Elmhurst High School was a public

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 ...

with a comprehensive intake and over 1,000 students. Elmhurst High School was a part of the Fort Wayne Community Schools school district, serving those living in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne. It received accreditation from the Indiana Department of Education and the

North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It w ...

Closing Elmhurst High School

On March 22, 2010, a vote was taken by the FWCS School Board to accept a recommendation of the FWCS administration regarding ways to reduce the 2010 district budget by $15 million. The administration's report included the step of closing Elmhurst High School. The budget moves were required because current economic conditions reduced federal and state funds available to the school district. The closing of Elmhurst has been a highly debated topic over the past several years, and the Board, by a unanimous vote of 7-0, agreed to accept the administration's recommendation. With that action, the 2009/10 school year was the final year of operations for the school. Returning students were reallocated to other high schools in the FWCS system.

Mission

The mission of Elmhurst High School was to guarantee that all students were prepared to meet or exceed Indiana Standards by narrowing the achievement gap, by increasing the successful completion of advanced courses, and by improving student achievement.

History

Dating back to 1929, Elmhurst High School had nine principals, including three female principals. In 1979, Elmhurst High School underwent drastic renovations in order to better serve its students. The renovations were very costly and took a long time to complete but when they were finally finished, Elmhurst was equipped with an auxiliary gym and 600 seat auditorium. The auditorium was designed to double as a movie theater, with the use of a 20'x20' retractable movie screen to be installed after the construction of the auditorium. The school has also had a rich tradition of musicians. Annually, the school hosted an ISSMA Jazz Fest. Back in the era of jazz, there were many big names who came to perform at Elmhurst. Among them were:

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...

, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Maynard Ferguson, and many others. The school also had many college bands perform there as well. Along the band room wall, you could see various posters dating back to when the tickets were on sale.

Sports and clubs

Elmhurst's athletic department consisted of more than 20 IHSAAIndiana High School Athletic Association, www.ihsaa.org
/ref> sports including the following for both boys and girls: cross-country, soccer,

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

marching band A marching band is a group of musical instrument, instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass instrument, brass, woodwind instrument, woodwind, and percus ...

track and 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 eve ...

, swim and dive,

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), thou ...

, and

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 ...

. Football,

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 ...

, and

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 t ...

were also offered for boys, while

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 ...

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 Sum ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

, and

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 ...

were offered for girls. All sanctioned sports competed in the

Summit Athletic Conference The Summit Athletic Conference, or SAC, is a high school athletic conference consisting of ten high schools located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Three of the schools are private; one being a Lutheran academy, and the other two being Catholic preparator ...

. In its final year, th
Elmhurst Boys' Basketball
team won the 3A Regional title. In 2010 the Elmhurst robotics team won both the state and world championships competing against students from Countries including Canada, Korea, and China. On March 7, 2009, the Elmhurst Girls' Basketball team brought home the first state championship for any team sport in the school's history, defeating Owen Valley 62-59 to win the Class 3A title. On August 21, 2009, the football team won their first game since the '04 campaign under head coach Kyle Beauchamp in their final year before shutting their doors- defeating Ft. Wayne Northrop, 21-13.

Notable alumni

* David Abbott, member of the Indiana House of Representatives * James Hardy, NFL player for the Buffalo Bills *

Tera Klutz Tera Klutz (born 1975/1976) is an American Certified Public Accountant serving as the auditor of Indiana. She was appointed to the position after her predecessor, Suzanne Crouch resigned to become Lieutenant Governor of Indiana in January, 2017 ...

, accountant and

Indiana state auditor The Indiana State Auditor is a constitutional and elected office in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. State of Indiana. The Auditor of Indiana is elected to a four-year term and is subject to term limits where the officeholder is b ...

June Peppas June Peppas (June 16, 1929 – March 14, 2016) was a first basewoman and pitcher who played from 1948 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , , she batted and threw left-handed. Early life Peppas was b ...

, first basewoman and

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1948–1954) * David C. Turnley, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist * Peter Turnley, photojournalist * David Fieldhouse business man

References

External links

Elmhurst High School Alumni Page

{{Indiana's Summit Athletic Conference Defunct schools in Indiana Schools in Fort Wayne, Indiana Educational institutions established in 1929 Educational institutions disestablished in 2010 1929 establishments in Indiana 2010 disestablishments in Indiana