Amos Alonzo Stagg High School
Encyclopedia
Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, Stagg, or AAS, is a public four-year high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 located at the intersection of S. Roberts Rd. and W. 111th Street in Palos Hills, Illinois
Palos Hills, Illinois
Palos Hills is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago. The population was 17,665 at the 2000 census. It is the home of Moraine Valley Community College as well as Amos Alonzo Stagg High School.-Geography:...

, a southwest suburb of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is part of Consolidated High School District 230
Consolidated High School District 230
The Consolidated High School District 230 is a public high school district located 25 miles southwest of Chicago, Illinois. It has nearly 9,000 students in three high schools.-Schools:Benjamin Franklin High School...

, which also includes Victor J. Andrew High School
Victor J. Andrew High School
Victor J. Andrew High School, Andrew, or VJA, is a public four-year high school located in Tinley Park, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...

 and Carl Sandburg High School
Carl Sandburg High School
Carl Sandburg High School, Sandburg, or CSHS, is a public four-year high school located at the intersection of La Grange Road and 131st Street in Orland Park, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Consolidated High School District 230, which also...

.

History

In the spring of 1962, voters in Consolidated High School district 230 approved a US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

2.1 million bond issue to construct the district's second high school, which was projected to have an initial student population of 1,200.

The school district chose to name the school for former University of Chicago
Chicago Maroons football
The Chicago Maroons are the college football team representing the University of Chicago. The Maroons play in NCAA Division III as a member of the University Athletic Association. From 1892 to 1939, the Maroons were a major college football power...

 football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...

. Stagg was chosen "in recognition of his century of devotion to young men to help them understand the powers they possess". The original building contained 16 classrooms, a gymnasium capable of seating 1,600, a band and choral room, a cafeteria and small theater, 7 laboratories, and 3 industrial arts rooms.

The general design saw the school built as three separate buildings, connected by glass corridors.

Like its sister school, Carl Sandburg, Stagg High School was designed specifically to be expanded in future years. The fall 1966 enrollment saw the school reach its capacity, a few months after the first expansion plans were revealed, calling for a swimming pool and more room for art and industrial education, among other additions.

Academics

In 2008, Stagg had an average composite ACT
ACT (examination)
The ACT is a standardized test for high school achievement and college admissions in the United States produced by ACT, Inc. It was first administered in November 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT Reasoning Test...

 score of 21.6 and graduated 96.2% of its senior class. The average class size is 22.4. Stagg has made Adequate Yearly Progress
Adequate Yearly Progress
Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, is a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allows the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country is performing academically according to results on standardized...

 on the Prairie State Achievement Examination
Prairie State Achievement Examination
The Prairie State Achievement Examination is a two-day standardized test taken by all High School Juniors in the U.S. state of Illinois. On the first day, students take the ACT, and on the second day, a WorkKeys examination and Illinois State Board of Education-developed science examination....

, the test used in Illinois to fulfill the federal No Child Left Behind Act
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a United States Act of Congress concerning the education of children in public schools.NCLB was originally proposed by the administration of George W. Bush immediately after he took office...

.

Activities

The school sponsors over 45 clubs and activities for students, ranging from athletic and fine arts to leadership and special interest. Among the student groups which are local chapters of national organizations are: Key Club
Key Club
Key Club International is the oldest and largest service program for high school students. It is a student-led organization whose goal is to teach leadership through serving others. Key Club International is a part of the Kiwanis International family of service-leadership programs...

, National Honor Society
National Honor Society
The National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...

, Relay for Life
Relay For Life
Relay For Life is the main volunteer-driven cancer fundraising event of the American Cancer Society. Originating in the United States, the Relay For Life event has spread to 21 countries. Relay events are held in local communities, campus universities, military bases, and in cyberspace...

, and Operation Snowball
Operation snowball
Operation Snowball is an international alcohol, tobacco and other drug use prevention program focusing on leadership development to empower youth to lead drug-free lives...

.

The Individual events team finished second in the IHSA state championship tournament in 1986.
The Amos Alonzo Stagg Marching Chargers, Stagg's largest competitive extracurricular activity. Following a two-week band camp program, the marching band enters a fall season of contests and often tri-weekly rehearsals for the duration of the season. They participate in roughly 4-6 marching competitions each year across the state of Illinois, including an exhibition performance at their home competition, the Stagg Marching Band Jamboree (annual since 1979). The Marching Chargers generally end their yearly seasons by participating in the Illinois State University
Illinois State University
Illinois State University , founded in 1857, is the oldest public university in Illinois; it is located in the town of Normal. ISU is considered a "national university" that grants a variety of doctoral degrees and strongly emphasizes research; it is also recognized as one of the top ten largest...

 Invitational Marching Band Championships or the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

 Illini Marching Festival.

Athletics

Stagg competes in the Southwest Suburban Conference
Southwest Suburban Conference
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....

 (SWSC), and is a member of the Illinois High School Association
Illinois High School Association
The Illinois High School Association is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High...

 (IHSA), which governs most interscholastic high school sports and competitive activities in the state of Illinois. Teams are stylized as the Chargers.

The school sponsors interscholastic sports teams for young men and women in basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...

, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, soccer, swimming & diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, track & field, volleyball
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.The complete rules are extensive...

, and water polo
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

. Young men may compete in baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

, and wrestling
Scholastic wrestling
Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...

, while young women may compete in badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

, cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

, and softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

. While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school also sponsors a competitive poms
Pom-pon
A pom-pon is a fluffy, decorative ball or tuft. Pom-pons may come in many colors, sizes, and varieties and are made from a wide array of materials, including wool, cotton, paper, plastic, and occasionally feathers....

 team.

The following teams have placed in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state championship tournament or meet:
  • Cross Country (boys): 4th place (1988–89); 2nd place (1989–90)
  • Football: Semifinals (2002–03)
  • Softball: 4th place (1994–95); 3rd place (1996–97)
  • Volleyball (girls): 3rd place (1996–97)
  • Wrestling: State Champions (1983–84)

Notable alumni

  • Tom Pukstys
    Tom Pukstys
    Thomas Paul "Tom" Pukstys is a former American track and field athlete who was a javelin thrower. Pukstys was a six-time U.S. javelin champion, and represented the United States at two consecutive Summer Olympics ....

     (1986) is a six time U.S. national champion in the javelin
    Javelin throw
    The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...

    . He competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics
    Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics - Men's javelin throw
    These are the official results of the Men's Javelin Throw event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total number of 32 participating athletes...

     and 1996 Atlanta Olympics
    Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics - Men's javelin throw
    These are the official results of the Men's Javelin Throw event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were a total number of 34 competitors, with twelve of them who qualified for the final...

    .

External links

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