More than 200 District 64 students attended a program featuring former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Friday morning at the Pickwick Theater.
Clinton, who grew up in Park Ridge and attended District 64 schools through eighth grade, was a guest of the Park Ridge Historical Society. The Society invited 200 middle school students, 200 high school students from District 207 and nearly 40 girl scouts from Field Elementary School in Park Ridge where Clinton attended school as a child.
The event featured the premiere of a new documentary, “Dare to Dream,” chronicling Clinton’s experiences in Park Ridge as a child, student, teenager and young adult. District 64 Superintendent Eric Olson introduced the girl scouts, who presented Clinton with a book highlighting the Field School Learning Resource Center that was named in her honor in 2016. In his introduction, Olson talked about the District 64 mission to inspire every child to discover, learn, achieve and care.
"Of course, inspiring children is much easier when there is someone who has already paved the way for them," the superintendent said.
A limited number of students were invited from Lincoln and Emerson schools. Administrators selected the sixth, seventh and eighth-graders through a random drawing of those who were given permission by their parents.