Lyons Township Celebrates the Class of 2025

Lyons Township High School District 204 held its 135th Commencement Ceremony on May 28, 2025.

Principal, Dr. Jen Tyrrell, opened the ceremony by welcoming the graduates, the graduates’ family, friends, and members of the District 204 Board of Education, faculty, and staff.

The warm welcome was followed by a moving performance of the anthem by the Senior Madrigals under the direction of choral director John Musick and American Sign Language Students under the direction of teacher Krystle Conrad.

President of Lyons Township High School District 204 Board of Education, Tim Albores, challenged students to become leaders who work towards making things right above being right.

Simone Brown, Class Board Representative, presented the class gift of lounge furniture for North Campus hallways to the Superintendent of Lyons Township High School District 204, Dr. Brian Waterman. The Class presented lounge furniture to encourage students to further their relationships with others.

Dr. Waterman expressed gratitude for the class contribution stating “Thank you, on behalf of the LT community, we are thankful for this gift from the Class of 2025. Dr. Waterman expressed to the Class of 2025 that, “this class of students lived our values of excellence, innovation and empowerment in your actions everyday."

Class of 2025 Honors Orator, Nora Ezike and Student Council President Jack Fielding gave heartwarming addresses to the graduating class. London Muscolino gave an encouraging Commencement Welcome.

Several scholarships were announced including:

• The Donald D. Reber Scholarship awarded to: Eleanor Hare
• The American Legion awarded to: Kennedy Pechloff and Zayn Rabah
• The Robert C. Burson Scholarship awarded to: Ella Jean Kelly

Graduating classes of Lyons Township High School have traditionally earned outstanding records by receiving awards from colleges and from local, state, and national programs which give recognition for academic excellence. The Class of 2025 has maintained this tradition.

Recognitions Include:

• Students who have achieved a weighted grade point average of 5.0 or higher or unweighted grade point average of 4.0 or higher through the 7th semester have been designated as "High Honor Graduates." 98 seniors have earned this distinction.
• The National Merit Scholarship Program began for this class in October of 2023, when more than one million students in the United States took the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. 25 members of this class placed with the top 50,000 seniors in the nation by their performance on the National Merit Test and were named commended students.
• The number of semifinalists in any state represents the top 1/2 of one percent of that state's high school seniors. 8 seniors from Lyons Township were named as Semifinalists and all 8 became Finalists. Additionally, 28 seniors were named National Hispanic Recognition Scholars and 7 were named National African American Recognition Scholars and 17 were named National First Generation Recognition Scholars.
• Illinois State Scholars are selected through a formula based on a combination of rank in class and ACT or SAT score. 191 seniors from Lyons Township High School were recognized as Illinois State Scholars this year.
• To date, 98% of graduates have notified LT of their educational and career plans after high school. For those who did identify post high school plans, 96% will pursue education at 2-year or 4-year colleges, technical schools, apprenticeships, transition programs or the military. Students have reported they will be attending 188 different colleges and technical schools in 37 of the 50 states plus Canada, Columbia, Greece, Scotland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
• Based on the scholarships and awards turned in by May 2, 2025, the class of 2025 reported that its students will utilize $22,477,000 of the $36,591,000 offered toward its future education goals.

Congratulations to the Class of 2025.

View highlights of the evening's celebration set to the tune of our new Alma Mater "My Days of Gold and Blue" by Alum Jimmy Dunne.

View the full video of the Commencement Ceremony. Thanks to LTTV for streaming.