David Pierini

To honor the mother of Jesus, many Catholics adorn her statue with a crown of flowers each May. But St. Luke Parish School in River Forest does not just crown their statue. The second- and eighth-grade students, dressed in First Communion and Confirmation clothes, lead a procession, bearing the statue from the school to the church on a special bier.

Most ballet pointe shoes are hand-made, expensive and provide little protection from the pressure put on dancers' feet. Oak Park and River Forest High School senior Noelani Ho, inspired by the young dancers she teaches in the Austin neighborhood, set out to solve these problems.

The colors of Spring may be late in arriving but the inside of the Oak Park Conservatory is in constant bloom. More than 3,000 plants, some of which date to the conseravtory's founding in 1929, dazzle through three different display rooms.