Lake Zurich High School (Lake Zurich, Illinois)

Lake Zurich High School
Address
300 Church Street
Lake Zurich, Illinois, USA
Information
School type public, secondary
Motto Where Excellence is a Tradition
Opened 1926
Principal Kimberly Kolze
Faculty 154
Grades 9-12
Gender coed
Enrollment 2200[1]  (2010–11)
Campus type suburban
Color(s)      royal blue
     white[1]
Athletics conference North Suburban[1]
Team name Bears[1]
Newspaper 'Bear Facts'
Yearbook 'Elyte'
Website
Performing Arts Center at LZHS

Lake Zurich High School, or LZHS, is a public four-year high school located in Lake Zurich, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Community Unit School District 95, which is home to five elementary schools and two middle schools, primarily taking students from Lake Zurich Middle School North and Lake Zurich Middle School, but it also can take students from parochial schools such St. Francis de Sales and St. Matthew as well.

Contents

History

Lake Zurich High school first opened its doors to students in 1926 as Ela-Vernon High School, serving Ela and Vernon Townships in Lake County, Illinois. In 1964, area residents built a second high school which was to be called Ela-Vernon East. A series of disagreements between Vernon Township residents and Ela Township residents led to the split of the school district and Stevenson High School opened in nearby Lincolnshire drawing students from the eastern half of Ela Township and all of Vernon Township. As a result of the split, a rivalry existed between the schools, and each fall the football teams competed for what was known as "The Cannon". The Cannon was a miniature steel replica of the real thing, and fired a blank shotgun shell when teams entered the field, and or scored a touchdown. The Cannon was retired in 1982, after Stevenson and Lake Zurich discontinued their football rivalry, as a result of a differing enrollment and different athletic conference affiliations. Lake Zurich won the last game involving the cannon in 1982. Students from Lake Zurich, Deer Park, Hawthorn Woods, portions of Kildeer, North Barrington and unincorporated areas such as Forest Lake and Echo Lake attend Lake Zurich High School.

Student life

Athletics

Lake Zurich competes in the North Suburban Conference and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). The school's teams are stylized as the Bears.

The school has won two IHSA state championships, one in football (2007–08) and the other in cheerleading (2010–11).[2]

In 2006, the school installed artificial turf for its stadium.

Activities

The Lake Zurich High School's (LZHS) Drama Department performance of "Urinetown" was selected by USA Weekend Magazine as a state winner (Illinois) for "Best High School Musicals in America".[3] The cast and crew performed the play twice Jan 5–6, 2007 at the University of Illinois during the Illinois High School Theatre Festival. Other shows performed by Lake Zurich at the Festival include "The Wedding Singer" in 2009, "The Diviners" in 2005.[4]

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Lake Zurich". Illinois High School Association. 4 August 2011. http://www.ihsa.org/Schools/SchoolDirectory.aspx?url=/data/school/l.htm. Retrieved 4 August 2011. 
  2. ^ "IHSA Season Summaries". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 16 November 2009. http://www.ihsa.org/school/records/sum1207.htm. Retrieved 26 December 2009. 
  3. ^ Best High School Musical: ILLINOIS. Besthighschoolmusical.blogspot.com (2006-07-11). Retrieved on 2011-10-26.
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ National Football League: NFL DrKaft 2011 – Anthony Castonzo. Nfl.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-26.