Confetti and paper money rain down on students and faculty at St. John the Evangelist School in Carrollton as they celebrate winning $100,000 in U.S. Cellular’s “Calling All Communities” campaign. CARROLLTON — Students and faculty at St. John the Evangelist School in Carrollton went into an all-school assembly Feb. 27 to hear their congressman talk about how a bill becomes a law. They ended up jumping up and down and shouting for joy, as paper money and confetti rained down on them, after Rep. John Shimkus (R-19th) made the announcement — St. John School won $100,000 in U.S. Cellular’s “Calling All Communities” campaign.
St. John is the seventh of 10 schools to receive $100,000 from U.S. Cellular in the nationwide contest that encouraged communities to cast votes for their favorite schools during the holiday season. The three remaining schools are expected to be announced within this week.
More than 120,000 votes were cast for 6,500 different schools during the six-week contest. With only 134 students in preschool through eighth grade, St. John is the smallest school so far announced as a winner.
Father Henry Schmidt, parochial administrator at St. John the Evangelist Parish, said when the campaign started he didn’t realize it was a national contest. “I thought it was only for Illinois,” he said. “But when you consider well over 6,000 schools put their names in, it just goes to show people that when everybody does a little bit great things can happen.”
The money will be used where it is needed, say school officials. “There are no stipulations attached to it,” St. John Principal John Reif said. “We’re hoping to purchase new textbooks, upgrade our technology, purchase supplies and things we have done without, and pay bills. We are going to leave it up to our finance committee to guide us.”
“The staff, parents, alumni and this whole community see the great potential in these wonderful children and went above and beyond for them. It’s a truly inspiring story,” said Rep. Shimkus. “I used to be a teacher too and I understand how important it is for a school to have what it needs to help its students succeed.”
“All of our winning schools share one thing in common,” said Karen Ehlers, vice president of public affairs and communications for U.S. Cellular. “Their communities are vested in their success and everyone believed they had a chance to win.”
Both Father Schmidt and Reif, their secretaries and a few others in the parish knew the school had won several weeks before it was announced. “We were sworn to secrecy,” said Reif. “The kids were ecstatic when they heard it. Gov. Pat Quinn sent us a letter congratulating us.”