Community High School, also known as West Chicago Community High School, WCCHS, or simply WE-GO, is a public four-year high school located in

West Chicago, Illinois West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 25,614 at the 2020 census. It was formerly named Junction and later Turner Junction, after its founder, John Bice Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Un ...

, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is the sole school in the Community High School District 94.

History

From 1904 to 1926, the old junior high school (since torn down and now the present location of the West Chicago Fire Department) and various buildings in the city of West Chicago were used as high school classrooms. On December 28, 1924, the citizens voted to construct a high school at the present site. The opening date of the new high school was September 23, 1926. The 21st annual commencement (the first at the new high school) was held on June 11, 1927. The graduating class consisted of 27 students (20 girls and 7 boys). In 1954, Community High School experienced its first addition to the building. That addition is the area that now includes the cafeteria, small gym, and some classroom facilities. In 1964 another major addition was approved by the Board of Education. This area includes the Bishop Gymnasium and all of the new classroom facilities in the northern part of the building. In 1978 additions were added to the north and south ends of the building providing a swimming pool, fieldhouse, greenhouses, library, commons, and administrative offices. In the summer of 1998 ground was broken for the addition of twenty-eight classrooms, a fitness center and dance studio, and the construction of a new sports stadium. The new classrooms, fitness center and dance studio are located on the west side of the building. In addition to new construction, the building referendum passed in 1997 included monies for the installation of new heating, ventilation, plumbing and air conditioning systems for the remaining parts of the building. The referendum allocated 1.8 million dollars for technology. Technology has been integrated into all classrooms in the school. The high school now has 12 fully equipped computer labs, an Online College and Career Center,a Yearbook Production Lab, and laptop computers.

Academics

In 2008, West Chicago had an average composite ACT score of 20.4 and graduated 96.1% of its senior class. West Chicago has not made

Adequate Yearly Progress Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) was a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allowed the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country was performing ...

(AYP) on the Prairie State Achievements Examination, which with the ACT comprise the assessment tools used in Illinois to fulfill the federal

No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a 2002 United States Act of Congress promoted by the presidential administration of George W. Bush. It reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and included Title I provisio ...

. Four of the school's five student subgroups did not meet minimum expectations in reading, while three did not meet minimum expectations in mathematics.Class of 2008 school report card; Information begins on p. 8 of this report; accessed 23 June 2009

Athletics

As of the 2013-14 school year, West Chicago will compete in the Upstate Eight Conference (UEC or U8C) and is a member of the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National F ...

(IHSA), which governs most interscholastic sports and competitive activities in Illinois. West Chicago formerly competed in the

DuPage Valley Conference The DuPage Valley Conference (DVC) is an organization of six high schools in northeastern Illinois, representing seven communities in Chicago's suburbs. These high schools are all members of the Illinois High School Association. The Conference, ...

(DVC), where it was one of the smallest schools. The change in conference was motivated to move to a conference of schools closer in enrollment. West Chicago's teams are stylized as the

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

. The Athletic Department sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, cross country, cheerleading,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

track & field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...

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. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and, wrestling. Young men may also compete in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, while young women may compete in

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

, and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

. The following teams have placed in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state championship tournament or meet:Season Summaries for WCCHS; ihsa.org; accessed 23 June 2009
/ref> * Soccer (boys): State Champions (2019–2020) * Football: State Champions (1974–75) * Swimming & Diving (girls): 3rd place (1991–92) * Volleyball (boys): 4th place (2000–01) * Wrestling: 4th place (1976–77)

Activities

West Chicago offers over 40 clubs and activities for students, ranging from academic and vocational, to cultural and leadership (the entire list of which can be foun
here
. Among the clubs which are chapters or affiliates of more national notable organizations are:

Future Business Leaders of America The Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an American career and technical student organization (CTSO) headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Established in 1940, FBLA is a non-profit organization of high school ("FBLA High School"), mi ...

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is one of the oldest, largest, and most widely recognized cocurricular student organizations in American high schools, with 1.4 million members. The purpose of the NHS is to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to ...

, SADD, and

SkillsUSA SkillsUSA is a United States career and technical student organization serving more than 395,000 high school, college and middle school students and professional members enrolled in training programs in trade, technical and skilled service oc ...

. The West Chicago Theatre program (Wego Drama) was invited to perform an original children's show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2016. The group was invited back in the summer of 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was cancelled. The following activities have placed in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state tournament: *

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

: 3rd place (1996–97); 2nd place (1994–95); State Champions (1995–96) *

Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

: State Champions (1986–87) Music Director Ron Benner The following ar
Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association
national awards that the members of the ''Wildcat Chronicle s''taff have won. * Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association's Write-off Competition, San Antonio, TX, 2012 ** Excellent Rating for Feature Writing, Liz Ramos ** Excellent Rating for Commentary, Giuliana LaMantia * JEA/NSPA San Diego, CA, 2014 ** Honorable Mention for Sports Writing, Katelyn Foehner ** Honorable Mention for Feature Writing, Alexandra Garibay * JEA/NSPA Seattle, WA, Spring 2017 ** Superior Rating for Photography, Theresa Carriveau *** Carriveau's award-winning photo from this competition was also featured on cover of the JEA ''Communication: Journalism Education Today'' magazine.

Notable alumni

* Tony Aiello TV reporter for WCBS-TV in New York City. Class of 1981 (known in high school as Carm Aiello). * Lisa Houle Actress in TV and movies. Scene of the Crime, Seinfeld, Emily of New Moon, Pontypool. * Scott Dierking was an

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

(1977–84), spending most of his career with the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

. * John Watanabe TV and radio host. TV commentator for Urban Wrestling Alliance and

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fir ...

. * Harris W. Fawell was a

U.S. Congressman The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

(1984–1999), who represented the 13th Congressional District of Illinois. * Chauncey W. Reed was a U.S. Congressman (1935–1956), who represented the 11th and 14th Congressional Districts of Illinois. He was briefly Chairman of the

House Judiciary Committee The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, f ...

. * Chris Voelz co-authoring the NCAA Guidelines for Gender Equityhttp://www.d94.org/cms/lib09/IL01905539/Centricity/Domain/22//eNews%20Archives/eNews%2009-30-16.pdf News from Community High School District 94 - September 30, 2016; accessed 3 November 2016 *

Martin O'Donnell Martin O'Donnell (born May 1, 1955) is an American composer, audio director, and sound designer best known for his work on video game developer Bungie's titles, such as the ''Myth'' series, ''Oni'', the ''Halo'' series, and ''Destiny''. O'Don ...

Composer primarily known for his work in game music, most notably the

Halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...

series. * John Konchar Current professional basketball player for the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the ...

References

External links

* {{authority control 1926 establishments in Illinois Educational institutions established in 1926 Public high schools in Illinois Schools in DuPage County, Illinois West Chicago, Illinois