It’s a big day for Barrington High School’s Class of 2011! The senior students are graduating with some impressive honors and achievements tonight.
There are 750 BHS students graduating during tonight’s commencement services which begin at 6 p.m. at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington. I wanted to find out a little more about this year’s graduating class, like where many of them are going to college and what their biggest accomplishments have been. So this morning I called District 220 Chief Communications Officer, Dr. Jeff Arnett, and the things I learned may surprise you!
The first thing Dr. Arnett told me is that the class of 2011 is the first class to top 50,000 hours of volunteer or community service in the history of the school, since the school started tracking these hours.
Dr. Arnett says this is, in part, a reflection of today’s economy.”There’s a growing sense of commitment to volunteerism and being involved in the community. Several staff members at the high school have observed that more students are recognizing that, in addition to wanting to make the community a better place to live, a lot of colleges and universities are more interested in students demonstrating a sense of civic responsibility. Students are also finding it increasingly difficult to secure part time work. With time more available to them, they’re turning toward opportunities for volunteerism with organizations within the community that align with their passions and their interests.”
I also asked Dr. Arnett about some of the Class of 2011’s most notable academic and athletic accomplishments and he shared these interesting statistics:
- 750 graduates account for 96% of Barrington High School’s senior class.
- The BHS graduation rate is normally 96 to 98%
- 2 students in the Class of 2011 received a perfect ACT score of 36
- 199 students designated as 2011 Illinois State Scholars
- 15 students designated National Merit Finalists in 2011
- 28 students designated National Merit Commended in 2011
- 3 students designated as Golden Apple Scholars in 2011
- All student athletes involved in 29 varsity sports had a collective Grade Point Average of 3.51
- 31 of the graduating athletes received scholarships to play athletics at the collegiate level this fall
Dr. Arnett also shared a list of the top ten colleges and universities tonight’s graduating students have chosen to attend this fall. They are:
- DePaul University
- Illinois State University
- Indiana University (12 Students)
- Loyola University, Chicago
- Purdue University (15 Students)
- University of Illinois (52 Students)
- University of Iowa (12 Students)
- University of Missouri (7 Students)
- University of Wisconsin (9 Students)
- William Rainey Harper College (131 Students)
BHS graduates this year are also enrolled in Ivy League schools like Brown University, Harvard, Dartmouth, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania along with other highly selective schools like Boston College, Duke University, Washington University, the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame.
If you’d like to send a shout out to your favorite student or students graduating tonight from Barrington High School, this is the place to do it! Just share their name, a photo, a little about their accomplishments and what their post high school plans are in the form below. We’ll be collecting photos through the weekend, so if you get any great shots from tonight’s graduation ceremony, please share them here and we’ll help spread the good word about the latest generation of graduates coming out of Barrington.