Two Local Twenty-Somethings Defy Down Syndrome Stereotypes

Julia Smarto is a teacher’s assistant at a well-recognized school. In her free time, the 20-year-old teaches dance to preschoolers. Her lifelong friend Kelly Neville, 23, runs a jewelry business with her mother, Karen. Both women’s success is the result of hard work and unwavering support from their families, who ignored doctors’ “doom and gloom” outlooks […]

New Trier Teen Stars in Hallmark Movie on ABC

Peter ten Brink has been a fixture on the North Shore theater scene since he began acting at age 8. But now, a national audience will get to know the New Trier High School teen when he appears in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie “A Smile as Big as the Moon,” airing Jan. 29 […]