Mona Lisa is perhaps Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous painting. His extraordinary work as an artist, mathematician, inventor and dreamer is the subject of Dream with Da Vinci, an exhibit at DuPage Children’s Museum.

DuPAGE COUNTY 

COD offers special session for high school seniors 

College of DuPage will host an Early Grad Preview Day for high school students and their parents from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 3, in the Student Resource Center, room 2000, on the College’s Glen Ellyn campus, 425 Fawell Blvd.

Aimed at high school seniors who are graduating this winter and their parents, this free event will provide participants with information about career exploration, field studies and study abroad opportunities at the college, as well as financial literacy and the college transfer process. Attendees can meet with a student success counselor and learn about the college and its academic and career training opportunities across a broad range of disciplines.

AREA 

Two malls will have Thanksgiving hours 

Several national retailers have chosen to buck the recent trend of opening on Thanksgiving this year, choosing to keep their doors shuttered for the holiday.

However, two area malls have chosen to do business for a few hours on Thanksgiving, and then reopen early on Black Friday

Oakbrook Center will be open from 6 p.m. to midnight Thanksgiving. And then it will reopen at 6 a.m. on Black Friday and remain open until 10 p.m.

Yorktown Center in Lombard will be open from 7 p.m. until midnight on Thanksgiving and open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Black Friday.

ELMHURST 

Longtime hospital CEO  to step down next year 

One of the longest reigns of a Chicago area hospital CEO will come to an end in 2017, when the head of west suburban Edward-Elmhurst Health retires.

Pam Davis will step down June 30. Besides the innovations she implemented during her tenure, Davis is known for her role in helping the FBI bring down former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, when she wore a wire and captured incriminating evidence.

Mary Lou Mastro, the current president and CEO of Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, will succeed Davis.

Davis has led Edward Hospital since 1988. During her tenure, she transformed a 162-bed community hospital into a major health system with $1.25 billion in 2016 revenue and nearly 8,500 employees. She did that by offering amenities before they became in vogue, such as private patient rooms.

She forged a close partnership with DuPage Medical Group, the largest independent doctors group in the Chicago area. In 2013, she merged her two-hospital Edward network with Elmhurst Memorial Hospital about 16 miles east, taking on Elmhurst’s more than $500 million in debt from building a new hospital.

The combined network was named Edward-Elmhurst Health, with Davis at the helm. The system also includes Linden Oaks Behavioral Health, a hospital on Edward’s Naperville campus.

Davis and Mastro will serve as co-CEOs beginning on Jan. 1 until Davis retires. Pamela Dunley, now chief operating officer and chief nursing officer at Elmhurst, will succeed Mastro there on Jan. 1.

A partial list of innovations and “firsts” under her leadership include:

• Opening the first medically-based fitness center in DuPage County

• Championing the launch of Access DuPage to help care for the working poor
• Achieving Magnet Status for Nursing Excellence
• Developing world class stroke care through an affiliation with Northwestern Medicine
• Founding Illinois Health Partners accountable care organization with DuPage Medical Group

Animal Care Center pitches in to help food pantry 

The Elmhurst Animal Care Center, 850 S. Riverside Drive, Elmhurst, is encouraging its customers to support the Elmhurst-Yorkfield Food Pantry. A jar is on display through November to collect donations that will be given to the food pantry. According to the food pantry, every $1 donated allows the pantry to buy $8 worth of food from the Northern Illinois Food Bank to stock the pantry’s shelves.

LISLE 

Trees light up for holiday show 

The Morton Arboretum invites the public to enjoy a mile-long walk through a virtual kaleidoscope of color and light as Illumination: Tree Lights returns for a fourth year. The walk is aglow with dazzling LED lights and trees that respond to touch and sound.

Along the Illumination Trail, visitors can enjoy vivid displays and interact with more than 1,000 trees across 50 acres. Fire pits and warming tents along the path warm visitors in the cold winter weather.

This year’s event features two new experiences. Projections of abstract designs will splash across the Arboretum’s hemlock trees in Treemagination. One effect will make it seem as though the trees are gently breathing. This experience not only showcases the conifers’ elegance, but reinforces to visitors that the trees surrounding them are living things.

In Illumination’s new dramatic grand finale, Fantasy Forest, the Arboretum’s hedge garden provides a backdrop for pencil-thin pillars of light, stretching skyward and synchronized to music.

The dates are Nov. 29-Dec. 4, Dec. 6-11, Dec. 13-21, and Dec. 31-Jan. 2. Depending on the day, opening time is 5 p.m. or 7 p.m. Members of The Morton Arboretum are admitted at discounted prices. Non-member adult admission prices range from $18-$22. Non-member child prices range from $12-$14. Call (630) 725-2066, daily from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. for tickets and more information. The arboretum is at 4100 Illinois Rt. 53.

NAPERVILLE 

Exhibit focuses on genius of Da Vinci 

Dream with Da Vinci, an exhibit about one of the most important people of the Renaissance, is on view at DuPage Children’s Museum through April 2.

The exhibit is an informative 2,000-square-foot display that puts hands-on discovery at the center of the visitor’s experience, while themes of science, technology, engineering, art and math – all linked by da Vinci’s work and life – provide an overall framework for children to learn about the Renaissance and Leonardo da Vinci, one of the most important people of that time. His work as an artist, mathematician, inventor and dreamer helped to define the era.

This exhibition is presented with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago.

Exhibit times vary. The DuPage Children’s Museum is at 301 N. Washington St., Naperville. For more information, call (630) 637-8000.