Mundelein High graduation moved to Lake County Fairgrounds

When Mundelein High School's Class of 2010 graduates on May 16, the teens will cross the stage at an unusual location: The Lake County Fairgrounds.

Normally home to less formal events such as camping shows, sporting events and the eponymous annual fair, the Grayslake facility has never hosted a commencement ceremony before.

Lake County Fair Association officials hope it won't be the last one.

"I think it's going to work out really well," said Kathleen Van Dien, the association's events coordinator.

Mundelein High graduations have been held at the Quentin Road Bible Baptist Church in Lake Zurich since 2005. Before that, ceremonies were held on the Mundelein campus' football field, but poor weather often drove the event indoors to the school's gymnasium.

Mundelein High officials searched for a new location primarily because of space concerns at the church. An estimated 539 seniors are expected to graduate this year, up from roughly 477 last year.

With each graduate getting five tickets for relatives, that means more than 3,000 attendees. And that doesn't include faculty and other school personnel.

"The graduating classes keep getting bigger and bigger, and the limited amount of space at the church made seating difficult," Mundelein High board member Karen Havlik said.

Additionally, some people had objected to holding graduation at the church because it's a religious institution, Principal Lauren Fagel said.

School officials researched a variety of potential venues, including the Allstate Arena in Rosemont and Northwestern University in Evanston, Fagel said, but the distances and potential costs of those locations were concerns.

Outdoor locations weren't considered, Fagel said.

"I was very committed to not planning an outdoor ceremony," Fagel said.

The fairgrounds, which opened in 2008 after decades elsewhere in Grayslake, seemed like a good fit.

The ceremony will be staged inside the main exposition building, a 65,000-square-foot facility that will have plenty of room for students and their families.

The building also has air conditioning, a valued commencement commodity.

"(People) will be comfortable in the building," Van Dien said. "And there's so much room in there that it's not like people are going to be on top of each other."

Parking won't be an issue, either. The fairground's paved lot has room for nearly 1,300 vehicles, Van Dien said.

The fairgrounds' proximity to Mundelein High is another plus, Havlik said. It's less than 3 miles from the school campus, a straight drive up Midlothian Road.

The graduates still will gather at Mundelein High and be bused to the fairgrounds, however. That group travel will boost the students' safety, prevent traffic problems and ensure the graduates arrive promptly, Superintendent Jody Ware said.

Fagel admits staffers joked about having the graduates ride into the ceremony on mustangs - the school mascot - but she believes the move to the fairgrounds will prove successful.

"We're proud to be the first ones," she said.

No other local high schools will graduate at the fairgrounds this year, but fair association officials have spoken with representatives from a few schools about hosting ceremonies in 2011. If the Mundelein High event goes well, Van Dien expects more schools will be interested in the facility.

"We are very excited," Van Dien said of Mundelein's upcoming event. "I think they're going to like it here."