forest. She also has two brothers, Nick and Peter, who are currently students at Oak Forest High School.