Chester Community School District 139

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.

CHS: CHESTER INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT The results of this week’s CIT are shown on the attached graphic. Come out this Saturday, 17th of January to support your Yellowjackets for our final four games, including games starting 2:00pm and ending with our championship game against Sparta 6:30pm. The games are also available on HUDL at QR code depicted in the final graphic or at the following link: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/il/chester/organization/14289/chester-high-school

CHS: REPORT CARDS Report cards are available on TeacherEase. 1st Semester Honor Roll to be posted soon!

CHS: YELLOWJACKET BASKETBALL The CHS Lady Yellowjackets basketball team is having a bake sale to raise money to help a teacher/coach in another school district. If you are able to help out by making something for the sale or just passing the word along we would appreciate it. We are trying to teach our girls that doing things like this can really make a difference for someone in need.

CGS Families! Just a reminder that there is a PTS meeting this evening at 6pm in the CGS band room.

CONGRATULATIONS to our CGS Faculty Member of the Month for December: Natalie Becker (Castaneda)!

Voting has now opened for January CGS Faculty Member of the Month! Voting will be open NOW until January 24th at 3 pm. **Please note the extended deadline due to our Snow Days!** Access the voting form below or on the Chester139 Website! https://forms.gle/4Gg7EEZRnHKT9BtJ9 Stay tuned for the announcement of our December CGS Faculty Member of the Month recipient!

Chester 139 Community:

CGS hopes that our students are enjoying their extended break while staying warm and safe! We eagerly anticipate their return! Last week would have marked the beginning of a new session of "Throwback Thursdays" and "Fun Fact Fridays" for CGS students and teachers. Although we couldn't kick off the festivities as usual, we wanted to give students and their families a chance to join in on the fun! We invited CGS staff members to share a "fun fact" about their younger selves from their grade school days. From these submissions, we randomly selected 5 entries and created a quiz featuring them. These 5 entries have automatically entered their class for a chance to win this month's Throwback Thursday pizza party! Below are the quiz link and the criteria for participating in "Throwback Friday!" Have fun, and we look forward to seeing everyone soon! ✌️😎 🔸Families must provide an email address and the name of a CGS student for their quiz response to be valid. 🔸To win, all five questions must be answered correctly. 🔸Correct answer participants will be placed into a drawing, and a winner will be chosen. The winning student's class/homeroom will receive cookies and a gift basket, which includes a $25 Target gift card for their teacher. 🔸The family member who entered the winning student will receive some Yellow Jacket Swag. 🔸The winner and their class/homeroom will be announced next week during morning announcements. 🔸"Throwback Friday" quizzes must be submitted by tomorrow evening (Sunday, January 12th) QUIZ LINK >>> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScLPcxHGKxidT7oKS-LiZt5TFpY0XCf6cBUP-iJpAbAbtEkkQ/viewform?usp=sharing

Open gym for 7th and 8th grade students is happening today from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM.

CHS SAFETY NOTIFICATION: For safety reasons, we kindly ask that individuals refrain from sledding on the football field. However, if you’re looking for a great spot, the hill by the track is available and safe for sledding.

CGS, CHS & the District Office would like to thank our hard working maintenance and custodian workers for working so hard this week cleaning the sidewalks and parking lots despite the continued battle with the elements.

There will be NO Professional Development Day. Stay safe.

There will be NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS tomorrow. Friday, January 10, will be a Professional Development Day for staff only.

CGS & CHS ATHLETICS CANCELATION, THURSDAY 1/9/25: There will be no athletic practices or home/away games for Thursday Jan 9th. The adjusted schedule bracket for the CHS Lady Jackets Midwinter Classic is attached.

Due to severe winter weather, Chester CUSD 139 will be closed on Thursday, January 9, 2025. This will be a traditional snow day, not an e-Learning Day. Please be safe.

CGS & CHS ATHLETICS CANCELATION, WEDNESDAY 1/8/25: There will be no athletic practices or home/away games for Wednesday Jan 8th. The adjusted schedule bracket for the CHS Lady Jackets Midwinter Classic is attached.

Due to severe winter weather, Chester CUSD 139 will be closed on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. This will be a traditional snow day, not an e-Learning Day. Please be safe.