By Chris Maurice

In a recent Gallup poll, half of all residents in Illinois said they wanted to move to out of the state if they could. With the most residents wanting to leave, Illinois ranks at the top of survey.

But why would anyone want to leave Illinois? There are high taxes, dirty beaches, beautiful pigeons everywhere! Illinois is the perfect balance of city, suburbs, and farmland, and with everyone within a 100-mile radius of Chicago claiming that they “live in Chicago”! It has the Sears Tower, major sports teams, the home of Abraham Lincoln, and so many other things that should make it a great state. In fact, the state with the least amount of  citizens who wanted to move was Wyoming! The population of Wyoming must be a devoted group of citizens who love their state, but why can’t the citizens of Illinois and the students of the Latin School of Chicago feel the same way?

I set out to discover why the students of the Latin School of Chicago would move out of Illinois if they wanted to…my extensive research followed the same question in the Gallup Poll: “Regardless of whether you will move, if you had the opportunity, would you like to move to another state, or would you rather remain in your current state?”

After asking a total of 30 people, 15 said they would leave Illinois, 15 said they would stay. For those who wanted to leave, a major reason was the weather. But while asking this question, a rather simple one, I got the feeling people were hiding something from me.

The main reason, I believe, that makes residents of Illinois want to move most is because we see nothing to stay for. Us Illinoisans compare our state to California, New York, Florida, etc., where we see so much more excitement. New York has the cronut, California has the beaches, and Florida has just about everything else. At least we have the wonut (a waffle donut, which has made its debut in Chicago) here in Illinois!

In conclusion, at least Illinois has the wonut, the Sears Tower, the largest lake in the world to begin with M, the film set of Mean Girls, Lollapalooza (and Latinpalooza!) and the deep dish pizza, and no other state can take these things from us.  Though Illinois may have more unique things than I listed, the list of things Illinois doesn’t have can go on forever. No matter whether you want to stay in Illinois for the rest of your life or want  to get away, we are all here now, and we all should enjoy it.