Brian Willis, gym teacher and soccer coach, has been collecting pop tabs from Kaneland students, teachers and athletes for four years. His former student Julia Pratte passed away from cancer, and he wants to make her memory live on.

     Willis is trying to reach his goal of 760 pounds of pop tabs raised so that a golden leaf can be placed on the Ronald McDonald House Tree of Life with Pratte’s name on it. Willis has made it his goal to honor her name so that people can see how much she meant to him and the community.

     “I want to get her name up on the Tree of Life so everybody will always come in and see it, her name, Julia Pratte,” Willis said.

     Pratte was his former student when they were both diagnosed with cancer at the same time.

     “Unfortunately, she didn’t survive the cancer,” Willis said. “I became very familiar with Ronald McDonald House and her plight of trying to survive this terrible disease.” 

     Pratte was described by her mother Vicki Pratte as extremely caring, upbeat and very outgoing. Vicki Pratte and Willis are both working together to achieve the goal of 760 pounds of pop tabs. She works at Ronald McDonald House after having spent many days volunteering there before her daughter passed. She also tries to collect as many pop tabs as possible, and both she and Willis have good bases of support to help them achieve their goal.

     “I have many friends, families and organizations that collect tabs for us,” Pratte said. “Next week we will get a large donation from a pediatric cancer charity.”

     Willis wants to get Julia Pratte’s story out there so that the students and faculty of Kaneland High School are more willing to help him reach his goal. Sophomore Gwen Castleton was unaware of the reason that Willis was collecting pop tabs until recently. Now that she is aware of the story she feels more strongly about the cause and is willing to help more. 

     “She has to be remembered,” Castleton said. 

     Willis hopes to reach his goal in the next year, and he hopes that getting her story out will influence people to donate more because there is a cause to support. 

     English teacher Michael Cimino was also unaware of the reason why Willis collected pop tabs. When he heard about Julia Pratte’s story, he was astonished.

     “I think that’s an incredible cause. I think if more people knew about it we’d probably get even more contributions,” Cimino said. “We have to find a way to get the word out for that because I would love to contribute, and I’m sure there are many others who would love to contribute.”

     With the school’s support, along with many years of collecting pop tabs, Willis and Vicki Pratte have managed to reach at least 500 pounds of tabs. They still have more to go but are very happy with the progress they have made these past four years.