Prairieview-Ogden once again received “recognition” status in FY 2019. Of the 851 school districts that reported, 706 were in the 2020 “recognition” category, the highest number in the history of the report.

The 212-page report cites an increase of state funding from the Evidence-based Funding model, increased EAVs, and lesser reliance on debt.

Like other school districts in Champaign County, Prairieview-Ogden dropped in their financial rating because Early Property Tax Revenue was not received from the County Treasurers‘ Office before June 30, 2019.

For the last 17 years, ISBE has reviewed each district’s financial profile based on fund balance to revenue ratio, expenditure to revenue ratio, days of cash on hand and percent of short-term and long-term borrowing ability remaining.

The State then gives each district a score and places them in the financial recognition (highest), review, early warning or watch (lowest) category.

Highlights of Prairieview-Ogden’s profile included 435 days of cash on hand, whereas ISBE recommends 180 days, 100-percent of short-term borrowing remaining and 81.37 percent of long-term debt margin remaining.

According to Prairiview-Ogden’s report, their total revenue for FY 2019 was $1,920,260 and their total fund balance was $3,236,109.

The lowest score Prairieview-Ogden received was a “1” in expenditure to revenue ratio whereas total revenues were $1,920,260 and total expenditures were $2,679,596.

Locally, Heritage CUSD (Community Unit School District) #8 remained “recognition” category, as did Ludlow, Gifford, Champaign CUSD #4, Prairieview CCSD #197, Rantoul Township #193, St. Joseph CHSD (Consolidated High School District) #305, Thomasboro CCSD #130.

The 2020 report showed that Rantoul City Schools #137, Fisher, Tolono CUSD #7 were placed in the “review” category while St. Joseph CCSD #169 and Urbana are in the “early warning” category.

Mahomet-Seymour joined eight other schools in the lowest “watch” category.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://sjodaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Prairieview-Ogden-ISBE-financial-profile.pdf” title=”Prairieview Ogden ISBE financial profile”]

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Vic White had a short career as a teacher, but a long tenure as a school administrator.

One constant in his more than 30 years in education is his ability to learn while on the job.

And now, as he prepares to retire as superintendent at the Prairieview-Ogden School District, where he has worked since 1996, he fondly recalls the one point which has been reinforced since he first became a high school principal at age 25: White didn’t have all of the answers.

What he has possessed is the source to find those solutions. The key to where he has gone and what he has accomplished can be found in his willingness to listen to input from others.

White hailed from Tampico, Ill., the birthplace of Ronald Reagan.

“Back in the day, people would come by in droves,” White remembers.

He was one of the few who were present when Reagan returned to his hometown in 1979 to announce his bid for the Presidency. The moment left a lasting impression on the man who keeps a book written by Reagan nearby.

While Reagan’s presence is something White looks back on fondly, he knows that his course in life was greatly influenced by social studies teacher and assistant football coach Phil Wiersema.

“He was as close as you can get to a friend, but he’s really your teacher,” White said. “I could sit and talk to him.”

A star at Tampico High School, White went to college at the University of Dubuque with his sights set on continuing his athletic career while also getting a degree in education, focusing on social studies.

“I wasn’t big enough (to play football),” White said. “I realized that when I got hurt right away.

“I went from a small high school, where I might have been somewhat of a star there, to a small college where I was small.”

White didn’t leave his ambitions behind, though.

He went on to teach social studies and a session of P.E. at Milford High School. He also coached fifth-grade basketball, was the head track coach for the junior high school and was also an assistant football coach at the high school.

His work ethic did not go unnoticed. Milford’s principal at the time, Bill Hudgens, told White he thought he would make a great principal.

White listened.

“So I went and started working on my degree,” White said. “At age 25, they hired me as the first principal ever. They always had a superintendent/principal. The town was growing at that time with three canning factories.

“It was a great, great experience, but there were teachers who had been teaching longer than I was (alive).”

With only four years of classroom experience under his belt, White spent time learning from others in that leadership position, and has used that same mentality for the last three decades.

“Evaluating teachers was very difficult in a lot of aspects,” White said. “I tried to stay as much to the book as I could because I felt like I’m not a person to be telling them what to do.

“I was young and I needed to listen and learn. And that’s what I did for those first five years. You’re supposed to have knowledge about everything, and you really sometimes don’t.”

White said he offered his suggestions and opinions, but knew that the teachers and staff were the professionals. He wanted to offer them support rather than dictate what needed to be done for their students or the facilities.

His approach once again caught the attention of Hudgens, who suggested that White work towards becoming a superintendent.

While White and his wife, Sherri, were raising three small boys, he worked during the day as a principal, then drove back and forth from Milford to Eastern Illinois University to complete his degree to become certified as a superintendent.

The effort paid off when, at the age of 30, White was brought on as the superintendent at Prairieview.

“It’s a great community. A lot of caring people have very good values,” White said. “It’s about raising your kids from the values and the morals I think that are lacking sometimes today.”

By 2005, Prairieview and Ogden were in consolidation talks as Ogden’s superintendent, Jim Morgan, retired.

White jokes that he’s been superintendent of three districts while being in the Royal office the entire time.

In his 24 years at Prairieview-Ogden, White has wanted to be a fair administrator; one that students knew that they could talk with about what they did wrong and one that would be in the lunchroom where he can to catch up on life’s events.

“I go and eat with the kids every day for 24 years; if I’m here, I eat with the students,” White said. “I take turns at each table.The cook keeps track of where I’ve been and where I should go the next time.

“If I ever have had a bad day, that just makes me feel so much better.”

It’s not uncommon to see White outside with the kids, either.

When he’s in the building, he greets them outside as they arrive to school: rain, snow or sunshine.

It’s also not uncommon to find White shooting baskets or playing a “foam ball” baseball game.

He hopes that the students see that they can relate to administrators on a personal level.

“I also enjoy that experience of being with the kids,” White said. “I guess that’s one thing that I want the kids to always remember about me: Mr. White always took the time and sat with me and listened to me and ate with us.”

Since his first administrative position at Milford, White has understood that leadership means more than dictating from the top of the pyramid.

With Prairieview-Ogden’s South Campus principal Jeff Isenhower and the Prairieview-Ogden Junior High School principal Carl Heuer by his side, White has always hoped that the district’s vision trickled down.

“We have a solid staff here both certified and non-certified,” White said.

“My leadership is just guidance. I strongly try to do stuff by gathering input and opinions. I might not always agree with you or your opinion, but I gather that before I make a decision, and I strongly feel that that should be done more than trying to be led from the top.”

His methods, along with a strong team and a community that provides a strong foundation, has bred success.

White coached the Prairieview-Ogden Junior High seventh and eighth-grade volleyball teams for a decade, leading the program to 410 victories with only 60 losses, capturing 17 out of 20 IESA Regional titles and 15 out of 20 IESA Sectional titles. His teams also brought home five IESA State trophies.

Prairieview-Ogden has also been recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education for financial excellence annually since 2003 alongside consistently receiving recognition for academic excellence.

“I really strongly believe that success breeds success,” White said. “If you push that you want to be the best in academics, and you get everybody on board: parents, teachers, and all the staff members, it’s going to happen.”

By providing academic and athletic opportunities that bring out the best in students, Prairieview-Ogden is helping to raise well-rounded children.

White knows that the school district is just helping, too.

“I believe that the parents, if they have strong morals and values, are a big, big part of that,” he said.

White said that when parents engage with their children in academics, to achieve the results they want, students are going to reap the rewards. The same applies to athletics, as well.

“It’s the foundation,” White said. “You have to have a good foundation if you’re going to build a nice house. I think the foundation is the wonderful parents and grandparents that have morals and values.”

White’s values wouldn’t allow him to leave the district without making sure all of the pieces were in place.

Early in 2019, the Prairieview-Ogden Board voted to use the 2019-2020 school year as a transition year as Isenhower and Heuer move up in the district ranks.

“I want to give him a fighting chance where you’re not feeling like you’re drowning every day,” White said.

White has mentored Isenhower on all the paperwork that knocked him off his feet in his first year at PV-O. He’s also keeping a running list of what needs to be completed and when.

As an administrator, White has also set up the district for success in the upcoming years.

In the last 24 years, White has brought in $2.359,929 million, $98,330.37 per year, through grants to the Prairieview-Ogden School District.

The grants have brought in computer equipment, security measures, renovations to the gymnasium, new roofs, electrical upgrades, stop arms for buses, geothermal upgrades, SMART boards, defibrillators, energy efficiency upgrades and fiber optics lines.

White said many of the grants funded projects that the district wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.

When White came to Prairieview in 1996, the district had $843,993 in reserves. When he hands over the reins in 2020, the total in reserves will at least be $4,278,537, but could be higher if early tax money comes in before July 1.

“We’ve built up some reserves in case we do have some bad years coming up where the economy turns downward and the state isn’t allowed to pay in or property taxes need to be brought down.

“I’m hoping that gives them that cushion for a few years. I would hate to walk away and, for some reason, 5 or 10 years down the road, they have to close their doors.

“I think it’s a great little school district, and I’d hate to see it go away.”

As White prepares for the next phase of life, he is excited to see what’s next.

He and his wife have purchased a property in Missouri along the Lake of the Ozarks where he can fish and they can spend time together.

White said he’s just going to listen to how things go. The couple wanted to make sure that they were within driving distance of their sons so they could see them on the weekends. Other than that, he’s not sure if he will try to teach at a community college or just enjoy life looking out from their dock.

“She had open-heart surgery last year,” White said. “And she was sick for a long time after that. When your spouse of 32 years goes through that, we’re going retire together and enjoy our life.”

The post Vic White leaves behind legacy of listening to others first appeared on SJO Daily.

The future is bright for the St. Joseph-Ogden High School boys’ basketball program.

There is no other possibility when 100 percent of the junior high schools that feed into SJ-O have qualified for IESA seventh-grade boys’ basketball state championship games, scheduled for Thursday night.

Royal Prairieview Ogden (22-4) is a finalist in Class 1A and will face Lincoln West Broadwell (28-1) in the 7:30 p.m. title game at East Peoria Junior High.

In Class 3A, St. Joseph (21-5) will take on Taylor Ridge Rock Ridge (21-1) at Wenona Fieldcrest, also at 7:30 p.m.

For both SJ-O feeder schools, it is the first time for reaching the seventh-grade state championship game in boys’ basketball. For both schools, it is the second year in a row for advancing to at least the Elite Eight.

St. Joseph has an enrollment of 183 students. Royal Prairieview Ogden’s enrollment is listed at 48 on the IESA web site.

St. Joseph

The Panthers are under the guidance of 10th-year head coach Wes Miller. A change in defensive philosophy helped the current squad achieve its unparalleled success.

“We’ve been strictly man-to-man,” Miller said. “We’ve had to adjust. This is the first time in my career we’ve run any zone.”

Besides utilizing a 1-2-2 zone at times, St. Joseph has used defensive variations, trying both a box-and-one and a triangle-and-two.

James Barron was employed as the chaser in box-and-one at the state quarterfinal and semifinal games.

“Defense is the key,” Miller said. “He held his guy scoreless in the first game and to no points the first half of the second game.”

In the quarterfinals, St. Joseph topped Piasa Southwestern 30-26. Barron also scored a team-high eight points.

St. Joseph trailed 21-20 after three quarters.

In the semifinals, Tanner Siems’ 16-point outburst included three three-point baskets and sparked a 34-32 win over Williamsville.

The Panthers’ starting lineup includes Jude Coursey, Kendrick Johnson and Collin Thomey along with Barron and Siems. Logan Mills and Kyler Swanson are some of the first bench players who are called upon, but Miller said there have been significant contributions from others on the 15-member squad.

Thomey scored 12 points in the semis.

“The kids who aren’t starting do so much that goes unnoticed and helps us prepare for the next opponent,” Miller said. “Without their work and effort (in practice), we wouldn’t be where we are.

“They are truly what got us where we are.”

Miller had a good feeling about this year’s squad from the time practice started in October.

“From the get-go, I was pretty excited about the coachability of the kids,” Miller said. “They are good listeners and a good group to work with.

“We have good size, good shooters and athletic kids.”

The Panthers lost three of their last four regular-season games, but found their mojo for the tournament.

“We scrimmaged our eighth-graders the day before the sectional championship game,” Miller said. “Our seventh-graders were having some success (in the scrimmage), which gave them a confidence boost they were lacking.”

St. Joseph has won all five of its postseason games to eclipse the 20-win mark for the season.

“They are a group that is positive,” Miller said. “If things aren’t going well, they don’t chirp at each other.

“They keep playing. They are a class act. I attribute that to the way they have been raised.”

Other squad members on the seventh-grade tournament roster are Jared Altenbaumer, Hayden Coffey, Jackson Ennis, Owen Knapp, Jefferey Kuchenbrod, Gabe Mata, Carson Sarnecki and Carter Turner.

Not to be overlooked is the presence of volunteer assistant coach Tyler McCune.

“He has been my assistant the last two years and we’ve gone to state two years in a row,” Miller said. “That is not a coincidence.

“I would never have been able to get here without Coach McCune.”

St. Joseph eighth-grade coach Blake Weaver – whose team is playing for a sectional championship – also helps Miller and McCune.

In its history, St. Joseph Junior High has captured four IESA state titles: 2018 in baseball, 2016 in girls’ volleyball and in both 1999 and 1998 in girls’ cross-country.

 Royal Prairieview Ogden

There was no postseason panic from the 10-member squad, which is split evenly between seventh-graders and sixth-graders.

If ever there was a time for a team to lose its collective cool, then it was in a state semifinal game where it trailed by 10 points at halftime and by nine points entering the fourth quarter.

Coach Chase Gilliland said his team kept its composure, even while still trailing in the game’s final minute.

“I told them to stick to what we were doing,” Gilliland said, “and they stuck to it.”

The Mustangs kept chipping away and salvaged a 36-35 triumph over Normal Epiphany.

“They remained calm under pressure. Logan (Lackey) hit a three-pointer with 50 seconds left when we were down by two.”

It was the fourth three-pointer in the game for Lackey, who scored a team-high 15 points.

“To be able to win both games (at state) is surreal,” Gilliland said. “We played well. This is what you hope and dream about, getting to the state championship.

“We’re a small school, but the competition we play in the regular season helps us.”

Among the schools that have beaten Royal Prairieview Ogden are neighboring St. Joseph as well as another Class 3A opponent, Georgetown.

“We have really good kids,” Gilliland said. “That’s where it all starts.

“If you don’t play well together, you’re not going anywhere. We’ve had no issues at all with attitudes or grades.”

Gilliland had a good returning nucleus to start the season. Last year’s state-qualifying team featured sixth-graders Lackey, Coy Taylor and James Huisinga.

They are starters this year as seventh-graders along with Brodie Harms and Kodey McKinney, a sixth-grader.

The team’s calling card is the work they do when the other team has the ball.

“We are a good defensive team that prides itself on being able to stop other teams,” Gilliland said. “We also have some good shooters.”

In the 40-31 state quarterfinal win over Kewanee Visitation, Taylor hit 15 points, Lackey had 11, McKinney had eight and Parker Fitch – a sixth-grader who shares the center position with Harms – scored six.

In the semis, following Lackey’s 15 points were Taylor with 14, Fitch with four and McKinney with three.

Other squad members are Tayton Gerdes, Coy Hayes, Vance McComas and Graham Ray.

“They are all in with the game plan,” Gilliland said. “We have kids who step up when we need them.”

Fourth-year head coach Gilliland is assisted by his brother, James, and high school junior Cade Hausman, who is a former player at the school.

This is the fourth time in the past 11 years that the school’s seventh-grade boys’ basketball team has advanced at least to the state’s Elite Eight.

“This year’s team is different than the others I’ve had in that they are best friends,” Chase Gilliland said.

It’s also different in the opportunity that exists to capture the school’s first state title in any sport.

To date, two teams from Royal Prairieview Ogden have placed second in the IESA state finals: the eighth-grade boys’ basketball team in 2009 and the seventh-grade girls’ volleyball team in 2015.

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The Prairieview-Ogden district is gearing up for a few fundraisers that are sure to raise money for the schools while also providing residents a way to gather and have a good time.

On Monday, the PVO school board approved the PTO’s plans for Bingo Glo and the PVO garage sale alongside a Little Caesar’s and Monical’s fundraiser and a movie night.

Glo Bingo will be held at the Royal Community Building on Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. Tickets, which include 10 bingo cards, a glo dauber, a glo hat, one free drink ticket, and a drawing entry, are $30 each and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

The money raised will go towards purchasing 100 Chromebooks and 3 iPads for the Prairieview-Ogden schools.

The bi-annual PTO Children’s Consignment sale has also been set for March 28.

Shoppers can expect the Prairieview-Ogden South gym to be filled with items for babies, toddlers, kids and teens, including name brands such as Under Armour, Nike, Adidas and Justice.

Consignors with spring and summer items will receive 70-percent of the ticketed price on an item sold. The PTO keeps 30-percent to give back to the PV-O North and South Elementary School and PV-O Junior High as needs are identified throughout the year.

Anyone wanting to sell items should contact PVO.PTO@hotmail.com.

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For the second year in a row, the Prairieview-Ogden School District has been recognized as one of the best in the state by the Illinois State Board of Education, which produces the Illinois Report Card. 

Recognized as an “Exemplary School, Prairieview-Ogden joins nearly 11-percent of all schools in the state that receive the top ranking. 

Prairieview-Ogden Junior High School received the “Exemplary” status while Prairieview-Ogden South Elementary received a “Commendable” designation. Prairieview-Ogden North Elementary did not receive a designation.

With 280 students district-wide, enrollment in the Prairieview-Ogden School District is growing. 

From 2015 to 16, enrollment increased by two students, then held steady in 2017 before gaining another 33 students in 2018. Between 2018 and 2019, the district gained two students.  

Grades 2 has seen an increase of 18 students since 2017 while grades 3 and 6 have also seen increases of 7 and 6 students, respectively. 

The district has 22-percent low-income students, which is near typical. 

The report shows that chronic absenteeism, meaning students who miss 10-percent or more of school with or without a valid excuse, remained the same over the last two years at 3-percent.

Chronic truism rates, 5-percent or more of school days per year without a valid excuse, is also steady at  0-1-percent over 5 years.

The district spends roughly $9,900 per student enrolled. According to ISBE’s report, the district spends $10,557 per student at Prairieview-Ogden Jr. High School, $8,891 per student at Prairieview-Ogden North Elementary and $10,532 at Prairieview-Ogden South Elementary.

The Prairieview-Ogden School District was designated at a Tier 3 school for Evidence-Based Funding in 2019. At $2,570,278 Evidence-Based Funding Resources, they are at 96-percent capacity to meet the $2,674,688 Adequacy Target. 

Average class size throughout the PV-O District has been below the state average since 2015. With the state average holding steady at 21-23 students per class, overall, Prairieview-Ogden classrooms fluctuate between 15 and 17 students per class.

The PV-O School District, which has a total of 20 teachers has a student to teacher ratio of 15.1 at the elementary level. The state average is 18.1 at the elementary level.

The teacher retention rate, the 3-year average percentage of teachers returning to work at Prairiview-Ogden hit an all-time high of 90-percent in 2019. 

On average, teachers within the PV-O school district see a lower salary than their state-wide counterparts. This has held true at least since 2015.

Currently, on average, PV-O teachers are paid $46,978 per year. The state average is $67,049.

The percentage of teachers who are absent more than 10 days per year rose in 2019. In 2018, 90-percent of teachers had fewer than 10 absences within the school year, but in 2019, 86-percent of teachers missed fewer than 10 days. 

In 2018 and 2019, 100-percent of PV-O teachers have received Excellent or Proficient designations on their evaluations.

The Prairieview-OgdenSchool District ranks above the state average of administration to student ratio. The state average of admins to students was 173:1 in 2019, but PV-O’s ratio was 129:1.

Average administrator pay was above the state average. In 2019, PV-O administrators made an average of $117,555 whereas the state administrators made an average of $109,592. 

The post Prairieview-Ogden receives “Exemplary” status on Illinois Report Card first appeared on SJO Daily.

Prairieview-Ogden Junior High

St. Joseph-Ogden alum Jeff Mathis will speak to Prairieview-Ogden Junior High School students at 2 p.m. on Nov. 11. 

Mathis attended PV-O after moving from Tolono in the sixth grade.

Mathis will share his story enlistment in the Army, completed basic and advanced training at Fort Jackson and how he stationed at Fort Riley in Kansas with a 13-month deployment in Iraq. 

After finishing his time in the Army, Mathis returned to Central Illinois to finish his education.  In 2011, he received my bachelor’s degree from ISU in Exercise Science followed by my Master’s degree in 2013.

Mathis is now a husband and father and a member of the Local 149 Plumbers and Pipefitters Union.

St. Joseph Middle School

Paul Lewis was one of 52 Americans held captive in Iran for 444 days when a group of Iranian college students who took control of the U.S. Embassy on Nov. 4, 1979. 

He will speak to St. Joseph Middle School students during their Veterans Day ceremony at 1 p.m. on Nov. 11. 

Lewis’ talk will take place after the St. Joseph student council performs a skit about the Pledge of Allegiance. The band will also play the National Anthem and the medley of Armed Forces. 

All Veterans are invited to attend the ceremony.

St. Joseph-Ogden High School

Veterans will be honored beginning at 10:40 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial at St. Joseph-Ogden’s High School Park.

The guest speaker has not been finalized yet. 

The post Veterans Day Ceremonies in St. Joseph and Ogden first appeared on SJO Daily.

There’s something about being part of a team.

It gives an athlete something to work for and towards. It is a place to belong and to grow. Sometimes teams are a support system for a moment and other times that support system lasts a lifetime.

Ogden’s Cory Abernathy has had the privilege of being part of a team his entire life.

“He is a talented player and worked very hard to become a skilled athlete,” his sister, Carrie Clements, said.

“I remember him spending hours dribbling on our rock driveway and shooting hoops well into the night, most times by himself because we got bored, but he did not.”

Carrie, the eldest of three siblings, remembers catching for Cory as he practiced pitching. That is until one pitch missed her mitt, left a bruise and their dad said, “no more.’ It wasn’t safe.”

A 1999 Armstrong-Potomac graduate, Cory took his skillset onto the baseball field.

Filling in on the mound from time-to-time, Cory shined as a shortstop with quick hands and feet.

He compiled a composite .380 batting average over three years as a varsity starter, averaged 15 steals a season and won the Armstrong-Potomac team’s defensive player award his junior and senior years.

The Trojans won regional titles in 1998 and 1999.

Cory also found success on the basketball court.

Starting his junior and senior year, Cory averaged 115 steals per season, handed out 200 assists and shot over 80-percent from the free-throw line in those two years, earning him a spot on the Vermilion All-County team.  During the 1998-1999 season, he led the Trojans in three-pointers.

Armstrong-Potomac’s current Superintendent — and the school’s former basketball coach — Bill Mulvaney remembers Cory’s impact on the program.

“Cory probably had the best season for a point guard that I ever coached in 1997-1998 when he helped lead our team to the super-sectional in basketball,” Mulvaney said. “He had 130 steals and 210 assists that year as a junior.

“(He) was a tremendous defensive player, ran the point guard position and directed our offense and defense on the floor.”

When Cory graduated, he was fourth on the IHSA leaders list for the number of steals in a season with 130; today that record is listed in a tie for No. 13 all-time.

“He has always been very competitive, and driven in every aspect of life, not just sports,” Carrie said. “Everything he has done, he’s put his best into it and works until he succeeds.”

But his legacy is more than just what he could accomplish on the court or the field.

“Cory was just one of those kids who his teammates loved, his coaches loved and his teachers loved,” Mulvaney said. “He was always smiling – always made other people laugh – can’t say enough about his quick wit and his humor.”

Mulvaney said he will never forget the bus ride home after Armstrong-Potomac had won the Gibson City Tournament in 1999 because Cory had the whole bus roaring.

Back-up point guard Aaron Hird was sitting in the front of the bus, near the coaches. Mulvaney describes Hird as respectful, even into adulthood.

Cory decided to play with Hird, though, knowing that he was polite.

“Cory started telling me and the whole bus about how I needed to discipline Aaron because he was cussing out the other team and how he was cussing at the referees and then how he was cussing at Cory when Cory told him to stop – he is just getting louder — the whole bus is laughing – I am crying, I am laughing so hard.

“I have never heard Aaron Hird cuss in my life and I have known him for 22 years.

“Aaron is trying to defend himself telling me and everyone that it wasn’t true – it was just so funny and I will never forget it.”

About a decade after graduating from Armstrong-Potomac, Cory stayed close, moving to Ogden with his wife, Stephanie.

Carrie, who said that Cory has done an outstanding job in everything he’s done in his life, also outdid himself when marrying Stephanie.

“She is absolutely the best person I could have ever wanted my brother to be married to,” Carrie said.

“She is kind, so smart, loving, a great mom, wife and sister.  I’ll never forget the day Cory called me to go with him to pick out her ring! I was thrilled for them!”

The couple have a third-grade daughter, Sydney, who attends Prairieview-Ogden, and a nearly 3-month-old son, Wesley.

“Watching my brother first become a husband was amazing,” Carrie said.

“I’m so proud of him: I have been able to watch him grow from a little boy and become a responsible man. When he became a father, it was absolutely incredible.

“I always told him, you’ll never love anyone like you do when you have a kid, and it showed on him! He’s a wonderful provider, caring, nurturing, sets expectations, and so loving, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.”

Carrie lives across the street from Cory.

As her best friend, Carrie relies on Cory for advice and support. Carrie said that while their children’s ages are far apart, they are still raising them together.

“We spend a lot of time together doing all kinds of activities, from the normal holidays, neighborhood get-togethers, just stopping by to visit each other, and family vacations,” she said.

Cory, his family and his sister’s family are getting ready to head off to Florida for a trip to Disney and Universal Studios next week.

In that, Cory will miss the fundraiser staff at Prairieview-Ogden, Armstrong-Potomac and St. Joseph-Ogden have put together for him on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

Cory has Glioblastoma, a very rare form of brain cancer.

The day his son was born, July 22, 2019, was the first day Cory had chemo and radiation treatments.

Prairieview-Ogden’s girls’ basketball coach David Lannert said while he coached with Cory during the 2018 season, he saw the competitiveness Cory possesses.

“This goes along with his personality, he is a fighter and, like I said, he doesn’t like to lose, so we know that he will keep fighting through this disease,” Lannert said.

Lannert wanted to make sure that the towns who know Cory best had the right opportunities to fight alongside him.

He got in touch with Jim and Jen Wagner of Wagner Signs and Graphics to see if they could design a shirt with “Never Give Up” on one sleeve and Cory’s initials on the other. The Wagners agreed to donate 10-percent of all sales back to the Abernathy family.

Lannert then began to raise funds through Facebook. He wanted to raise $2,500 for the family. As of Wednesday, the total was $6,800.

“It spread like wildfire and people are so generous in their giving, and keep in mind these aren’t just people who know Cory, there are some that don’t know him at all that are generous in giving to a good cause,” Lannert said.

Bringing together Cory’s love for the Prairieview-Ogden and Armstrong-Potomac communities, Lannert also organized the Oct. 15 (6 p.m. start time) game to honor Cory and to present his family with a check.

PV-O’s Superintendent Vic White met with Mulvaney, who said, “we have a lot of Armstrong/Potomac parents coming and his old teammates (high school friends).”

“It’s just the way small towns react to specific situations,” Lannert said. “It doesn’t matter if you battle each other in sports, live in a different town or don’t know the parties involved, small towns come together at critical times and the response and support is unbelievable.”

White then reached out to St. Joseph-Ogden High School’s Brian Brooks, who offered the high school gymnasium for the game within the hour.

“A huge thanks to Brian, Justin (Franzen, athletic director at SJ-O) and SJO for allowing us to play there on such short notice,” Lannert said.

White said there’s something special about the way small communities work.

“I strongly feel small school districts/communities come together to support causes a lot easier than bigger districts/communities because we know just about everyone in our communities,” he said.

White added that the response to support Cory is a reflection of what he’s given to the community for years.

“What impressed me about Cory was his positive attitude and his knowledge of basketball,” he said. “The players loved him and they would run through a wall for him.”

Lannert said the team is there for him.

“We are here with him through this fight, we will support and help in any way possible,” he said.

“Anything we can do to help the family is a blessing, this is the least we can do and I am very grateful for the outpouring of support that people have shown to help out Cory and his family.”

At this time, Cory “is doing well, considering the circumstances,” according to Carrie.

During next week’s trip, the family will focus on spending time together while Cory’s twin sister, Lori and her family will be at St. Joseph-Ogden High School for the game. Lori’s husband, Jake Cross, is the assistant coach for Armstrong, and her daughter, Ellie, plays on the team.

Carrie said that Cory’s team is vast.

“His wife, myself, my husband (Gabe who is the mayor of Ogden and childhood friend of Cory), my kids, his in-laws  (Ken and Maureen Brockway of Rantoul), his sister Lori, and our mom (Sandy Abernathy of SJ-O) all do the day-to-day things to help assist.”

“But on top of that, Cory has countless friends and acquaintances that are willing to jump in at a moment’s notice.

“My phone as well as my husband’s phone dings constantly with people checking in and wanting to do something to help.  Cory, Gabe, Steph and I have about the same group of friends and we would do anything for each other.”

“The saying “it takes a village” brings on a whole new meaning when facing a tragedy like this.  This is the absolute most terrible thing that could happen to a family and I can’t imagine going through it alone.

“It doesn’t make the heartbreak, the worry, or sadness go away; but helps ease the burden of the heaviness of it all knowing that so many people in our awesome community are praying, supporting and caring for him and all of us through this. I can’t imagine a better place to live.”

The post A Night to Honor Cory Abernathy: October 15 at St. Joseph-Ogden High School first appeared on SJO Daily.

Who doesn’t enjoy pancakes on a Sunday morning?

Whether a farmer is looking to fill up before going into the fields or a family is hungry after church, the Prairieview-Ogden Junior High girls’ basketball team will be serving pancakes from 8 a.m. to noon on Oct. 13 at the Royal Community Building.

“We keep a rolling balance from the fundraiser and we use the funds for warm-ups, T-shirts, dinners and anything related to the team,” head coach David Lannert said.

Preparation for the pancake breakfast is handled by the parents, but aside from cooking on Sunday, the team interacts with the guests doing everything from serving, taking money, cleaning up, doing dishes or just keeping people company.

“The girls get a lot out of it interacting with people of all ages from the community,” Lannert said.  “It gives them a chance to tell people who they are and how their season is going and it also gives them time away from their phones.”

Lannert said the success of the breakfast is because the Prairieview-Ogden community supports the students.

“We have such a tight-knit group anytime you have something like a fundraiser going on, you can guarantee you will get a good turnout,” Lannert said.

By Monday, the teams will be back on the court.

Both seventh- and eighth-grade PVO teams are 5-2 overall and 4-1 in the Three Rivers Conference.

“The seventh-graders are a scrappy bunch and really get after it on the defensive end,” Lannert said. “They generate a lot of their points off of turnovers, which lead to fast-break points on the other end.

“The eighth-graders are a veteran group who have been playing together since the fifth grade. They are excellent on the defensive end and will score a bunch in transition. Both teams are in great shape and like to get out and run and that’s what makes the games exciting.”

Both teams are looking to win conference championships in 2019 and to go deep into the IESA tournament. In 2018, the seventh-grade squad came up just short of a trip to state.

Lannert continues to work with his squad on sound fundamentals and overall knowledge on the game to prepare them for high school.

Aside from the day-to-day growth amongst teammates, Lannert said that the seventh- and eighth-grade squads are fun to coach this year.

“What I really like about this group this year is the chemistry,” he said. “It’s not very often you get the seventh- and eighth-graders to agree on everything, but this year there have been very little disagreements and it makes practices much more enjoyable.”

The post PVO girls’ basketball to serve pancakes on Sunday first appeared on SJO Daily.

What can seventh- and eighth-grade students who attend school while surrounded by corn and soybean fields learn about agriculture?

According to Mallory Knight, whom the Prairieview-Ogden School District recently brought on staff to teach agriculture to the middle school-aged students once a week for 45 minutes, there is a lot for them to learn.

The semester-long course being offered to seventh-grade students in the fall semester and eight-grade students in the spring semester, covers everything from what a pumpkin seed looks like, to the parts of a soybean plant, to how to measure acreage and what career opportunities are in the agriculture field.

Knight, who grew up on a farm in southern Champaign County and owns a farm near Gifford now, said that helping students become familiar with ag concepts and ideas in junior high will help them make educated choices as they enter high school and college.

“This is a new idea,” Knight said.

Knight said that maybe the student who wants to play baseball, but major in business will consider ag business, or someone who doesn’t want anything to do with production, but is good with numbers might consider accounting.

“There are so many avenues that they can go down, even if they aren’t the ones getting their hands dirty,” she said.

But students are introduced to ways to “get their hands dirty.”

Knight said that she has brought in a pumpkin seed for them to inspect, and told them about making homemade pumpkin seeds at home. She also talked to the students about acreage.

“Last week we went over acres, which is something you would think your traditional farm kid knows a little bit about,” she recalled. “A kid told me that his dad farms 100,000 acres.

“So, your kids who you think know a lot about farming maybe ride with their dad, but they don’t really know as much as they think they do.”

Last week, Knight helped students map out what an acre truly is and the costs associated with farming that land.

The Prairieview-Ogden students have also learned that Illinois has a vibrant pumpkin crop and is the leading producer of horseradish.

Knight also brought in a soybean plant and corn plant so that the students could hold it and identify its parts.

As the students become freshmen, Knight hopes they will have a decent knowledge base to choose ag, home-ec or shop classes that may interest them.

She said that it’s important to look at the four-year high school schedule and see where introduction classes can fit in so that students are able to take the more advanced electives their junior and senior years.

“At least they will have the option to say that’s something they want to venture more into or no, not at all, that’s not for me.

Taking the ag classes can also help students get farm jobs at 15 and 16 years old, Knight said.

Careers are the last topic students will be exposed to.

“When you say you’re in the ag industry, you’ve got to ask what sector,” Knight said.

“Almost all of my family is in ag in some way, shape, or form. And only my dad and brother and Grandpa are the ones that are on a tractor,” Knight said.

“One runs a chemical plant, someone is in the finance side of it, or my husband’s on insurance side of it. You can wear a suit, or you can go to the city, or, you know, sit behind a computer, if that’s what you need.”

Or the cool side of it is you might be sitting by a computer on Monday. And on Tuesday, you’re going to go out and talk to somebody and then Wednesday, maybe you’re sitting in the tractor with the guy.

“It allows flexibility to what your career is.” she said.

Knight said Prairieview-Ogden is the perfect place to begin this program because the hands-on field meshes well with the hands-on atmosphere of the teachers and administration.

With small class sizes, Knight said she’s able to connect with each of the students, and she knows that if she needs anything, the administration is there behind her.

Knight said that she felt encouraged when Superintendent Vic White told her that she will be able to offer education on an important topic to the students, even though it’s not reading, writing or arithmetic.

It is not lost on her that there is a financial commitment the district is committed to and also a time sacrifice that teachers and students are making to help the ag program work.

“They see something that matters,” she said.

Knight doesn’t look at the course as just a way of bestowing knowledge onto the students. She knows that in life, having connections is often a way to create opportunities.

“(In the future), they can contact me and I’ve got tons of contacts,” she said, “I can put them with a contract with somebody and get something started.”

The post Prairieview-Ogden board gives nod to Ag Program first appeared on SJO Daily.