Community Pulse: Minooka Community High School has a successful first half of the school year

It’s hard to believe that we are quickly approaching the half-way point of the 2024-2025 school year. Minooka Community High School (MCHS) had a very successful first half of the year. We are finally completing some of our capital projects from the summer and we are very excited to show those projects off to the community.

This fall, we had over 700 students participate in athletics. Next fall, we anticipate an increase in the number of students participating in athletics with the addition of Girls Flag Football. Our fall athletic season was capped off by our Girls Cross Country team finishing 6th as a team and Maya Ledesma finishing 4th as an individual at the State Cross Country Meet.

Minooka High School also succeeded in the classroom so far this school year. MCHS received notification that 71 seniors will receive the distinction of being Illinois State Scholars. The State Scholar Program identifies graduating high school seniors who possess superior academic potential. Students from nearly every high school in Illinois compete in this program. Students are ranked based on a combination of students’ college entrance examination scores and record high school achievement indicate an especially high potential for success in college.

For the last decade, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) used the SAT as a means to measure student achievement in the state of Illinois, which has now changed to the ACT for the current school year. On October 9, 2024 every freshman, sophomore, and junior took a standardized practice test from the ACT suite of tests. Traditionally, only students who wanted to participate in the National Merit Scholarship program would take a standardized test in the fall. The district, however, felt it was important to give every student the opportunity to take an ACT style standardized test in order to best prepare them for the spring test. The results from this practice test will be used to help students prepare to take the ACT in the spring of their junior year.

We will host our annual Turkey Trot & Food Drive on November 25-26 at South Campus. Students will complete a long distance run that will be followed up with hot chocolate and candy canes. As part of this event, we are asking students to bring unexpired, non-perishable items to donate to the Mission Bible Church food pantry.