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Oak Park and River Forest High School
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Oak Park and River Forest High School, or OPRF, is a public four-year high school located in Oak Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school of Oak Park and River Forest District 200.
ting in 1871, high school students from Oak Park attended classes in an elementary school. The first class, which contained only three people, graduated in 1877. The population of the area was growing rapidly partly due to the Chicago Fire, so to accommodate this a building solely for the high school was constructed in 1892.
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Encyclopedia
Oak Park and River Forest High School, or OPRF, is a public four-year high school located in Oak Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school of Oak Park and River Forest District 200.
History
Starting in 1871, high school students from Oak Park attended classes in an elementary school. The first class, which contained only three people, graduated in 1877. The population of the area was growing rapidly partly due to the Chicago Fire, so to accommodate this a building solely for the high school was constructed in 1892. The population continued to grow, and in 1899 the high school was separated from the elementary school district, and a consolidated district was created with River Forest, establishing Oak Park and River Forest Township High School.
A new building, designed to hold 800 students was opened in 1907 in the school's current location. Many additions to the building took place during the 1920s including a new football field and the first high school field house in the nation.
In 1946, River Forest established a high school of its own, creating River Forest Community High School District 223. However, this was short-lived; on June 21, 1949 the Consolidated High School District 200, Cook County, Illinois, was created, combining district 223 and Oak Park District 200.
Several minor additions to the buildings were made during the 1940s and 1950s, but it was during the 1960s that the most large-scale construction projects were completed. The building was extended across Ontario Street, connecting the
academic building with the field house. The new construction included a 1,700-seat auditorium, a 350-seat Little Theater, two cafeterias, and more classrooms. The school now holds approximately 3,200 students.
In 2003, the WB Network aired the reality series of High School Reunion, featuring alumni of OPRFHS. Although the show purported to feature members of the class of 1992, the ten cast members actually came from the classes of 1991, 1992, and 1993.
In recent years there has been a growing controversy at Oak Park River Forest High School in which a portion of the students who reside in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago have marked down that they live within Oak Park.
On April 14, 2007 Attila J. Weninger was selected to be the next superintendent following Susan Bridge's retirement at the end of the 2006-2007 school year. He officially took office on July 1, 2007.
Academics
In 2005, OPRF had an average composite ACT score of 23.2, and graduated 94.7% of its senior class. The average class size is 25. OPRF has not made Adequate Yearly Progress on the Prairie State Achievement Examination, a state test part of the No Child Left Behind Act.
OPRFHS is listed as number 379 on Newsweek's 2008 list of the top U.S. High Schools.
Athletics
OPRF competes in the West Suburban Silver Division of the West Suburban Conference and Illinois High School Association. Its mascot is the Siberian Husky.
OPRF's marching band has been marching for over 9 years and their most recent award was in the color guard/auxiliary section at the Geneseo Maple Leaf Classic in 2008.
OPRF currently holds third place in total number of state championships won overall in Illinois. The most recent state championship victory was from the wrestling team in the 2008-2009 school year. The second most recent state championship victory was from the softball team in the 2004-2005 school year.
OPRF still has the center of its original field house, the first for a high school in the US.
OPRF's football program is one of only seven in Illinois with 600 total victories.
State titles: 44 - boys track: 17.
History
- Coach Bob Zuppke developed historic football innovations such as the huddle, the flea flicker and the screen pass at OPRFHS. When Zuppke moved on to coach at the University of Illinois, he brought OPRF's school colors (orange and navy blue) with him. Illinois alumnus George S. Halas, founder of the Chicago Bears, would later make these the official colors of the Bears, albeit inverted (navy blue with orange trim instead of orange with navy blue trim). OPRF, in turn, adopted U of I's original fight song, "Illinois Loyalty", as "We're Loyal to You Oak Park High".
Notable alumni
- Ernest Hemingway, 1953: Nobel Prize in Literature, 1955 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
- George Trafton: NFL Hall of Fame center, was a member of the Decatur Staleys when they moved from Decatur, Illinois and became the Chicago Bears. He was the first center in NFL history to do a one-handed snap.
- John LaMontaine, 1959 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
- Carol Warner Shields, 1995 Pulitzer Prize in Literature.
- Charles Simic, 1990 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
- Dan Castellaneta, voice of Homer Simpson on The Simpsons
- Ray Kroc (did not graduate), founder of McDonald's.
- Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Actress (The Abyss, Scarface, White Sands)
- Michael G. Turnbull: FAIA, Assistant Architect of the Capitol in Washington, DC
- Marjorie Vincent: Miss America, 1991
- Kathy Griffin: comedian
- Anna Chlumsky: actress
- Chad Trujillo: astronomer
- Thomas Lennon, 1988: actor Reno 911!.
- Ludacris: rapper who attended OPRFHS his freshman year.
- Mason Gamble: child star of Dennis the Menace and Rushmore'
- Bruce Davidson: photographer.
- Jane Hamilton: novelist
- Wallace S. Broecker: geologist
- Michael Gerber, 1987: humorist (Barry Trotter)
- Kermit E Krantz: physician and inventor.
- James Thomson, 1977: Biologist, stem cell researcher.
- Iman Shumpert, 2008: Georgia Institute of Technology basketball player.
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