Normal Community High School

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Normal Community High School is a public high school located in Normal, Illinois that was founded in 1905. NCHS serves parts of Normal, Bloomington, and Towanda and is home to over 1,900 students (grades 9-12) with 150 faculty and staff. The Chicago Sun-Times named it as one of the "Top 50 Public High Schools in Illinois." U.S. News and World Report has ranked NCHS as one of the top schools in the U.S. in Best Schools 2008.

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[edit] Mission Statement

Normal Community High School will offer a high quality and diverse education that will continually foster the intellectual and emotional growth of students and staff in a safe, academic and social environment.

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[edit] History

The original NCHS was built in 1927. It had 14 classrooms, a gymnasium, library, and administrative offices. Average enrollment was 350.

In 1954, NCHS had grown to the point where additional classrooms and facilities were needed. This need resulted in two additions, one at the north end housing a cafeteria and music and speech classrooms, and one at the south end housing a new gymnasium (Arends), physics lab, agriculture lab, metals lab, woodworking lab and electronics lab. NCHS on Kingsley Street. Again, in 1967, the growth of the community and increased enrollment resulted in a new addition to the NCHS building. This included another new gymnasium (Neuman), a new cafeteria, a new library, new biology and chemistry labs, an automotive lab, new classrooms and office space for the Unit 5 Superintendent. Average student enrollment after this last addition was over 1350 students, peaking at 1956 in 1974, immediately before the opening of Parkside Junior High School and the movement of 9th grade students to Chiddix and Parkside.

On March 21, 2000, the Unit 5 Referendum was passed. This referendum approved a spending budget of over 73 million dollars, of which the State of Illinois will fund nearly 18 million dollars, for new construction and renovation of Unit 5 facilities. This had quite an impact on NCHS.

The brand new campus opened for NCHS on an entirely new site on Raab Road northeast of Normal in August 2003. The new school includes state-of-the-art, modern facilities for all academic and co-curricular programs, including a swimming pool.

A portion of the previous NCHS building was remodeled to become a new junior high school (Kingsley Junior High School) for Unit 5. The original 1927 construction was torn down and the 1954 and 1967 sections completely updated and new addition built on the south end.

In fall 2003 NCHS officially opened at its new location on Raab Road. This marked the beginning of the first school year at Normal Community's new location.

[edit] Academics/Courses

NCHS offers a wide variety of academic courses. Depending if enough people sign up for a class, most departments have at least one AP class, along with several different levels of workload for students of different abilities. There are various honors classes offered by the science, mathematics, and English departments. They include biology, chemistry, geometry, algebra two, and English literature.

[edit] Sports

The Normal Community High School Ironmen and Lady Iron have had numerous success with athletics. They are also home to many athletic teams including:

Fall Sports: Football, Boys Cross Country, Girls Cross Country, Boys Golf, Girls Golf, Boys Soccer, Girls Swimming, Girls Tennis, Volleyball, Cheerleading (Football)

Winter Sports: Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, Wrestling, Boys Swimming, Cheerleading (Basketball)

Spring Sports: Baseball, Boys Tennis, Boys Track and Field, Girls Track and Field, Softball, Girls Soccer

Normal Community's most recent success came in 2005 and 2006 in football. In 05', the team went to its first State Championship in nearly 30 years. They were led by their six captains, Quarterback Craig Lutes, Offensive Linemen Darren Dierkes and Michael Cross, Linebacker Shannon Cobb, Running back John Venerable, and Defensive back Jake Detmers.In 2006 the Football team won their first class 6A State Championship after last years second place finish. They were led by senior captains Jake Detmers, Sam Smith, Marcus King, Omar Clayton, Cornell Caldwell, and Nick Price.

Recent Highlights for each sport (from 2000-present):

Football: Have qualified for the state playoffs 11 years in a row. Has had a 114-36 record under current head coach Hud Venerable.

Boys Cross Country: 3 straight Regional titles (2001-2003). Back to back Sectional Champions in 2002 and 2003. Has qualified for the state championship meet 3 times in the last 5 years. Notable Alumni (currently competing in college): Ben Love (Northwood University), Chris Zook (Augustana College), Jared Starnes (SIUE), David vanderLaan (Calvin College)

Girls Cross Country: 6 straight Regional titles. 7 straight Conference titles. Sectional champions in 2002 and 2004. Qualified for the state championship meet the last 5 years. Notable Alumni (currently competing in college): Angela Whalen (Lewis University), Stacey Turilli (Illinois State), Megan Johnson (Carthage College), Olivia Myers (Chicago)

Boys Golf: Regional Title in 2000, Matt Miller class of 2003 having great success at Illinois State University.

Girls Golf: Regional Title in 2001. Placed 7th in state in 2002.

Boys Soccer: Regional Titles in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

Girls Swimming: N/A

Girls Tennis: 4 straight Sectional Championships (2003,2004,2005,2006)

Volleyball: 11 straight Regional Championships (1996-2006). 5 straight Sectional Championships (2001-2005). Placed 4th in the state in 2001 and 3rd in the state in 2002.

Boys Basketball: Regional Champions in 2002, 2003 and 2005. Qualified for the state tournament in 2003.

Girls Basketball: Regional Champions in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Sectional Champions in 2004.

Wrestling: Sent many athletes to the State wrestling tournament. They hold a record of 200-86 under current coach Dave Baeten.

Boys Swimming: Sectional Champions in 2004 and 2005. 3 time Intercity champs.

Baseball: Regional Champions in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. Qualified for the State Tournament in 2004.

Boys Tennis: N/A

Boys Track and Field: Sent many athletes to the State Championships. Won 2004 Intercity title snapping a 9 year run by rival high school, Bloomington High School. Won Intercity again in 2005.

Girls Track and Field: Sends many athletes to regional, sectional, and State Championships every year under coaches Tom Patten and Amy Scott. The 4 X 400 meter relay qualified for State 9 years in a row. The team placed 10 in State in 1997.

Softball: 4 Regional titles from 2000-2003. Sectional Champions in 2000, 2001 and 2003. Qualified for the State Playoffs in 2000, 2001 and 2003. 2nd place in state in 2001. State Champions in 2000 and 2007.

Girls Soccer: Regional Champions in 2004. They have a record of 67-30-11 (wins-losses-ties) under current coach Matt Chapman.

[edit] Demographics

As of 2005 the NCHS student body is 81.4 % White, 3.4% Asian/Pacific Islander ,9.9 % Black, 4 % Hispanic, and 2 % other.

[edit] References

[edit] See also