The Upstate Eight Conference (''UEC'', ''U8C'', or ''Upstate 8'') is an organization of fourteen high schools in northeastern

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 ...

, representing ten communities in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

's suburbs. These high schools are all members 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 ...

. The high schools of the Upstate Eight Conference are located in Kane County,

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. ...

, and

DuPage County DuPage County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, and one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 932,877, making it Illinois' second-most populous county. Its county seat ...

. Originally, the conference had eight member schools, but over time the membership has varied from six to as many as sixteen schools without any change of name.

History

Formed in 1963 its charter members were DeKalb High School,

East Aurora High School East Aurora High School, (also known as EAHS or Aurora East High School), is a public, four-year high school located in Kane County, Illinois, Kane County, at the corner of Smith Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in Aurora, Illinois, a western suburb ...

, Elgin High School,

Larkin High School Larkin High School (''LHS'') is a public four-year high school located in Elgin, Illinois, United States. It is part of Elgin Area School District U46, which also includes Elgin High School, Bartlett High School, South Elgin High School, and ...

Glenbard East High School Glenbard East High School, or GBE, is a public four-year high school located in Lombard, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Glenbard Township High School District 87. East, on average, draws around 2,500 ...

, Naperville Community,

West Aurora High School West Aurora High School, or WAHS, is a public four-year high school located in Aurora, Illinois. It is part of West Aurora Public School District 129. The school is also referred to as "West," and "West High,". History High school classes ...

and Wheaton Community high schools. That next year Wheaton Community was renamed Wheaton Central when the district split. In 1965 Glenbard East left to join the Des Plaines Valley League and was replaced by St. Charles High School. Naperville Community and Wheaton Central left in 1975 to join the newly formed

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, ...

Lake Park High School Lake Park High School is a four-year public high school occupying two campuses, both located in Roselle, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. Freshmen and sophomores attend the East Campus (the original campus built in 1956), located near M ...

and newly opened

Streamwood High School Streamwood High School, or SHS, is a public four-year high school located in Streamwood, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Elgin Area School District U46, which also includes Bartlett High School, ...

were added in 1979, which led to a stable lineup for the next 12 years.

Waubonsie Valley High School Waubonsie Valley High School (WVHS) is a public four-year high school in Aurora, Illinois, United States. It was established in 1975; it is one of 3 high schools in Indian Prairie School District 204, along with Neuqua Valley High School and Met ...

, located in

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, joined in 1991.

left in 1997 to join the

. Newly opened schools Bartlett High School and

Neuqua Valley High School Neuqua Valley High School (NVHS) is a public four-year high school located near the corner of Illinois Route 59 and 95th Street in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Neuqua Valley is the counterpa ...

located in

Naperville Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a southwestern suburb of Chicago located west of the city on the DuPage River. As of the 2020 census, its population was 149,540, making it the state's ...

joined in 1998. St. Charles High School split into St. Charles East and St. Charles North in 2000, with St. Charles North joining in 2001.

South Elgin High School South Elgin High School (SEHS), opened August 24, 2005, is a four-year high school located in South Elgin, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Elgin Area School District U46. The school is locat ...

joined upon opening in 2005, preemptively taking DeKalb's place, as they left in 2006.

Batavia High School Batavia High School may refer to: * Batavia High School (Illinois) * Batavia High School (New York) * Batavia High School (Ohio) {{schooldis ...

and

Geneva High School Geneva High School may refer to: * Geneva High School (Alabama), Geneva, Alabama * Geneva High School (New York), Geneva, New York *Geneva High School (Ohio) Geneva High School is a four-year comprehensive school and an institute of secondary edu ...

joined in 2010 following the dissolution of the Western Sun Conference, and joined newly opened

Metea Valley High School Metea Valley High School is a high school in Aurora, Illinois that opened in August 2009 in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage County. The school is one of four high schools operated by the Indian Prairie School District 204, Indian Prairie School D ...

in Aurora to bring conference membership to 14 schools. Lake Park left the conference to join the DuPage Valley Conference for the 2013–2014 season and was replaced by

West Chicago 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 ...

and

will return to the Upstate Eight Conference for the 2014-2015 athletic season, leaving the

. For the 2015-2016 athletic season,

, and

leave the Upstate Eight conference for the

. Starting in the 2018–2019 school year, St. Charles North, St. Charles East, Batavia, and

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

will leave for the newly formed DuKane Conference along with Wheaton North, Wheaton Warrenville South, Glenbard North, and Lake Park from the

while new member,

Glenbard South High School Glenbard South High School (GSHS) is a public four-year high school located in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. It is part of Glenbard Township High School District 87, and is the smallest of the four Glenbard Township High Schools. It cont ...

joins in and the River and Valley Divisions became eliminated. In 2019–20 school year, Fenton will replace West Aurora when accepting to leave the conference for the

Southwest Prairie Conference The Southwest Prairie Conference (SPC) is an athletic and competitive activity conference consisting of twelve public high schools in Northern Illinois. These high schools are all members of the Illinois High School Association. History The c ...

. In the year of 2024–25, three former Metro Suburban Conference, Ridgewood, Elmwood Park and Riverside-Brookfield and West Aurora High School have joined the conference.

Membership

West

East

Former members

* Naperville Community HS split into Naperville Central HS and Naperville North HS (which had no connection with the conference) in 1970.
** School renamed Wheaton Warrenville South HS in 1992.
*** In 2000, St. Charles HS renamed St. Charles East when St. Charles North opened in 2001.

Timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:750 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1963 till:2025 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:s bar:1 color:red from:1963 till:2006 text: DeKalb (1963-2006) bar:2 color:red from:1963 till:end text: East Aurora (1963-present) bar:3 color:red from:1963 till:end text:

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario * Elgin, Manit ...

(1963-present) bar:4 color:red from:1963 till:1965 text: Glenbard East (1963-1965, 2014-present) bar:4 color:red from:2014 till:end bar:5 color:red from:1963 till:end text: Larkin (1963-present) bar:6 color:red from:1963 till:1970 text: Naperville Community (1963-1970) bar:7 color:red from:1963 till:1997 text: West Aurora (1963-1997, 2014-2019, 2024-present) bar:7 color:red from:2014 till:2019 bar:7 color:red from:2024 till:end bar:8 color:red from:1963 till:1964 text: Wheaton Community (1963-1964) bar:9 color:red from:1964 till:1975 text:Wheaton Central (1964-1975) bar:10 color:red from:1965 till:2018 text: St. Charles (1965-2018) bar:10 color:red from:2000 till:2018 text:St. Charles East (renamed in 2000) bar:11 color:red from:1970 till:1975 text:Naperville Central (1970-1975) bar:12 color:red from:1979 till:2013 text: Lake Park (1979-2013) bar:13 color:red from:1979 till:end text: Streamwood (1979-present) bar:14 color:red from:1991 till:2015 text:

Waubonsie Valley Waubonsie (c. 1760 – c. 1848) was a leader of the Potawatomi Native American people. His name has been spelled in a variety of ways, including Wabaunsee, Wah-bahn-se, Waubonsee, ''Waabaanizii'' in the contemporary Ojibwe language, and ''Wabanz ...

(1991-2015) bar:15 color:red from:1998 till:end text: Bartlett (1998-present) bar:16 color:red from:1998 till:2015 text:

Neuqua Valley Neuqua Valley High School (NVHS) is a public four-year high school located near the corner of Illinois Route 59 and 95th Street in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Neuqua Valley is the counterpa ...

(1998-2015) bar:17 color:red from:2001 till:2018 text: St. Charles North (2001-2018) bar:18 color:red from:2005 till:end text: South Elgin (2005-present) bar:19 color:red from:2010 till:2018 text: Batavia (2010-2018) bar:20 color:red from:2010 till:2018 text:

(2010-2018) bar:21 color:red from:2010 till:2015 text: Metea Valley (2010-2015) bar:22 color:red from:2013 till:end text:

(2013-present) bar:23 color:red from:2018 shift:(-59,-4) till:end text: Glenbard South (2018-present) bar:24 color:red from:2019 shift:(-30,-5) till:end text: Fenton (2019-present) bar:25 color:red from:2024 shift:(-123,-4) till:end text: Elmwood Park (2024-present) bar:26 color:red from:2024 shift:(-108,-3) till:end text: Ridgewood (2024-present) bar:27 color:red from:2024 shift:(-150,-3) till:end text: Riverside-Brookfield (2024-present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1963 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(175,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"Upstate Eight Conference Membership History 1963-present"

Sports

The conference currently oversees a total of 18 sports. Young men and women may compete 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 ...

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

Dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

, cross country,

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 ...

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

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 ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

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 ...

speech Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

, 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 ...

. Young men may 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 ...

, football, and

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

, 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) ...

References

External links

Upstate Eight Conference

Illinois High School Association, Official Site
{{Illinois High School Association Illinois high school sports conferences