YORKVILLE – A group of Yorkville High School students attended the Oct. 11 Yorkville City Council meeting as an assignment for their American government class.

They got more than they had bargained for.

Shalyn Doherty, Grace Haggard, Alexis Gerakaris and Daniel Porter, all 17-year-old seniors at YHS, found themselves in an unusually jam-packed city council chambers.

The bulk of the crowd was there to see Yorkville police Deputy Chief Garrett Carlyle and Cmdr. Patrick McMahon take the oath of office for their promotions.

There were family members and many law enforcement officers from Yorkville and other area police departments present, including Kendall County Sheriff Dwight Baird and Undersheriff Bobby Richardson.

At the end of the swearing in ceremony, the families gathered around Carlyle and McMahon for photos.

“I thought that was really cool,” Gerakaris said.

The four students were not shy about sitting in the front row of the audience to watch local government in action.

The three young ladies were furiously tapping away on their cell phones, taking copious notes as aldermen worked their way through the meeting agenda, while Porter recorded his observations in the tried-and-true fashion by putting pen to paper on a clipboard.

As the meeting was reaching its conclusion, the students found themselves listening to the on-going controversy over drag shows in Yorkville.

By this time, those who had come to witness Carlyle and McMahon receive their promotions had departed, but plenty of other people remained to speak out or listen to the drag show debate.

The students were not impressed with the drag show opponents.

All four said they were surprised to hear so much talk about religion at a government meeting and said they believed the opponents were attempting to force their religious beliefs on others.

However, the students said they learned much from watching their local city government conduct business and that they have plenty of material for their class report.