Plainfield Teen Headed For ACT-SO Olympics

PLAINFIELD, IL — Plainfield East High School junior Adam Collins will compete at the national Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) event in July in San Antonio, Texas. Collins advanced to the national competition by winning a Gold Medal in Photography at the 2018 DuPage County ACT-SO competition at the College of DuPage on March 17, 2018.

Collins earned an Honorable Mention in Photography in 2017.

PEHS senior Whitney Ford earned a Bronze Medal for her essay in the Humanities category. She won Gold medals in the local competition in 2015, 2016 and 2017 for her biometrics products.

PEHS freshman Dominique Browder earned an Honorable Mention in the Medicine and Health category.

Collins is one of a record-setting 21 students who earned a trip to the national competition by winning a Gold Medal in one or more of the 23 categories at the DuPage County ACT-SO organization’s annual local competition.

In all, 51 students representing 13 suburban high schools took part in the DuPage County event. The students competed in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math or STEM, Business, Humanities, Performing Arts, and Visual Arts.

The Junior ACT-SO Middle School Team Competition was held on March 3, 2018 at Glenbard South High School.

Aux Sable Middle School 8th grader Kabreah Gunter won a Gold Medal with the team “Solution Squad.” The team’s project involved suicide and bullying. Junior ACT-SO winners do not compete at the national level.

ACT-SO is a yearlong achievement program designed to recruit, stimulate and encourage high academic and cultural achievement among African-American high school students. The program focuses on mentoring, academic achievement and a local competition.

ACT-SO is a youth initiative of the National Association for the Development of Colored People (NAACP). There are more than 200 local ACT-SO chapters nationwide. More than 260,000 young people have participated in the program since its inception.

College of DuPage and the DuPage Regional Office of Education sponsor the DuPage County ACT-SO.

Photos, clockwise from left: Kabreah Gunter, Dominique Browder, Whitney Ford and Adam Collins.