The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Illini West High School in Carthage was able to conducted Homecoming activities during the week of March 15-19th. They included:
Monday- PJ Day: Students wore their pajamas to school, enjoyed ice cream sandwiches at lunch.
Tuesday- Jersey Day: Everyone wore their favorite team's jersey.
Door decorations were judged by WC reigning King and Queen along with the office staff, LaShay Ramirez and Kesha Keaton.
Winners of the door decorating contest were: Mrs. Stevenson's class, 1st place; Ms. Keckler's class 2nd place; and Mrs. Cook's class, 3rd place.
Wednesday- Twin Day: Students dressed like a twin along with a classmate. An Illini West Kahoot trivia activity was held during tutoring class and the court coronation was streamed as well.
Thursday- Homecoming Class T-shirt/Class Color Day where students wore their class colors. Seniors- turquoise, Juniors- pink, Sophomores- lime green, Freshmen- purple.
Illini West Honorary Grand Marshals: Tim Lafferty and Judy Stevenson
Tim Lafferty: Mr. Lafferty was born and raised in Alexis, Illinois, a town of about 1000 population, a few miles west of Galesburg. He attended Alexis High School, where he played three sports, including football for Hall of Fame coach John Elder. After high school, Mr. Lafferty attended Monmouth College, where he also played football (1978-1981), graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1982.
Mr. Lafferty started his teaching and coaching career at La Harpe High School in 1982-83. He taught at La Harpe through 2006 and then went on to teach at Illini West High School starting in 2007. He has taught for 39 years and his teaching assignments over the years have included Physical Education, U.S. History, American Government, Health, Weight Training, and Driver Education.
Mr. Lafferty's coaching career includes 39 years in football (22 as a Varsity Head Coach) and 38 years in basketball, including stints at all levels from 5th-6th grade all the way up to being a varsity head coach for three years. He also started the junior high track program at La Harpe in 1991 and led that program for 15 years until going on to Illini West.
Tim has been married to his wife Kelly for 34 years. They have lived in La Harpe that entire time. They have two sons, Michael, who is presently a teacher and coach at Illini West High School and married to Dakota, and Brian, who is also presently a teacher and the head football coach at Rushville-Industry High School. Tim and Kelly have just recently been blessed with their first grandson, Vice Everett Lafferty.
Judy Stevenson: Mrs. Stevenson is the daughter of the late Harry and Kathleen Bradley. Her father was also a teacher and one of her favorite things was to go to school with him in the evenings and disappear into the art room. She grew up in La Harpe and graduated from La Harpe High School.
Mrs. Stevenson graduated from Monmouth College and was there at the same time as fellow Grand Marshal Tim Lafferty. After college, she worked for Journal Printing and Good Apple. Both of which were in Carthage.
Mrs. Stevenson started teaching art in 1990 for the La Harpe School District. There, she taught first through twelfth grades. She came to Illini West in 2007 with the convergence.
She has been Illini West's Art Club sponsor and many class sponsors throughout her years of teaching. Throughout the years, Mrs. Stevenson and her students have set up art displays, painted play sets, painted faces, and have done miscellaneous art projects for school and community groups and organizations. She has considered it a great privilege to have taught so many fine young people throughout the years and would like to thank all the parents for encouraging their children to explore art.
Mrs. Stevenson and her husband, Jeff live near Nauvoo and have three grown children, Trent (wife Leisha), Taylor (husband Rahul), and Cicely. Mrs. Stevenson plans on retiring after this school year and 30 years of teaching. It is no secret that the thought of retirement both scares and excites her. She hopes to travel and do many art projects that there has never been enough time for in the past and she knows she will miss all her students.
Illini West Honorary Grand Marshals were Tim Lafferty and Judy Stevenson