Glenbard East High School, or GBE, is a public four-year
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 ...
located in
Lombard, Illinois
Lombard is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. The population was 43,165 at the 2010 census. The United States Census Bureau estimated the population in 2019 to be 44,303.
History
Originally part of ...
, a western suburb of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It is part of
Glenbard Township High School District 87
Glenbard Township High School District 87 is based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and consists of Glenbard South High School, Glenbard South, Glenbard North High School, Glenbard North, Glenbard East High School, Glenbard East, and Glenbard West High Sch ...
. East, on average, draws around 2,500 students from Lombard, and portions of Glendale Heights,
Addison
Addison may refer to:
Places Canada
* Addison, Ontario
United States
*Addison, Alabama
*Addison, Illinois
*Addison Street in Chicago, Illinois which runs by Wrigley Field
* Addison, Kentucky
*Addison, Maine
*Addison, Michigan
*Addison, New York
...
Glenbard East High School opened in September 1959 with a student body of 525 students and 28 staff members. In the week prior to the school's opening, a tornado or microburst hit the school, causing significant damage. The east wall of the Tower section of the building was sucked out and fell through the roof of the then-unnamed auditorium. The classroom wing was unaffected, but the start of school was postponed for two weeks. When choosing team names during the first semester the school was open, the "Tornadoes" was one of three final choices; the other two were the "Apaches" and the winner, the "RAMS"—shown in caps as an acronym for Right Attitude Means Success. Given the school's location in "the Lilac Village," proposed school colors of lilac (purple, really) and white were not selected; instead the student body chose red, black and white. The first principal was William Rider.
Prior to the opening of Glenbard East in 1959, Lombard students in High School District No. 87 attended
Glenbard West High School
Glenbard West High School is a public four-year high school located at the corner of Ellyn Avenue and Crescent Boulevard in Glen Ellyn, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Glenbard Township High School Distri ...
(then Glenbard High School) in
Glen Ellyn
Glen Ellyn is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. A suburb located due west of downtown Chicago, the village has a population of 28,846 as of the 2020 Census.
History
Glen Ellyn, like the neighboring town to the east, Lomba ...
. In Glenbard East's first year, school activities and sports were contained in the Glenbard West yearbook, the Pinnacle, in a special section. The first Glenbard East yearbook was the 1961 edition, and named the Aries. The yearbook staff, Aries, works year-round to produce the Glenbard East High School yearbook.
In its first few years, Glenbard East competed in the Interim Conference, comprising mostly newly built suburban schools. Other schools in the conference were
Willowbrook High School
Willowbrook High School (WBHS) is a public four-year high school in Villa Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois. The school is located approximately half a mile north of Illinois Route 38 on Ardmore Ave. It is a part of the DuPage ...
in
Villa Park
Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...
,
Niles West High School
Niles West High School, officially Niles Township High School West or NWHS, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High School Distric ...
in Skokie, Morton West High School in Berwyn, among others.
The school celebrated its 50th anniversary in October 2009, with a display of memorabilia and special recognition to athletes of 50 years during a halftime celebration during a home football game October 2.
In 2011, ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' named Glenbard East one of the top public high schools in Illinois.
Male athletics
Glenbard East competes in the
Upstate Eight Conference
The Upstate Eight Conference (''UEC'', ''U8C'', or ''Upstate 8'') is an organization of ten high schools in northeastern Illinois, representing ten communities in Chicago's suburbs. These high schools are all members of the Illinois High School A ...
(UEC). Glenbard East is also 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), which governs most interscholastic sports and competitive activities in Illinois. The teams are stylized as the
Rams
In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)Jim Avila, also known as Jim Simon at GEHS, is a notable local (Chicago) and national reporter with ABC News now covering White House news and still on the 20/20 TV news program.
*
Joanna Krupa
Joanna Krupa (; born April 23, 1979) is a Polish-born American model and actress. She is known internationally as the host and head judge of Polish '' Top Model'' as well as for appearances on reality television shows ''Dancing with the Stars'' ...
Dancing With The Stars
''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...
'').
* Marc Miller (class of 1965) is a game designer and science-fiction author.
*
David Orr
David Duvall Orr (born October 4, 1944) is an American Democratic politician who served as the Cook County Clerk from 1990 to 2018. Orr previously served as alderman for the 49th ward in Chicago City Council from 1979 to 1990. He briefly served ...
is the
clerk
A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...
of
Cook County
Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...
and was Interim Mayor of Chicago after the death of
Harold Washington
Harold Lee Washington (April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987) was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st Mayor of Chicago. Washington became the first African American to be elected as the city's mayor in April 1983. He served as ma ...
.
*
Mary Doria Russell
Mary Doria Russell (born August 19, 1950) is an American novelist.
Early life and education
Russell was born in Elmhurst, Illinois
She graduated from Glenbard East High School in Lombard, Illinois, which has registered its chapter of the Nati ...
is an author, primarily known for her works of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
('' The Sparrow'', '' Children of God''). At least one character from ''Dreamers of the Day'' is named in honor of a former teacher from Glenbard East.
*
Dan Tani
Daniel M. Tani (born February 1, 1961) is an American engineer and retired NASA astronaut. He was born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, but considers Lombard, Illinois, to be his hometown.
With Peggy Whitson, Tani conducted the 100th spacewalk o ...
(class of 1979) is a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
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 ...
*
Timothy Zahn
Timothy Zahn (born September 1, 1951) is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy. He is known best for his prolific collection of ''Star Wars'' List of Star Wars books, books, chiefly the Thrawn trilogy, ''Thrawn'' series, and has publis ...
(class of 1969) is a
Hugo Award
The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...
–winning
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
* Dwayne Bates was a former NFL wide receiver for the
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...
, and
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...
. He is currently the Assistant Principal of Athletics (Athletic Director) at Glenbard East High School.