Lake County Gazette

Coal City High School is preparing for its annual Homecoming Week, which will take place from Monday, September 22 through Saturday, September 27. The week-long event includes a variety of activities and traditions for students and the community.

Student Council is responsible for organizing and carrying out the activities from setting up dress up days and class competitions, to hosting the pep assembly and dance.

This year’s theme is “Coaler Clue,” inspired by the game of Clue. Activities throughout the week are centered around this mystery theme.

The schedule begins with Minion Monday, featuring a staff versus seniors flag football game in the stadium. The homecoming king and queen—selected by a vote of the senior class—will be announced. Members of the homecoming court are Addison Harvey, Keirsten Gabehart, Mackenna Stewart, Maria Campagna, Carter Gill, Julian Micetich, Drake Stewart and Gavin Berger.

Day two features “Anything but a Backpack” day. Students can also participate in bingo and Singo or sign up for spirit night games.

On Wednesday, students will dress as their favorite memes and take part in spirit night games hosted by Student Council that evening.

Thursday is class color day: freshmen wear orange, sophomores red, juniors blue, and seniors purple. A pep assembly will be held in the competition gym with games and activities planned for students.

Throughout Homecoming Week, classes compete to earn points in categories such as hallway decorating and spirit night victories. The winning class receives the spirit stick.

Friday is Coaler Spirit Day. The Student Council encourages community participation. All district schools will dismiss early to allow families to attend parade events. Dismissal times are: Early Childhood Center at 1:15 p.m.; Elementary School and Intermediate School at 1:35 p.m.; Middle School at 1:45 p.m.; High School at 1:40 p.m.

The homecoming parade takes place on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., starting at South Broadway and Elm Street before heading north to Carbon Street.

Greg Wills has been selected by the student council to serve as this year’s parade grand marshal. Wills, an English teacher and coach, is set to retire at the close of the school year.

School groups including marching bands from both Coal City High School and Coal City Middle School will participate in the parade alongside other school and community units.

Afterwards, fans are encouraged to attend Dzuris Stadium where Coal City faces Reed-Custer in conference football action.

Homecoming Week concludes with a dance on Saturday night.

Students across all buildings within Coal City Community Unit School District 1—including Coal City Early Childhood Center, Elementary School, Intermediate School, Middle School, and High School—will join in themed dress-up days throughout Homecoming Week. Younger students have additional themes such as Superhero Tuesday and Wear Gold Wednesday.

Coal City Community Unit School District 1 serves Grundy and Will counties through its five schools (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). According to state data from ISBE (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/), there are 153 teachers employed within the district earning an average salary of $69,297; most teachers are women (77.9 percent), while men make up 22.1 percent of staff; no teachers have more than ten absences per year. The district’s student body is predominantly White (86.9 percent), with Hispanic students making up nearly ten percent (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). In fiscal year 2020 spending totaled $47 million or about $21,619 per student (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).

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