Lake County Gazette

At their January 19th board meeting, the Deerfield school district had a "What’s Good" in 109 sessions, noting some highlights throughout the district. One of these was a school feature on Wilmot Elementary school. Wilmot principal Dr. Eileen Brett came to the meeting, in her full school spirit attire, to speak to the board about all the excitement at Wilmot. 

The elementary school has a very exciting year this year, as the school is turning 175 years old this year and the kids are so excited to have the “Demi-Semi-Sept-Centennial” celebration as they have come to call it. One of the first parts of this celebration was a logo design contest, and they picked winners for different aspects like T-shirts and banners. The kids also have received special birthday wishes each week from various local people: Wilmot alum, old staff, and most recently some local newscasters.

“We let the kids know that when Wilmot was built, it was determined that the school property be used for anything that is not Wilmot Elementary school,” Eileen Brett, principal at Wilmot Elementary said.  “The deed would revert back to the Wilmot family. In fact, we've been working with other Wilmot schools, there are several schools across the country, and we've been speaking with Wilmot school in South Dakota. So, we're very excited, we've been sending different spirit gear and letters. So that's been a very exciting piece of our year as well.”

The school is incorporating its birthday celebrations into every aspect of learning and everyday classes. Some of the younger elementary students have been creating special birthday backgrounds in their STEAM computer lab classes that have been used for various birthday posters. They have brought in some of their old music teachers to bring back some of the old Wilmot classes, as well as learning about previous celebrations throughout Wilmot’s history and doing their own versions, like all the time capsules that have been buried and dug up again with various artifacts from many generations of Wilmot students.

Principal Brett also discussed some recent academic achievements that the school has seen, including a visit from a beloved math program mascot as a reward for Wilmot having a high rate of participation from their students. They also had two students from Wilmot interviewed by the Deerfield Public Library as part of the Tournament of Books. They also highlighted their buddy program, having some of the older students partner with the younger ones, which has been a very beneficial program and one that is popular with all of the students.