Glenbrook North High School

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Glenbrook North High School
Motto We educate for living.
Established 1953
Type Public secondary
Principal Dr. Michael D. Riggle
Students 2,094
Grades 9–12
Location 2300 Shermer Rd.
Northbrook, Illinois, USA
Campus Suburban, 72 acres
Colors Green, Gold
Mascot Spartans
Yearbook 'Laconian'
Newspaper 'The Torch'
Website gbn.glenbrook.k12.il.us

Glenbrook North High School, or GBN, is a public four-year high school located in Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Northfield Township High School District 225, which also includes Glenbrook South High School.

Contents

[edit] History

Glenbrook North High School, which opened its doors in the fall of 1953 as Glenbrook High School, serves the incorporated and unincorporated areas of Northbrook, and has grown from 652 to 2,138 students. Glenbrook South High School, the other high school of Northfield High School District 225 serves the secondary students of incorporated and unincorporated Glenview.

Today, Glenbrook North High School is noted for its strong curriculum and high quality of education. GBN has also distinguished itself in athletics. In 2005, the school became the only large-enrollment (i.e. class AA in basketball) high school in Illinois to have won the state championship in each of the big 3 sports, football, basketball and baseball.[1]

[edit] Hazing incident

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Images of the Glenbrook North hazing incident were broadcast worldwide
Images of the Glenbrook North hazing incident were broadcast worldwide

In May 2003, Glenbrook North High School gained notoriety after an off-campus, non-school sanctioned event involving students dressed in school colors turned into a major hazing incident that attracted media attention.

The event was a "powder-puff" girls' football game between a group of juniors and seniors. The game took place on Sunday, May 4, 2003, in Chipilly Woods, A.K.A. Grant & Lee, part of the Cook County Forest Preserve District. There was no playing of football. The hazing began as soon as the junior girls arrived. About 20 junior class participants were sat in the middle of a clearing while they were covered in paint, urine, feces, and animal guts. Some were shot with paintball guns, others were kicked and beaten. After it was over, at least five of the participants had injuries requiring medical attention, including one receiving stitches to her head.

Thirty-one students — twenty-eight females and three males — were suspended from school for 10 days. They were later expelled. Some of the expelled students and their parents filed a lawsuit because they would then be unable to graduate from school. The plaintiffs and the school district reached an agreement where the expelled students would have their diplomas mailed to them provided they dropped the lawsuits and did not make any book or movie deals about the incident. The juniors who participated were suspended but it was lifted when they agreed to counseling and also to not make any book or movie deals. Local law enforcement authorities investigated the hazing incident and filed charges against 15 students for assault and battery. Two mothers were charged with providing alcohol for the event. All were convicted and the sentences received were light, ranging from probation to community service.

A community-wide task force was established after the hazing incident. Their final report stressed the needs for recognizing and preventing hazing incidents. However, it is important to note that the majority of students at GBN had nothing to do with the incident, and are continually upset that this is part of their high school's legacy.

[edit] Film and popular culture

In 1985, motion picture director and writer John Hughes, a 1968 graduate of Glenbrook North High School, used the campus for location shooting of the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.[citation needed]

John Hughes' 1985 film The Breakfast Club featured a group of kids from "Shermer, Illinois" 60062 (per the opening scene of the film). Shermerville was the original name of the town of Northbrook, where GBN is located, and 60062 is the zip code. The movie features the clash between what were known during the 1970s as the 'sporto' versus 'freak' cultures at GBN. Some think the movie was filmed inside the school, but it was filmed at Maine North High School, which was also used for the interior scenes of Ferris Bueller. The stars of the movie, however, did attend classes at GBN for a short time, in order to get a flavor of high school life. As child actors, they had little exposure to public school.[citation needed]

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kaye, D. "High School Spotlight," Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 14, 2007.
  2. ^ Just Give Me the Facts

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Central Suburban League
North Division: Highland Park • Deerfield • Glenbrook North • Maine East • Maine West • Niles North
South Division: New Trier • Evanston • Waukegan • Maine South • Niles West • Glenbrook South