Of mismatched socks and mission trips

by Hailey Fay

Eli Frommes, a 16-year-old student journalist, is McHenry’s local “Silly goofy little dude.”

Frommes tries to distinguish himself by his mismatched sock collection, preferring fun patterns. He tries to never match socks, going as far as to get professional permission to violate

dress code because “it’s my signature style.”

Frommes loves volunteer work, focusing on his local Lutheran Church. He does both local and mission trip work.

Eli Frommes

 The Good Samaritan Ministries travels to East St. Louis where they run a vacation bible school and work with underprivileged children there. Frommes says that it is his favorite volunteer experience.

“I love the kids; helping them learn and grow while serving the ministry is so fulfilling,” Frommes said.

The trip only lasts a week but Frommes says he can see the change in the children by the end. “Seeing the progress and fruit of our labor is an amazing experience.”

The opportunity to get to know and make an impact on the younger campers’ lives is a gift. “You don’t get one on one time but you still make personal connections you will never forget,” Frommes said.

Frommes is involved with his school journalism team, the McHenry Messenger, where he not only writes news and features but works on the school podcast.

The podcast, The Hall Pass, is named for its short runtime that fits perfectly into the schools passing period. He is the second host and editor of The Hall Pass.

Frommes is interested in and works with all forms of broadcast, as he also used to run his own YouTube channel, DanMan, which focused on gaming. He plans to come back to it once he finishes building his own PC from scratch.

Frommes plans to go into journalism in the future as well as continue his mission trips to East St. Louis. All while wearing his mismatched patterned socks.