The Homewood-Flossmoor Education Organization has awarded Homewood-Flossmoor High School graduates Joselyn Singleton and Madelyn “Maddy” Zirbel an additional $400 in scholarship money as they begin their student teaching.
The HFEO is the teachers union representing more than 200 teachers and instructional assistants at H-F. The scholarship for future teachers is funded by donations from current and former union members, retired teachers and others. Graduating seniors who plan to go into the teaching profession apply for the scholarships and are presented the award as they graduate. HFEO is extending the benefit to scholarship winners Singleton and Zirbel as they begin student teaching.
Singleton is the daughter of Thenesia and Geoffrey Singleton of Homewood. She attended a Lutheran school for her primary grades and graduated from H-F in 2021.
While at H-F, she played soccer her freshman and sophomore years. Her sophomore and junior years, Singleton joined the Unified/Special Olympics soccer team, and was the manager for the Special Olympics basketball team. Her senior year was a remote learning year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she did work with the online gym class as a peer partner for special education students.
She is now a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago and will graduate in May.
Singleton will complete her student teaching at Chicago Public Schools’ Ashburn Elementary. She will student teach English/Language Arts and social science at the fifth-sixth grade level. When she graduates, Singleton hopes to teach fifth grade social sciences.
Zirbel is the daughter of Megan and James Zirbel of Homewood. She attended James Hart School and graduated from H-F in 2022. She said she chose to major in special education after her involvement in H-F’s programs through Special Olympics and the Just Like You Club.
She now is a student at Illinois State University and will graduate in May. She will student teach in a preschool in Lansing. She prefers to stay at the primary grade level. For the fall semester Zirbel was in an alternative school in Oak Forest working with seventh and eighth grade boys. She has been offered a teaching position for the 2026-27 school year teaching fourth grade at that alternative school.
