School type public secondary Opened 1870 Principal Kimberly Norton Phone +1 217-444-1500 Color White | Motto Service Superintendent Dr. Alicia Geddis Staff 151 Mascot Odin | |
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Address 202 E Fairchild St, Danville, IL 61832, USA District Danville Community Consolidated School District 118 Profiles | ||
Danville High School (DHS) is a public high school located in Danville, Illinois. DHS is part of Danville District 118, which also includes two middle schools and eight elementary schools. This also includes The Kenneth D. Bailey Academy, previously Holy Family Catholic School, the new home for Danville School District 118’s alternative programs.
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The school is perhaps best known for three of its alumni who went on to success in acting: Gene Hackman, and the brothers Dick and Jerry Van Dyke, and one who became an important figure in popularizing early twentieth century popular music, Bobby Short.
Principals
Kimberly Norton, the current principal of Danville High School, is the school's 32nd principal since 1870.
Academics
In 2008, DHS had an average composite ACT score of 18.5, and graduated 75.3% of its senior class. Danville High School has not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the Prairie State Achievement Examination, which the state of Illinois uses to fulfill mandates set forth in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The school, overall, failed to meet minimum expectations in mathematics and reading, in addition to two of the three student subgroups. 13.7% of juniors last spring scored high enough on at least three of the four parts of the ACT to be considered “college-ready” for key freshman classes.
In September 2009, the school hosted several education administrators from Taiwan who were visiting to not only see how the school functions, but to participate in a learning opportunity for the school's Global House.
Activities
The school offers approximately 30 clubs and activities ranging from service-oriented clubs to academic competition, to art appreciation. Among the clubs which are chapters for more national organizations are Key Club, and National Honor Society.
The choral music program supports a choir, show choir, and madrigal program.
The instrumental music program supports two symphonic bands, a pep band (the Maroon Maniacs), percussion ensemble, jazz ensemble, madrigal brass band, marching band (Band of Vikings),a jazz combo (The Tenth Degree), madrigal strings, string orchestra and a symphony orchestra.
In 2004, the school staged the musical Bye Bye Birdie, which (at its 1958 Broadway premier) had starred alum Dick Van Dyke in the role of Albert Peterson. For the 2004 production, Van Dyke returned to the school, and learned one of the numbers (Put On a Happy Face) alongside the students, performing both nights of the show. Van Dyke, who joined the military before receiving his diploma, was also granted his high school diploma at a ceremony.
Athletics
DHS competes in the Big Twelve conference and is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA); the organization which organizes most interscholastic high school sports and competitive activities in the state of Illinois. Teams are stylized as the Vikings (or Lady Vikings for women's teams).
The school sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, and track & field. Young men may participate in baseball, football, golf, and wrestling, while young women may compete in cheerleading and softball. While not sponsored by the IHSA, the Athletic Department also sponsors a poms team (Pompettes).
The following teams finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state championship tournament or meet:
Traditions
The school has two songs: a fight song and a cheer song. The cheer song's lyrics were borrowed from the cheer song written for Illinois Wesleyan University, substituting "Danville High" for "Wesleyan" and "maroon" for "green".
The school claims no knowledge as to why the school colors were chosen, though they date to at least 1906. The school's teams were originally stylized as the Maroons. The school's teams briefly used the name Silver Streaks before adopting Vikings in 1960. While the Vikings name stuck, an attempt to change the school's primary color from maroon to light blue failed to catch on.
Dress Code
As of the 2014-2015 school year, Danville District 118 has revised their current dress code policy. The new policy requires that students dress in a more appropriate and professional manner.
Male students attending the high school may wear the following:
Female students attending the high school may wear the following: