Like Charlie Brown on Halloween, Illinois got a rock, thanks to these students — an official state rock

You can thank Pleasantdale Middle School fifth graders for making sure Illinois had an official state rock. And you can also thank them for making sure coal was not chosen for said state rock.

Yes, coal was in the running, according to now sixth grader Matej Naunov.

“One of our main reasons as to why coal was dropped was because you get coal on Christmas when you’re not good,” he said matter-of-factly.

Pleasantdale teacher Jennifer Lauermann’s former students sat in the school’s music room recently, remembering their advocacy efforts to get a bill on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk designating a state rock, a goal they achieved as a group during