DeKalb High School (Illinois)

DeKalb High School
Address
501 W. Dresser Road DeKalb, Illinois, 60115 USA
Coordinates	41°54′39″N 88°45′31″W / 41.9107°N 88.7587°W / 41.9107; -88.7587
Information
School type	public secondary
School district	DeKalb Community Unit 428
Superintendent	Dr. James Briscoe
Principal	Mr. Doug Moeller[1]
Grades	9–12
Gender	coed
Enrollment	1,593[2]
Average class size	22.4[2]
Campus type	suburban
Color(s)	orange      black
Mascot	Barbie Crow
Team name	Barbs
Average ACT scores	20.2[2]
Newspaper	Barb Wire
Yearbook	Kalibre
Website	official website

DeKalb High School is a public four-year high school located in De Kalb, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of DeKalb Community Unit School District 428.

History

DeKalb High School dates its founding to the early 1900s. The current campus building was constructed in 1967, with three classroom and facility additions since then. During the 1990s and through 2008, the district experienced strong growth, resulting in severe crowding. On February 5, 2008, voters in the district overwhelmingly approved a referendum to construct a new 400,000-square-foot (37,000 m²) high school facility on Dresser Road; east of Annie Glidden Road and west of Katz Park. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 27, 2009. The current campus will be repurposed for use as a middle school, the current Huntley Middle school will be repurposed as an elementary school, and the current Chesebro Elementary will be repurposed as an Early Childhood/Pre-K Center.

Academics

In 2009, DeKalb had an average composite ACT score of 20.2, and graduated 87.7% of its senior class.^[2] The school did not achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE), the test used in Illinois to fulfill mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.^[2] While the school overall achieved AYP, one of its two student subgroups failed to achieve AYP in mathematics and reading.^[2]

Athletics

DeKalb's 22 athletic teams are known as the Barbs. This name comes from the fact that barbed wire was invented in DeKalb County. Its nine boys teams and thirteen girls teams now compete in the Western Sun Conference—which was just formed in 2006—as well as in the Illinois High School Association. However, DHS is leaving the Western Sun for the 2010-2011 season to become a charter member of the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference.

National recognition

On February 7, 2009, the DHS basketball team gained national acclaim for not winning. Playing against Milwaukee Madison High School, DeKalb purposely missed two free throws in a demonstration of team sportsmanship. Just hours before this game began, Madison's senior captain, learned of his mother's death. To deal with his grief, Franklin came to the game and asked his coach to let him play. His coach informed the refs he was sending his captain in to play, even though he was not listed on that evening's roster. Sending in a player not on the roster would mean an automatic technical foul and two free throws for the opposing team. DeKalb's coach sent in a player who volunteered to take the free throws. That player intentionally missed the two shots, rolling the basketball out of bounds twice. Once the Madison team and fans realized what DeKalb had done in support of their captain, they stood and applauded the act. This event was covered extensively in the media, including ESPN.com,^[3] yahoo.com, World News Tonight, the Lou Dobbs Report, and others.^[4][5][6]

Music

• In 2008 the DHS Jazz Ensemble was named a finalist in the Essentially Ellington jazz ensemble competition, one of only 15 bands from all of North America to receive such honors.^[7]

• The DeKalb High School Guys' A Cappella group, Fly Check, won the ICHSA midwest regional championship in 2007 and 2008, and they attended nationals in New York City both years. They are one of 4 groups to be selected from the entire nation.

Other Extracurricular Activities

DeKalb sponsors the following extracurricular activities:

Art Workshop Anime Club Badminton DHS Marching Band Baseball Barb Wire Newspaper Basketball Bowling Cheerleading Class Organizations Cross Country DCP/SAFE Eco Buds F.F.A. Football Forensics French Club Gay Straight Alliance Graphics Club Golf Interact Club Intramural Sports Key Club Math Team Musicals

National Honor Society New Pennies Peer Mediation Plays Pom Poms S.A.D.D. Scholastic Bowl Shop Club Si-fi Club Soccer Softball Spanish Club Student Council Swimming Tennis Track and Field Voices of Diversity Volleyball W.Y.S.E. Wrestling Yearbook

Notable alumni

• Richard Jenkins - Academy Award-nominated actor
• Cindy Crawford - Supermodel
• Mel Owens - Football player
• Richard Powers - Novelist
• Doug Mallory - Defensive Coordinator, Indiana Hoosiers football
• Mike Mallory - Assistant Special Teams Coach, New Orleans Saints

External links

• Official website

References

1. ^ "Administrative contact information". DeKalb Community Unit School District 428. http://moss.dist428.org/schools/dhs/Pages/default.aspx. Retrieved 28 November 2009. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Illinois School Report Card". Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). 2009. http://moss.dist428.org/ParentsStudents/Documents/2009%20Report%20Cards/dhs2009.pdf. Retrieved 28 November 2009. 
3. ^ http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=3925981
4. ^ http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/catsfan/2009/02/all-about-greatness-in-sports.html
5. ^ http://bleacherreport.com/articles/126119-the-two-greatest-missed-free-throws-supports-grieving-opponent
6. ^ http://www.tampabay.com/sports/article1007132.ece
7. ^ "Essentially Ellington Website". http://www.jalc.org/about/news/2007/pdf/2008-03-04_ESSENTIALLY%20ELLINGTON.pdf. Retrieved 2008-03-08.