Oak Park and River Forest High School, or OPRF, is a public four-year high school located in Oak Park, Illinois, a neighborhood bordering Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school of Oak Park and River Forest District 200.
Founded in 1873, the current school building opened in 1907. A comprehensive college preparatory school, OPRF has had a long history of not only turning out alumni who have made contributions in a wide variety of fields, but have consistently been eminently notable in their fields. Perhaps the most notable is Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway, whose writing career began at the school.
Throughout most of its history, the school has been a centerpiece of the Oak Park community, serving as host to a number of community events. Many of these events included lecturers and performances from many notable people from a variety of fields. Throughout the twentieth century, the school was also on the front lines of students rights issues ranging from fraternity/sorority membership in the early twentieth century to the rights of homosexuals and African-Americans at the century's end.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
History
The school's history in many ways parallels that of many American suburban high schools as it saw changes due to differences in demographics, changes due to the world wars, and alterations made because of financial difficulties. The school has been a waypoint for a number of notable individuals who have lectured or performed at the school. The school has also seen its share of challenges, ranging from student membership in secret societies to issues that impact homosexuals, women, and African-Americans. Much of the history comes from the crest which portrays the quote "Those things that are best" in Greek.
Traditions
School crest
The school's crest is a shield divided into three sections. The top left section depicts an acorn cradled in the leaves of an oak tree. The bottom section consists of horizontal wavy lines, suggesting a flowing river, while the right section depicts a group of three trees which represents a park or forest (thus incorporating the town names "oak park and river forest"). The top left section is separated from the other two sections by a wide divider inscribed with the school's motto ?? ?'?????? (Those things that are best), which conveys the hope that each student and teacher will strive for strong character and the best of their abilities. The crest has been a symbol of the school since 1908.
Scholarship Cup
In lieu of having a valedictorian, the high school presents the Scholarship Cup. The Scholarship Cup is an award presented to the graduating seniors who have the highest weighted GPA in their graduating class, after the seventh semester of enrollment (though transfer students remain eligible for the award, provided they have been in attendance for five semesters prior to the Cup being awarded.
Academics
In 2008, OPRF had an average composite ACT score of 23.5, and graduated 94.3% of its senior class. While the school overall made AYP, one of the school's five student subgroups failed to achieve AYP in both reading and math. One other student subgroup failed to meet AYP in reading, while another failed to meet AYP in mathematics.
The following Advanced Placement courses are offered:
Student life
The arts
The school sponsors a number of organizations related to studying or performing in the arts.
OPRF has been listed six times on Newsweek's top 1500 American public schools, as measured by the Challenge Index. In 2009, the school was ranked #549. In previous years, the school was ranked No. 554 (2003), No. 590 (2005), No. 501 (2006), No. 688 (2007), and No. 379 (2008).
On October 31, 1907, the school's orchestra was founded. While more common today, Oak Park was one of the first schools to offer credit toward graduation based on student performance in the orchestra.
Among the school's music and song groups are a gospel choir, two jazz bands, a jazz combo, a marching band & color guard, and a pep band. The school also has three choirs during the school day, a Treble Choir, Chorale, and A Cappella Choir, which is considered the highest level. The school also has three small audition-only groups that are student run and include 5-6 members each. These are Take 5(boys only), Six Chicks(girls only), and No Strings(girls only). There are also medium-sized groups that are school sponsored, a Madrigals group and Noteworthy, a show choir. It also has a concert band, symphonic band, wind symphony, wind ensemble, two concert orchestras, and a symphony orchestra.
The school supports a dance team in addition to a drill team and an orchesis group.
The school supports a total of eleven stage productions each year including four in the "Little Theatre," four in the black box "Studio 200" space, a summer and winter musical and a one act festival. In support of these, the school not only sponsors a stage crew group for students, but a theatrical makeup group as well as a props group which locates for purchase, repairs, and maintains props for the various productions. Student performers who excel in their performance may be inducted into the school's chapter of the International Thespian Society. The Studio 200 group supports students interested in gaining experience in all aspects of theatrical production from acting and directing to publicity and the technical arts.
Among the plastic arts the school supports an overarching arts club in addition to a photography club and wheel throwing club which emphasizes pottery.
In the realm of public speaking, the school has both a debate and a forensics team which competes in the individual events state series sponsored by the IHSA.
The school also has an annual literary and arts publication, The Crest, which has been active since 1893 and displays student-submitted art and poetry and is published and distributed to students toward the end of every school year. It is one of the oldest high school literary journals in the country.
The School has one of the oldest continuous high school television news programs in the country. Newscene was founded in 1982 and continues to this day. The Television program won a Cable ACE in 1983 for innovative programing for "Extra-Help" an early live interactive program. Today the school's high-definition television studio hosts numerous productions, including the award-winning weekly newsmagazine show Newscene Live, airing throughout the metro area on Comcast Cable.
Activities and clubs
OPRF offers over 60 clubs and activities ranging from athletic and artistic to competitive academic, cultural, and social awareness (an entire list can be found here [1]).
Among the clubs which are affiliates or chapters of notable national organizations are: ASPIRA, Best Buddies, Business Professionals of America, Cum Laude Society, and Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA).
There is an intramural program which sponsors both competitive round robin and free play competitions in basketball, badminton, ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, and flag football.
The following non-athletic teams have won their respective IHSA sponsored state competition or tournament:
- Chess: 1984-85
- Debate: 1982-83, 83-84
Athletics
OPRF competes in the West Suburban Conference. The school is also a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), which governs most sports and competitive activities. The school's teams are stylized as the Huskies.
The school sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in: basketball cross country, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and water polo. Young men may compete in baseball, golf, football, and wrestling, while women may compete in badminton, cheerleading, gymnastics, and softball. While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school also sponsors teams for young men and women in lacrosse, in addition to a field hockey and drill team for young women. While not sponsored by the school, there is an ice hockey team affiliated with the school.
By school policy, athletes must maintain a "D" average (1.0 GPA) in order to compete and practice. If in any week, an athlete has any cumulative grade in any course that is not a minimum of a "D", that student is required to attend an academic support program for a minimum of 10 minutes the following week. Any athlete finishing two consecutive quarters of study with a failing grade are ineligible for athletic participation.
The following teams have won their respective IHSA sponsored state championship tournament or meet:
In the school's early history, there were semi-annual "field days" in which students competed for various prizes (medals, cups, sporting equipment, cakes) in events such as the hammer throw, three-legged race, sack race, and obstacle course. In the absence of regularly scheduled interscholastic meets, the Cook County High School Athletic Union hosted an annual field day which would involve top athletes from the county schools.
From 1900 to 1913, Oak Park was a member of the Cook County League. In 1913, the schools outside of Chicago were expelled, and formed the Suburban League, which would eventually splinter off into several smaller leagues, one of which was the West Suburban Conference.
Before such things were made illegal by the IHSA, Oak Park, on at least one occasion, played games against college teams, such as a baseball game on April 4, 1900 when Oak Park lost to Northwestern University (then known as the Purple), 1-27.
In 1927, the school constructed a 219 ft x 128 ft (67 m x 39 m) fieldhouse at a cost of $750,000. The fieldhouse contained four inside gymnasiums, two swimming pools, an indoor track, and seating for 1,000 people. The facility not only helped Oak Park to build a champion track program, but also helped other area schools promote indoor track and field as a sport.
Through the end of the 2008-09 school year, the boys track & field program holds state records for state championships, top 3 finishes, and top ten finishes. Starting in 1930, the school hosted the "Oak Park Relays", a track & field competition that grew into the largest in the Midwest, with nearly 1,500 athletes from 63 school competing in 1960. In 1963, the field was 1,340 athletes from 77 schools, and was now the largest high school indoor track meet in the United States. By 1964, the field rose to over 1,900 athletes from 95 schools. Despite the school's successes in track & field, the school did not have an outdoor track, and by 1998, the indoor cinder track was no longer in competitive condition. The school entered into a partnership with Fenwick High School and Concordia University to construct a new outdoor track on the campus of the university.
The OPRF lacrosse program is one of the three oldest high school programs in the state of Illinois.
While water polo would not be sponsored by the IHSA until 2002, Oak Park High School sponsored a team at least as early 1901, playing a match against the Armour Institute (later renamed the Illinois Institute of Technology).
In 1905, in the wake of a student being killed in a football game, Oak Park's (and several other schools') school board voted to cancel the remainder of the season, and ban football from the school. In 1907, football was restored in Cook County, however Oak Park refused to rejoin the league. Instead, Oak Park competed as an independent team.
From 1904 to 1906, Oak Park's girls basketball team was the state champion among the roughly 300 girls teams in the state. In 1907, the Illinois State High School Athletic Association (previous name of the IHSA), banned all girls from participating in the game because "roughness is not foreign to the game, and that the exercise in public is immodest and not altogether ladylike." Oak Park was thus denied a fourth state title.
OPRF was, with DePaul University, one of two sites for men's and women basketball games during the 1959 Pan American Games.
In 1961, the pool at OPRF was used for the annual Canadian-American Invitational Swim meet. Among those competing at the school were Tom Stock, Ted Stickles, and Joan Spillane.
Notable alumni
Letters and journalism
- Kenneth Fearing was a poet, novelist (The Big Clock) and founder of The Partisan Review.
- Michael Gerber is the author of the Barry Trotter series, parodies of the Harry Potter book, and a humorist whose work as appeared in The Yale Record, The New Yorker, The Atlantic and Saturday Night Live.
- Jane Hamilton is a novelist (The Book of Ruth, A Map of the World).
- Tavi Gevinson is the founder and editor-in-chief of Rookie Magazine.
- Paul Harvey, Jr. was a radio news writer, producer, and on air talent best known for his work with The Rest of the Story, which was long hosted by his father.
- Ernest Hemingway was a Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer.
- Janet Lewis was a librettist, poet, and novelist (The Wife of Martin Guerre).
- Barbara Mertz is a bestselling writer of more than 60 mysteries under the pen names Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels.
- Francis Morrone is an architectural historian known for his work on the built environment of New York City.
- Bruce Morton is an Emmy and Peabody Award winning television journalist, spending most of his career with CBS News.
- Morris McNeal Musselman was a screenwriter and author. A classmate of Ernest Hemingway, he collaborated with Hemingway on what is believed to be his first play, Hokum.
- Carol Shields was an author (Larry's Party, Unless) who won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (The Stone Diaries).
- Charles Simic is a poet who won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In 2007, he was named Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (formerly Poet Laureate of the United States).
- Robert St. John was a journalist, historian, news broadcaster, and author of 23 books.
- Anna Louise Strong was a journalist, writer, traveler, and communist apologist.
- Edward Wagenknecht is an author and literary critic.
Fine and performing arts
- Dan Castellaneta is an actor best known for providing the voice of Homer Simpson on the television series The Simpsons.
- Bruce Davidson is a documentary photographer, perhaps best known for his coverage of the American Civil Rights Movement.
- The Fiery Furnaces' Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger
- Mason Gamble is an actor (Dennis the Menace, and Rushmore)
- Kathy Griffin is a comedian and actress (Suddenly Susan, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List).
- Felicity LaFortune is an actress.
- John LaMontaine is a composer who won the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
- Thomas Lennon is an actor (Reno 911!, The State) and screenwriter (Night at the Museum).
- Ted Levine is an actor known for his roles in the film The Silence of the Lambs and the television series Monk.
- Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is an actress best known for her work in film (The Abyss, Scarface, White Sands).
- Jeff Mauro is the host of the Food Network series Sandwich King and $24 in 24.
- William F. May was a chemical engineer and businessman who co-founded the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
- Amy Morton is an actress best known for her work with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
- George Schaefer was a Tony Award winning director best known for his work in television. He received four awards from the Directors Guild of America, a group he served as president of (1979--81).
- Cecily Strong is a current cast member on Saturday Night Live. She joined the show during season 38 and was a temporary Weekend Update anchor. Strong attended Oak Park and River Forest High School before eventually transferring to the Chicago Academy for the Arts for her senior year, where she graduated in 2002.
- Alex Wurman is a composer best known for his work on television and film (March of the Penguins, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind).
- Ludacris is a rapper, entrepreneur and actor.
Science
- Richard C. Atkinson was a psychologist who served as director of the National Science Foundation, chancellor of the University of California, San Diego, and president of the University of California.
- Wallace S. Broecker is a geologist, perhaps best known for coining the phrase global warming.
- James B. Herrick was a medical doctor who was the first to identify sickle cell anemia and coronary thrombosis.
- Kermit E Krantz was a surgeon, physician, author, and inventor. He co-developed the Marshall-Marchetti-Krantz procedure.
- Wilton Krogman was a professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago and University of Pennsylvania.
- Jay Ruby was an anthropologist, specializing in the field of visual anthropology.
- James Thomson is a biologist best known for his work with human embryonic stem cells.
- Chad Trujillo is an astronomer and co-discoverer of several Trans-Neptunian objects including Quaoar, Sedna, Orcus, and Eris.
Sports
- Don Canham was a track & field coach at the University of Michigan before becoming its athletic director (1968-88).
- Ellis Coleman was a 2012 Olympian in wrestling.
- Greg Guy was the 1992-93 NCAA Division I men's basketball scoring champion.
- Robert Halperin, 1960 Olympic and 1963 Pan American Games yachting medalist, college and professional football player, one of Chicago's most-decorated World War II heroes, and Chairman of Commercial Light Co.
- Charlie Hoag was a member of the 1952 gold medal winning U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team.
- Eric Kumerow was a first round draft pick of the Miami Dolphins.
- Sean Lawrence was a pitcher (1998) with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
- Emery Lehman is a speed skater who participated in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
- Billy Martin (did not graduate) was a professional tennis player.
- Bob Nussbaumer was an American football player and coach in the National Football League.
- John Register was a silver medalist in the long jump at the 2000 Summer Paralympics.
- Ben Shelton was an outfielder (1993) with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
- George Trafton was an NFL center, playing his entire career for the Decatur Staleys/Chicago Bears. A member of two championship teams, he was credited with introducing the one-handed snap, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- Danielle Tyler was a softball player and member of the gold medal winning U.S. team at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
- Iman Shumpert was drafted by the New York Knicks as the 17th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
- Paul Walker, football player
Other
- Bruce Barton was a U.S. Congressman (1937-41), author (The Man Nobody Knows), and ad executive.
- Mike Feinberg is the co-founder of Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP).
- Walter Burley Griffin was an architect and city planner best known for designing the capital city of Australia, Canberra, as well as the development of the carport and "L-shaped floor plan".
- Louis Sauer an architect, urban designer and academic, he won numerous awards for developments in modern medium density low rise row housing, particularly in Philadelphia.
- Otto Kerner, Jr. was the 33rd Governor of Illinois (1961-68). He was also the namesake of the national Kerner Commission.
- Ray Kroc was the founder of McDonald's. He did not graduate, instead enlisting as an ambulance driver in World War I.
- Prentice H. Marshall was a federal judge who sat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1973--96).
- Phil Radford, environmental, clean energy and democracy leader, Executive Director of Greenpeace.
- Carlos Alberto Torres is a Puerto Rican nationalist convicted of attempting to overthrow the United States government as a member of the FALN. He was on the FBI Most Wanted List, and is currently serving a 78-year prison sentence.
- Marjorie Vincent was Miss America, 1991.
- Roberta L. Raymond founded the Oak Park Regional Housing Center in 1972, named one of the top housing programs in the United States by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
- Gregory W. Cappelli is the CEO of Apollo Group, which owns the University of Phoenix, the largest for-profit higher education institution in the United States.
Notable staff
- Glenn Thistlethwaite was the football and track & field coach at the school (1913-22) prior to becoming the head football coach at Northwestern University (1922-26) and the University of Wisconsin (1927-31), among others.
- John W. Wood was the school's soccer coach. In 1952, he was appointed head coach of the U.S. men's Olympic soccer team.
- Robert Zuppke was a football and track & field coach at the school (1910-13) prior to becoming the head football coach at the University of Illinois (1913-41). A member of the College Football Hall of Fame, some sources cite Zuppke's innovations (like the flea flicker and screen pass) as having started when he coached here.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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