Wheeling High School
| Wheeling High School | |
|---|---|
logo.png) |
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| Address | |
| 900 S. Elmhurst Rd. Wheeling, Illinois, 60090 United States |
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| Coordinates | 42°07′34″N 87°56′21″W / 42.1262°N 87.9392°W |
| Information | |
| School type | public secondary |
| Opened | 1964 |
| School district | Twp. H.S. District 214 |
| Superintendent | Dr. David Schuler[1] |
| Principal | Dr. Lazaro Lopez[2] |
| Staff | 248 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Gender | coed |
| Enrollment | 1,900[3] |
| Average class size | 20.6[3] |
| Campus | suburban |
| School Color(s) | royal blue athletic gold white[4] |
| Athletics conference | Mid-Suburban League |
| Nickname | Wildcats[4] |
| Average ACT scores | 22.1[3] |
| Publication | Circus[5] |
| Newspaper | 'Spokesman[1] |
| Yearbook | 'Lair[6] |
| TV station | WCAT[7] |
| Website | http://whs.d214.org/ |
Wheeling High School, or WHS, is a public four-year high school located in Wheeling, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School District 214, which also includes Buffalo Grove High School, Elk Grove High School, John Hersey High School, Prospect High School, and Rolling Meadows High School. The school primarily serves most of Wheeling itself, along with a good portion of Prospect Heights, smaller portions of Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove and a very small portion of Mount Prospect.
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[edit] Feeder Schools
Feeder schools include London Middle School, Holmes Middle School and MacArthur Middle School. Students from private schools St. Alphonsus, St. James and St. Peter may attend Wheeling as well.
[edit] History
Wheeling High School (WHS) first opened in 1964. The class of 1966 was the first graduating class from Wheeling High School. As of 2009, it has a total enrollment of 1,869 students and a 98.8% parent involvement rate. The average class size is 19.9 students for every one teacher. The current principal is Lazaro Lopez. WHS's school colors are blue, gold, and white, and the mascot is Willie the Wildcat. During the 2010–2011 school year, WHS was due to get their name changed to Wheeling High School Math, Science, Technology Academy and add the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) program to the school, but after several debates about the topic, the board of education and superintendent decided not to change the name of the school.
[edit] Academics
In 2008, Wheeling had an average composite ACT score of 22.1 and graduated 93.7% of its senior class. Wheeling has not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the combined Prairie State Achievement Examination and ACT, which in Illinois are used to fulfill the mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, because the entire school (and its three subgroups) did not meet minimum level on the Reading portion of the tests. As of 2009, Wheeling is on the Academic Watch Status because it is on its third year of not making AYP.[3] WHS offers over 215 different classes, ranging from art, photography, and sculpture to band, choir, and orchestra to debate, acting, journalism, English, grammar, yearbook, and different types of reading and writing to preparatory math, algebra, geometry, functions, trigonometry, calculus, pre-calculus, and statistics to biology, physical science, chemistry, physics, ecology, space science, zoology, oceanography, environmental science, and human physiology to e-consumerism, information/word processing, fashion, foods, entrepreneurship, human growth and child development, early childhood education practicums, automotive repair, woodworking, and project lead the way's (PTLW) engineering design and computerized integrated manufacturing to French, Italian, Spanish for native speakers, and Spanish to world history, U.S. history, integrated social science, economics, psychology, sociology, government and politics, American law, and American problems to ELL/ESL courses to health, PE (physical education), adaptive PE, strength and conditioning, dance, junior and senior PE leaders, and sports medicine to web page design, web site programming, computer applications, computer science, and computer programming to drivers' education, special education, and NJROTC to everything else in between. Classes and subjects are divided by departments. The departments and subjects are grouped as follows: math/science, career and technology education, English/fine arts, PE/health/dance/drivers' education, foreign language/social studies/ESL/ELL, NJROTC, and special education.
[edit] Athletics
Wheeling High School competes in the Mid-Suburban League (MSL) East Division. Wheeling is also a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), which governs most of the interscholastic sports and competitive activities in Illinois. Wheeling High School teams are stylized as the Wildcats.
The school sponsors interscholastic sports teams for young men and women in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and water polo. Young men may compete in baseball, football, and wrestling, while young women may compete in bowling, cheerleading, gymnastics, badminton and softball.[8]
The girl's cross-country teams won IHSA state championships in 1979-80, 83-84, 84-85, and 86-87.[9] The boy's cross-country team won a state championship in 1998-99.[9]
[edit] Activities
Wheeling HS sponsors 61 clubs and activities for students, ranging from the arts and literature to cultural and community service. The list can change from year to year, but can be found at this site.
Among the activities are chapters or affiliates with the following national organizations: DECA<>, SADD, Science Olympiad, and the National Honor Society.[10]
WildStang is a robotics team composed of students from Rolling Meadows High School, Prospect High School and Wheeling High School. The team, partnered with Motorola, won the 2006 Championship Chairman's Award at the FIRST[clarification needed (what?)] Championship Event.[citation needed] WildStang has also won the FIRST Championship Event in 2003 with team 469 from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and team 65 from Pontiac, Michigan.[clarification needed (what?)][citation needed] WildStang went undefeated and won the 2009 FIRST Championships with team 67 of Milford, Michigan, and team 971 from Mountain View, California. Wildstang won the 2011 FIRST Championships with team 254 and Team 973.[clarification needed (what?)][citation needed] The WildStang FTC team, "MiniStang", has won the 2007, 2008, and 2009 Illinois State Championship with an undefeated record.[citation needed]
[edit] Notable alumni
- Michael R. Blanchfield (1967) was a U.S. Army Specialist 4. During a tour of duty in Vietnam he was killed after throwing himself on an enemy grenade, and received the Medal of Honor.[11]
- Tom McManus is a former linebacker for the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars (1995-96, 98-99).[12]
- Jorge Torres (1999) is a long distance runner who competed in the 10,000 meters at the 2008 Summer Olympics. [13][14]
- Michael Thomas Barry (1981) is a notable and award winning author. His books Final Resting Places Orange County's Dead & Famous (2010, Schiffer Publishing), Fade to Black Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950 (2011, Schiffer Publishing) have won multiple national book awards. His third book Murder & Mayhem: 52 Crime Stories that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949 will be released by Schiffer Books in late January 2012.
- Jim Wendler (1993) is a record holding power lifter, trainer and author. He lettered 3 times in football at the University of Arizona as a walk on.
- Haley Reinhart (2009) American Idol Season 10 Contestant who placed 3rd.
[edit] References
- ^ District 214 Superintendent's homepage; accessed 15 June 2009
- ^ WHS Staff Directory; accessed 18 June 2009
- ^ a b c d Class of 2008 school report card; accessed 18 June 2009
- ^ a b School info for WHS; ihsa.org; accessed 18 June 2009
- ^ Circus homepage; accessed 18 June 2009
- ^ Lair homepage; accessed 18 June 2009
- ^ WCAT homepage; accessed 18 June 2009
- ^ Athletic Department at WHS; accessed 17 June 2009
- ^ a b "Wheeling Season Summaries". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 3 August 2011. http://www.ihsa.org/Schools/SchoolDirectory.aspx?url=/data/school/w.htm. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
- ^ Activities list for WHS; accessed 18 June 2009
- ^ 2002 Distinguished Alumni Award for Wheeling HS; accessed 17 June 2009
- ^ http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=MCMANTOM01 Tommy McManus stats & bio; databasefootball.com; accessed 18 June 2009]
- ^ Jorge Torres stats and bio; U.S. Track & Field website; accessed 18 June 2009
- ^ Bloom, Marc (15 October 2007). "Tips from the Top: Jorge Torres - A champion runner offers advice on training and racing". Runner' World. http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-393-394--12194-0,00.html. Retrieved 27 August 2011. "I started out at Wheeling (Illinois) High with a set of goals."
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