Lake County Gazette

In the election for College of Lake County District Trustee, Dawn Abernathy and Janet M. Gibson emerged victorious. 

Abernathy led the field with 22,466 votes, followed by Gibson with 19,616 votes.

Torrie Mark Newsome earned 14,416 votes, Francine Zodda garnered 6,120 votes, Riaz Yusuff received 5,482 votes and Vaseem Iftekhar received 8,087 votes, all falling short of securing a seat.

Gibson, a 77-year-old Lake Forest resident, has a background in education, business, and community service, having taught at District 214 and founded a company that trained school districts in personal computing. 

Abernathy, a Mundelein resident with a Master’s in Education, is a former Trustee for the Village of Mundelein and has also run for the State House of Representatives in 2016.

Shields Township GOP Chairman Dan Rogers expressed his desire to support Gibson and Abernathy to maintain conservative representation on the CLC Board, stressing that students should be evaluated on academic merit rather than their race or ethnicity. 

“They're good conservative candidates and as the township GOP, we want to say we want to support the conservative candidates,” Rogers told the Lake County Gazette during the campaign. 

Rogers emphasized that Shields Township GOP is focused on prioritizing education over diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, portraying both candidates as strong conservatives dedicated to improving educational standards. His stance reflects a broader push to move away from DEI policies, aligning with President Donald Trump’s actions to end DEI practices in federal government and education.

Abernathy and Gibson were recruited to run by Dr. William M. Griffin, a longtime trustee of the College of Lake County. 

"CLC is one of the jewels of Lake County," Griffin told the Lake county Gazette during the campaign. "As both a citizen and a trustee, I want to ensure that it remains one of the best community colleges in the country, but we still have work to do."