Chesterton High School

Chesterton High School is a public high school located in Chesterton, Indiana.

History

In 1833, Jesse Morgan, the area's first postmaster, opened the first educational institution for Duneland locals.^[2] That school sufficed the community until William Thomas II donated land and offered to help build a two-room schoolhouse in 1840. When the building was finally finished in 1852, there were some local complaints of "its rickety conditions." Twenty-five years later, in 1877, $6,000 was spent on creating Chesterton's first high school. Within only a few years, overcrowding became a problem, and the school received a four-room addition in 1890.^[3]

This building worked for some time, but complications such as a broken furnace, led to the school building being torn down in 1911. After some property disputes with a local church, it was replaced with a more spacious, two-story school. The community outgrew this school yet again, and in 1921 a school was created specifically for high-schoolers. The school was three stories tall and possessed an auditorium that could seat 750. After spending $175,000, Westchester Township High School opened on December 14, 1922, and was hailed by locals as a wonderful building.^[4]

As a result of the area's growth, many classrooms were added to the high school in early 1950. In 1958, a school board was formally created, with Lyle K. Klitzke serving as the school corporation's first superintendent. Later that year, the board declared their intentions to build a nearly $600,000 high school gym, later to be named after teaching legend Mr. Goldsborough.

In April 1959, the high school principal Dunbar resigned over a $400 decrease in his expense account. In protest, 35 of the 38 high school teachers submitted conditional resignations, threatening to quit unless the superintendent and members of the school board resign. Fears arose over potentially losing accreditation, and many tense school board meetings followed pressuring Klitzke to "quit". In June, George Kriviskey was hired to replace Dunbar. By that July, 30 of the 38 teachers had resigned but the school corporation replaced these resigning individuals.

Throughout the 1960s, Westchester School Corporation built a new high school and later, in 1968, Westchester School Corporation merged with Liberty Township School Corporation to become Duneland School Corporation. To deal with the now larger enrollment, the current high school building was combined with a local elementary school.

This high school was adequate for a while but in the 1990s, the school started to become overcrowded again. In June 1991, CHS Principal Dirk Baer requested a new high school. In November 1992, a school committee recommended creating a new high school and later that month, the Duneland School Board agreed to purchase 92 acres at Meridian Road and 1100N. IN 1995, the school board unanimously agreed to the creation of the new high school and committed over seventy million dollars to the project. On August 21, 2000, the new Chesterton High School building was opened. The old high school building was able to consolidate Liberty and Westchester middle schools into what is now Chesterton Middle School.

Demographics

In 2010, 0.3% of students were of Native American heritage, 1.1% of students were of Asian descent, 1.7% of students were African-Americans, 5.7% of students were Hispanics, 88.7% of students were Caucasian, and 2.4% of students identified with more than one race.^[5] 13.7% of students in attendance were enrolled in one or more special education programs.

Academics

Chesterton High School is part of the Duneland School Corporation. The graduation rate was nearly 90%. The composite SAT and ACT scores were 1543 and 23, respectively. The school offers four Advanced Placement exams: Biology, US History, Literature and Composition and AP Calculus AB. Beginning in the 2011-2012 school year, Chesterton High School began to also offer the AP Calculus BC course. Beginning in the 2009-2010 school year, Chesterton High School also began offering International Baccalaureate diplomas.^[6] The high school, offers the Indiana Core 40 Diploma with the option for Academic or Technical Honors. Beginning in 2010-2011 school year, Chesterton High School transitioned to a weighted grade system.^[7]

The high school also offers dual credit through Purdue North Central for select courses. Juniors and seniors also have the ability to take vocational classes through the Porter County Career and Technical Center.^[8] Seniors also can cadet teach at local elementary schools.

School typically begins during the last week of August and is in-session until the first week of June, for a total of 180 days of instruction. The high school subscribes to a block schedule with four 90 minute classes that rotate with corresponding Maroon and Gold days. Students are required to set aside one block for study hall.

Academic teams

Academic Super Bowl

Academic Super Bowl is a local and state competition involving five member teams of students from all grade levels, with members learning detailed information about events and discoveries that occurred over a certain time.^[9]

BPA

The school sponsors a Business Professionals of America (BPA) team, which competes in local and regional competitions. Jake Miecznikowski recently won the state tournament in Java

Quiz Bowl

In 2011, the quiz bowl team won the DAC meet, placed sixth in the state, and participated in Lakeshore Public Television's first season of "Making the Grade," where team members won the tournament. In 2012, the team won the DAC again.

Science Olympiad

The Science Olympiad team regularly participates in regional and state competitions, and has had a number of individuals and teams win over the years.^[10]

Speech and debate

The CHS Speech and Debate team was founded in 1971, and has had over 100 students qualify for the National Speech and Debate Tournament. The team won the National Tournament in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993, prior to the National Forensics League ending recognition of team national championships. Individually, seven people have won a national title, most recently at the 2010 National Tournament. The team won its fifth-consecutive state title in 2012.^[11]

Athletics

Swimming

Boys swimming has won four IHSAA state titles. Olympic gold medalist Blake Pieroni is a 2014 graduate of CHS and swan under legendary coach Kevin Kinel.

Soccer

Both the Chesterton High School boys and girls soccer teams play in the Duneland Athletic Conference. They have both reached the State finals for the IHSAA State championship, most recently the boys team in 2016, eventually losing to Evansville Memorial by a score of 2-1. The boys team also lost to Evansville Memorial in the 2007 state final 1-0. Both teams have had success on the conference level with the boys being most recently co-champions in 2011.

School Fight Song

Chesterton High School's fight song is "Onward Trojans". It is a variation of "On, Wisconsin!", the fight song of the Wisconsin Badgers. ^[12]

Arts

Chesterton High School offers a number of programs in the visual and performing arts.

Theater

Throughout the academic year, three productions are performed. The first production is in the fall and changes the most from year to year. In the 2011-2012 school year, for instance, the fall play was a dinner theater production catered by local businesses. The winter production is a children's play, with 3rd graders from surrounding elementary schools coming to watch the performances and getting a behind-the-scenes tour. The largest production is the spring musical. Chesterton's 2007 performance of Guys and Dolls was nationally recognized, being called an "extraordinary high school production" by USA Weekend Magazine.^[13]

The Trojan Guard is the school's marching band.

WDSO

WDSO 88.3 is a radio station located at Chesterton High School, with its transmitter located at Chesterton Middle School . WDSO is a non-profit high school station.^[14] All of the disc jockeys are high school students, ranging from freshmen to seniors. To be a part of the radio station, students must take the Introduction to Radio/Video. To become a DJ, the student must complete a series of Learn/Test tasks. The station subscribes to a variety format while also providing sports coverage.

Notable alumni

• Bob Dille - Professional basketball player in the Basketball Association of America. Inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989^[15]
• Blake Pieroni - Gold medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay
• Mitch McGary - Professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and NBA Development League. Attended Chesterton High School between 2008 and 2011^[16]
• Zack Novak - Professional basketball player in the Dutch Basketball League^[17][18]

See also

• List of high schools in Indiana

References

External links

• Official Website

Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC)
Current members	Chesterton • Crown Point • Lake Central • LaPorte • Merrillville • Michigan City • Portage • Valparaiso