Student life
The arts
The school sponsors several organizations related to studying or performing in the arts.
On October 31, 1907, the school's orchestra was founded. While more common today, Oak Park was one of the first schools to offer credit toward graduation based on student performance in the orchestra.[24][25]
Among the school's music and song groups are a gospel choir, two jazz bands, a jazz combo, a marching band & color guard, and a pep band.[26] The school also has three choirs during the school day: a Treble Choir, a Chorale, and an A Cappella Choir. The school also has three small audition-only student-run groups, which include 5–6 members each. These are Take 5 (boys only), Six Chicks (girls only), and No Strings (girls only). There are also medium-sized groups that are school-sponsored, a Madrigals group, and a show choir.[26] It also has a concert band, symphonic band, wind symphony, wind ensemble, two concert orchestras, and a symphony orchestra.
The school supports a dance team in addition to a drill team and an orchesis group.[26]
The school supports eleven stage productions each year, including four in the "Little Theatre," four in the black box "Studio 200" space, a summer and winter musical, and a one-act festival.[26] In support of these, the school not only sponsors a stage crew group for students but a theatrical makeup group as well as a props group which locates for purchase, repairs, and maintains props for the various productions.[26] Student performers who excel in their performance may be inducted into the school's chapter of the International Thespian Society.[26] The Studio 200 group supports students interested in gaining experience in all aspects of theatrical production from acting and directing to publicity and the technical arts.[26]
Among the plastic arts the school supports an overarching arts club in addition to a photography club and wheel throwing club which emphasizes pottery.[26]
The School has a speech team that participates in the IHSA State series. [26]
The school also has an annual literary and arts publication, The Crest, which has been active since 1893 and displays student-submitted art and poetry and is published and distributed to students toward the end of every school year. It is one of the oldest high school literary journals in the country.
The school has one of the country's oldest continuous high school television news programs, Newscene, founded in 1982. The television program won a Cable ACE in 1983 for innovative programming for Extra-Help an early live interactive program. Today the school's high-definition television studio hosts numerous productions, including the award-winning weekly newsmagazine show Newscene Live, airing throughout the metro area on Comcast Cable.[citation needed]
In January 2018, a docuseries entitled America to Me premiered at the Sundance film festival. Director Steve James and his team followed several OPRF students throughout the 2015–2016 school year to explore the relationship between race and education.[27]
Activities and clubs
OPRF offers over 60 clubs and activities ranging from athletic and artistic to competitive academic, cultural, and social awareness.[28]
Among the clubs which are affiliates or chapters of notable national organizations are ASPIRA, Best Buddies, Business Professionals of America, Cum Laude Society, and Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA).[26]
An intramural program sponsors both competitive round robin and free play competitions in basketball, badminton, ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, and flag football.[29]
The following non-athletic teams have won their respective IHSA-sponsored state competition or tournament:[30]
- Chess: 1984–85
- Debate: 1982–83, 1983–84
Athletics
OPRF competes in the West Suburban Conference. The school is also a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), which governs most sports and competitive activities. The school's teams are stylized as the Huskies.
The school sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in: basketball cross country, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, and water polo.[31] Young men may compete in baseball, golf, football, and wrestling, while women may compete in badminton, cheerleading, gymnastics, and softball.[31] While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school also sponsors teams for young men and women in lacrosse, in addition to a field hockey and drill team for young women.[31] While not sponsored by the school, there is an ice hockey team affiliated with the school.[32]
By school policy, athletes must maintain a "D" average (1.0 GPA) to compete and practice.[29] If in any week, an athlete has any cumulative grade in any course that is not a minimum of a "D", that student is required to attend an academic support program for a minimum of 10 minutes the following week.[29] Any athlete finishing two consecutive quarters of study with a failing grade are ineligible for athletic participation.[29]
The following teams have won their respective IHSA-sponsored state championship tournament or meet:[30]
| IHSA State Championships for Oak Park-River Forest HS
|
| Sport |
State Championships
|
| Baseball: |
1941–42, 1980–81, 2011–12
|
| Softball: |
2004–05, 2015–16, 2016–17
|
| Swimming and diving (boys): |
1997–98
|
| Swimming and diving (girls): |
1988–89, 1989–90
|
| Tennis (boys): |
1940–41, 1944–45, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1968–69, 1970–71
|
| Tennis (girls): |
1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1985–86, 1986–87
|
| Track and field (boys): |
1906–07, 1907–08, 1912–13, 1914–15, 1918–19, 1919–20, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1941–42, 1944–45, 1946–47, 1986–87
|
| Track and field (girls): |
1974–75
|
| Volleyball (girls): |
1978–79, 1979–80
|
| Wrestling: |
2008–09, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16
|
In the school's early history, there were semi-annual "field days" in which students competed for various prizes (medals, cups, sporting equipment, cakes) in events such as the hammer throw, three-legged race, sack race, and obstacle course.[33] In the absence of regularly scheduled interscholastic meets, the Cook County High School Athletic Union hosted an annual field day which would involve top athletes from the county schools.[34]
From 1900 to 1913, Oak Park was a member of the Cook County League. In 1913, the schools outside of Chicago were expelled, and formed the Suburban League, which would eventually splinter off into several smaller leagues, one of which was the West Suburban Conference.[35]
Before this was made illegal by the IHSA, Oak Park, on at least one occasion, played games against college teams, such as a baseball game on April 4, 1900, when Oak Park lost to Northwestern University (then known as the Purple), 1–27.[36]
In 1927, the school constructed a 219 ft x 128 ft (67 m x 39 m) fieldhouse at a cost of $750,000. It contained four inside gymnasiums, two swimming pools, an indoor track, and seating for 1,000 people. The facility helped Oak Park build a champion track program and helped other area schools promote indoor track and field as a sport.[37]
Through the end of the 2008–09 school year, the boys track & field program holds state records for state championships, top 3 finishes, and top ten finishes.[38] Starting in 1930, the school hosted the "Oak Park Relays", a track & field competition that grew into the largest in the Midwest, with nearly 1,500 athletes from 63 school competing in 1960.[39][40] In 1963, the field was 1,340 athletes from 77 schools, and was now the largest high school indoor track meet in the United States.[41][42] By 1964, the field rose to over 1,900 athletes from 95 schools.[43] Despite the school's successes in track & field, the school did not have an outdoor track, and by 1998, the indoor cinder track was no longer in competitive condition.[44] The school entered into a partnership with Fenwick High School and Concordia University to construct a new outdoor track on the campus of the university.[44]
The OPRF lacrosse program is one of the three oldest high school programs in the state of Illinois.[45]
While water polo would not be sponsored by the IHSA until 2002, Oak Park High School sponsored a team at least as early 1901, playing a match against the Armour Institute (later renamed the Illinois Institute of Technology).[46]
In 1905, in the wake of a student killed in a football game, Oak Park's (and several other schools') school board voted to cancel the remainder of the season and ban football from the school.[47][48][49] In 1907, football was restored in Cook County, however Oak Park refused to rejoin the league.[50] Instead, Oak Park competed as an independent team.[51]
From 1904 to 1906, Danny Roberts was the state champion among the roughly 300 girls' teams in the state.[52] In 1907, the Illinois State High School Athletic Association (previous name of the IHSA), banned all girls from participating in inter-school basketball because "roughness is not foreign to the game, and that the exercise in public is immodest and not altogether ladylike."[53] Oak Park was thus denied a fourth state title.
OPRF was, with DePaul University, one of two sites for men's and women basketball games during the 1959 Pan American Games.[54]
In 1961, the pool at OPRF was used for the annual Canadian-American Invitational swim meet. Among those competing were Tom Stock, Ted Stickles, and Joan Spillane.[55]
