Kaneland provides students with many fine arts opportunities through various programs. Students in these programs commonly leave the school to perform and compete, but construction in the auditorium has caused students that usually stay at Kaneland to also relocate and travel.
The Kaneland musical cast and pit rehearse their show The Wizard of Oz during tech week at the Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb. Because of ongoing auditorium construction, the program had to find a new space to perform this year, and while relocating created many hurdles to overcome, the group successfully performed on April 7 and 8. (Photo courtesy of Riley Swiderksi)
Kaneland teachers Erin Damisch, Nicole Larsen and Emily VanDelinder-Birchfield and their KHS art students participate in the Interstate 8 Conference Art Show at Morris Community High School on March 11. Multiple schools came together to present a variety of artworks in a public art show. Kaneland placed 4th in the conference as a team, as well as earning four individual ribbons. (Photos by Lillie Bobé)The Kaneland High School band performs their winter concert at the Northern Illinois University concert hall. Since construction is taking place in the auditorium, the group had to find a new space to perform. (Photo by Ashley Vanderhoff)Kaneland Winter Percussion performs at their final competition in Dayton, OH. This was the first time the group was able to compete in Dayton, as their previous opportunity in 2020 ended abruptly because of COVID-19. (Photo by Kevin Sigrist)
![When I chose to take a tour of the Old Joliet Prison in Joliet, IL, I had no idea what I was walking into. I’ve heard of multiple paranormal events happening here, but I was more interested in how a prisoner lived. I wanted to feel their hopelessness and wanted to understand what it must have been like to sit in an empty cell and yearn for sunlight.
The Old Joliet Prison is a daunting structure that appears, seemingly, out of nowhere. When driving to the prison, it isn’t until someone is a few feet away that they see the large walls and barbed wire. Just driving past it, they can feel a change in the atmosphere.
When a prisoner is being driven there, they don’t know how close they are. They are driving through a suburban neighborhood before they reach a small unassuming bridge. Yet, as soon as they go under the bridge and back into the sunlight, they finally see the prison and know that as soon as they go in, they will never come out.
“In 1878, the Prison was filled well over capacity with nearly 2,000 inmates,” according to jolietprison.org, a website that tells the history of the prison and allows for you to sign up for tours. “[There were] reports of unsanitary and dangerous conditions emerged.”
Throughout the state, people knew the allegations that staff was abusing the prisoners as well as killing them. Once a prisoner was told that they were going to Old Joliet Prison, they knew that it was a death sentence](https://kanelandkrier.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/prison1.jpg)
