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Downers Grove High School student leaders named 2022 recipients of the ILA Intellectual Freedom Award

    Image naming Downers Grove South High School students as the 2022 Intellectual Freedom Award from the Illinois Library Association

    “The 2022 Illinois Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Award is being
    given to the students of Downers Grove High Schools, in particular, to a group of
    student leaders who stood up to a book ban at their school. This award, presented by
    the ILA Intellectual Freedom Committee recognizes the group for their outstanding
    contributions in defending intellectual freedom.

    When two parents of students at Downers Grove High School, Illinois School District 99
    tried to ban Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe from the library due to its LGBTQ+ themes, a
    group of five student leaders organized and rallied students and parents to support
    keeping the book in the collection. The leaders: Lauren Pierret, Tabitha Irvin, Julia
    Hanson, Josiah Poynter, and Emily Hernandez attended school board meetings to speak
    out against censorship and support intellectual freedom. They also advocated for
    intellectual freedom by publishing articles about the book challenge in the school
    newspaper….”

    Read more on the Illinois Library Association’s website (PDF)