Belleville Township High School West (also known as Belleville West) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

comprehensive high school Comprehensive high schools are the most popular form of state school, public Secondary school, high schools around the world, designed to provide a well-rounded education to its students, as opposed to the practice in some places in which examinati ...

in Belleville,

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 ...

that is part of Belleville Township High School District 201.

Athletics

The Maroons, as West teams are known, compete in the

Southwestern Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in t ...

The sports at West are divided into three separate seasons - held respectively during the Fall, Winter and Spring. Each season has its own individual and team sports which begin with a try-out session and an introductory night of activities and ends with an awards ceremony. A season lasts for approximately 3 months. The sports within a season are organized by teams, usually based on age and athletic ability, with the varsity designation as the highest level. Athletics at Belleville West are governed by the by-laws of the Illinois High School Association.

State titles

*Baseball:1940, 1947, 1949, 1954 *Boys' Basketball: 2018, 2019 *Boys' Golf: 1968, 1970, 1972 *Girls' Track and Field: 2009 *Girls' Volleyball: 1991, 1992

History

Originally, the Belleville Township High School District 201 operated only one school, Belleville Township High School, located at 2600 West Main Street. The growth of the district, however, prompted the Board of Education to construct a new campus and divide the student body between two schools. Thus, Belleville East High School was constructed, opening in the fall of 1966. The new campus was built in a college format with many different buildings. The newly commissioned Belleville Area College (now

Southwestern Illinois College Southwestern Illinois College is a public community college in Illinois with campuses in Belleville, Granite City, and Red Bud. It also has off-campus sites throughout the district, including Scott Air Force Base and the East St. Louis Commu ...

) occupied half of the campus while the new high school occupied the other. However, enrollment in the school increased rapidly and the college was forced to move to a new location. As the growth of the District continued, the need for a larger Belleville West Campus was realized. Therefore, in 2003, a new state of the art high school was built on 113 acres at the corner of Rt 15 and Frank Scott Parkway West.

Activities

Fine and performing arts

Little Theatre is an organization that promotes theatrical events on the Belleville West campus. The group sponsors monthly informational meetings, social events, and a spring honors reception. The theater always puts on a total of five plays per year. These include a fall play, a children's play, a musical, and contest play in the second semester. There is an evening of one-acts every year as well for freshmen and sophomores.

''Hy News''

The Belleville West ''Hy News'' has been reporting the news of Belleville Township High School and then Belleville West High School for over 80 years. This student publication is a co-curricular activity, produced by its 38-member staff, which includes freshmen through seniors.

Notable alumni

Jenny Bindon Jenny Lynn Bindon (née Bourn; born 25 February 1973) is an American-born association football coach and former goalkeeper who represented New Zealand at the international level. She played 77 full internationals in between 2004 and 2010. She mo ...

, professional

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player, goalkeeper for

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during the

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and

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, former

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player (

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) *

Lea DeLaria Lea DeLaria (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actress, and jazz singer. DeLaria is credited with being the first openly gay comic to appear on American television with her 1993 appearance on ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. She is best kno ...

, actor, comedian, jazz musician and singer *

Neal Doughty Neal Allan Doughty (born July 29, 1946, in Evansville, Indiana) is an American keyboardist, best known as a founding member of the rock band REO Speedwagon and the only member to have played on every album. He formed the band in fall 1967, with or ...

, musician, member of

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, musician, member of

Uncle Tupelo Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend c ...

and

Son Volt Son Volt is an American rock band formed in 1994 by Jay Farrar after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. The band's current line-up consists of Farrar (vocals, guitar), Andrew DuPlantis (bass guitar), John Horton (guitar), Mark Patterson (drums), and Ma ...

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, professional golfer, winner of the 1968

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, professional golfer, NCAA golf champion at Wake Forest University * Brian Hill, professional football player, currently with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

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, Two-time

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, former player for

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, current professional basketball player for

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, NFL quarterback *

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Les Mueller Leslie Clyde Mueller (March 4, 1919 – October 25, 2012) was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Detroit Tigers in 1941 and 1945. He was born in Belleville, Illinois. In 1940, Mueller played for the Beaumont Export ...

, former

player (

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

) *

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, actor *

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, professional soccer player *

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, kicker for the

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, former

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, set record for most points all time by a kicker in FBS history *

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, musician, member of

and

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently dur ...

* Bud Zipfel, former

player ( Washington Senators)

References

{{authority control Public high schools in Illinois Belleville, Illinois Schools in St. Clair County, Illinois Educational institutions established in 1916 1916 establishments in Illinois