Hinsdale Central High School

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For Hinsdale Central School in New York, see Hinsdale Central School.
Hinsdale Central High School
Hinsdale Central logo.png
Address
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
5500 South Grant Street

Hinsdale
,
Illinois
60521

United States
Coordinates41°47′14″N 87°56′0″W / 41.78722°N 87.93333°W / 41.78722; -87.93333Coordinates: 41°47′14″N 87°56′0″W / 41.78722°N 87.93333°W / 41.78722; -87.93333
Information
School typepublic secondary
Opened1879
School districtHinsdale Township High School District 86
SuperintendentBruce Law
PrincipalWilliam Walsh
Teaching staff204.65 (FTE)[1]
Grades9–12
Gendercoed
Enrollment2,728 (2018-19)[1]
Student to teacher ratio13.33[1]
Campussuburban
Color(s)  Red
  White
Athletics conferenceWest Suburban Conference
NicknameRed Devils
PublicationSolstice
NewspaperDevils' Advocate
YearbookEl Diablo
Websitehttp://hc.hinsdale86.org/
[2][3]

Hinsdale Central High School, or HCHS (locally referred to as simply "Central") is a public four-year high school located at the corner of W. 55th St. and S. Grant St. in Hinsdale, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded in 1879, the school is well known for its large spending per student, academic excellence, and athletic programs. It is part of Hinsdale Township High School District No. 86, which also includes Hinsdale South High School. The school is 17 miles west of Chicago and serves a suburban residential area of approximately 35,000 people. The Central campus draws its students from all of the village of Hinsdale, majority of Clarendon Hills and Oak Brook, and small parts of Burr Ridge, Darien, Willowbrook and Westmont.[4]

The official name of the school is Hinsdale Township High School Central, often abbreviated Hinsdale TWP HS Central. This name is derived from the school's original name: Hinsdale Township High School (HTHS). "Central" was added to the original name when Hinsdale South High School opened in 1965.

History[]

The high school began as a single classroom added in 1879 to the elementary school, then known as South Side School.[5] The classroom was added when community members saw the need for education beyond eighth grade. All twelve grades shared the ca. 1866 schoolhouse, built at Garfield and Third Streets by William Robbins. At this time, there were five teachers, including the principal, teaching about 120 students grades 1 through 12. The first high school class graduated in 1883 and had four students: Alice Warren, Minnie Hinds, Grace Redfield, and Florence Webster.[5]

In 1894 the school building burned, and was replaced by a new building on the same site. In 1911 the school district was reorganized, and the school became officially known as Hinsdale Township High School. In 1916 a new school building was completed nearby.

By the 1930s, a site for a new school to serve the growing community was purchased south of town at the corner of 55th & Grant Streets. Though a new football field was dedicated on this property in 1932, Depression and World War II constraints postponed construction until 1948. The current high school building was dedicated in 1950.

By the 1960s, two additional school sites were purchased. Hinsdale South High School opened in 1965 at the corner of Clarendon Hills Road and 75th Street in Darien. It was then that the word "Central" was added to the name of the school. The other property at the corner of Midwest Road and 31st Street in Oak Brook, for a potential Hinsdale North High School, was later determined to be not needed, and was sold. This property now forms part of the Trinity Lakes Subdivision.

In 2004, the school underwent additional construction to alleviate crowded hallways and rebuild deteriorating parts of the building. The reconstruction included a new 5 million dollar library, extended cafeteria, and connected hallways greatly opening up the campus and improving the flow of traffic.

In 2007, it was the only high school in the country to be nominated as a Character Counts school and was named Character Counts School of the Year [6]

In 2009, Hinsdale Central was named the National School Of Character by the Character Counts! organization.

In 2015, Hinsdale Central set a record, winning eight state athletic championships in a single season.[7] The state championship teams included girls tennis, girls golf, boys wrestling, boys cross country, boys soccer, boys golf, boys swimming, and boys tennis .[8]

Academics[]

In 2021, Hinsdale Central High School was rated the 52nd best public high school in the U.S. and ranked #7 in Illinois-based high schools by Newsweek Magazine's annual “America’s Best High Schools” feature.[9]

The Class of 2017 average SAT score was 1218, 8th in the state of Illinois.[9] Hinsdale Central students are well-prepared for success, and flourishing in a challenging environment with a 13:1 student-to-teacher ratio.[9]


Student life[]

Athletics[]

The school competes within the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), and has won at least 106 state championships to date.[10] Current sports include boys' and girls' lacrosse, basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, gymnastics, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, and water polo. [11]

In addition, the school has boys; baseball, football, and wrestling teams and girls' badminton and softball teams.[11]

Furthermore, while not sponsored by the IHSA, the school also sponsors girls' lacrosse, and a boys' hockey team (known as the "Ice Devils").[11]

Clubs and activities[]

The school offers eighty clubs,[12] including community service organizations, academic competition teams, foreign language groups, and special interest clubs. Many clubs have won local and state awards and competitions.

The following IHSA sponsored competitive activities have finished in the top 4 of their respective state tournament:[13]

  • Chess: 3rd place (2009–10, 2010–11, 2013–14)
  • Speech Individual Events: 3rd place (2007–08, 2013–14, 2019-20); State Champions (2014–15, 2018-19)
  • Scholastic Bowl: 2nd place (1997–98, 2001–02, 2014–15); State Champions (1991–92, 2015–16)

In November 2013, the school newsmagazine, Devils' Advocate, was awarded the National Scholastic Press Association Newspaper Pacemaker Award for the 2012-2013 school year's publication.

Technology initiative[]

Grade notification, attendance, discipline records, schedules, and registration information are available online. Hinsdale Central has integrated their server with Microsoft's SharePoint Services solution as opposed to their original use of Blackboard in the 2003-2004 school year. Students and faculty members are also given a school email, running Microsoft Exchange Servers.[citation needed]

The school provides teachers with Tablet PCs, and the school is equipped with wireless internet access points. Tablet PC carts and desktop PC workstations are also available to students. Starting in the 2018-19 school year, all students at HCHS were given Chromebooks to use for taking notes and accessing the internet. The school offers several wifi networks, each with varying degrees of access control and freedom. However, student access to the wifi was removed beginning in the 2018-19 school year, and devices have to be manually added to the new system by the school technology team.[citation needed]

Hinsdale Central has a fully equipped and operating radio room which powers its own radio station, WHSD 88.5 FM. This station is also operated by Hinsdale Central's sister school, Hinsdale South High School.[citation needed]

Marching band in New York

Notable alumni[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Hinsdale Central High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  2. ^ "Search for Public Schools - School Detail for Hinsdale Central High School". ed.gov. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  3. ^ "2008-09 list of student activities at Hinsdale Central HS" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 19, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
  4. ^ "School Profile 2007-2008" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 16, 2008.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Williams, Sandra Bennett (February 25, 2013). Hinsdale (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 978-0738594323.
  6. ^ "Character Counts! Chronicle". Charactercounts.org. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved October 8, 2009.
  7. ^ "Hinsdale Central wins 8 titles in a single year | Coach & Athletic Director". Coach and Athletic Director. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  8. ^ "Hinsdale Central wins 8 titles in a single year | Coach & Athletic Director". Coach and Athletic Director. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c Staff, Chicago Tribune (9 Nov 2017). "SAT scores in Illinois: See how your high school compares". ChicagoTribune.com.
  10. ^ "IHSA". www.ihsa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c "HCHS Athletic Department; accessed 23 May 2014". 8to18. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
  12. ^ "Activities / Clubs & Activities" Check |url= value (help). http. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  13. ^ "Hinsdale Central Season Summaries; IHSA.org; accessed 24 February 2017". Ihsa.org. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Bell, Taylor (August 22, 2007). "Bell, Taylor; Hinsdale Central - High School of the Week; 22 August 2007; Chicago Sun-Times; accessed 3 May 2009". Suntimes.com. Retrieved October 8, 2009.
  15. ^ Bosch, Sandy (July 27, 2010). "Bosch, ; 'New BP chief has Hinsdale connection; 27 July 2010; Pioneer Local; accessed 27 July 2010". Pioneerlocal.com. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  16. ^ "Andrew Gutman - Men's Soccer". Indiana University Athletics. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  17. ^ "Roster Page". 2009 International Conference on Future Networks. IEEE. 2009. doi:10.1109/icfn.2009.67. ISBN 978-0-7695-3567-8.
  18. ^ Erickson, Matt (June 25, 2011). "Erickson, Matt; Lamas drops weight for UFC; 25 June 2011; Chicago Tribune; accessed 9 July 2016". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  19. ^ "Chicago's newest billionaire, 31-year-old Rishi Shah, is self-made". suntimes.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  20. ^ Valentin, Rob. "Brian Wardle hopes to carry success to Bradley from UW-Green Bay". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 22, 2019.

Further reading[]

  • Baaken, Timothy. HINSDALE. Hinsdale, Ill.: Hinsdale Doings, 1976.
  • Dugan, Hugh. VILLAGE ON THE COUNTY LINE. Privately Printed, 1949.
  • Sterling, Tom, and Mary Sterling. HINSDALE AND THE WORLD. Hinsdale, Ill.: Sterling Books, 19

External links[]

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