Mt. Vernon Township High School (MVTHS) is 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 ...
located in
Mount Vernon, Illinois
Mount Vernon is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,600 at the 2020 census. Mount Vernon is the principal city of the Mount Vernon Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all o ...
, United States. It serves grades 9-12 and is maintained and operated by the Mt. Vernon Township High School District No. 201 of
Jefferson County, Illinois
Jefferson County is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 37,113. The county seat is Mount Vernon.
Jefferson County contains the Mount Vernon, Illinois microp ...
. Mt. Vernon Township High School occupies with a main building and associated sports fields. The school has an enrollment of approximately 1,325 students. The school is fully accredited by the
North Central Association of Colleges and 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 ...
and the
State of Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...
.
History
In 1903 the board of Mt. Vernon township decided to establish a dedicated high school for the entire township, and a school board for the high school was created the following year. The school was the successor to the Mt. Vernon City High School, which had been in operation since 1884. The township school district originally had of area.
In September 1904 the first building, what would later become B Building, started being built. Mt. Vernon Township High School opened in 1905, with completion in July of that year, an August 15 dedication, and a September 1 start of classes. At its opening the new school had James M. Dixon as the principal, an enrollment of ninety girls and seventy boys, and a faculty of six. At the end of that first year, the class of 1906 had thirteen graduates.
[
Building B initially had a ]cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, from ...
but it was removed by a 1911 storm. Silas Echols, who began working for the school in its opening, became the principal in 1915 upon Dickson's retirement. In 1916 enrollment increased to around 160-260. The graduating class that year numbered 36. Enrollment was reduced during the United States entry into World War I
United may refer to:
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* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
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but increased in the 1920s, and there were 503 pupils in 1935.[
Unlike the city's public grade schools, which were racially segregated until the mid-1950s, the school was integrated from the beginning.
As the school's enrollment grew, Buildings A, D, and E buildings were built in 1936 and 1937, with E built first, D built second, and A built last.][ They were established under the ]New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
's Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
. The square footage increased by over 100%[
In 1947 the school had about 48 faculty and 1,300 students. Echols retired that year, replaced by Robert McConnell. In 1949 construction began on a vocational building paid with a $250,000 bond. In the late 1940s the entire school property was worth $900,000. McConnell resigned in June 1950, and he was replaced by Arthur Milward. By the 1950s the township school district had increased in size to .][
Building F with vocational and music facilities, was added in the 1950s;][
Eltis Henson became principal in 1961 due to Milward's retirement. There were 80 faculty members and 1,635 students in 1962. At some point in the 1960s Henson left, and Archie Woodrome replaced him. J. D. Shields became superintendent in 1967.][
Building G was established in 1964, and Building H was established,][ for career and technical training. in 1978.][ The campus eventually came to encompass , with eleven buildings and several sports fields. Shields ended his term as superintendent in 1988.][
J. D. Shields Memorial Stadium was established in 1933, with a dedication that year, as Vernois Field; it was renamed after Shields died.][
]
Mt. Vernon Community College
On October 29, 1955,[ the voters of the district approved establishing a junior college to accompany the high school. Mt. Vernon Community College operated on the high school campus and several adjacent buildings until its expansion as ]Rend Lake College
Rend Lake College (RLC) is a public community college in Ina, Illinois. It is part of the Illinois Community College System (ICCS).
History
Rend Lake College was founded in 1955 as Mt. Vernon Community College to allow students from High School ...
(a part of the Illinois Community College System
The Illinois Community College System consists of 39 public community college districts, composed of 48 community colleges and one multi-college center (East St. Louis Community College Center) where 3 of the community colleges offer additional cl ...
) and its 1970 relocation to its present main campus in Ina, Illinois
Ina is a village in Jefferson County, Illinois, Jefferson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,338 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Mount Vernon, Illinois, Mount Vernon Mount Vernon, Illinois micropolitan area, Micropolitan ...
. During that period the full name of the institution was Mt. Vernon Township High School and Community College. As a result, tertiary matriculation rates increased from about 11% pre-1956 to about half of the student body after five years.[
]
New campus
Voters approved a bond to build a new high school in April 2011 on a 4,340 to 2,915 basis. FGM Architects was the company that designed the campus.
In April 2012 the district announced it was obtaining of land for a new campus, and on August 29, for $1.5 million, the district acquired the land. The final payment of the bond was scheduled for February 1, 2013. Circa 2013 the district was evaluating whether reducing the size of the proposed new building would ultimately save money, or whether it would reduce the amount of grants to the point where such a reduction would not help the district financially. Groundbreaking occurred in August 2014, for the new campus located at Wells Bypass and Ambassador Road on the southwest edge of Mt. Vernon. Tim King, the financial advisor of the district, stated in 2013 that the district was not likely to raise taxes despite the new construction. The former campus permanently closed in June 2016. The current Mt. Vernon THS campus at 11101 Wells Bypass opened August 19, 2016, with a ribbon cutting by Illinois governor
The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...
Bruce Rauner
Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. Prior to his election, he was the chairman of R8 Capital Partners and chai ...
.
Curriculum
The school's curriculum circa 1905 focused on academic, scientific, and some manual arts classes, with additional vocational and cultural courses being established in the 1940s.[
]
Activities
The school sponsors a wide variety of clubs, organizations, and activities for its students.
School clubs & organizations include:
* Dramatics
* Drill team
* Family, Career and Community Leaders of America
Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA, formerly known as Future Homemakers of America) is a nonprofit national career and technical student organization for young men and women in Family and Consumer Sciences education in public ...
* Future Business Leaders of America
The Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an American career and technical student organization headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Established in 1940, FBLA is a non-profit organization of high school ("FBLA"), Middle Level ("FBLA ...
* Future Farmers of America
National FFA Organization is an American 501(c)(3) youth organization, specifically a career and technical student organization, based on middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education. It was founded in 1925 at Vi ...
* Hi-Tri
* HOSA-Future Health Professionals
* Math team
* PBIS
* Skills USA
SkillsUSA is a United States career and technical student organization serving more than 395,000 high school, college and middle school students and professional members enrolled in training programs in trade, technical and skilled service occu ...
* Student Council
* Thespian Society
* Yearbook
* FFA
* 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 ...
Sports teams competing in 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) include:
* Baseball (boys)
* Basketball (boys & girls)
* Bowling (boys & girls)
* Competitive Cheerleading (girls)
* Cross Country (boys & girls)
* Football (boys)
* Golf (boys & girls)
* Soccer (boys & girls)
* Softball (girls)
* Swimming (boys & girls)
* Tennis (boys & girls)
* Track & field (boys & girls)
* Volleyball (girls)
* Wrestling (boys & girls)
The boys basketball team won four IHSA single-division state championships in 1920, 1949–50, and 1954 and has been to the Sweet Sixteen 17 times .
In the 1950s Benton Consolidated High School
Benton Consolidated High School (BCHS) is a public high school located in Benton, Illinois, United States. The campus is located in a city setting on Benton's east side, and has been operating (though in separate buildings) since 1888.
Benton Co ...
was the principal athletic rival.[
Other activities competing in the IHSA include:
* Chess team
* Music (band, orchestra, choruses, solos, and ensembles)
* RockinRams Spirit team
* Scholastic Bowl team
* Speech
The music program won ten IHSA Class AA Sweepstakes Championships in 1973-75, 1979–81, and 1984–87 and has been runner-up six times. Official records for numerous prior single-division Sweepstakes wins are no longer available from the IHSA. The school now competes in Class A.
The school newspaper is the ''Vernois News''; it was established in 1920 as the ''Orange and Black''.][
]
Distinguished alumni
Mt. Vernon Township High School's many distinguished graduates include:
* Wilford Hall 1922
* Albert Watson II 1927
* Rolla Anderson 1938
* Walton "Walt" Kirk, Jr. 1942
* Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick 1944
* Kenny Troutt 1966
* Nate Hawthorne 1969
References
External links
MVTHS website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mt. Vernon Township High School (Illinois)
Public high schools in Illinois
Educational institutions established in 1905
Education in Jefferson County, Illinois
1905 establishments in Illinois