Thanks to the civic engagement of Mrs. Hemmer’s fifth-grade class at the Prairie School of DuPage, the giant puffball mushroom is on its way to becoming Illinois’s newest state symbol. 

Senate Bill 3514, filed by Senator Seth Lewis, designates the Calvatia gigantea, more commonly known as the giant puffball, as the official state mushroom.

The original idea for a mushroom as a state symbol came from a class discussion on the different state symbols in Illinois. Students worked with Senator Lewis to introduce the legislation and traveled to Springfield to testify on the bill’s behalf when it came before the Senate State Government Committee earlier this year. 

Senate Bill 3514 now moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration.