When Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed HB 5243 naming December 10 "Jane Addams Day" in Illinois, he brought to fruition two years of dedicated work by Dongola (IL) Unit School teacher Cindy Vines and an eager team of eighth-graders. Their project received a major boost when Lelia Marvin, President of the AAUW Carbondale (IL) Branch entered the loop. HB5243 takes effect January 1, 2007, making December 10, 2007 the first "official" commemorative day. According to Jan Lisa Huttner, Director of International Relations for AAUW-Illinois, "our goal is to make sure everyone knows to mark December 10, 2007 on their calendars right away; great things will happen in Illinois on that date!"

Red Bud, IL (PRWeb) December 10, 2006 -- AAUW-IL, Inc., the Illinois division of the American Association of University Women (http://www.aauw-il.org), applauds Governor Rod Blagojevich's decision to name December 10 "Jane Addams Day" in Illinois. On May 21, 2006, Blagojevich signed legislation (effective January 1, 2007) making December 10, 2007 one of the first days commemorating a woman in the entire United States.

When Blagojevich signed HB 5243, he brought to fruition two years of dedicated work by Dongola (IL) Unit School teacher Cindy Vines and her team of five students (John Cauble, Katie Forcht, Brittany Lannom, Jennifer Medlin, and Chayse Swink). It all started when Ms. Vines asked students in her eighth-grade social studies class to "do a project that would make a difference." The five students decided their goal was to advocate for a state holiday honoring Addams after discovering that there were no state or national holidays honoring women anywhere in the United States.

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