Wheaton Academy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
 Editing of this article by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled.
Such users may discuss changes, request unprotection, log in, or create an account.
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message.
This article has been tagged since March 2007.
Wheaton Academy
Image:Walogo.jpg
Established 1853
Type Private Secondary
Principal Jon Keith
Faculty 49
Students 566
Grades 8–12
Location 900 Prince Crossing Road
West Chicago, Illinois USA
Campus Suburban, 18 acres
Colors Marroon & While
Mascot Warrior
Yearbook Compass
Newspaper WA Echo
Website www.wheatonacademy.org

Wheaton Academy or WA is a private non-denominational christian, protestant school located in West Chicago, IL. The High School is twenty-five miles west of Chicago on the intersection of Price Crossing Road and Hawthorne Road.

Contents

Sports

Sports played at Wheaton Academy are: Basketball, Soccer, Cross-country, Baseball, Football, Golf, Softball, Tennis, Track and Volleyball. Wheaton Academy plays in the Private School League conference. Wheaton Academy also is a member of IHSA.

Track & Field

Wheaton Academy's track and field coordinator is Bill Bickhart otherwise known as "Bick." The events that Wheaton Academy participates in are: 55, 55 hurdles, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 meter.

Boys Basketball

The Boys Basketball program at Wheaton Academy is led by head coach Paul Ferguson. The 2006-07 season was full of great opportunities for the varsity team. They traveled to Texas, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and captured their first Private School League championship since 2003. [1]

Fine Arts

Wheaton Academy has an advance fine arts program. This year Wheaton Academy did the musical Peter Pan directed by Corbett Burick. The performace included the flying equipment and fly directing by Flying by FOY based in Las Vegas. Peter Pan 2007 also used three MAC 550 intelligent lights.

Wheaton Academy has a variety of fine arts performance groups.

  • Orchestra (must have a minimum of three years playing experience, audition required)-TOURING GROUP
  • Band (must have a minimum of three years playing experience, audition required)-TOURING GROUP
  • Women's Chorale (MTP, Band, or Orchestra prerequisite, and audition required)-TOURING GROUP
  • Concert Choir (MTP, Band, or Orchestra prerequisite, and audition required)-TOURING GROUP
  • Musical Theatre Performance (MTP; mainly freshmen)
  • Furnace Company Improv (audition required)-TOURING GROUP
  • Furnace Company Dancers (audition required)-TOURING GROUP
  • Academy Theatre-puts on a fall play and a Broadway-like Spring Musical, that gets more than half the student body involved in the cast and on crews. An audition is required if you are interested in being cast in the Fall Play and/or Spring Musical.
  • Advanced Drama Show (Put on by students in the Advanced Drama class offered during the Spring Semester).

History

Wheaton Academy began in 1853 when a group of abolitionists founded Illinois Institute to educate their children. Two years later, they were given permission to form a college. Jonathan Blanchard was called upon to head the school and when he arrived in 1860, Illinois Institute was reorganized into Wheaton College and its preparatory school, Wheaton College Academy.

For fifty years the college and academy students were closely mingled; it was not until 1915 under Dean William Rice that Wheaton College Academy began to achieve its own identity by acquiring a separate faculty and building, known as Schell Hall on the Wheaton College campus today.

By 1945, Wheaton Academy outgrew that building and moved to its own 25-acre campus on Prince Crossing Road in West Chicago. The new campus provided dormitories for boarding students, while the Aurora & Elgin train line that ran just north of the school was convenient for commuters. By 1951, with the construction of LeTourneau Gymnasium and the chapel which was transported from an army camp, the facilities of the campus were complete.

Though separate in faculty and location, the college was still financially responsible for Wheaton Academy until 1963. Support was gradually decreased until 1970 when the college decided that Wheaton Academy should be closed permanently. Parents and board members, however, were not willing to see the 117-year-old institution die and chose to continue the school themselves. It was renamed Wheaton Christian High School at that time. The first few years of independence were a tough transition, during which time the dormitories were closed and the enrollment suffered.

The school survived, and by the late seventies it was once again thriving. An enrollment of over 300 students and the aged school building called for a new facility, which was realized in the Phase I and II building projects of 1979 and 1983. This is the main school building today. A section of the old building survives, known as Academy Hall, and is used for supplementary classrooms and storage space. After a land purchase in 1988, the campus is now 43 acres.

In 1995 the school returned to the name Wheaton Academy, which captures both the school's heritage and the school's vision for excellence in secondary education in the 21st century.

Wheaton Academy opened the doors to a new Fine Arts Center in 2004. This beautiful building with a 700-seat auditorium serves as the chapel and a special event venue, and also provides classroom space for the fine arts program.

Jonathan Blanchard wanted this school to be "For Christ and His Kingdom." Today that same desire is worded "Soli Deo Gloria": Glory to God alone. For over a century and a half Wheaton Academy has been dedicated to education where God is central; today's challenge is nurturing growth in our students through relationships, excellence and service to the glory of God.

Wheaton Academy is a private high school located in West Chicago. Wheaton Academy was founded in 1853. The school was housed at Wheaton College's campus in Wheaton Illinois from 1917 to 1945. Then the school moved from Wheaton, IL to West Chicago, IL which is located a few miles away in a neighboring town. The current school address is 900 Prince Crossing Road, West Chicago, IL 60185.

Wheaton Academy's building called "academy hall" was once used to serve a childrens hospital prior to being purchased by the Wheaton Academy High school. Academy Hall has class rooms on the lower floor but is closed upstairs due to asbestos being located in some of the tiles in a room in the south-east rear corner of the builing which is completly surrounded by glass on the walls. There are also two entrences to tunnels beneath the first floor. The tunnels are no longer in use and are locked shut.

Notable Alumni

  • Todd Beamer who stopped flight 93 from hitting its target

Sources

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../w/h/e/Wheaton_Academy_ad6e.html"