West Elementary School’s Youth Leadership group welcomed Honey Bee Cafe owner Kate Serdar, who visited the school on Apr. 3 to share her experience of opening a new business in Zion. During the visit, students created artwork for the café, with selected pieces displayed on a custom table and featured at the ribbon-cutting celebration.
The collaboration gave students an opportunity to engage with a local entrepreneur and contribute creatively to a new business in their community. Such partnerships are seen as valuable experiences that help connect classroom learning with real-world applications.
Zion Elementary School District 6 serves several schools in Lake County, including Beulah Park Elementary School, East Elementary School, Elmwood Elementary School, Lakeview School, Shiloh Park Elementary School, West Elementary School, and Zion Central Middle School according to Illinois Report Card. The district enrolled 2,483 students during the 2019-2020 school year and offers education from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade according to Illinois Report Card.
The district employs 164 teachers who earn an average salary of $58,629 before pension contributions; of these teachers, 83.3 percent are women and 16.7 percent are men. No teacher had more than ten absences in a school year according to Illinois Report Card.
Demographically, Zion Elementary School District 6 is composed of approximately 4.9 percent White students, 36.6 percent Black students, 50.9 percent Hispanic students, and 0.2 percent Asian students according to Illinois Report Card. The district spent $27,927 per student in the year 2020 for a total expenditure of $69 million according to Illinois Report Card.
In terms of attendance challenges within the district during the same period there were reportedly179 chronically truant students—those missing five percent or more of required school days without valid excuse—resulting in a chronic truancy rate of about seven percent; this remains below the statewide average rate of nearly ten percent as reported by Illinois State Board of Education.
Community engagement efforts like those between West’s Youth Leadership group and local businesses may provide additional opportunities for student involvement while highlighting positive connections within Zion.
