Plainfield North High School was one of four schools in Illinois and 73 in the country to win a $10,000 grant in the “Glee Give a Note Contest.”

The high school’s music department submitted a video explaining the school’s and Plainfield School District 202′s financial problems and making a case as to why they should be awarded the grant.

PNHS was chosen as a finalist in October, and its video put online at www.GleeGiveANote.com with other finalists so people could vote on the schools they thought most deserving of the money. In it, school officials make reference to Glee, the Fox-TV show that centers around a fictional high school glee club and every week features musical performances by the students.

The video garnered 9,678 votes. (To watch the video, click here.) All told, more than 1 million votes were cast in the contest.

“We are very excited to receive this gift at a time when our district, like many others is struggling because of the economy,” PNHS Principal Ray Epperson said.

School officials have not decided how the money will be used, he said.

The contest was presented by Twentieth Century Fox Television, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, and the National Association for Music Education and its new Give a Note Foundation.

Grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 to help struggling music programs are being distributed through the contest.

The other Illinois schools to win $10,000 grans were Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, Cary Junior High in Cary and Thomas Jefferson Primary School in Peoria. Red Hill Community Unit School District in Bridgeport in southern Illinois won a $25,000 grant.

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