Coal City High School names 22 students as Illinois State Scholars

Coal City High School has announced that 22 of its students have been named Illinois State Scholars by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC). This recognition, which has been given for 67 years, honors high school seniors who rank in approximately the top 10 percent statewide based on SAT or ACT scores and class rank after six semesters.

The ISAC describes these students as “the best and brightest” among Illinois high school seniors. Each honoree is recognized for their classroom achievement and receives a congratulatory letter and certificate from ISAC. The school also displays each student’s photo in the administration hallway.

The Coal City High School students named as Illinois State Scholars this year are Maria Campagna, Jacob Cimino, Nathan Foster, Carter Gill, Kamryn Hansen, Austin Hardin, Aidan Kenney, Mackenzie Lovell, Julian Micetich, Layla Miller, Dane Noffsinger, Jordan Olson, Lance Perino, Camryn Planeta, Cade Poyner, Olivia Sage, Colin Schimandle, Liam Seeley, Sam Vota, Nicolas Votta, Olivia Weatherbee and Evelyn Wills.

According to ISAC: “Based on their exemplary college assessment exam scores and record of achievement in high school they have a high potential for success.”

Each student plans to continue their education or training after graduation in spring 2026. Their future fields of study include American Sign Language education, computer science, business finance, pre-dentistry and dental school preparation, finance, engineering fields including aerospace engineering and general engineering studies; medical fields such as endocrinology and nursing; political science and film; musical theatre; theater education; pilot training; pediatric nursing; forensic sciences; law; diagnostic medical sonography; chemistry research; secondary English education with collegiate athletics participation.

Many of the scholars have also participated in various extracurricular activities at Coal City High School such as National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Math Team, Science Club, Drama Club and Theatre productions. Several have served as senior PE leaders or held leadership roles in clubs like Speech Team or Student Council.

Coal City Community Unit School District 1 includes Coal City High School along with other schools serving Grundy and Will counties. More information about the district can be found at https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/. The district has a diverse student body—86.9 percent White students with smaller percentages of Hispanic (9.6 percent), Black (0.6 percent), and Asian (0.6 percent) students according to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). The district employs 153 teachers who earn an average salary of $69,297 per year before pension contributions. Notably there are no teachers with more than ten absences in a school year (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).

In terms of financial investment in education within the district: Coal City Community Unit School District 1 spent $21,619 per student in 2020 for a total expenditure of $47 million (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).

The Illinois State Scholar award is non-monetary but is intended to highlight academic excellence among graduating seniors across the state.