Schools

Max Schewitz Foundation Brings Screen for Teens to LZHS

George McCaskey and the Chicago Bears' mascot will be at the Lake Zurich High School to promote the event.

The Max Schewitz Foundation will once again bring the Screen for Teens, a free school wide EKG screening program, to Lake Zurich High School.

“I am very excited that Lake Zurich High School is able to participate in the Screens for Teens Program,” said Kent Nightlinger, Principal of Lake Zurich High School. 

“This is a great opportunity to bring awareness to many people who may not think about cardiac problems for young people," he said. "It is also a great opportunity for our students to participate and be provided a free EKG. Early detection is obviously important and this provides our students with that opportunity.”

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Through the effort of both staff and parent volunteers this screening will be offered to all high school students on November 6. Lake Zurich High School joins 21 other schools in the surrounding area who have participated in this program.

To date the Max Schewitz Foundation has screened over 35,000 students. Schools that have participated in the past, like LZHS, will have this free opportunity offered by the Max Schewitz Foundation every two years following the initial screening. Even if teens have been screened earlier adolescent bodies change dramatically over time and a condition that did not show up earlier may appear when tested again.

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This year, George McCaskey and the Chicago Bears’ mascot will be at the high school to help promote the event.

Also new this year, student ambassadors from the LZHS Medical Science Club are helping to sign up other students.

The purpose is to work alongside school administration and the foundation leaders to increase awareness of and participation in the Screens for Teens program within the student population. This will be done in a variety of ways using materials such as posters, fliers and videos available from the foundation along with access to media such as Facebook, Twitter school newspaper and school clubs.

The Max Schewitz Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 2006 by the family and friends of Max Schewitz who died from sudden cardiac death at the age of twenty. The Foundation has dual missions: To support education, prevention and research of sudden cardiac death in young people; and to support environmental conservation, a lifelong interest of Max’s. Specifically, the Foundation supports the education and conservation of fragile and threatened reptile ecosystems and species.

“We are so lucky to have Screens for Teens come to our school for the second time, and I am so excited to volunteer again for this wonderful program. It is such a great opportunity for our students to receive a free EKG screening. Because kids change so much during these 4 years in high school, it is very important for all our

students to participate, even if they were screened in the past. This quick and painless procedure can really save a life,” District 95 parent Karen Abry said.

Medical Science Club member and student ambassador Alex Rasiarmos said, “I am very excited to be a student ambassador for the Screen for Teens program at LZHS. The ambassador group will be increasing awareness and participation in this easy, painless heart test that could possibly save lives. I believe that all students should take advantage of this and get tested.” 


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