Naperville Park District police collecting Toys for Tots
Naperville Park District police officers are collecting gifts for the DuPage County Toys for Tots program at six park locations and North Central College’ss campus radio station through Saturday, Dec. 13.
The program, hosted by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, is seeking the donation of new, unwrapped toys to be distributed to children during the holidays. It’s asked that residents do not donate stuffed animals or toy weapons, a news release said.
Toys will be collected at the Naperville Park District Administration Building, 320 W. Jackson Ave.; Central Maintenance Facility, 427 Martin Ave.; Alfred Rubin Riverwalk Community Center, 305 W. Jackson Ave.; and Fort Hill Activity Center, 20 Fort Hill Drive.
Residents can also drop off toys at Knoch Knolls Nature Center, 320 Knoch Knolls Road; Springbrook Golf Course Golf Shop, 2220 W. 83rd St.; and WONC Radio Station at Oliver Hall, 232 E. Chicago Ave.
Last year, the officers collected 1,309 toys, 137 books and 773 stocking stuffers, the release said.
Monetary donations can be made at dupage-il.toysfortots.org.
Record number of golfers at Springbrook Fall Scramble
Naperville Park District reported a record number of participants at this year’s Fall Scramble, the second-to-last golfing event of the 2025 Brooks Tournament Series held Oct. 11 at Springbrook Golf Course in Naperville.
The event included 140 golfers, or 35 competing foursomes. The best shot from each four-person team member was selected as the shot for each hole, a park district news release said.
There was a three-way tie for first place. The winning team comprised of Yorkville resident Jordan Hindenach and Naperville residents Matt Matekaitis, John Wesolowski and Brian Dixon won with a score of 10 under par in a scorecard playoff.
For more information, go to www.golfnaperville.org.
Local residents receive degrees, academic honors
The following Naperville residents have received degrees from colleges/universities or been cited for academic achievements like dean’s and president’s lists and honor rolls.
Graduations
- Emerson College in Boston: Alexander Menendez, bachelor’s degree, Business Creative Enterprises.
- Iowa State University in Ames: Ethan G. Kraulos, bachelor’s degree, Kinesiology and Health.
- Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia: Dennis Raleigh, master’s degree, Library and Information Science.
- Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta: Prathik Senthil, bachelor’s degree, Computer Science.
- Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio: Anika Ayyalaraju.
- University of Wisconsin-La Crosse: Alexis Van Vleet, bachelor’s degree, Radiologic Science.
Academic honors
- College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts: Tabitha Torres.
- Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester: Jessica Blair, Colby Ellsworth, Christopher Robinson, Isaac Zamorano, Fatima Hani, Sandra Mensfeld, Nestor Paniagua, Veronica Osborne, Lawrence Chen, James Rotramel and Imari Collins.
- The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina: Brady Jones.
- University of Maryland Global Campus in Adelphi, Maryland: Haya Faruqui and Kalyn Stewart.