Alan B. Shepard High School is a public

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in Palos Heights,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, It is a southwest suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The school, along with Dwight D. Eisenhower High School and Harold L. Richards High School are part of

Community High School District 218 The Community High School District 218 is a public high school district with offices in Oak Lawn, Illinois. As of 2017–18, there are 5,405 students enrolled in three high schools and an alternative high school. The district also owns two lear ...

. Students who attend the school live in the communities of Palos Heights, Crestwood, Worth, Alsip, Robbins, and

Calumet Park Calumet Park is a 198-acre (79-hectare) park in Chicago, Illinois. It provides access to Lake Michigan from the East Side neighborhood on the city's Southeast Side. The park contains approximately 0.9 miles (1.5 km) of lake frontage from ...

. The school is named in honor of

Alan B. Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he beca ...

, the first American

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

to travel into space and the fifth person to walk on the Moon.

History

As early as 1966, District 218 began looking for a site for a third

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. The school and local residents argued between two sites located on either side of the intersection of 120th Street and Pulaski Avenue in Alsip. In 1972, the district asked voters in the district to approve a bond issue to raise money for a new school to be located in Palos Heights. Most recently Alan B. Shepard High School has ranked 54th in Illinois and 2,062nd nationally.

Academics

In 2008, Shepard had an average composite ACT score of 19.7, and graduated 86.4% of its senior class. The school has not made

Adequate Yearly Progress Adequate Yearly Progress (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 ac ...

(AYP) on the

Prairie State Achievement Examination The Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE) was 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 ...

, which is the state assessment used to fulfill mandates of the federal

No Child Left Behind Act The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education ...

. Overall, the school failed to meet minimum standards in reading and mathematics, in addition to having three of the school's four student subgroups fail to meet expectations in reading and mathematics.

Student life

Activities

The school offers over 30 extracurricular clubs ranging from student publications and academic competitions to service and special interest clubs. Clubs which are chapters or affiliates of nationally notable organizations include

Future Educators of America The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

Key Club Key Club International, also called Key Club, is an international service organization for high school students. As a student-led organization, Key Club's goal is to encourage leadership through serving others. Key Club International is the hig ...

Leo Club Leo clubs are a youth organization of Lions Clubs International. Leo clubs encourage youths to develop leadership qualities by participating in social service activities. They are dependent on a Lions club to sponsor and initiate a Leo club. Le ...

, and

Quill and Scroll Quill and Scroll is an international high school journalism honor society that recognizes and encourages both individual and group achievements in scholastic journalism. According to the Quill and Scroll website, over 14,104 high schools in all ...

. The school also has a
alumni organization
serving graduates and faculty.

Extracurricular Success

The School's extracurricular success overshadows that of their athletic success. The Shepard Marching Astros, Shepard Mathletes, Shepard Show Choir, and Shepard Speech Team have been the most successful in their respective domains. The most notable of which being the Shepard speech sending state qualifiers to the IHSA state tournament every year. The Team hosting six recent state champions including: Kirsten LaMantia in Special Occasion Speaking (2003) Jasmine Lockett in Original Oratory (2009) Amy Ramelli in Original Comedy (2010) Leah Ellis in Special Occasions Speaking (2011) Glorielle Williams in Poetry Reading (2012) Lindsie Bliss in Informative Speaking (2014).

Athletics

Shepard competes in the South Suburban Conference and is a member of the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fed ...

(IHSA); the organization which governs most sports and competitive activities in the state. Teams are stylized as the Astros (for men) and Lady Astros (for women). The school sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

, cross country,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

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. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, and

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

. Young men may compete in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

while young women may compete in

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

, and

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

. While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school also sponsors a poms team for young women. The school's badminton team is the only athletic team to place in the top four of their IHSA sponsored state tournament, placing third twice (1979–80, 1991–92) and second twice (1990–91, 1997–98).

Notable alumni

* Matt Bellassi, Comedian, People’s Choice Award Winner *

Cliff Benson Clifford Anthony Benson (born August 28, 1961) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League for the Atlanta Falcons, Washington Redskins, and the New Orleans Saints. He was drafted by the Falcons in the fifth round of ...

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

(1984-1988) * David Knox, guitarist of pop-punk band Real Friends * Steven Lukasiewicz, Retired Navy Chief Petty Officer (1996-2016) *

Ron Mahay Ronald Matthew Mahay (; born June 28, 1971) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics, Florida Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals, and Minne ...

is a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

(1995, 1997–2010).

References

External links

Shepard High School

Shepard High Athletics

Shepard High School Alumni
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard High School, Alan B. Educational institutions established in 1976 Public high schools in Cook County, Illinois 1976 establishments in Illinois Alan Shepard