Metea Valley High School is a
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 ...
in
Aurora, Illinois
Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage, Kane County, Illinois, Kane, Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall, and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Locat ...
that opened in August 2009 in
DuPage County
DuPage County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, and one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 932,877, making it Illinois' second-most populous county. Its county seat is ...
. The school is one of four high schools operated by the
Indian Prairie School District.
Waubonsie Valley High School
Waubonsie Valley High School (WVHS) is a public four-year high school in Aurora, Illinois, United States. It was established in 1975 and it is one of 3 high schools in Indian Prairie School District 204, along with Neuqua Valley High School and M ...
is also in Aurora, while
Neuqua Valley High School
Neuqua Valley High School (NVHS) is a public four-year high school located near the corner of Illinois Route 59 and 95th Street in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Neuqua Valley is the counterpar ...
and Wheatland Academy are in
Naperville
Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city.
Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was ...
. The school follows IPSD's tradition of naming its High Schools after Native American figures with its namesake
Metea
Chief Metea or Me-te-a (fl. 1812–1827) (Potawatomi: ''Mdewé'' "Sulks") was one of the principal chiefs of the Potawatomi during the early 19th century. He frequently acted as spokesman at treaty councils. His village, Muskwawasepotan, was ...
.
Preparations
Serving
Indian Prairie School District 204
Indian Prairie School District 204 (abbreviated IPSD) serves roughly 27,400 students from the Illinois communities of Aurora, Bolingbrook, Plainfield and Naperville
Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, ...
, and opened for the 2009–2010 academic year for freshman and sophomore classes (grades nine and ten), Metea Valley cost $124.7 million to build, and can hold 3,000 students. The school met its full enrollment of students for grades 9-12 during the 2011–2012 academic year. The school began its first Prairie State Achievement Exams (used as a standardized testing measure of academic achievement) during the 2010–2011 academic year, and per Illinois High School Association Policy, the school was not fully recognized for interscholastic sports until that same academic year.
The school's
namesake
A namesake is a person, geographic location, or other entity bearing the name of another.
History
The word is first attested around 1635, and probably comes from the phrase "for one's name's sake",
which originates in English Bible translations ...
, a chief of the
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...
tribe, was selected during 2006. The school's colors are black and gold (maintaining a tradition of '
and gold' in all three high schools) and the school's mascot is the 'Mustangs'. The colors were announced in February 2007, and the mascot selection in March 2007. Both were chosen by those middle school students who began attending the school in 2009, as well as the current Neuqua and Waubonsie students in 2007. The School joined the Upstate Eight Conference in the 2010-2011 school year.
Demographics
In 2020, 39.3% of the student body identified as White, 29.3% of the student body identified as Asian, 13.7% of the student body identified as Black, 13.3% of the student body identified as Hispanic, and 4.4% of the student body identified as another race.
Academics
Metea Valley High School's first principal was Jim Schmid, former principal of Waubonsie Valley High School. On January 8, 2014, Principal Schmid announced that Dr. Darrell Echols, Principal at Hill Middle School at the time, had been named the new Metea Valley High School Principal. Echols assumed his position July 1, 2014 following Mr. Schmid's retirement.
During the 2013-2014 school year, Metea Valley was ranked as the 669th best high school in America and the 29th best in Illinois according to U.S. News & World Report. Metea Valley was also ranked the 23rd most challenging high school in Illinois. This ranking is based on standardized test scores and percentage of students on subsidized lunch, among other factors.
Construction
One of the companies contracted for the school's construction was Commercial Mechanical Inc (CMI) from Dunlap, Illinois. The school was designed by the Chicago office of DLR Group
DLR Group is an employee-owned integrated design firm providing architecture, engineering, planning, and interior design. Their brand promise is to elevate the human experience through design. A self-described advocate for sustainable design, the ...
. The construction manager was Turner Construction Company
Turner Construction is an American construction company with presence in 20 countries. It is a subsidiary of the German company Hochtief. It is the largest domestic contractor in the United States as of 2020, with a revenue of $14.41 billion i ...
.
Construction began on May 7, 2008. It began with an extensive earth moving operation. For months, as the landscape changed, there was no discernible structure, although one could see the flattened "footprint" where the building would be located and massive sewer pipes and basins dotting the land. Then, early in August 2008, steel structural beams started to rise up near the southwest corner of the property.
The musical hallway opened on January 4, 2010. The auditorium was completed in early February 2010.
The campus was ranked #20 in the "Most Amazing High School Campuses in the Nation" in 2014.
Activities
The school sponsors numerous extracurricular clubs and organizations ranging from arts and academic to cultural and special interest. Listed here are the most notable in terms of being chapters of a larger national movement. An entire list can be foun
here
* Asian American Club (AAC)
* Best Buddies
Best Buddies International is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. It consists of volunteers that create opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The program's main purpose is to allow volunteers t ...
* Business Professionals of America
Business Professionals of America (BPA) is a career and technical student organization that is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
Officers
Every Business Professionals of America chapter has presiding officers for the national organization, state ...
(BPA)
* Family, Career & Community Leaders of America (FCCLA)
* Future Educators Association {{Primary sources, date=November 2009
The Educators Rising (formerly Future Educators Association or FEA), a division of Phi Delta Kappa International (PDK), is a professional organization that supports students who are interested in education-relat ...
(FEA)
* Future Medical Professionals Club
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 ...
* Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA)
* German Club
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
* Junior State of America
The Junior State of America (formerly the Junior Statesmen of America), abbreviated JSA, is an American non-partisan youth organization. The purpose of JSA is to help high school students acquire leadership skills and the knowledge necessary to ...
(JSA)
* 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 ...
* Math Team
* Model United Nations
Model United Nations, also known as Model UN or MUN, is an educational simulation in which students can learn about diplomacy, international relations, and the United Nations. At a MUN conference, students work as the representative of a count ...
(Model UN, MUN)
* National Art Honor Society
The National Art Honor Society was established in 1978 in the United States by the National Art Education Association for high school students grades 9-12 from the National Art Honor Society. The NAEA also offers a National Junior Art Honor Soci ...
(NAHS)
* National Social Studies Honor Society
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
(Rho Kappa)
* Operation Snowball
Operation Snowball is an international alcohol, tobacco and drug-use prevention program founded in Illinois in 1977, focusing on leadership development to encourage young people to avoid taking drugs. The name originates from the idea that having ...
* Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various fields of science, including earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Over 7,800 middle school and high school team ...
* Scholastic Bowl
* Speech
Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...
* Special Olympics
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...
* Vocational Industrial Clubs of America/Skills USA (VICA)
* Tri-M
Tri-M Music Honor Society, formerly known as Modern Music Masters, is an American high school and middle school music honor society. A program of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), it is designed to recognize students for their ...
* VEX Robotics
* YMCA Youth and Government
YMCA Youth and Government (YaG), also known as Youth In Government, or Model Legislature and Court, is a program of the YMCA of the USA that allows high school students to serve in model governments at the local, state, national, and internationa ...
* Stem Counsel
Athletics
From the fall of 2009 through the spring of 2015, the athletic teams participated 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 ...
. In the fall of 2015, Metea Valley athletes began participating in the DuPage Valley Conference
The DuPage Valley Conference (DVC) is an organization of six high schools in northeastern Illinois, representing seven communities in Chicago's suburbs. These high schools are all members of the Illinois High School Association. The Conference, or ...
.
The athletic teams from Metea Valley High School are supported by the Athletic Boosters Club which provides financial support to the athletic program by providing concussion screening for athletes, school wide heart screening, and continual improvement of the athletic facilities.
2012 Lacrosse Combined State Champion - In 2012, Metea Valley students participated on a combined lacrosse team with Waubonsie Valley and won the IHSLA B-division State Championship against Grayslake North High School.
2014 Hockey Combined State Champion - In 2014, Metea Valley students participated on a combined hockey team with Waubonsie Valley students and won the Combined State Championship.
2014 Rugby Combined State Champion - In 2014, Metea Valley students participated on a combined Rugby team with Waubonsie Valley students and won the State Championship.
- In 2021, girls volleyball won the IHSA 4a State Championship. They only had 2 losses on the season.
Music
In 2016, Metea Valley was presented with one of three GRAMMY Signature Gold Schools award. GRAMMY Signature School awards are given to high school music programs that are keeping music programs alive and well despite budgets and school politics.
The music department at Metea Valley hosts an annual concert in December named "Collage". The event comprises four repetitions of the same concert spread over two nights; however, soloists and small ensembles who play during transitions often differ between the concerts. Each concert ends with a finale featuring all music students from Metea Valley. In 2013, the Collage concerts featured a group of tuba and euphonium players going under the name "The Deep Brass Ensemble", that played Frosty the Snowman on sousaphones and euphoniums.
The Metea Valley Marching Mustangs is the school's marching band. They perform during halftime at all of the Metea Valley home football games. Their halftime show changes every year and have general themes such as "Disney Tribute", "BeatleMania" and "Stars and Stripes". Every year the band goes on a trip to another state to show off what they've worked so hard to achieve. These places range in distance from Ohio, to Florida, and even as far as Hawaii. They also participate in band days at places such as University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, and Northern Illinois University. On November 11, 2014, the Marching Mustangs held a "Tribute to Veterans" concert along with some other groups from the music department.
The Marching Mustangs were one of many bands selected to perform at the 2013 Outback Bowl in Tampa Bay, Florida, and would be invited again in 2019. The band also traveled to Hawaii over the 2014 Thanksgiving week to perform at the Waikiki Holiday Parade and at Pearl Harbor. The band played their show "Stars and Stripes" at this venue. In 2020, It was planned for the Marching Mustangs to go to Cleveland, Ohio, where they would play their rock themed show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and participate in a parade at Cedar Point. This, however, like many events in 2020, was cancelled, but the show was still produced under strict regulations as to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. This year saw the number of participants drop sharply, but it didn't stop them from playing halftime shows and coming back even stronger the next year in the 2021 season.
Additionally, they participate in an annual Memorial and Labor Day parade in either Naperville or Aurora, the two closest cities.
Metea Valley students also participate in the Annual Fine Arts Festival, since its opening in 2009.
References
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Public high schools in Illinois
Education in Aurora, Illinois
Schools in DuPage County, Illinois