“Countryside increased my personal initiative on so many levels. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. I think that all of the CDS graduates are tough, and they are the people who know how to keep going when things aren’t going your way.”

Beckett currently attends Glenbrook South High School in his junior year. He plays piano and trumpet, has participated in marching band, jazz band and concert bands. Beckett has taken honors classes for all subjects every year and is currently in 4 AP classes and 1 honors class. Beckett also participated in a service project with his church, the Appalachian Service Project in Kentucky, where he worked on repairing houses in underserved neighborhoods of the town.

Being allowed to follow my own interests definitely created less of the image of dreading a certain subject because you could dive as far into subjects as you wanted, until you found your particular interest, until you found that one aspect of maybe a subject like history that you weren’t particularly fond of, that spoke out to you and that’s kind of where I think I developed many of my particular interests that I’ve continued to try to pursue.

Countryside increased my personal initiative on so many levels. I feel like without CDS I wouldn’t just feel motivated to push through some of the more difficult topics that I’m learning in school. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. I think that all of the CDS graduates are tough, and they are the people who know how to keep going when things aren’t going your way.

“With me it’s always been respect, because I think if you have respect for something then everything else will pan out; if you respect yourself, your peers, other people, that’s all that people want. Respect is definitely one of the biggest Rs.”

Maria Ullmann graduated from 6th grade at CDS in 2008, having attended CDS from preschool through elementary. After college, Maria served in Peace Corps in Panama as a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Volunteer. She continued to work for a non-profit that focuses on ending the global water crisis. Today, she works for a company that provides a sustainable solution to disaster relief water. Maria also attends Northwestern University for a Master's in Public Policy and Administration.

CDS is defined by the values they instill and the success and contribution each student provides to the communities they're a part of. My siblings and I all went to CDS and we all see CDS as family. We always feel a connection to CDS from the students, teachers, and staff that make CDS feel like home. I would say that if there is one word to define CDS by, it would be preparation. Every student that goes to CDS is prepared for how to interact with the world and how to be a significant part of it. CDS students are all unique in their nature and I believe always will be for their entire life. It is the preparation for the world that sets CDS students a part and makes us all valuable as coworkers, as peers, and as friends. CDS prepares us in many ways that not only include academics. It prepares us by learning how to treat others and how to value others. I will always thanks CDS for that.

Respect. It is a shame that not many individuals hold this value. But for a CDS student or graduate, we don't think twice. If we had the choice, we would always choose respect. CDS students have seen the value of respect and what that carries. Simply respecting yourself, your peers, and others, is extremely valuable and honored. 

Responsibility. This part of the mission enables students to be great workers and leaders. If you are responsible, and you can deliver what is asked of you, you will go far. To be responsible also entails respect. If you are responsible with your work and your assignments, you respect your education and you respect your peers to complete your work. The 3 R's play hand in hand. 

Resourcefulness. Learning this value was the most challenging, and the most rewarding. Resourcefulness will put you above any student in school, any job application, it will set you aside from others. Not only did we learn to be resourceful, but we learned resiliency, perseverance, and grit.  

“One thing I learned at Countryside and incorporate daily is respect. Respect to me means listening to what someone has to say and responding to it with an open mind, even if you don’t necessarily fully agree with their viewpoint.”

Elizabeth is currently finishing up classes at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and plans to gain a few years of clinical experience before applying to physician’s assistant school. She has also joined a primate research center where she studies the effects of different diets on the social behavior and interpersonal relationships of young marmosets. At that job, Elizabeth participates in various behavioral observations, feeding the monkeys the different diets, and collecting samples to be analyzed for hormone levels. After this, Elizabeth will be looking for a full-time job that incorporates the few thousands of hours clinical experience required to apply to physician’s assistant programs.

I am a good worker, I attribute that to CDS. When I look at my peers, they have different ways of approaching school work. I’ve actually always loved it and been really interested in what I’m learning. I don’t really look at it as work when it’s something that I am interested in learning about.

“No program, no clubs, no organizations I’ve ever been a part of, and I’ve been a part of many, none of them has ever taught me anything close to what Countryside has.”

Peter Villa went to Stevenson High School followed by the University of Illinois, into their Accounting Program. And finally went on to complete an Accounting Certificate Program. He currently works for Amcor Flexible LLC in Vernon hills.

Everyone at countryside was extremely supportive and always focusing on growth and working to maximize anyone’s potential, which is something you won’t find in most schools.

Countryside absolutely more than prepared me for that [personal leadership] and that’s actually the reason why I became such an active individual; both academically and at my schools.

“I feel that school should include not only academics, but also social education that promotes mutual culture acceptance from all nations. I think it’s important that education should go beyond academics to help the individual and at the same time to show an acceptance of other cultures, views and beliefs.”

Dante is currently in his final year at the University of Delaware from which he will earn an Honors Bachelor of Science with Distinction in Molecular and Cellular Biology. This past summer (2019), he earned the Bryant-Howard Summer Research Internship Award through which he got the opportunity to conduct biological research at Johns Hopkins University. Dante has been involved in many ways during his time at the University of Delaware, serving as a resident assistant, undergraduate researcher, and teaching assistant to name a few. Given his long-term goal of becoming a research scientist, he has recently accepted an offer to pursue a PhD in Microbiology at the University of Wisconsin—Madison beginning in the fall of this year.

I found being able to follow my own interests at CDS to be beneficial because the environment promoted an interest in learning and by having the option one day when I wanted to learn about the dinosaurs, I could spend a day or a few days just learning about them. Or if i wanted to do something with math then I would chose to do so when I was really engaged in it. It works out so that whenever I was doing the subject or most often, I was engaged in that subject because I had chosen to do it at that time.

I think I call upon the community and myself to higher expectations I know we could meet, but in a positive light or aspect without pointing fingers. I just take a leadership role and ask people to step up to the plate and meet the higher expectations and hold themselves to a higher level that I know they can.

Elsie is finishing up her year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) pursuing a BM in Viola Performance, BA in Music + Composition, and a Spanish minor. This past fall, she applied to Master's programs in Viola Performance and Literature and will be attending Boston Conservatory in August. In addition to performing, Elsie teaches private lessons, plays in local community orchestras, and composes. Currently, Elise is getting into running, cooking, reading, embroidery, and plays electric bass in an indie-folk band called Lucky Penny. She is also a proud mother of five plants and hopes to continue extending the family in the future.

I think the most important thing to me is my support network. I have so many friends and family members that have supported my journey pursing music and value each and everyone of those relationships. Choosing to pursue my passion was a very difficult decision to make but I know it was the right decision because of all the lovely people in my life. I definitely would not have had the strength or energy to do it without those people.

The next think on that list for me is education. Knowledge and information are such game changers for young people and (after being in the music education track for two and a half years), I know that it is not being emphasized enough in the public-school setting. It is so easily forgotten that information is power and that it is indeed a commodity. I often look back at my time at Countryside and am so incredibly thankful for the ways that it set me up to have the appreciation and love for education.

Something that is so special in the CDS experience is the community that exists there. Although I may feel a little awkward about it, I know that I could reach out to several of my classmates from way back when because of the strong, family-like community that Countryside has. There are plenty of people, colleagues and parents alike, that I know are supporting me from close and afar that I can directly trace back to my days at CDS.

Another thing that really defines the CDS experience would be the appreciation of each and every subject. Students truly are given the time and space to explore different interests which is what I think education programs could spare to do more of. It allows children to build up critical skills of decision making, time management, and self-motivation that are not typically expected of young people. This lack of subject hierarchy also allows students to approach education without the fear of failure.