Alan B. Shepard High School

Last updated

Alan B. Shepard High School
ShepardHSlogo.png
Address
Alan B. Shepard High School
13049 S. Ridgeland Avenue

Palos Heights
,
Illinois
60463

United States
Coordinates 41°39′18″N87°46′28″W / 41.6551°N 87.7744°W / 41.6551; -87.7744
Information
School type public secondary
Opened1976
School district Community HS 218
SuperintendentJosh Barron [1]
PrincipalTimothy Baker, Ed.D. [2]
Staff173 [3]
Teaching staff124.60 (FTE) [4]
Grades 9–12
Gender coed
Enrollment1,973 (2022-2023) [4]
Average class size22.4 [5]
Student to teacher ratio15.83 [4]
Campus type suburban
Color(s)  Brown
  Orange [6]
SongWe're the Astros [7]
Fight song Fight, Fight for Shepard High [7]
Athletics conference South Suburban Conference [6]
Team nameAstros
Lady Astros [6]
PublicationSpectrum [8]
NewspaperFreedom 7 [7]
YearbookOdyssey [7]
Alumni http://shepardalumni.com/
Website http://shepard.chsd218.org/

Alan B. Shepard High School is a public secondary school located in Palos Heights, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago. The school, along with Dwight D. Eisenhower High School and Harold L. Richards High School are part of Community High School District 218. Students who attend the school live in the communities of Palos Heights, Crestwood, Worth, Alsip, Robbins, and Calumet Park. The school is named in honor of Alan B. Shepard, the first American astronaut to travel into space and the fifth person to walk on the Moon.

Contents

History

As early as 1966, District 218 began looking for a site for a third high school. The school and local residents argued between two sites located on either side of the intersection of 120th Street and Pulaski Avenue in Alsip. [9] In 1972, the district asked voters in the district to approve a bond issue to raise money for a new school to be located in Palos Heights. [10] Most recently Alan B. Shepard High School has ranked 54th in Illinois and 2,062nd nationally. [11]

Academics

In 2008, Shepard had an average composite ACT score of 19.7, and graduated 86.4% of its senior class. [5] The school has not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the Prairie State Achievement Examination, which is the state assessment used to fulfill mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. [5] Overall, the school failed to meet minimum standards in reading and mathematics, in addition to having three of the school's four student subgroups fail to meet expectations in reading and mathematics. [5]

Student life

Activities

The school offers over 30 extracurricular clubs ranging from student publications and academic competitions to service and special interest clubs. [12] Clubs which are chapters or affiliates of nationally notable organizations include Future Educators of America, Key Club, Leo Club, and Quill and Scroll. [13] The school also has an alumni organization serving graduates and faculty.

Extracurricular Success

The School's extracurricular success overshadows that of their athletic success. The Shepard Marching Astros, Shepard Mathletes, Shepard Show Choir, and Shepard Speech Team have been the most successful in their respective domains. The most notable of which being the Shepard speech [14] sending state qualifiers to the IHSA state tournament every year. The Team hosting six recent state champions including: Kirsten LaMantia in Special Occasion Speaking (2003) Jasmine Lockett in Original Oratory (2009) Amy Ramelli in Original Comedy (2010) Leah Ellis in Special Occasions Speaking (2011) Glorielle Williams in Poetry Reading (2012) Lindsie Bliss in Informative Speaking (2014).

Athletics

Shepard competes in the South Suburban Conference and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA); the organization which governs most sports and competitive activities in the state. Teams are stylized as the Astros (for men) and Lady Astros (for women).

The school sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in basketball, bowling, cross country, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and water polo. [15] Young men may compete in baseball, football, golf, wrestling while young women may compete in badminton, cheerleading, and softball. [15] While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school also sponsors a poms team for young women. [15]

The school's badminton team is the only athletic team to place in the top four of their IHSA sponsored state tournament, placing third twice (1979–80, 1991–92) and second twice (1990–91, 1997–98). [16]

Notable alumni


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highland Park High School (Highland Park, Illinois)</span> Public school in Highland Park, Illinois, United States

Highland Park High School (HPHS) is a public four-year high school located in Highland Park, Illinois, a North Shore suburb of Chicago, Illinois. It is part of Township High School District 113. From 1900 to 1904, the school was known as Deerfield High School. The high school served both Deerfield and Shields townships from 1904 until 1936 and was Deerfield-Shields High School. The building of Lake Forest High School in 1936 provided a school to serve Shields Township students. This led to the return of the name Highland Park High School. A new, separate Deerfield High School opened 20 years later to serve the growing population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maine South High School</span> Secondary school in Park Ridge, Illinois, United States

Maine South High School is a public four-year high school located in Park Ridge, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Maine Township High School District 207.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deerfield High School (Illinois)</span> Public secondary school in Deerfield, Illinois, United States

Deerfield High School is a comprehensive public high school in Deerfield, Illinois, United States. It is part of Township High School District 113, which also includes Highland Park High School. DHS opened in 1959, and graduated its first class in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illinois High School Association</span> School and sports organization that represents the high schools from the State of Illinois.

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 Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). The IHSA regulates 14 sports for boys, 15 sports for girls, and eight co-educational non-athletic activities. More than 760 public and private high schools in the state of Illinois are members of the IHSA. The Association's offices are in Bloomington, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brother Rice High School (Chicago)</span> Private parochial boys school in the United States

Brother Rice High School is a Catholic, all-male college preparatory institution in Chicago, Illinois, administered under the Congregation of Christian Brothers. On the same block of land, directly to the east, is the all-female Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School, while Saint Xavier University is just to the south of Mother McAuley, and to the southeast of Brother Rice. Its enrollment is mostly drawn from local neighborhoods such as Beverly, Mount Greenwood, West Lawn, Morgan Park, and Ashburn, as well as local suburban municipalities such as Oak Lawn, Evergreen Park, Palos Heights, Orland Park, Tinley Park, Burbank, and Alsip. The Christian Brothers founded the school in 1956. The school's namesake is the founder of their religious order, Edmund Ignatius Rice. It is affiliated with the identically-named Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North High School (Downers Grove, Illinois)</span> Public school in Illinois, United States

Downers Grove North High School is public high school situated in the city of Downers Grove in the Illinois state of the United States. The school was established in 1928.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James B. Conant High School</span> Public secondary school in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States

James B. Conant High School is a public four-year high school located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School District 211, which also includes William Fremd High School, Hoffman Estates High School, Palatine High School, and Schaumburg High School. Feeder schools are Mead Junior High, Keller Junior High, Frost Junior High, and St. Hubert Catholic School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wheeling High School</span> Public secondary school in Wheeling, Illinois, United States

Wheeling High School (WHS) is a public four-year high school located in Wheeling, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School District 214, which also includes Buffalo Grove High School, Elk Grove High School, John Hersey High School, Prospect High School, and Rolling Meadows High School. The school serves the communities of Wheeling, Prospect Heights, Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove and Mount Prospect. U.S. News & World Report ranked WHS as the 6th high school in District 214, the 133rd high school in Illinois, and as the 3,664th high school in the United States in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marian Catholic High School (Illinois)</span> Private, coeducational school in Chicago Heights, Illinois, United States

Marian Catholic High School is a co-educational secondary school in Chicago Heights, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amos Alonzo Stagg High School</span> Public secondary school in Palos Hills, Illinois, United States

Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, Stagg, or AAS, is a public four-year high school located at the intersection of S. Roberts Rd. and W. 111th Street in Palos Hills, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Consolidated High School District 230, which also includes Victor J. Andrew High School and Carl Sandburg High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fenton High School (Illinois)</span> Public secondary school in Bensenville, Illinois

Fenton High School, or FHS, is a public four-year high school located in Bensenville, Illinois, located on the western suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school in Community High School District 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worth Township, Cook County, Illinois</span> Township in Illinois, United States

Worth Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, its population was 152,934, with its most populous municipalities including Oak Lawn, Evergreen Park (19,943), Alsip, and Chicago Ridge. It was founded in 1849, when the county voted to subdivide itself into townships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oak Lawn Community High School</span> Public secondary school in Oak Lawn, Illinois, United States

Oak Lawn Community High School, is a public four-year high school in Oak Lawn, Illinois, in the Chicago metropolitan area. The name "Spartans" and the colors Kelly Green and White were chosen by a committee in tribute to the Michigan State University Spartans, who won the Rose Bowl in 1954.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dwight D. Eisenhower High School (Blue Island, Illinois)</span> Public secondary school in Blue Island, Illinois, United States

Dwight D. Eisenhower High School is a public four-year high school located in Blue Island, Illinois, a southern suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Community High School District 218 along with sister schools Alan B. Shepard High School and Harold L. Richards High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnsburg High School</span> Public high school in Johnsburg, Illinois, United States

Johnsburg High School is a public secondary school in Johnsburg, Illinois; it serves grades 9–12 for the Johnsburg Community Unit School District #12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thornton Fractional North High School</span> Public secondary school in Calumet City, Illinois, United States

Thornton Fractional North High School is a Public Secondary school in Calumet City, Illinois. It first opened its doors in March 1926.

The Community High School District 218 is a public high school district with offices in Oak Lawn, Illinois. As of 2017–18, there were 5,405 students enrolled in three high schools and an alternative high school. The district also owns two learning centers. The district's superintendent is Josh Barron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palatine High School</span> Public secondary school in Palatine, Illinois, United States

Palatine High School, or PHS, is a public four-year high school in Township High School District 211. Located at 1111 N. Rohlwing Road in Palatine, Illinois, United States, a northwest suburb of Chicago, it serves primarily all of and only those areas of Palatine northeast of the UP NW tracks, but also serves small portions of Arlington Heights and Barrington. In addition, PHS is a magnet school for the entire district's special education program. Feeder schools include Winston Campus Junior High and Sundling Junior High. Elementary schools in the attendance area include; Winston Campus, Lake Louise, Jane Addams, Virginia Lake, Lincoln, Sanborn and Paddock.

Thornridge High School is a public four-year high school located in Dolton, Illinois, a suburb about 20 miles south of Chicago. The school is part of Thornton Township High School District 205. Thornridge High School first opened to the public in 1960 after completing construction of the current building. It serves the cities/villages of Dolton, Harvey, South Holland, Phoenix, Burnham, Calumet City, and Markham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southwest Suburban Conference</span>

The Southwest Suburban Conference is an athletic and competitive activity conference consisting of public secondary schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

References

  1. ↑ "Superintendent". Community HS District 218. Archived from the original on August 13, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Administration". directory. Alan B. Shepard HS. Archived from the original on August 13, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Alan B. Shepard High School Faculty & Staff". directory. Alan B. Shepard HS. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 "A B Shepard High Sch (Campus)". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Illinois School Report Card" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 13, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 "Palos Heights (Shepard)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). November 19, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "About Us". Alan B. Shepard High School. Archived from the original on October 9, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Literary Magazine (Spectrum)". Alan B. Shepard HS. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  9. ↑ "District School Boards Clash Over Building Location in Alsip". Chicago Tribune. May 26, 1966. pp. IND3.
  10. ↑ "Bond OK Asked for New School in Palos Heights". Chicago Tribune. September 17, 1972. pp. S5.
  11. ↑ usn. "Alan B. Shepard High School". Archived from the original on March 26, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Shepard Activities". Alan B. Shepard High School. Alan B. Shepard High School. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Activities and Clubs". directory. Alan B Shepard HS. Archived from the original on October 9, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2009.
  14. ↑ "Team results – Shepard". SpeechWire.
  15. 1 2 3 "Athletic Team Pages". Alan B. Shepard HS. Archived from the original on October 9, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  16. ↑ "IHSA Season summaries". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). November 16, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  17. ↑ "Alan B. Shepard (Palos Heights, IL) Alumni Pro Stats". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  18. ↑ "Alan B. Shepard Alumni Famous Alumni". Alan B. Shepard Alumni. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
  19. ↑ "Ron Mahay". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Alan B. Shepard Alumni Famous Alumni". Alan B. Shepard Alumni. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.