The Southern Wisconsin and Illinois Small Schools Conference, more commonly referred to as the SWISS Conference, is a former high school

athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...

. It was in existence from 1982 to 2006, and consisted primarily of

private schools A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their financial endowme ...

in southern

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and northern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

History

1982-1996

The SWISS Conference was formed in 1982 by five small private high schools in Wisconsin and Illinois: Heritage Christian School in New Berlin,

Keith Country Day School Keith Country Day School is a private, fully accredited, independent, nonsectarian, college-preparatory school located in Rockford, Illinois, USA. It serves students from the preschool level (referred to as "cottage") to 12th grade.Keith Country ...

in Rockford, Parkway Christian Academy in Oak Creek,

University Lake School University Lake School is an independent school in Delafield, in the Lake Country area of Waukesha County in Wisconsin. ULS opened in 1956 on the 1840 Vettelson Farm near the eastern shore of Nagawicka Lake. Anne Vettelson deeded the land to th ...

in Hartland and Waukegan Christian School. Faith Christian School in

Williams Bay Williams Bay is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. It is one of three municipalities on Geneva Lake. The population was 2,953 at the 2020 census. On June 22, 2024 the town was hit by an EF-1 tornado, there were no injurie ...

became the sixth member of the SWISS Conference in 1983, and the arrival of

Brookfield Academy Brookfield Academy is a non-sectarian, private PreK–12 school in Brookfield, Wisconsin. The school opened on September 10, 1962, in a converted ranch-style house. The Academy has expanded over the years with new buildings and more teachers ...

brought the membership total to seven schools the next year. In 1989, two years after attaining membership in the

Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association The Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association is a former organization for high school athletics in Wisconsin. Consisting entirely of private schools, it was formed in 1968 and completed a merger with the Wisconsin Interscholastic At ...

, Heritage Christian School left the SWISS Conference for membership in the Midwest Classic Conference. Christian Life School in

Kenosha Kenosha () is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is the fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 99,986 at the 2020 census. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Ke ...

replaced them that same year. In 1990, the SWISS Conference added three new members:

Abundant Life Christian School Abundant Life Christian School (ALCS) is a private Christian school located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It is one of the largest non-sectarian private schools in the Madison area. ALCS was founded by Lake City Church (formerly Madison ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

, Berean Baptist Christian School in Rockford and Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delavan.

1996-2006

The SWISS Conference would remain at ten members until 1996, when Brookfield Academy was invited to join the Midwest Classic Conference. Two years later, Abundant Life Christian left the SWISS Conference to compete as an independent during the merger between WISAA and the

Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the earliest continually existing high school athletic organization in the country. ...

. In 2005, Christian Life exited for membership in the Midwest Classic Conference and Parkway Christian Academy joined the Indian Trails Conference, bringing membership down to six schools. The SWISS Conference was disbanded in 2006, and its member schools were dispersed to other conference. Wisconsin School for the Deaf rejoined the Indian Trails Conference in 2006. The other two Wisconsin-based members of the SWISS Conference (Faith Christian School and University Lake School) and two of the three Illinois-based schools (Berean Baptist and Keith Country Day) became members of the Indian Trails Conference in 2007 after competing as independents. The final school, Westlake Christian Academy in

Grayslake {{Infobox settlement , name = Grayslake, Illinois , settlement_type = Village , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = Grayslake.PNG , image_caption ...

, also competed as an independent.

Conference membership history

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1982 till:2006 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m bar:1 color:tan1 from:1982 till:1989 text:Heritage Christian School (1982-1989) bar:2 color:tan1 from:1982 till:2006 text:Keith Country Day School (IL) (1982-2006) bar:3 color:tan1 from:1982 till:2005 text:Parkway Christian Academy (1982-2005) bar:4 color:tan1 from:1982 till:2006 text:University Lake School (1982-2006) bar:5 color:tan1 from:1982 till:1995 text:Waukegan Christian School (IL) (1982-1995) bar:5 color:tan1 from:1995 till:2006 text:Westlake Christian Academy (IL) (1995-2006) bar:6 color:tan1 from:1983 till:2006 text:Faith Christian School (1983-2006) bar:7 color:tan1 from:1984 till:1996 text:Brookfield Academy (1984-1996) bar:8 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2005 text:Christian Life School (1989-2005) bar:9 color:tan1 from:1990 till:1998 text:Abundant Life Christian School (1990-1998) bar:10 color:tan1 from:1990 till:2006 text:Berean Baptist Christian School (IL) (1990-2006) bar:11 color:tan1 from:1990 till:2006 text:Wisconsin School for the Deaf (1990-2006) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1982

List of state champions

Fall sports

Winter sports

None

Spring sports

None

References

{{Illinois High School Association Wisconsin high school sports conferences Illinois high school sports conferences Sports organizations established in 1982 1982 establishments in Wisconsin 1982 establishments in Illinois 2006 disestablishments in Wisconsin 2006 disestablishments in Illinois