Libertyville High School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Libertyville High School |
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| Motto: Excellence is our standard. | |
| Established | 1953 |
| Type | Public secondary |
| Principal | Brad Swanson |
| Faculty | 157 |
| Students | 1,853 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Location | 708 W. Park Av Libertyville, Illinois USA |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Colors | Orange and black |
| Mascot | Willy the Wildcat |
| Newspaper | Drops of Ink |
| Website | lhswildcats.org |
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Libertyville High School, or LHS, is a public four-year high school located in Libertyville, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Community High School Illinois District 128, which also includes Vernon Hills High School.
Before LHS, kids go to, Adler Park Elementry School, Butterfield Elementry School, Copeland Manor Elementry School, or Rockland Elementry School (Libertyville, Illinois) in elementry school, then to Highland Middle School (Libertyville, Illinois) in middle school. Kids out of Green Oaks at the school Oak Grove also feed into LHS.
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[edit] History
The school was originally founded as Libertyville Township High School in 1917. The original building (the Brainerd campus) still stands today, although it is mostly unused due to safety concerns. The current, pictured building opened its doors in 1953.
In 1980, the aquatic facilities of LHS were used for the film Ordinary People. Originally, the entire film was to be shot at LHS, but was moved to Lake Forest High School, because the LHS campus was deemed "too nice".
In 2001, James Hughes filmed New Port South at Libertyville's Brainerd campus. James is the son of the legendary eighties teen writer/director/producer John Hughes.
In 2004, Libertyville was awarded the "Bright Red Apple Award of Excellence" for its eleventh consecutive year by SchoolSearch.
[edit] Academics
In 2005, Libertyville had an average composite ACT score of 24.7, and graduated 99.4% of its senior class. The average class size is 32. Libertyville has made Adequate Yearly Progress on the Prairie State Achievements Examination, a state test part of the No Child Left Behind Act.[1]
The staff is comprised of 157 teachers, of which 88% hold an advanced degree.[2]
In 2006, Newsweek released a list of the best high school in America. Libertyville High School was ranked 66th nationwide and 4th state-wide.[3]
[edit] Athletics
Libertyville competes in the North Suburban Conference. Its mascot is the Wildcat.
Libertyville packed in 6,000 in "the den" or "the Catbox" to watch Libertyville take on Stevenson High and featured Illinois High School Football's (IHSA) first Jumbotron.
The school's varsity football team won the Class 7A State Championship in 2004. It was runner-up in 2003.
Libertyville's boys basketball team advanced to the IHSA Class AA Semifinals in 1991, losing to eventual state champion Proviso East by four points.
Three years later, the Wildcats advanced to the quarterfinals, losing to Rockford Boylan. The 1994 team was led by All-State guard Matt Heldman, who went on to letter four years at the University of Illinois. Heldman was in the midst of a professional career in Europe when he died in an automobile crash in Libertyville.
[edit] Activities
The school's mathematics team won state in 2003 and 2004. They were runner-up in 2002 and 2005. The Speech Cats won 2nd place for small schools during their home tournament in the 2005-2006 school year. The Academic Decathlon team finished 5th in state in 2005.
Libertyville High School's Model United Nations participates in many national conerences such as those as Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Illinois, and UIC.
The Libertyville High School Wind Ensemble has performed in many places all around the world. They recently performed at the Midwest Clinic for an international audience of music professionals. The school's jazz band has won one of the local jazz festivals every year for over twenty years. Their success has earned them a position among the best high school bands in the country.
There are currently three Libertyville orchestras, Chamber Orchestra being the most prestigious. The Symphony Orchestra performed for the Midwest Clinic in 2004. Every other year the orchestra performs all throughout the world. They have been to China, Italy, and many other places.
Each year, the Fine and Performing Arts department presents a fall musical, a winter play, a spring play, and an evening of student-directed one-act plays. LHS was the first high school in Illinois, as well as one of the first in the country, to perform the internationally known musical Les Misérables. Their 2005 Fall musical, Pippin, was performed at the 2006 Illinois High School Theatre Festival at Illinois State University. Past musicals and plays include Robin Hood, Arcadia, A Murder Is Announced, Into The Woods, Oklahoma!, Once in a Lifetime, Rumors, Macbeth, Pacific Overtures, Fiddler on the Roof, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Picnic, Cyrano de Bergerac, Guys and Dolls, and many more.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Marlon Brando, actor
- Brett Butler, baseball player
- Tom Morello of the bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave
- Adam Jones of the band Tool
- Chris Ward, AKA mc chris
- Ike Reilly, AKA Indie Rocker
[edit] External links
| North Suburban Conference |
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| Lake Division: Lake Forest • Lake Zurich • Libertyville • Mundelein • Stevenson • Warren • Zion-Benton
Prairie Division: Antioch • Grant • Lakes • North Chicago • Round Lake • Vernon Hills • Wauconda |
