| Huntley High School | |
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| Type | Public secondary |
| Principal | Dave Johnson |
| Students | 2,068 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Location | 13719 Harmony Road Huntley, Illinois, USA |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Colors | Red, White, and Black |
| Mascot | Red Raiders |
| Yearbook | The Chieftain |
| Newspaper | The Voice |
| Website | Huntley High School |
Huntley High School is a rapidly growing, public high school in northern Illinois. The school serves the entire Consolidated School District 158 area, which includes all of Huntley, Illinois, and portions of Lake in the Hills, Algonquin, and other surrounding communities and rural areas.
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Huntley High School continues to grow at a very fast pace. These are the figures from the past school years:
The high school is located on the Harmony Road Campus, and was the first in the district’s campus concept idea. Due to the high school being located two miles west of the center of Huntley and the greatest concentration of student population, all students are required to take the bus, get a ride, or drive to school. However, because of the great space afforded in being located on a very large campus, the school has ample parking for students, staff, and for special events.
When the school was first built, it was completely surrounded by cornfields. However, in recent years, it has been surrounded by homes in Del Webb’s Sun City Huntley retirement community. Much of the surrounding area still remains rural, however.
The access road to the school is a long winding divided road separated by a large sloping grassy median. The road then comes to a T-intersection. On the west side is a lot for visitors and staff as well as pick-up/drop-off. On the east side is a road which winds around to student, staff, and special event lots, as well as the bus loading zones on the east side and rear of the building.
Leggee Elementary School, built in 2000, lies to the northwest of the building. An access road from the high school access road to the elementary school connects the two.
Due to the campus being located in an isolated area, everyone must drive to the school. A fleet of 50+ buses shuttles students from the sprawling district to the school, and due to the significant parking space, there are no quantity limitations on student parking. This causes significant backups before and after school and at special events. Mile-long backups and 30 minute travel times are not uncommon.
In addition, the rural roads were not designed to handle this traffic and the original road network contributed to a number of serious accidents over the years. The intersection of Marengo Road, Main Street, Harmony Road, and Hemmer Road was re-designed in 2001, primarily due to the many vehicle accidents that had occurred in the past, in addition to the presence of Del Webb’s Sun City development.
The current building, located at 13719 Harmony Road in Huntley, IL, was built in 1997, and at the time was the school district’s first new building in about 30 years. The original high school building, located on Mill Street in Huntley, was built in the 1960s and only featured about a dozen classrooms and outdated facilities. In the 1990s, the district’s enrollment skyrocketed with suburban growth, necessitating new facilities. After the new building was built in 1997, the old building served grades 4-5, before finally being converted into a recreational center when it was sold to the Huntley Park District in the early 2000s.
The current building was originally designed as a middle-high school, with a shared cafeteria and library in the center of the building. On the west side of the building was the middle school gymnasium and offices, and on east side of the building was the high school gymnasium and offices. On the north side of the building was a large half-circle featuring about 40 classrooms on two levels, with a courtyard in the middle. The middle school classrooms were on the 2nd level, while the high school classrooms were on the 1st level. The building is very symmetrical and can be described as a box with a horseshoe attached to it.
In 1999, the building’s first major addition was a 12 classroom addition on the west end, designed for temporary usage for grade 5. In 2000, when the new elementary schools were built, the classroom space was freed up for use by the growing middle-high school, and became the wing for the high school’s mathematics, foreign language, and social studies classes.
In 2002, substantial additions were made to both the west and east sides of the building. On the west end, was a second wing which created a new main office for the high school, special education classrooms, high school science labs and classrooms, and 8th grade classrooms. A 4-classroom wing housing health classrooms and a computer lab connected the two western wings and completely surrounded the west gym (middle school gym).
The east addition was a very large box addition which provided the high school with a much larger gym, art and music classrooms, a 700-seat state-of-the-art auditorium, additional locker rooms, a weight room, home economics classrooms, and a high school attendance office.
In 2005, upon completion of the district’s two new middle schools, the building space was completely freed up for use by high school classrooms and services only. Despite this, the growing school district is expected to need another high school in about ten years or so. Space has already been dedicated for an additional high school at the Square Barn Road Campus in Algonquin, IL. But with an increase in students in the district, an affordable addition is on the horizon for the high school.
South of the building is the school’s sprawling athletic complex, including the football field and track, a building housing concessions, restrooms, and ticket distribution, a maintenance building, three softball fields, two baseball fields, and several tennis courts. The practice football field is located to the east of the main football field, while the soccer fields are located in open grassy areas in front of the building on both sides of the front access road.
The Huntley High School Performing Arts Center (P.A.C.) is a state-of-the-art auditorium that was built as part of an addition to the school in 2002. Located on the far eastern side of the building, the P.A.C. features approximately 700 seats and the theater is dominated by red and black colors, as those are the colors of the school. In addition to the stage and seating areas, the theater also features an orchestra pit, backstage rooms, and balconies. The P.A.C. hosts a variety of events, including high school plays, middle school plays, musical performances, performances from outside groups, assemblies, presentations, and award ceremonies. Best PAC in area.
Until 2002, Huntley High School’s mascot had been the Huntley Redskins. The school prided itself in its mascot, with students wearing warrior paint, donning Indian attire at sporting events, and also doing the famous "tomahawk chop". The mascot was also a symbol of the school’s rural heritage.
In the late 1990s, the school district faced lawsuit threats by Native American groups claiming the mascot was a racial slur, even though that was not the intention of the mascot. The district cut back on its usage of the mascot, and finally, in 2002, abolished it despite large public outrage by students, parents, and the general community. The students voted "Red Raiders" the new mascot in 2002, likely as it was the closest possible option to the original mascot. However, many students and community members were appalled to see the mascot's logo did not resemble human raiders or warriors as they had intended, but rather a horse. The new logo is often criticized for being very generic and corporate-looking.
Today, the original Redskin logo from the center of the old gymnasium floor hangs on a wall across from the East Gym. Many members of the community also continue to treasure items of memorabilia bearing the old mascot.
According to School District 158's Report Card (for the year 2009), Huntley High School exceeds to State of Illinois average in most academic areas.[2]
The average ACT composite score at Huntley High School was 22.4 out of 36 in 2009, exceeding the average in Illinois.[2]
The school's Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE) scores were all above the state average in 2009.[2] In the reading category, Huntley had an average of 160 compared to the state average of 157.[2] In the science category, Huntley's average was 163 while the state had an average of 157.[2] As for the mathematics category, Huntley's average was 160 compared to the state average of 157.[2]
Huntley High School's graduation rate is 98.4%, exceeding the state's average of 78% in 2009.[2]
Huntley High School offers a number of sports and extra-curricular activities:
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For a number of years, Huntley High School played as part of the Big Northern Conference, a conference comprising a dozen small-town schools in North Central Illinois. Yet, as Huntley High School’s enrollment approached 1,000 in the early 2000s, it became class AA and joined the much larger suburban Fox Valley Conference in 2002. In the school’s first few years in the conference, it faced great struggle in its athletic programs but is improving every year as the school continues to grow. The school’s chief rivalry is Jacobs High School, located in nearby Algonquin. A number of large-scale fights, crude mocking of each school’s stereotypes, and vandalism has been attributed to the rivalry.
Huntley High School’s most successful sport has always been girls’ volleyball. The volleyball team has won the conference volleyball title for nearly 20 straight years (and placed as finalists in regionals and sectionals several times), and went to state numerous times in the 1990s, becoming state finalists in 1990 and 1995. This successful period in volleyball was coached by Larry Kahl, who has become a legend in the community.
One of the drawbacks of Huntley High School athletics has historically been its football team. However, in 2001, the team had an excellent year and became a quarter-finalist in its division. The 2008 football team also had a spectacular season, advancing into the second round of the playoffs and becoming Fox Division Champions for the first time in school history. They also broke two state playoff records in the process.
Huntley High School Poms also have a history of success, especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s, winning in several regional pom squad and dance competitions. More recently, both JV and Varsity poms made it to the Team Dance Illinois State Championship, with JV placing second at state on Feb. 13, 2011 and Varsity placing 8th at State on March 6th, 2011.
The high school is also noted for its non-athletic activities. The speech and drama team has advanced to state finals on numerous occasions, as well as winning Fox Valley Conference eight years in a row. The student newspaper The Voice and yearbook Chieftain receive numerous accolades and awards every year. In 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2011, the journalism team won IHSA sectional championships. In 2011, the team placed second in the IHSA state journalism tournament, this after two third-place finishes in 2007 and 2010. For over a decade, the journalism program has been headed by teacher Dennis Brown. In the fall of 2011, the journalism program took the Voice newspaper online with the launch of Huntley High School's Student Newspaper "The Voice". Also, the art program sends student artwork to several local and regional competitions every year.
The following teams have finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state tournament or meet:[5]
The most successful activity/ team:
Coach: Tom George
During the 2007-2008 school year, the school started a program called Freshmen Academy. The freshmen have all of their classes on the west side of the school, however, they have lunch with the rest of the students at Huntley. In addition, the freshmen have 22 minute advisory periods before or after lunch. During this period, the HHS Link Crew, a group consisting of the juniors and seniors at Huntley, come in help mentor the freshman. The point of this is to ease the freshman into high school and for them to see the upperclassmen as good role models.
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