Chester Community School District 139

Chester High School celebrates 2024 Football Season (2 of 3) Awards Night honors YellowJacket players at Annual Awards Night and Reception BY JIM BEERS Team Awards Young Gun Awards The first awards were the Young Gun Awards, presented to a sophomore or sophomores that contributed significantly on the Varsity Level. Such honorees often don’t get enough accolades, and are often members of special teams. These young guns usually play a lot of snaps for the Varsity. There were three such players honored for 2024. They Include: Karim Landeros Zain Eggemeyer Alex Blechle Weight Room Warrior This player puts in the work in the weight room and doesn’t miss a day during summer workouts. Because of his work ethic in the off-season, his play on the field improved significantly. This year’s winner was: Brayden Jeunger Eric Skorcz Award This award is presented in memory of Eric Skorcz who was one of Coach Belton’s favorite people. He helped out in coaching the team for 10 years prior to his death nine years ago. Skorcz assisted Coach Belton with Stinger’s Football, and he was a good teammate to Belton in high school. He was also a good player himself. Skorcz always put his team first and was a great all-around person. The 2024 Eric Skorcz Award winner was: Jack Heffernan Offensive Weapon Award The winner of this award is the Offensive MVP for 2024. Other teams must prepare to defend him. If not, they will not be able to stop the YellowJacket squad. The 2024 winner is: Devante Palacio Defensive Weapon Award There were two honorees this season. These two players were Defensive MVP’s. They are defensive playmakers. This year’s Defensive Weapons were: Ethan Colvis Cayden Brunkhorst Elite Warrior Awards These players are a combination of Team MVP’s as well as being the best teammates and hardest workers. There were four Elite Warriors this season including: Alex Williamson Nate Maes Kolton Jany Zain Al-Jassim Cahokia Conference Awards Cahokia Conference, Illinois Division “All-Conference” Awards The YellowJackets were quite honored this year with six Offensive All-Conference Award winners, seven Defensive All- Conference Award winners, a Cahokia Conference Offensive Player of the Year, and a Cahokia Conference Defensive Player of the Year. “Offensive” All-Conference Players Kolton Jany Alex Williamson Devante Palacio Treyton Peters Brenden Malley Zain Al-Jassim “Defensive” All Conference Players Ethan Colvis Nate Maes Tino Rafael Alex Williamson Kolton Jany Cayden Brunkhorst Devante Palacio Offensive All-Conference “Player of the Year” Zain Al-Jassim Defensive All-Conference “Player of the Year” Kolton Jany “All-South” Awards Chester had six players earn All-South Awards including: Zain Al-Jassim Devante Palacio Ethen Colvis Nate Maes Kolton Jany Alex Williamson PHOTO 5 The Defensive Weapon Award this year was earned by two players, Cayden Brunkhorst and Ethan Colvis. These young men were the team's defensive playmakers for the YellowJackets in 2024. Billy Belton Photo PHOTO 6 The Chester High School YellowJacket Football Elite Warriors included (left to right) Kolton Jany, Zain Al-Jassim, Nate Maes, and Alex Williamson. These senior players are a combination of "Team MVP's" and the "Best Teammates" that are the hardest workers! Billy Belton Photo PHOTO 7 The Chester YellowJackets had 10 players make the 2024 Cahokia Conference, Illinois Division "ALL-CONFERENCE" Team. There were six players on the Offensive Team and seven players on the defensive team. Six of the ten made BOTH the offensive and defensive teams. Pictured (left to right) are: Tino Rafael (defensive); Nate Maes (defensive); Ethan Colvis (defensive); Zain Al-Jassim (Offensive); Brenden Malley (offensive); Tray Peters (offensive); Devante Palacio (offensive & defensive); Alex Williamson (offensive & defensive); Kolton Jany (offensive & defensive); and Cayden Brunkhorst (defensive). Billy Belton Photo PHOTO 8 The Cahokia Conference, Illinois Division "PLAYERS of the YEAR" are Chester's Zain Al-Jassim and Kolton Jany. Al-Jassim (left) is Offensive Player of the Year and Jany (right) is the Defensive Player of the Year. Billy Belton Photo

Chester High School celebrates 2024 Football Season (1 of 3) Awards Night honors YellowJacket players at Annual Awards Night and Reception BY JIM BEERS Thursday January 2, 2025 Chester High School hosted a reception at CHS to recognize and honor the 2024 Football YellowJackets for their outstanding season. The evening was held at the Professor James F. Sharp Cafeteria at CHS and included a packed house of players, coaches, parents, friends, family, and staff members. Billy Belton, Head CHS Football Coach said, “First off I want to thank you guys for a great season. Thank you for the great memories. I love you guys! I don’t care about how many games we won or what happened this year. You guys were just great teammates! This is the best group of leaders I have ever coached!” In referring to the Class of 2024-25 seniors, Belton said, “In the early season I talked to you guys about helping to build a good foundation for this football program. Well, this group of seniors built about nine floors, not just a great foundation. Your commitment and sacrifice for one another is unmatched!” “You seniors cooked breakfast for everyone after our last two-a-day practice. Zain, Alex, and Nate were taking guys to the football field after weight room workouts. Nate and Alex took people to St. Louis with them to help their teammates get better. It was no accident that the 2024 CHS YellowJacket season will go down as one of the best teams in Chester High School’s history.” In summary, Belton said, “We finished 9-2 overall. We won our 3 rd conference championship in four years. We outscored our Cahokia Conference, Illinois Division opponents on average, 40-8. The seniors finished the 2024 season 19-1.” “We made the playoffs seven years in-a-row. We broke all kinds of records. I love this team! I loved coaching you guys! This team played for one another! I tell everyone I see that I am so lucky to get to coach at CHS! We have great support and great kids! Awards were then presented for the 2024 season. There were 14 different categories of awards to a wide number of players. PHOTO 1 YOUNG GUNS 2024 YOUNG GUNS are (left to right) Zane Eggemeyer, Alex Blechle, and Karim Landeros. Young Guns are sophomores who contribute at the Varsity level and rarely get any major accolades. They played really well on Special Teams and played a lot of snaps. Billy Belton Photo PHOTO 2 Brayden Juenger was the 2024 Weight Room Warrior. The winner of this award puts in a lot of work in the weight room and doesn't miss a day in summer workouts. Because of his off-season workouts, he played better on the field during the season. Billy Belton Photo PHOTO 3 The Eric Skorcz Award winner for the 2024 season as won by senior, Jack Heffernan. Skorcz was a former teammate of Head Coach Billy Belton and was a great teammate and an amazing person. Skorcz helped Belton coach Stinger Football and was a great teammate when he played with Belton on the YellowJackets when in high school. Heffernan is the same type of great guy and teammate to his fellow Yellowjacket players. Billy Belton Photo PHOTO 4 Devante Palacio earned the OFFENSIVE WEAPON Award for the 2024 season at Chester High School. This award is for the players that other teams have to stop to be successful. It is the Team's Offensive MVP. Billy Belton Photo

CONGRATULATIONS to our CGS Faculty Members of the Month for January: Katie Kelley, Kasi Jany, & Shelly Farris!

Elementary teacher openings for the 2025-2026 school year. 👩‍🏫👨‍🏫

CHS: JUNIOR CLASS FUNDRAISER See attached Graphics Link to the Class Store https://chesterhsjrclass25.itemorder.com/shop/home/

CHS: ENGLISH DEPARTMENT Personalizing their bookish experience, Mrs. Hammel's Novels elective students began their semester by creating embroidered corner felt bookmarks.

CGS & CHS: WEAR RED Friday 1/31/25 "Remember Everyone Deployed" WEAR RED in order to show support for local families with a service person deployed overseas.

CHS School Counselor releases Senior Scholarships on Google Classroom.  Chester awards hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to graduating seniors.  Don't Procrastinate.  

CHS: COLLEGE SIGNING WEDNESDAY 1/22/25 Elaina Lutman Signed for Softball John A. Logan Congratulations Elaina!

CGS & CHS: YOUTH SPEED TRAINING Chester High School Youth Speed Training Hosted by CHS Football Program Open to all 5th-8th Graders Saturdays 2/1/25 2/8/25 2/15/25 No Workouts 2/22/25 3/1/25 3/8/25 ★ Alltraining sessions will be in Colbert Gym 11am-12pm(Please use the front gym entrance) ★ Alltraining sessions are free of charge. ★ Please wear gym shoes and athletic clothing. ★ Bring your own drinks(water will be provided) ★ We will provide snacks after training

CHS: COLLEGE SIGNING WEDNESDAY 1/22/25 Elaina Lutman SIGNING FOR SOFTBALL John A. Logan PLEASE JOIN US IN THE PROFESSOR SHARP CAFETERIA 3:15 PM

Chester CUSD 139:

Chester CUSD 139:

CHS: CHESTER INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT RESULT We would like to congratulate and thank all of the teams that participated in this year's CIT. 1st place Sparta 2nd place Chester 3rd place Gibault 4th place New Athens 5th place Perryville 6th place Valmeyer 7th place Valle 8th place Saxony

CHS: 2024-2025 1st SEMESTER HONOR ROLL (CORRECTION) We are proud to announce the 2024-2025 1st Semester Honor Roll at Chester High School. Students on Honor Roll achieved a GPA 3.0 and those who achieved a 4.0 or higher are classified as High Honors. We would encourage you to congratulate these students on their academic accomplishments. There was an error in the original report, which has been corrected.

Football, Golf, and Basketball Coaches needed. See below for details. 🏈⛳🏀

Check it out!!! Job opportunities for next school year! 👇👇👇👇👇👇 📍High School Science Teacher 📍Jr. High Science Teacher 📍High School Social Studies Teacher 📍Principal for Chester Early Childhood Center 📍Pre-K Teacher 📍High School P.E. Teacher 📍High School Spanish Teacher 📍Student Service Director/Guidance Counselor 📍Paraprofessional

Chester High School Branding & Signage project is outstanding (3 of 3) New signs provide direction, increased safety, beauty, and enhances the unique architecture of CHS BY JIM BEERS One final addition to the signage at CHS is at the entrance to the CHS Colbert Memorial Gymnasium lobby and Dr. James F. Sharp Cafeteria. The name, “PROFESSOR SHARP CAFETERIA” now adorns the entryway doors to that lobby area from outside. Lighting will soon be added to illuminate the sign. Most people in Chester now know the history of 1954 Chester High School graduate, James F. Sharp, who for decades has provided much financial and moral support to his Alma Mater in the form of scholarships, and renovation of what is now known as the Professor Sharp Media Center. To the right of the entrance of the Professor Sharp Cafeteria from Swanwick Street, a very nice bronze plaque has been installed to honor Dr. Sharp and educate visitors to CHS about the great contributions he has already made the CHS and those that he intends to continue to make via numerous donations and interests. His generosity to both Chester High School and the Community of Chester have not gone unnoticed and continue to be greatly appreciated. Jeremy Blechle, CHS Principal, stated, “We are very fortunate that our District Superintendent, Kimberly Briggs, has been so very supportive of all of our new signage and branding initiatives. Mrs. Briggs is generous and extremely creative in helping to improve our environment here at CHS and without her cooperation and generosity none of this would have been possible.” Two more articles will soon be published to highlight recent happenings at Chester High School. One will feature recent physical upgrades to the CHS Campus and Educational Buildings. The other will highlight the donations, contributions, and improvements recently made possible by the generosity of Dr. James F. Sharp. Photo 1 A nighttime view of the front logo of the new school entrance. Jim Beers Photo Photo 2 A nighttime view of the new signage located on the front of Chester High School at the former entrance. Jim Beers Photo Photo 3 A nighttime view of west side Chester High School facing W.O. Smith Football Field. Jim Beers Photo Photo 4 A daytime view of new Chester High School signage on west side of school facing the football field. Jim Beers Photo Photo 5 New signage for the Professor Sharp Cafeteria entrance at Chester High School. Plans are to install back-lighting soon. Jim Beers Photo Photo 6 This is a plaque installed at the entrance to the Professor James F. Sharp Cafeteria at Chester High School. Sharp, a former CHS graduate has been a faithful contributor to scholarships, building improvements, and technology upgrades at the school for decades and continues to be a loyal supporter of the school. Jim Beers Photo Photo 7 All rooms at Chester are now labeled with the room number of the classroom or office within. This new signage practice is a safety feature to alert first respo9nders to the proper location in emergency situations. Jim Beers Photo Photo 8 All rooms at Chester High School received new state-of-the -art signage as part of Branding and Signage Project recently implemented throughout the campus. Improved signage increases the ability for students and visitors to the school, as well as first responders, to locate specific students or rooms within the school. This greatly increases the safety students, staff, and teachers. Jim Beers Photo Photo 9 Many outside doors and entryways to Chester High School have now been provided with new and improved signage to help direct visitors to specific areas within the CHS campus. The doors seen here are to the new "Main Entrance" at Chester High Scholl located at the west side of CHS near the W.O. Smith Football Field. Jim Beers Photo

Chester High School Branding & Signage project is outstanding (2 of 3) New signs provide direction, increased safety, beauty, and enhances the unique architecture of CHS BY JIM BEERS Another very distinctive, “knock-your-socks-off” addition to the Chester High School branding initiative is the addition of “Wind-Break Barriers” around the entire outdoor courts at CHS. The courts used to belong to the City of Chester, but now are under the ownership and care of District 139. The courts can now be used for tennis, basketball and even more recently pickle ball. Principal Blechle said, “We have implemented many improvements to the courts such filling in places were the surfaces were split and deteriorating, upgrading lights, painting equipment, putting up new hoops, and installing nets for pickle ball. We use the courts for classes and they are also available for public use. The wind-breaks allow for a bit of privacy for our students and also keep the strong winds from interfering with the activities taking place on the courts.” The wind-breaks cover the fences surrounding the entire court system and boast the Chester YellowJacket logos in huge letters in orange, black and white lettering. It is virtually impossible to miss the Chester High School brand when approaching the school complex from any direction. Walking down almost any hallway at Cheer High School students, teachers, staff, and visitors will see any number of “A-Frame” display boards announcing upcoming events, reminders, directions, praise reports for “jobs-well-done”, and any other number of items. These “A-Frame” display boards appeared last school year and have proved to be a valuable tool in spreading information in a direct, easy manner to everyone who comes into contact with the boards. This type of advertising has been of great use for many decades on city streets, in public buildings and in other types of environment where people pass, meet, and observe the information displayed. Electric display boards or video screens have also appeared in many areas of the school and on school property. For example, in Colbert Memorial Gymnasium there are such video screens located in all four corners of the gym. They run constantly with information of interest to parents, students, staff, visitors, sports fans, and others who may be in the area. The Dr. James F. Sharp Cafeteria has also been equipped with two large video boards which help to keep everyone informed of almost every type of announcement and bit of information regarding happenings at Chester High School. These boards can be loaded with all forms of data and instructions for special presentations that may be scheduled in that location. The informational video display board located in front of Chester High School has further been replaced with a state-of-the-art electronic message board that runs continuously with information about all types of CHS happenings and events. The citizens of Chester are updated regularly with all sorts of student, teacher, and staff events, upcoming schedules, notices of other happenings and the like. This mechanism is updated regularly and is a fantastic source of CHS and District 139 information. A similar perpetually-running message board is located at the north end of the CHS W.O. Smith Football Field. This gigantic message board runs continuously and likewise offers onlookers the opportunity to see the results of sporting events, upcoming school events, schedules, announcements, and positive accounts of student accomplishments. This board runs 7/24/365 to inform the community of Chester High School activities. Dwight Lochhead, Techl Advisor at Chester High School, said, “At the junction of most major hallways at CHS we now have Directional Signs indicating what rooms are located down the respective hallways. Students, parents, and visitors to CHS now have the ability to find their way to whatever classrooms or offices they are looking for. These directional signs are very helpful and have eliminated confusion when trying to get to a particular destination.” Lochhead also noted that soon, CHS hopes to install various new “bracket” signs which will feature information regarding how to locate special rooms or destinations. He noted that most signs are mounted “flush” to the wall and can sometimes be difficult to see. Bracket signs are “V” shaped and are mounted to stand out from the wall and draw attention to the information on the signs. Special rooms or offices such as restrooms, Principal’s Office, Nurses Office, Assistant Principal’s Office, Student Services Office, Gymnasium, etc. are examples that may require a bracket sign. These signs are two-fold and mount at a 90-degree angle from the wall and stand out from the wall to better inform viewers. Lochhead further notes that these signs are adaptable to replacement cardboard informational signs that staff can slide into the bracket for special informational needs.

Chester High School Branding & Signage project is outstanding (1 of 3) New signs provide direction, increased safety, beauty, and enhances the unique architecture of CHS BY JIM BEERS Chester High School has neared completion of a new signage and branding project which has increased safety, beauty, and enhanced the uniqueness of the stately architecture of the school. When driving by the school located at 1901 State Street in Chester, several of the recent improvements can easily be seen from an automobile without even really looking for the additions to the CHS scenery. The most striking and easily recognizable might be the huge lighted YellowJacket Mascot that is located on the outside of the brickwork of the elevator shaft that is located on the west, football field side of the school next to the new entrance of the school. The mascot is quite visible from blocks away and is brightly lit at night. Equally visible are the letters “C” “H” “S” in bright Chester Orange. These letters are positioned just below the huge Chester YellowJacket Mascot. On the south side of the elevator shaft is the wording “YELLOW” “JACKETS” vertically positioned, running from top-to-bottom of the shaft. These words are black, outlined in orange. On the front of the school, facing Swanwick Street, just to the left of the former main entrance, is a new branding logo which is well visible from the street and really lets visitors know that Chester High School is extremely proud of the building. The brilliant logo has a Chester “J” logo at the top in orange, black, and white colors. Immediately below the “J” logo are the words “CHESTER” (underlined with a distinctive orange line) and “High School” under the orange line. Below that configuration are the initials, CUSD 139 (which stand for Chester Unit School District. When asked about the recent signage, Chester High School Principal, Jeremy Blechle said, “Chester High School just had its new exterior signage installed. This signage clearly identifies our school spirit and our community identity.” “We are dedicated to fostering a culture that inspires all students, staff, and community members to fully engage and confidently support our mission here at CHS. Our high school boasts one of the most stunning buildings which showcases remarkable architecture. We aim to enhance this beautiful space further while celebrating its unique design and features.” Another recently installed feature of the new branding and signage project was the installation of nine, professionally created “Direction and Location Signs” that are strategically placed at various locations on school property. Blechle said, “These signs have revolutionized the ability for all types of people coming to our school to find their way around and go to specific locations. The most striking one is the one that directs visitors to the new, recently created main entrance to the school.” The former main entrance was located in the front of the school at the left doorway. The new main entrance is now located on the football field, west side of the school (this doorway was formerly used to enter the corridor leading to Juergens Gymnasium. It is handicapped accessible and was only used on a regular basis for events in Juergens Gym). The new entrance was introduced just this year and is just one part of several new and improved construction projects which were designed, constructed and implemented this year. (Those construction developments will be discussed in another article to be released soon). As one drives around the school, it will be noticed that some of the doors and entryways to the school have been wrapped and/or painted and labeled with the Chester High School “J” Logo Mascot. Some doors are labeled with specific indicators regarding what areas or classrooms are available via entry through that specific doorway. Exterior buildings at CHS now also proudly display the Chester High School “J” Mascot logo which further brands all CHS property. A new safety-related signage project has now labeled each and every classroom at CHS from both the outside (on the classroom windows) and inside (at the entrance to the classroom) so that emergency personnel and first responders can quickly and easily locate areas that are experiencing any type of emergency or issue. All other areas in the building, in addition to classrooms, are also installed with the same signage to insure the same level of safety as student classrooms. This signage further helps visitors to the school to easily and properly locate and contact student classrooms or the location of school personnel or administration offices.