Danville High School (Illinois)

Danville High School (DHS) is a public high school located in Danville, Illinois. DHS is part of Danville District 118, which also includes two middle schools and eight elementary schools. This also includes The Kenneth D. Bailey Academy, previously Holy Family Catholic School, the new home for Danville School District 118’s alternative programs.^[8]

The school is perhaps best known for three of its alumni who went on to success in acting: Gene Hackman, and the brothers Dick and Jerry Van Dyke, and one who became an important figure in popularizing early twentieth century popular music, Bobby Short.

History

Principals

Kimberly Norton, the current principal of Danville High School, is the school's 32nd principal since 1870.^[6]

Academics

In 2008, DHS had an average composite ACT score of 13.7, and graduated 67% of its senior class.^[4] Danville High School has DEFINITELY not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the Prairie State Achievement Examination, which the state of Illinois uses to fulfill UNFUNDED mandates set forth in the federal No Child Left Behind Act.^[4] The school, overall, ENTIRELY failed to meet minimum expectations in mathematics and reading, in addition to two of the three student subgroups.^[4] 3% of juniors last spring scored high enough on at least three of the four parts of the ACT to be considered “college-ready” for key freshman classes.^[4]

In September. , the school hosted several education administrators from China who were visiting to not only see how the school functions, but to participate in a learning opportunity for the school's Global House.^[9]

Student life

Activities

The school offers approximately 30 clubs and activities ranging from service-oriented clubs to academic competition, to art appreciation.^[10] Among the clubs which are chapters for more national organizations are Key Club, and National Honor Society.^[10]

The choral music program supports a choir, show choir, and madrigal program.^[11]

The instrumental music program supports two symphonic bands, a pep band (the Maroon Maniacs), percussion ensemble, jazz ensemble, madrigal brass band, marching band (Band of Vikings),a jazz combo (The Tenth Degree), madrigal strings, string orchestra and a symphony orchestra.^[12]

In 2004, the school staged the musical Bye Bye Birdie, which (at its 1958 Broadway premier) had starred alum Dick Van Dyke in the role of Albert Peterson. For the 2004 production, Van Dyke returned to the school, and learned one of the numbers (Put On a Happy Face) alongside the students, performing both nights of the show. Van Dyke, who joined the military before receiving his diploma, was also granted his high school diploma at a ceremony.^[13][14]

Athletics

DHS competes in the Big Twelve conference and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA); the organization which organizes most interscholastic high school sports and competitive activities in the state of Illinois. Teams are stylized as the Vikings (or Lady Vikings for women's teams).

The school sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, and track & field.^[15] Young men may participate in baseball, football, golf, and wrestling, while young women may compete in cheerleading and softball.^[15] While not sponsored by the IHSA, the Athletic Department also sponsors a poms team (Pompettes).^[15]

The following teams finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state championship tournament or meet:^[16]

• Basketball (boys): 3rd place (1970–71, 1992–93); 2nd place (1935–36, 1949–50)
• Football: 2nd place (1976–77) semifinals (1978-1979) (2009–10) semi finals(2010-2011)
• Golf (boys): 4th place (1938–39); State Champions (1981–82)
• Swimming & Diving (boys): 3rd place (1939–40, 1940–41)
• Tennis (boys): 4th place (1952–53, 1958–59, 1966–67); 3rd place (1946–47, 1947–48, 2002–03); 2nd place (1951–52, 1959–60); State Champions (1945–46, 1953–54)
• Track & Field (boys): 3rd place (1983–84, 1989–90); State Champions (1924–25)

Traditions

The school has two songs: a fight song and a cheer song. The cheer song's lyrics were borrowed from the cheer song written for Illinois Wesleyan University, substituting "Danville High" for "Wesleyan" and "maroon" for "green".^[6][17]

The school claims no knowledge as to why the school colors were chosen, though they date to at least 1906.^[6] The school's teams were originally stylized as the Maroons.^[6] The school's teams briefly used the name Silver Streaks before adopting Vikings in 1960.^[6] While the Vikings name stuck, an attempt to change the school's primary color from maroon to light blue failed to catch on.^[6]

Dress Code

As of the 2016-2017 school year, Danville District 118 has revised their current dress code policy. The new policy requires that students dress in a more appropriate and professional manner.^[18]

Male students attending the high school may wear the following:

• Pants
• Shirts must not have a logo larger than a hand on the front or back, punishable by death
• Sweatshirts with hoods, commonly referred to as hoodies, may not exist in Danville anymore

Female students attending the high school may wear the following:

Notable alumni

• Jason Anderson is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher (2003–05).^[19][20]
• Irving Azoff is a personal manager to several notable musical talents. He is the former head of MCA Records, and has produced several films (Fast Times at Ridgemont High). In 2008, he became Chairman of Ticketmaster.^[21]
• Kenneth D. Bailey was a major in the United States Marine Corps. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Matanikau River during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. The destroyer USS Kenneth D. Bailey was named in his honor.^[21]
• William B. Black is a member of the Illinois House of Representatives (1986–2010).^[21]
• Keon Clark is a former NBA basketball player (1998–2004). He was selected in the first round of the 1998 NBA Draft.^[22]
• Gene Hackman is an Academy Award-winning actor, best known for his work in film (The French Connection, Unforgiven).^[21]
• Ned Luke is an actor, Grand Theft Auto V.
• Greg Meidel is a television producer.^[21]
• Donald O'Connor was an Emmy Award winning actor and dancer, perhaps best known for his role in the film Singin' in the Rain.
• Scott Shaw is a photojournalist who received the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for spot news photography.^[21]
• Bobby Short was a singer and musician known for his interpretations of early 20th century American usic, and for promoting the compositions of African American composers.^[21]
• Sterling Slaughter is a former MLB player (Chicago Cubs)
• Matthew Stover is an author who writes predominantly in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. In addition to works such as Heroes Die, he has also written novels set in the Star Wars universe, including Revenge of the Sith.^[21]
• Joseph R. Tanner is a former NASA astronaut. He flew into space four times as a mission specialist where he performed work on the Hubble Space Telescope and International Space Station.^[21]
• Edward R. Telling was the Chairman and CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Company (1978–85).^[21]
• Dick Van Dyke is an Emmy and Tony award-winning actor. He was in the original Broadway cast of Bye Bye Birdie, in addition to his work on film (Mary Poppins) and television (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Diagnosis: Murder).^[21]
• Jerry Van Dyke is an actor and musician best known for his work on television (My Mother the Car, Coach).^[21]
• Reg Weaver is the former president of the National Education Association, and is a vice president for Education International.^[21]

• 
  Maj. Kenneth D. Bailey, USMC
• 
  Gene Hackman
• 
  Bobby Short (center, at piano)

• 
  Joe Tanner
• 
  Dick Van Dyke
• 
  Jerry Van Dyke

References

Bibliography

Jones, Lottie E. (1911). History of Vermilion County, Illinois. Chicago, Illinois: Pioneer Publishing Company. pp. 255, 334–5. 

External links

• Danville High School