Lemont High School, or LHS, is a public four-year high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 located in Lemont, Illinois

Lemont, Illinois

Lemont is a village located in Cook, DuPage, and Will Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, and is roughly southwest of Chicago. The population was 16,625 at the 2007 Special Census.-History:...

, a south-western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is the only school of Lemont Township High School District 210, which serves the Village of Lemont and small portions of Woodridge

Woodridge, Illinois

Woodridge is a suburb of Chicago, located primarily in DuPage County, Illinois with portions in Will County and Cook County. It uses the 630 and 331 area codes. The population was 30,934 at the 2000 census. A special census commissioned in 2003 put the population at 33,253...

 and Downers Grove

Downers Grove, Illinois

Downers Grove is a village in Downers Grove and Lisle Townships, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 48,724 at the 2000 census, with an official estimated population of 49,250 in 2008.-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. That building is now an elementary school known as Central School, part of the school district 113A. 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.

Building history

By 1925, after many failed attempts, an 18000 square feet (1,672.3 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.

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 11500 square feet (1,068.4 m²) gymnasium (completed in 1950), and 38000 square feet (3,530.3 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.

Tornado damage in the 1970s

After occupying 6.5 acres (26,304.6 m²) since the late 1920s, Lemont High School expanded to 29 acres (117,358.9 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 $400,000 in tornado

Tornado

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

 damages. Shortly thereafter, the community passed a bond to rebuild.

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.

Also in the late 1990s, filming took place at Lemont High School for the movie Save the Last Dance

Save the Last Dance

Save the Last Dance is a 2001 romantic drama dance film produced by MTV Films, directed by Thomas Carter and released by Paramount Pictures on January 12, 2001. The film stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas as a teenage interracial couple in Chicago who work together to help the main...

. 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.

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 acres (105,218.4 m²) facility serves as home to the school’s baseball, soccer, and softball teams.

2006 expansion

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 67500 square feet (6,271 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 successful 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 360000 square feet (33,445.1 m²) school covers 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) of land. It continues to stand where it was originally built over 80 years ago. 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

Academics

On average, 85 percent of Lemont High School graduates continue their education by enrolling in a post-secondary institution after receiving their diplomas. Lemont High School has made Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act

No Child Left Behind Act

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a United States Act of Congress concerning the education of children in public schools.NCLB was originally proposed by the administration of George W. Bush immediately after he took office...

 eight times in as many years, and consistently scores above the state average on the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE), which all juniors must take each year.

Lemont High School's enrollment of nearly 1,500 students can choose from more than 175 course offerings in eight departments, and also has access to classes at the Wilco Area Career Center in Romeoville, Illinois

Romeoville, Illinois

Romeoville is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The population was 21,153 at the 2000 census. As of 2006 the population has grown to 36,837. It is located in the southwest suburban area of Chicago near the newly constructed I-355 extension south from the Stevenson Expressway to I-80...

.

For the 2007-2008 school year, Lemont High School had average Prairie State Achievement Examination

Prairie State Achievement Examination

The Prairie State Achievement Examination is a two-day standardized test taken by all High School Juniors in the U.S. state of Illinois. On the first day, students take the ACT, and on the second day, a WorkKeys examination and Illinois State Board of Education-developed science examination....

 (PSAE) scores of 161 in Reading, 162 in Mathematics, and 163 in Science. The school graduated 96.0% of its senior class. The average class size is 20.2. Lemont has made Adequate Yearly Progress

Adequate Yearly Progress

Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, is a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allows the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country is performing academically according to results on standardized...

 on the Prairie State Achievement Examination, a state test part of the No Child Left Behind Act

No Child Left Behind Act

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a United States Act of Congress concerning the education of children in public schools.NCLB was originally proposed by the administration of George W. Bush immediately after he took office...

. The school spent an average of $15,679 per student for the school year. The collective performance of the Class of 2009 on the PSAE landed Lemont High School on the Chicago Tribune's list of the top 50 high schools in the Chicago area for 2008.

The school's academic standing improved in the 2008-2009 school year with average PSAE scores of 163 in Reading, 163 in Mathematics, and 164 in Science. Lemont High School again achieved Adequate Yearly Progress with 73.6% of students meeting or surpassing standards. 96.2% of the school's senior class graduated. For the year, the school's average class size was 17.8.

In 2010, Lemont High School ranked 49th in Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

's list of "Top Chicagoland High Schools" with 69.2% of the school's members of the Class of 2011 meeting or exceeding standards on the PSAE. This marked the third straight year that LHS ranked on the list.

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

Lemont competes in the South Suburban Conference

South Suburban Conference (Illinois)

The South Suburban Conference is a high school athletic and activity conference which comprises fourteen schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois....

 (SSC) and is a member of the Illinois High School Association

Illinois High School Association

The Illinois High School Association is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High...

 (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 basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, cross country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, soccer, tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, track & field, and volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

. Young men may compete in baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, bowling

Bowling

Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...

, football

High school football

High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

, and wrestling

Scholastic wrestling

Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...

, while young women may compete in cheerleading

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

 and softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

. While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school's athletic department also sponsors a poms

Pom-pon

A pom-pon is a fluffy, decorative ball or tuft. Pom-pons may come in many colors, sizes, and varieties and are made from a wide array of materials, including wool, cotton, paper, plastic, and occasionally feathers....

team.

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

• Basketball (girls): 3rd place (1979–80)
• Bowling (girls): 3rd place (2003–04)
• Cheerleading: 3rd place (2005–06); 2nd place (2006–07, 07–08); State Champions (2008–09, 09-10)
• Football: 2nd place (2007–08, 08–09)
• Soccer (girls): 2nd place (2008–09); 3rd place (2010-11)
• Softball: 3rd place (1988–89); 2nd place (1987–88)
• Track & Field (boys): 2nd place (1999–2000)
• Wrestling: 3rd place (2009–10); 4th place (2010-11)

Naming controversy

Lemont High School's teams had been known as the "Injuns" since the 1960s, when an athletic director christened the school with the name to distinguish it from the many others using Native American names as their team name. In 2005, after seeking community input, the school board opted to change the name used by school teams to the Titans. After a new school board was voted in to power in the spring of 2005, the school removed the Titans name, and changed the name to Indians.

Activities and Clubs

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.

External links

• Official website