Lemont High School

Lemont High School, or LHS, is a public four-year high school located in Lemont, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school of Lemont Township High School District 210, which serves the Village of Lemont and small portions of Woodridge and Downers Grove. LHS also serves as a feeder school for Deaf/Hard-of-hearing students in the area.

Lemont High School
Address
800 Porter Street

Lemont
,
Illinois
60439

United States
Coordinates41.6742°N 87.991°W / 41.6742; -87.991
Information
School typepublic secondary
School districtLemont HS 210
SuperintendentDr. Mary Ticknor[1]
CEEB code142590[2]
PrincipalEric Michaelsen[1]
Teaching staff95.47 (FTE)[3]
Grades9–12
Gendercoed
Enrollment1,373 (2018-19)[3]
Average class size21.5[4]
Student to teacher ratio14.38[3]
Campus size30 acres (120,000 m2)[5]
Campus typesuburban
Color(s)  navy blue
  gold[6]
Athletics conferenceSouth Suburban[6]
Team nameIndians[6]
NewspaperTom-Tom[7]
Websitehttp://www.lhs210.net/

History

Early beginnings

An old surviving document shows graduates in 1891, although Lemont High School was not officially formed until 1906, when five students (four girls and one boy) began meeting for class in the school building located at 410 McCarthy Road. The high school leased three rooms in the building at a rate of $500 per year. The original building is now used for condominiums, but the Central Elementary school is still connected to the East end of the building.[5]

Building history

By 1925, after many failed attempts, an 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m2) building was finally constructed at 800 Porter Street, where the school is located to this day. The original building cost $125,000 to build and included eight classrooms, a library, a science lab, a home economics room, and a gymnasium.[5]

Expansion for growth

Student enrollment almost doubled during the 1950s, which in turn led to three expansionary construction projects. Among the new additions were an 11,500-square-foot (1,070 m2) gymnasium (completed in 1950), and 38,000 square feet (3,500 m2) worth of classroom additions (completed by 1959). By the end of the decade, the school was equipped with wood, metal, industrial arts, and electrical shops.[5]

Tornado damage in the 1970s

After occupying 6.5 acres (26,000 m2) since the late 1920s, Lemont High School expanded to 29 acres (120,000 m2) by 1967, with a significant portion of that land being used for athletic facilities. A $1.1 million project was completed in 1971, which added a new auditorium, kitchen, locker rooms, and more. On June 13, 1976, the school suffered nearly $500,000 in tornado damages. Shortly thereafter, the community passed a bond to rebuild.[5]

Growth in the 1990s

The student population at LHS began to climb in the 1990s, which resulted in yet another expansion in 1997. The $24.5 million project added a three-story classroom addition and a fieldhouse, essentially doubling the building’s square footage to 300,000. A unique parking facility was also built as part of the expansion to help ease severe parking problems for students and staff.[5]

Also in the late 1990s, filming took place at Lemont High School for the movie Save the Last Dance. The school was depicted as the main character's Midwestern high school. Portions of the front of the high school were shown during the beginning of the movie along with the main staircase inside the school. Other areas throughout the town were also shown in the movie.[5]

Sports complex

Lemont High School’s facilities expanded off campus in 2003 with the completion of the Lemont High School Athletic Complex, located at 131st Street and Bell Road. The 26-acre (110,000 m2) facility serves as home to the school’s baseball, soccer, and softball teams.[5]

2006 expansion
The stage of the Performing Arts Center

With student enrollment continuing to grow each year, Lemont High School has undergone further expansion recently. In 2005, the community passed a $29.6 million referendum allowing the school to start an expansion which included a new and improved auditorium, approximately 30 new classrooms, a new wood shop, a turf football field with improved lighting and expanded audience seating, an expanded cafeteria area, additional parking, safety upgrades, and much more. Construction started in early 2006. The new addition of 30 classrooms as well as the football stadium enhancements were completed before the start of the 2007 school year. Construction on the new auditorium (now called the Performing Arts Center) was completed in March 2008. Other areas of the school, mainly parking lots and roads, were completed in the summer months of 2008.

The expansion included features that would benefit every Lemont High School student:

  • A new 67,500-square-foot (6,270 m2) classroom addition—which was built next to the school and "connected" with the existing structure in the summer of 2007—added more than 25 classrooms, computer and science labs, and other amenities. The new classroom addition opened at the start of the 2007-08 school year, and provides the school with space to accommodate up to 2,100 students.
  • The football stadium—which also serves as home for the track and field programs—underwent an extensive renovation. This included a regrading of the playing surface and the installation of synthetic turf, as well as the addition of seating for more than 2,000 fans, a new pressbox, a new concession stand, and new lights. The stadium debuted in August 2007.
  • A stand-alone building—the Woods Technology Learning Center—was constructed to greatly expand the classrooms, work space, and resources for the school's industrial technology department.
  • The school's old auditorium was demolished, and in its place, the new Performing Arts Center was built. The Performing Arts Center—home to the drama, music, and forensics departments—opened in March 2008 and includes seating for nearly 850, a fly tower that is utilized for storage, state-of-the-art sound and lighting, and an orchestra pit.

Currently, the 360,000-square-foot (33,000 m2) school covers 30 acres (120,000 m2) of land. It continues to stand where it was originally built in 1925.[5] The 2006 construction project, which lasted nearly two years, was named the K-12 Education "Project of the Year" in Midwest Construction magazine's "Best of 2008" competition[8]

Academics
The back of Lemont High School, near the Performing Arts Center, gymnasium, and field house

Lemont High School follows the Block 8 system in which students take eight courses that meet every other day. A standard school day is composed of four 87-minute periods with an optional "zero-hour" available for students to take additional courses before the school day begins.[9]

Lemont High School's enrollment of nearly 1,400 students can choose from approximately 200 course offerings in nine departments. Students are assigned to course levels based on test scores, past achievement, and teacher recommendation. Honors and/or Advanced Placement courses are available in most curricular areas. Students also have access to classes at the Wilco Area Career Center in Romeoville, Illinois, a regional vocational center of which Lemont High School is a member.[9]

The school's class of 2016 earned an average composite ACT test score of 23.3. In addition, 93.9% of the graduating class of 2016 enrolled in post-high school continuing education.[9]

In 2017, Lemont High School was named a National Blue Ribbon School, having been selected as an Exemplary High Performing School. To earn such designation, Lemont High School placed among the top 15 percent of all schools in Illinois when ranked by student performance on the most recently administered English language arts and math state assessments, or by student performance on state assessments in combination with other student performance measures, such as attendance and/or graduation rates.[10]

Departments

The Academic Departments at Lemont High School are:

  • Career & Technical Education
  • English
  • Fine Arts
  • Foreign Language
  • Mathematics
  • Physical Education, Health & Driver Education
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Special Education

Athletics
The LHS Indians logo

Lemont competes in the South Suburban Conference (SSC) and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), which governs most sports and competitive activities in the state. Teams are stylized as the Indians (see Naming controversy).

The school sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in bowling, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, track & field, and volleyball.[11] Young men may compete in baseball, football, and wrestling, while young women may compete in cheerleading, softball.[11] and poms.

The school's teams have finished in the top four of the following IHSA sponsored state championship tournaments or meets:[12]

  • Baseball: State Champions (2014, 2016)
  • Basketball (girls): 3rd place (1979–80)
  • Bowling (girls): 3rd place (2003–04)
  • Cheerleading: 4th place (2014–15) 3rd place (2005–06, 2011–12); 2nd place (2006–07, 2007–08, 2015–16); State Champions (2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18)
  • Football: 2nd place (2007–08, 2008–09, 2014–15)
  • Soccer (girls): 2nd place (2008–09); 3rd place (2010–11, 2017–18); 4th place (2012-2013, 2016–17)
  • Softball: 3rd place (1988–89); 2nd place (1987–88)
  • Track & Field (boys): 2nd place (1999–2000)
  • Wrestling: State Champions (2020) 3rd place (2009–10); 4th place (2010–11)
  • Golf (Boys): 3rd place (2011-2012)

Naming controversy

Lemont High School's teams had been known as the Indians until the mid-1960s, when an athletic director christened the school with the name Injuns to distinguish it from the many others using Native American names as their team name.[13] However, many viewed the name Injuns as a racial slur. In the early 2000s, the Illinois Native American Bar Association notified the high school of its disapproval of the Injuns name. By August 2004, the District 210 board voted to choose a new mascot with community input.[14]

In February 2005, a school and community vote narrowly favored the name Titans over the Engines, a near homophone of the outgoing mascot name.[15] However, the Titans name was never officially adopted. Local elections later in 2005 brought in new school board members who fulfilled their promise to restore the school's original Indians mascot name. The school went without a nickname for the 2005-2006 school year, allowing time for a transition of logos and uniforms. Lemont officially returned to the Indians name beginning with the 2006-2007 school year.[13]

Activities and clubs
The archway in the front of the school

Extra-curricular opportunities are available to each student. In order to keep the system of verifying eligibility manageable, the Illinois High School Association guidelines for athletics are used as a basis for eligibility for all extra-curricular activities at Lemont High School. Extra-curricular activities at Lemont High School are placed into three classifications: Clubs, Competitive Extra-Curricular Activities, and Co-Curricular Activities.

Notable alumni

References
  1. "Professional Leadership Team". directory. Lemont High School District 210. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  2. "High School Code Search". College Board. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  3. "Lemont Twp High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  4. "2017 Illinois School Report Card for Lemont HS" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  5. Lemont High School - About Us
  6. "Lemont (H.S.)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 10 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  7. "Tom-Tom". Lemont High School. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  8. "Midwest Construction Announces Best of 2008 Winners" (Press release). Midwest Construction. Retrieved 11 November 2009. K-12 Education - Project of the Year: Lemont High School, Lemont, Ill.
  10. "Lemont High School tabbed as a 2017 National Blue Ribbon School". Lemont High School District 210. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  11. "Athletics". Lemont High School. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  12. "IHSA Season Summaries". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 10 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  13. "The hunt for 'Red' alternatives". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  14. Mellen, Karen (24 September 2004). "Lemont's `Injun' logo now history". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  15. Ihejirika, Maudlyne (16 February 2005). "Lemont High drops 'Injuns' team name South suburban school ends years of debate, will go by 'Titans'". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
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