Downers Grove South
Encyclopedia
Downers Grove South High School, or DGS, is a public four-year high school
located at the corner of Dunham Road and 63rd Street in Downers Grove, Illinois
, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States
. It is part of Community High School District 99
, which also includes Downers Grove North High School. The South campus draws students from Downers Grove (south of 55th St.), the majority of Woodridge, a large portion of Darien (west of Cass Ave.), and a small section of Bolingbrook.
tornado
: fences around the tennis courts were flattened, portable toilets and rows of bleachers were flipped upside-down as well as some fallen branches across the school's football/soccer field.
score of 22.0, 1.5 points above the state average. DGS graduated 96.7% of its senior class. Downers Grove South has not made Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP) on the Prairie State Achievement Examination
, which with the ACT, are the assessment tools used to fulfill mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act
. While the school as a whole did make AYP, two of the six student subgroups failed to meet expectations in reading. As of the fall of 2011 DGS will be getting a new turf football field.
. The school is also a member of the Illinois High School Association
(IHSA), which governs most sports and competitive activities in the state of Illinois. The school teams are stylized as the Mustangs
.
The school sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in: basketball
, cross country
, golf
, gymnastics
, soccer, swimming
& diving
, tennis
, track & field, and volleyball
. Young men may compete in baseball
, football
, and wrestling
, while young women may also compete in badminton
, bowling
, cheerleading
, and softball
. The DGS Fillies (Varsity) and Pintos (JV) dance and pom teams perform at half time of men's home football and basketball games and compete at the Team Dance Illinois State Competition every year.
The following teams have finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state tournament or meet:
, and three from the Fillies Pom and Dance Team. The Coed Cheerleading team also won Back to Back State Championships in 2003 and 2004 and Back to Back National Championships in 2004 and 2005. Its speech team has won fifteen state championships, more than any other school. In 1997 it became the only team to win the speech state championship four years in a row, and in 2009 the only school to win that same title 6 years in a row.
Other School Activities Include:
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 corner of Dunham Road and 63rd Street in Downers Grove, Illinois
Downers Grove, Illinois
Downers Grove is a village in Downers Grove and Lisle Townships, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 48,724 at the 2000 census, with an official estimated population of 49,250 in 2008.-History:...
, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, 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 Community High School District 99
Community High School District 99
Community High School District 99 is a local school district serving Downers Grove, Woodridge, Bolingbrook, Darien, Lisle, Oak Brook, and Westmont in the state of Illinois. It consists of two high schools, North High School and South High School, both located in Downers Grove. The current...
, which also includes Downers Grove North High School. The South campus draws students from Downers Grove (south of 55th St.), the majority of Woodridge, a large portion of Darien (west of Cass Ave.), and a small section of Bolingbrook.
History
The school opened its doors in 1964 and the student population at Downers Grove High School was split in two, half going to the original structure now named Downers Grove North, and half going to the new building. It has since undergone significant renovations to bring it up to date, including a $49.5 million voter referendum for the district in 2001. In the summer of 2008 the school embarked on a parking space expansion on campus, which had been plagued by delays. Despite several causes for postponement, parking lot adjustments were prepared in time to effectively start the 2008—09 school year. On Friday, 22 June 2011 at around 8:30 pm, South High School received extensive damage to its outdoor sports areas during a two-minute EF1Enhanced Fujita Scale
The Enhanced Fujita Scale rates the strength of tornadoes in the United States based on the damage they cause.Implemented in place of the Fujita scale introduced in 1971 by Ted Fujita, it began operational use on February 1, 2007. The scale has the same basic design as the original Fujita scale:...
tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
: fences around the tennis courts were flattened, portable toilets and rows of bleachers were flipped upside-down as well as some fallen branches across the school's football/soccer field.
Academics
In 2008, Downers Grove South had an average composite ACTACT (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 22.0, 1.5 points above the state average. DGS graduated 96.7% of its senior class. Downers Grove South has not 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...
(AYP) 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....
, which with the ACT, are the assessment tools used to fulfill mandates of 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...
. While the school as a whole did make AYP, two of the six student subgroups failed to meet expectations in reading. As of the fall of 2011 DGS will be getting a new turf football field.
Athletics
South competes in the West Suburban ConferenceWest Suburban Conference
The West Suburban Conference is an athletic conference in DuPage County and Cook County in the state of Illinois.The conference was founded in 1924.-Member schools:All of the schools are also members of the Illinois High School Association...
. The school is also 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 sports and competitive activities in the state of Illinois. The school teams are stylized as the Mustangs
Mustang (horse)
A Mustang is a free-roaming horse of the North American west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but there is intense debate over terminology...
.
The school sponsors interscholastic 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...
, 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
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
& 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, and 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...
. 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 also 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...
, bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
, 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...
. The DGS Fillies (Varsity) and Pintos (JV) dance and pom teams perform at half time of men's home football and basketball games and compete at the Team Dance Illinois State Competition every year.
The following teams have finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state tournament or meet:
- Badminton: 2nd place (1997—98)
- Basketball (boys): 3rd place (2004—05)
- Cheerleading: 3rd place (2006—07); 2nd place (2001–2002, 2005—06, 07—08)
- Football: semifinals (1986—87); 2nd place (1984—85, 93—94); State Champions (2001—02)
- Soccer (boys): 4th place (1983—84); State Champions (2004—05)
- Soccer (girls): 4th place (2001—02, 07—08); 3rd place (1991—92); 2nd place (1992—93)
- Softball: 4th place (2006—07); 2nd place (2005—06); State Champions (1992—93)
- Tennis (girls): 2nd place (2007—08)
- Track & Field (girls): 3rd place (1989—90)
- Volleyball (girls): 4th place (2004—05); 3rd place (1995—96, 2000—01); 2nd place (1992—93, 93—94, 94—95, 97—98); State Champions (1996—97, 99—2000, 02—03)
- Marching Band: 4th place (2010-11)
Activities
Downers Grove South has won several state championship for its extracurricular activities in its history, including three in performance in the round, two in chessChess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, and three from the Fillies Pom and Dance Team. The Coed Cheerleading team also won Back to Back State Championships in 2003 and 2004 and Back to Back National Championships in 2004 and 2005. Its speech team has won fifteen state championships, more than any other school. In 1997 it became the only team to win the speech state championship four years in a row, and in 2009 the only school to win that same title 6 years in a row.
Other School Activities Include:
- AAMLG (African-American Male Leadership Group)
- AnimeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Club - Art Club
- A.C.E. (Athletes Committed To Excellence)
- Blueprint (Student Newspaper)
- Calliope (Student Literary Magazine)
- ChessChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
Club - Checkers Club
- Class Boards
- Climate Action Club
- Culture Club
- Go Green Initiative (formerly "Direct Action")
- Heifer InternationalHeifer InternationalHeifer International is a global nonprofit with the goal of ending poverty and hunger in a sustainable fashion. Established in 1944, Heifer International gives out gifts of livestock, seeds and trees and extensive training to those in need...
- International Club
- Key ClubKey ClubKey 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...
- J. Kyle Braid
- Marching Mustangs (Marching BandMarching bandMarching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
) - Masque & Gavel (Speech Team/Theater)
- Math Team
- Model UN
- Mustang Book Club
- Music Appreciation Club
- National Honor SocietyNational Honor SocietyThe National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
- Outdoor Adventure Club
- RUSH Corps ("Are (R) You (U) South (S) High (H)?" - helps incoming freshmen get used to high school)
- SADD - Students Against Destructive Decisions
- Scholastic Bowl
- Science Club
- Snowball
- Speech Team
- Stage Crew
- Steppers
- Student Council
- Students With A Voice
- Ultimate Frisbee Club
- WDGCWDGCWDGC-FM is a high school radio station located in Downers Grove, Illinois.The station runs commercial-free 24-hours a day and is shared between the Downers Grove North and Downers Grove South school studios, with the transmitter residing at the North building. It primarily consists of regular...
-FM Radio - Video Game Club
- YearbookYearbookA yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
Club (Caracole)
Notable alumni
- Bob Olesen (class of 1985) was a member of the United States two and four man bobsled teams at the 1998 Winter Olympics1998 Winter OlympicsThe 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...
. - Emo PhilipsEmo PhilipsEmo Philips is an American entertainer and comedian born in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove. Much of his standup comedy stems from the use of paraprosdokians and garden path sentences spoken in a wandering falsetto tone of voice and a confused, childlike delivery of his material to produce the...
is a famous comedian. - Bob Bryar is a member of the band My Chemical RomanceMy Chemical RomanceMy Chemical Romance is an American alternative rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of punk, emo, glam metal, and progressive rock...
. - Greg Corner (1992) is the bass guitarist for Kill HannahKill HannahKill Hannah is a rock band formed in 1993 in Chicago. The band has released six studio albums, seven EPs, and two compilation albums as well as three DVDs.-History:...
. - Robbie Russo (Class of 2011) a fourth round selection in the 2011 NHL draft by the New York IslandersNew York IslandersThe New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
.