Glenbrook North High School

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Glenbrook North High School, or GBN, is a public four-year high school located in Northbrook, Illinois, a North Shore suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Northfield Township High School District 225, which also includes Glenbrook South High School.

[edit] History

The school celebrated its 50th anniversary during the 2003–2004 academic year. The school was built to serve the residents of towns of Northbrook and Glenview. Since there was not a local high school at the time, students often had to pay to attend classes in other areas. In 1962, due to overcrowding, its sister school Glenbrook South High School was built.

In 1978 GBN teacher Richard Lindwall was arrested for the kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of a Chicago police officer's son. In 2001 Robert Kurson, a GBN alum, published an article in Esquire about Lindwall.^[1]

In 1985, motion picture director and writer John Hughes, a 1968 graduate of Glenbrook North High School, used the campus for location shooting of the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. For instance, in one iconic scene, Ferris Bueller, played by Matthew Broderick, picks up his girlfriend Sloane Peterson, played by Mia Sara in front of the Glenbrook North High School performing arts building. This building, in fact, is not the main entrance of the school. A number of GBN students were used as extras in the school scenes.

John Hughes' 1985 film The Breakfast Club featured a group of kids from "Shermer, Illinois" 60062 (per the opening scene of the film). Shermerville was the original name of the town of Northbrook, where GBN is located, and 60062 is the zip code. The movie features the clash between what were known in the late 1970s as the 'sporto' versus 'freak' cultures at GBN. Some think the movie was filmed inside the school, but it was filmed at Maine North High School, which was also used for the interior scenes of Ferris Bueller. The stars of the movie, however, did attend classes at GBN for a short time, in order to get a flavor of high school life. As child actors, they had little exposure to public school.

In 1997 President Bill Clinton traveled to Glenbrook North High School and spoke on the importance of an internationally competitive American educational system. At the time Glenbrook North High School students were participating in an international mathematics and science study sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. President Clinton also made reference to the students, who achieved very high scores in the study, in his 1997 State of the Union speech.

During the summer of 2001, Glenbrook North High School made a brief appearance in the news.^{[citation needed]} In a July 6 letter to parents of Glenbrook North High School students from school officials, it was announced a Glenbrook North High School teacher would undergo sexual reassignment surgery. The female teacher at the time had been teaching at the school for seven years. The letter stated the teacher would be returning as a male in the fall. Realizing the controversy of the issue, school officials deemed the matter to be a personal one and vowed not to allow it to interfere with classroom activities. School administrators as well as parents and students maintained an atmosphere of respect as the teacher returned to school.

Glenbrook North's boy's basketball team won the 2005 Illinois state championship.^[2] Glenbrook North is also known for its numerous championships in debate and drama competitions.^[3]

[edit] Notable alumni

• Frank Galati (1961), Tony Award-winning writer, director, and actor
• Don Ohlmeyer (1962), Television Producer and Former President of NBC
• Doug Rader (1962), Former Major League Third-Baseman and 1970-1974 Gold Glove Award Winner
• John Hughes (1968), Filmmaker
• Leah Poulos Mueller (1969), Speed Skating Silver Medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics and 1980 Winter Olympics
• Anne Henning (1973), Speed Skating Gold Medalist at the 1972 Winter Olympics
• Scott Sanderson (1974), Former Major League Pitcher and All-Star
• Michael T. Weiss (1980), Actor^[4]
• Charles Wheelan (1984), Economist
• Sean M. Berkowitz (1985), Director of the U.S. government's Enron Task Force
• Dave Revsine (1987), ESPN Personality, Host of SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, College Game Day
• Chris Collins (1992), Assistant Coach for Duke University Men's Basketball
• Patrick Misch (1999), MLB Pitcher for the San Francisco Giants
• Benjamin Agosto (2000, did not graduate), Ice Dancing Silver Medalist at 2006 Winter Olympics

[edit] Notable faculty

• Vladimir Pyshnenko, current Boys Swimming Assistant Coach, Gold Medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics and Silver Medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics
• Brian James (1990–1995), Former Varsity Boys Basketball Head Coach, Current Assistant Coach for the Milwaukee Bucks

[edit] Hazing incident

In May 2003, Glenbrook North High School gained notoriety after an off-campus, non-school sanctioned event involving students dressed in school colours turned into a major hazing incident that attracted media attention.

The event was the annual "powder-puff" girls' football game between a group of juniors and seniors. The game took place on Sunday, May 4, 2003, in Chipilly Woods, A.K.A. Grant & Lee, part of the Cook County Forest Preserve District. There was no playing of football. The hazing began as soon as the junior girls arrived. About 20 junior class participants were sat in the middle of a clearing while they were covered in paint, urine, feces, and animal guts. Some were shot with paintball guns, others were kicked and beaten. After it was over, at least five of the participants had injuries requiring medical attention, including one receiving stitches to her head.

Thirty-one students — twenty-eight females and three males — were suspended from school for 10 days. They were later expelled. Some of the expelled students and their parents filed a federal lawsuit because they would then be unable to graduate from school. The plaintiffs and the school district reached an agreement where the expelled students would have their diplomas mailed to them provided they dropped the lawsuits and did not make any book or movie deals about the incident. The juniors who participated were suspended but it was lifted when they agreed to counseling and also to not make any book or movie deals. Local law enforcement authorities investigated the hazing incident and filed charges against 15 students for assault and battery. Two mothers were charged with providing alcohol for the event. All were convicted and the sentences received were light, ranging from probation to community service.

A community-wide task force was established after the hazing incident. Their final report stressed the needs for recognizing and preventing hazing incidents.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Glenbrook North High School
• Northfield Township High School District 225
• Microsoft Terraserver satellite image of school campus