DISTRICT 202 COMMUNITY COLUMN

You know the old song, “I Love a Parade”? Well, I really do, especially the community parade that anchors District 202’s Homecoming season each year.

Our four high schools all celebrated Homecoming in late September and early October, and thousands of people enjoyed the 63rd annual Community Homecoming Parade on a rainy, cold Saturday morning.

Homecoming often means different things to people in a community as big as ours.

For example, Plainfield East opened in 2008, and saw its first graduating class in 2011, so its alumni are still very new and young. Most of those first graduates are still in college and haven’t been away from “home” for all that long.

Likewise, Plainfield North opened in 2005, and Plainfield South in 2001. Their alumni are a bit older and have started their lives beyond school. For many, the Homecoming festivities, especially the community parade are something to share with their young families.

On the other hand, some Plainfield High School – Central Campus (or Plainfield High School, when it was the only one in town) alumni measure their time away from school in multiple decades. They can tell stories about their high school days to their grandchildren and even great grandchildren.

However, what makes Homecoming special for everyone are the roots we all have in District 202, no matter how deep those roots run.

Regardless of the year you graduated or the school that you graduated from, Homecoming symbolizes and celebrates our shared bond with a strong, proud and successful public school system that defines the community in which we live, work and play. It reflects and shows off District 202’s past as a small, rural town, and our present as a diverse suburban area.

As I rode in this year’s parade, I saw young faces and older faces; people of every color; and representatives of the area’s many churches, businesses and governmental agencies, all enjoying the dozens of floats, bands and school and community groups.

Of course, I was proudest of the hundreds of District 202 students, family members and staff who braved the elements to march in the parade and entertain the crowd.

District 202 has a long and proud history of community spirit and service. We acknowledge that history in different ways, including the annual Homecoming and Community Parade which brings our history to life by giving us a glimpse at the past, and a peak into the future.

Judging by what I saw on that drizzly Saturday morning, the District 202 community has a lot to celebrate and look forward to.

 

Dr. Lane Abrell

Superintendent of Schools

Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202