Gilberts Elementary calls in big guns for shot at grant

Students and staff members at Gilberts Elementary School stepped up their game for the 2011 Back to Football Friday Contest, enlisting some Chicago Bears VIPs and a secret weapon.

The contest, sponsored by the National Football League and the United Way, awards a $10,000 grant to the school that shows the most creativity and team spirit for their football team.

The NFL awards one grant for each of the league’s 32 teams.

All 750 Gilberts Elementary students in preschool through fifth grade, 68 staff members and 25 volunteers posed for a special photograph Friday afternoon on the school’s field in hopes of catching the attention of the contest judges.

If successful, the grant would support the school’s ongoing playground project.

Holding pieces of white and orange paper, the participants formed a giant Chicago Bears “C” in the middle of the field. A local helicopter pilot from Oliver’s Helicopters Inc. & Elgin Medi-Transport Inc. and a professional photographer took aerial shots of the scene, which the school will submit along with essays and photographs from Friday morning’s assembly with special guests Connie Payton, wife of former Bear Walter Payton, and the Bears’ mascot, Staley.

“We thought we did it big last year, but we came up short,” Principal Jeffrey King said. “This year we said what if we got Connie Payton, Staley and brought in a helicopter — who could beat that?”

Last year, more than 1,500 schools competed for the Chicago Bears grant.