LaSalle-Peru Township High School, also known as LaSalle-Peru High School, LPHS, or simply LP, 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 ...

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 at 541 Chartres Street in

LaSalle, Illinois LaSalle is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States, located at the intersection of Interstates 39 and 80. It is part of the Ottawa, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. Originally platted in 1837 over , the city's boundaries have grown to ...

, a small city in

LaSalle County, Illinois LaSalle County is located within the Fox Valley and Illinois River Valley regions of the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 Census, it had a population of 109,658. Its county seat and largest city is Ottawa. LaSalle County is part of the ...

, in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

. LPHS serves the communities and surrounding areas of LaSalle,

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, Oglesby, Tonica, and Dimmick. The campus is located 18 miles west of

Ottawa, Illinois Ottawa is a city located at the confluence of the navigable Illinois River and Fox River in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The Illinois River is a conduit for river barges and connects Lake Michigan at Chicago, to the Mississippi Riv ...

. The high school takes students from the following townships: Dimmick, Waltham,

, LaSalle, Utica, Deer Park, Eden,

Vermillion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It is v ...

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

, and Richland.

History

LaSalle-Peru Township High School was built in 1897–98, occupying buildings on 5th, 6th and Chartres Streets in LaSalle. The Thomas J. McCormack Library was built in 1920. LaSalle-Peru-Oglesby Junior College was formed at the school in 1924. L-P-O Junior College eventually became

Illinois Valley Community College Illinois Valley Community College (IVCC) is a community college in Oglesby, Illinois. The college serves a district encompassing all of Putnam and parts of Bureau, LaSalle, DeKalb, Grundy, Lee, Livingston, and Marshall counties. The colle ...

in 1968, and is now located in

Oglesby, Illinois Oglesby is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,712 at the 2020 census, down from 3,791 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Ottawa Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Oglesby was a center for mining coa ...

. The school's clock tower was built in 1927 and is still in use today. Matthiessen Memorial Auditorium was opened in 1928. Howard Fellows Stadium was opened in 1937. Howard Fellows Stadium was massively renovated in the summer of 1995. There have been many additions throughout the years at L-P High School, including the West Gymnasium, Area Career Center and Dolan Building. In 1952, the LP band director at the time skirted the policies of LaSalle, which, at that point, was a "

Sundown town Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combination of discriminator ...

", to have an integrated band. He was trying to coordinate the visit of a Big Ten school, and the university had African American members, and the director accommodated them accordingly. This event is largely considered to have been the beginning of the end of segregation and racism in the Illinois Valley.

Academics

On the 2010 Prairie State Achievement Exam, 49% of L-P High School 11th graders met or exceeded standards in Reading. 45% met or exceeded standards in Mathematics, and 50% met or exceeded standards in Science.

Athletics

L-P's athletic teams are called the

Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...

s. The Cavaliers compete in essentially the same sports as most mid-size high schools in the Midwest.

Highlights

*The football team took 2nd place in the state in 1977, 1978, and 1979. *The boys track team placed 3rd place in the state 1921. In 2000 LP's Drama team placed first in NCIC and sectional and went on to state competition with their performance of Bang Bang You're Dead. *In 2009, the baseball team placed 4th in the 3A IHSA state competition. *On October 9, 2009, the LaSalle-Peru Varsity football team beat rival Geneseo 38 to 36 by making a field goal with 3 seconds left on the clock. This marked the first time LaSalle-Peru had beaten Geneseo in Varsity football since 1919.

Conference affiliation

From 1964 to 2010, the Cavaliers competed in the

North Central Illinois Conference The North Central Illinois Conference, far better known as the NCIC, was an IHSA recognized high school extra-curricular conference. Its location, as the name would indicate, was in the north-central part of the state. The schools all hailed fro ...

(NCIC), in that conference's larger-school division. Significant changes in conference alignments occurred in the 2000s, however, and starting with the 2010–2011 school year, LPHS became a charter member of the

Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference The Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference was a high-school athletic conference with ten high schools in northern Illinois. The conference began competing during the 2010–2011 academic year and dissolved following the 2018–2019 academic year. I ...

. The NIB-12 includes most of the larger schools from the NCIC, as well as many members of a dissolving conference called the

Western Sun Conference The Western Sun Conference (WSC) was an organization of eight high schools in northern Illinois, representing eight communities in that part of the state. These high schools are all members of the Illinois High School Association. The conference be ...

. After the NIB 12 dissolved in 2018, LPHS joined the Interstate 8 Conference in 2019.

List of activities

*Fall **Golf **Cross Country **Football **Girls' Tennis **Soccer **Volleyball **Marching Band **Girls' Swimming *Winter **Boys' Bowling **Girls' Bowling **Boys' Basketball **Girls' Basketball **Boys' Wrestling **Girls' Wrestling **Boys' Swimming *Spring **Baseball **Softball **Boys' Track **Girls' Track **Bass Fishing **Girls' Soccer

Year-round

*Gym (class) *Cavalettes *Cheerleading *Color Guard / Winter Guard *Intramurals *Lp Athletic Boosters *Ell Ess Pe (Yearbook) *Impressions *Art *Computer Club *Caval Peers *Cereal Eating Club *Chess *Choir *Band *Tech Club *Drama *Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America *Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) *FFA *

Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad. History FCA was found ...

*Foreign Language (Spanish, French, German) *Green Team *Group Interpretation *Key Club *Lp Student Librarians Program *Link Crew *Math *Peer Club *Problem Solving and Motivation Team *Renaissance *RtI *Scholastic Bowl *Science Research Clan *Student Council *Tops Drug-Free Youth

Red and Green

The school song is called "Red and Green", named after the school's colors. It is played after every football score and baseball win. Here are the lyrics: Come all students of LP High, We will shout our cheers to the sky. 'Neath our colors flying on high Loyalty will never die! Wave our banners of green and red, Brightly flashing high overhead. Always loyal, La Salle-Peru Great our love for you. School of honor, glory and fame, With true pride we're praising your name. Known throughout the country and state As a school that's truly great. Everyone is singing your praise, All our voices loudly we raise. Aways upright, noble and true, Hurrah! La Salle-Peru! Red And Green was written by Susan Jane Hoelle.

Demographics

As of 2010, the ethnic makeup of L-P High School was 85.7% White, 11.4% Hispanic, 2% Black, 0.9% Asian, and 0.2% Native American. 0.5% were said to be at a low English proficiency level. 27.7% were said to be at a low income level.

Culture

LP vs. SBA

One of the many local rivalries is with local Saint Bede Academy. They compete in most sports except

American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

. The last game took place in 1985.

Yearbook

In 2009, LP's yearbook was named one of the 36 USA Yearbooks Of The Year by Jostens.

The Marching Cavaliers

LaSalle-Peru's marching band was noted for being not only one of the best bands in the state and country, but was also known throughout Europe as well. The band has won several awards at competitions, including 1st place in class AA at the Danville Marching Invitational, and 1st place in class AA at the Metamora High School Marching Invitational. Jeremy Stevens, a former member of The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps, is the current band director at LaSalle-Peru Township High School.

Notable alumni

* Edward Elzear "Zez" Confrey, (1895–1971), an American composer and performer of piano music, graduated in 1917(?) * Mike Goff, (1976–), offensive guard for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

, graduated in 1994 * Richard L. Kolowski, (1961?), Nebraska state senator, 2013 to present *

Phil Seghi Philip Dominic Seghi (March 9, 1909 – January 8, 1987) was an American front-office executive in Major League Baseball. A longtime associate of Gabe Paul, Seghi was credited with signing Pete Rose, the all-time leader in hits, when Seghi was fa ...

, (March 9, 1909 – January 8, 1987), (1926), an American front-office executive in

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), ...

, he appointed

Frank Robinson Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019) was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams, from to . The only player to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of bot ...

as Major League Baseball's first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

manager * John Skibinski, (1974), running back 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 ...

Birmingham Stallions The Birmingham Stallions were a franchise in the United States Football League, an attempt to establish a second professional league of American football in the United States in competition with the National Football League. They played their h ...

Jacksonville Bulls The Jacksonville Bulls were a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They were members of the United States Football League (USFL) during its final two seasons, 1984 and 1985. They played their home games in the Gator ...

and

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...

* Luke Yaklich, (1976-), head basketball coach,

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

References

External links

*
La-Salle Peru Ends 90 Year Losing Streak
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lasalle-Peru High School Public high schools in Illinois Schools in LaSalle County, Illinois School buildings completed in 1898 Peru, Illinois 1898 establishments in Illinois