Naperville Central High School

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Naperville Central High School

Established	1863, original school 1952, current building
Type	Public secondary
Principal	Jim Caudill
Faculty	217
Students	3,088
Grades	9–12
Location	440 W. Aurora Ave. Naperville, Illinois, USA
Campus	Suburban
Colors	Red and White
Mascot	Redhawks
Yearbook	Arrowhead (until 1993) Flight (1994-present)
Newspaper	The Central Times
Website	www.ncusd203.org/central

Naperville Central High School (Naperville Central or NCHS) is a public four-year comprehensive school ranked in the top 3% of high schools nationally by US News and World Report, covering grades nine through twelve in Naperville, Illinois, a suburb southwest of Chicago in the United States. The school is a part of the Naperville Community Unit School District 203.

1 History
2 Academics
3 Extracurricular Activities
- 3.1 Athletics
- 3.2 Other Activities
4 Notable alumni
5 Facility issues
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Illustration of the Naperville Central High School main entrance, as it has appeared since 1992. The "Guidance Wing" (a 1992 addition) is to the left, and the exterior of the school's main library is to the right.

The present NCHS structure is on Aurora Avenue just outside the downtown business district in Naperville. The building is within walking distance of the Naperville Riverwalk park/trail network, and is just north of Knoch Park and the Edward Hospital campus. The oldest part of the current building, known by some as the "Tower," or the "Three-Story Wing," was constructed in 1950, and was dedicated in 1952. The previous building which had housed the Naperville Community High School (or sometimes just Naperville High School) stood on Washington Street, just east of the present location of Washington Junior High School. This same building was used as the original Washington Junior High School until it was replaced in 1977.

The current Naperville Central building has received a number of building additions, in 1955, 1963, 1968, 1987 and 1992. For the 1992-93 school year, three projects in three independent locations added a Student Services wing in the northeast part of the building, in front of the original structure, an auditorium in the northwest part of the building and a natatorium (swimming/diving facility) in the southern part of the building. Prior additions included a field house and renovations to the student cafeteria area in the late 1980s, the current school library, and a large single-story classroom wing, known as the Flat Wing. As of the 2004-05 academic year, this gives the building a size of 439,660 square feet (41,000 square meters), not including the use of eight mobile classrooms in two modular units.

From 1939 until 1992, the mascot was the Redskin. A series of public protests over "Redskins" as a mascot began in the 1980s and continued into the early 1990s. Each time such a protest started, the student body was polled over keeping the mascot, and each result ended with the student body voting overwhelmingly to keep it. The community, too, rallied to keep "Redskins" as the nickname; despite this, the District 203 School Board decided during the summer of 1992 that it would be appropriate to end the use of the term "Redskins." Nearly all uses of the previous Native American logo and references to "Redskin," or other names deemed to be "Native American"-themed, such as the former "Arrowhead" yearbook, were removed from the building that summer (although students may still see some remainders of the Redskin today). The "Redhawk" was chosen in the fall of 1992 as the new school's mascot, after a vote by students.^[1] Local residents of American Indian descent actually supported keeping the name, but were overruled.

In 2002 the National Geographic Channel visited the school and featured the school's mummy on an episode of its Mummy Roadshow, as it is the only authentic Egyptian mummy in the country located in a high school. The mummy dates to approximately 55 BCE. Butch, as it's known, is kept in a glass case on the second story.^[2]^[3]

In 2004, the marching band was selected to perform as extras in the 2005 film The Weather Man, shown briefly in a scene depicting a Thanksgiving Day parade.

[edit] Academics

In 2005, Naperville Central had an average composite ACT score of 25.1, and graduated 98.8% of its senior class. Naperville Central has made Adequate Yearly Progress on the Prairie State Achievement Examination, a state test part of the No Child Left Behind Act.^[4]

The staff is composed of 217 teachers, of which over 90% have a masters degree or greater. The student population totals around 3200 students.

Alumni from Naperville Central High School founded a college preparation program known as Naperville College Prep that offers test-prep services and college application consulting, but the program is not endorsed by the school itself.^[5]

[edit] Extracurricular Activities

Naperville Central has many activities for its students to contribute their time to. In addition to 25 sports teams competing in the DuPage Valley Conference (DVC), there are over 60 student clubs and organizations.

[edit] Athletics

The Redhawks have had considerable success in various sports.

[edit] Tennis

The 1993 girls' tennis team became the first team in the history of the school, including its time as Naperville High School, to win a state team title. Tennis success at NCHS continued later on as Elizabeth Lumpkin won the state title in singles tennis in 2000 as a freshman and went on to capture the state singles title for each of her next three years of her high school career. She became the first girl in Illinois history to win the state singles title 4 years in a row.^[6]

[edit] Volleyball

The Boys' Volleyball team became the second team in NCHS history to win a state title, winning the State Championship in the spring of 1998. The Girls' Volleyball team won the Class AA State championship in November 2005 and the Class 4A State Championship in November 2007.

[edit] Football

The football team won the IHSA Class 6A championship in 1999 finishing with a perfexct 14-0 record, but sadly, they had imperfexct spelling. The quarterback was current Houston Texans tight end Owen Daniels. In 2001, in the first year of 8-division playoffs, the team was 8A state runner-up. Linebacker Mike Lucas, who went on to play at Harvard, set the all-time State Championship game record with 26 tackles.

[edit] Swimming and Diving

The Naperville Central Swimming team has performed exceptionally in the Illinois High School Association Swimming and Diving championships. The Boys' Swimming team won the state championship in February 2002. In 2006, Kevin Bell won the 200 yard individual medley.^[7] In 2007, Brett Lullo won the state title in both the 100 yard butterfly and the 200 yard individual medley.^[8] The girls' team won the overall state championship in both 2004 and 2005.^[9]^[10]

[edit] Basketball

The girls basketball team won the State Championship in 2003 and 2004, due in large part to basketball star Candace Parker.

[edit] Baseball

The baseball team won the 2006 IHSA Class AA state championship in June 2006, under Coach Bill Seiple.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Other Activities

The Naperville School District is notable for its sponsorship of non-athletic extracurricular activities. Naperville Central has used this support to produce numerous award winning academic teams such as The Scholastic Bowl Team, The Science Olympiad Team and the Math Team. These teams and others have placed well in conference, regional, and state competitions.

[edit] Mathematics

In both 2003 and 2007, two students from NCHS qualified for the prestigious United States of America Mathematical Olympiad through the American Mathematics Competitions.^[11]^[12]

In 2008, sophomore Kate Rudolph and freshman Kevin Hu went a step farther, qualifying for the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad Program through the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad as two of the top 56 students in the nation.

[edit] Science

The NCHS Science Olympiad Team, founded in 2004, ranked third in the state in 2005 and 2006 and second in state in 2007 (thus advancing to the national tournament).^[13] The Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering Team won the State Championship in 2006, ending rival Naperville North's multiple-year winning streak.^[14] The Varsity Junior Engineering and Technical Society (JETS) team placed first in the nation in 2006;^[15] the JV JETS team placed second.^[16]

In 2006, four students from NCHS competed in the Toshiba/NSTA Exploravision Competition and were recognized as Second Place National Finalist Winners for their design of a Wireless Information Integration network.^[17]

[edit] Chess

The NCHS Chess team placed respectably in 2005 and 2006, and student Jason Duncan was the Individual State Champion in 2005.^[18]^[19]

[edit] Journalism

The Central Times (CT) student newspaper has won many national National Pacemaker Awards, the high-school journalism version of the Pulitzer Prize.^[20]^[21]^[22] The CT also won the 2006 IHSA Journalism State competition.^[23] CT staff members have received national awards for their writing, as well as awards from Columbia University.^[24]^[25]

[edit] Notable alumni

A. George Pradel, fourth term mayor of Naperville
Owen Daniels, 2001, Professional football player for Houston Texans
David Eigenberg, Actor
Harry Kalas, 1954, sportscaster^[26]
Gary Miller, ESPN anchor
Anthony Parker, 1993, professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors
Candace Parker, 2004, played women's college basketball at the University of Tennessee. Was 1st overall draft pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft. Currently plays for the Los Angeles Sparks. Winner of the National High-School Slam Dunk Contest
Sean Payton, 1981, Head coach of the New Orleans Saints
Jim Sonefeld, Founding member and drummer for Hootie & the Blowfish
Paula Zahn, 1974, Newscaster
Robert Zoellick, 1971, President of the World Bank
Matthew John Armstrong, 1991, actor
Sudip Bose, Iraq war hero, Former Major US Army
Paul Sereno, Famous Paleontologist

In 1996, Naperville Central put together an alumni committee to recognize outstanding graduates of NCHS and offer effective role models for students. This includes students who attended the high school before the construction of Naperville North. The committee is made up of a group of administrators, teachers, and students. A ceremony is held at the end of each school year to recognize the new inductees. Some of the above-named alumni have been honored by this committee.

[edit] Facility issues

There has been an increasing concern among the community about the safety and reliability of Naperville Central. Complaints of asbestos, leaky roofs, and unorganized structure cause it to be the main focus of Naperville School District 203's "Facilities Task Force".^[27] The Task Force sought community input about Central and other district facility issues.

The board decided on a plan in which large scale renovations would be done on the current building, rather than constructing a new one. The plan was put on a referendum, which was recently voted on. The referendum passed, and the work on renovations will begin in the 2008-2009 school year.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e DuPage Valley Conference

Glenbard East • Glenbard North • Naperville Central • Naperville North • West Aurora • Community High School • Wheaton North • Wheaton Warrenville South

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