It’s the beginning of a new chapter for the 708 graduates from Barrington High School’s Class of 2019. This year’s class achieved great things during their days at BHS. Here’s a look at what the class collectively accomplished in academics, the arts, athletics and volunteerism as highlighted by Principal Steve McWilliams during Friday’s commencement ceremony at Willow Creek Community Church.
Academic Achievements
The class of 2019’s top ten college desintations in alphabetical order are:
- DePaul University
- Harper College
- Illinois State University
- Indiana University
- Iowa State University
- Purdue University
- University of Illinois, Chicago
- University of Illinois, Urbana
- University of Iowa
- University of Wisconsin, Madison
Highly selective schools BHS students will attend next year include:
- Northwestern
- Vanderbilt
- University of Chicago
- Notre Dame
- Penn
- Cornell
- Brown
- Johns Hopkins
Here are some more accomplishments, by the numbers:
- 2 – Members of the class who have shared their plan to join the Navy
- 2 – Number of graduates joining the Marines
- 224 – Members of the class are Illinois State Scholars
- 28 – Seniors have earned the distinction of National Merit Commended
- 21 – Number of seniors who have earned the distinction of National Merit Finalists.
A BHS SCHOOL RECORD! - 5 – Students earned a composite score of 36 on the ACT
- 2 – Students earned a Perfect 36 on the ACT
- 1 – Senior named Daily Herald Leadership Team finalist + another Honorable Mention
- 380 – Number of BHS seniors who took over 1,015 Advanced Placement Exams
Achievements in Volunteerism
Community foundations, organizations, and private donors have awarded $129,750 dollars in local scholarships to Barrington High School’s Class of 2019 with students continuing the tradition of sharing their time and talents with those in need.
- 80% of your classmates have recorded volunteer hours.
- As a class, students performed more than 46,600 volunteer hours during the past four years.
- 55 members of the class completed over 200 volunteer hours.
- 13 students completed over 300 hours
- 2 students completed over 400 hours
- 1 student completed over 800 hours
- 75 classmates received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for completing over 100 hours of service in a 12 month period
- 8 students received the Cook County Sheriff Award for completing 100 hours in 12 months
- 3 students applied for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award with 1 student receiving an Award of Excellence.
Artistic Achievements
- 56 Barrington High School Students participated in the Annual Harper College Art Show this year. 7 senior participants won awards at the show.
- Whether on stage, in the orchestra pit, or as part of stage crew, 250 students were involved in 8 theatrical productions throughout the school year.
- 2 actresses that performed in this year’s musical, Into The Woods, were honored amongst the top 12 candidates for Best Actress as part of the Illinois High School Musical Theatre Awards.
- 10 Students were selected for the ILMEA District 7 Orchestra, 5 students for ILMEA All-State Orchestra, and one student was selected for the National Honor Orchestra.
- 2 Students were selected for the ILMEA District 7 Choir. In addition, choir students participated in over 50 performances.
- Also at ILMEA competitions, 2 students were named to the District 7 band, 2 students were named to the District 7 Jazz Ensembles, and 1 student was selected for the Honors All-State Jazz Band.
- This year’s group of graduating BHS-TV seniors were recognized by the National Television Academy for Excellence in High School Production for On Air Talent, News Program, Short Form, Directing, Sports, Non-Fiction, and Public Service Announcement.
Athletic Achievements
- On the courts, fields, and in the pool this year’s graduates won 74% of their contests.
- In a conference with 12 schools and 30 conference championships, BHS athletes won either the divisional or conference championship in 16 of them.
- So far, under senior leadership, BHS has won 8 regional championships and 7 sectional championships with 47 state qualifiers and 22 state medal winners.
- In addition, not including spring sports, the Class of 2019 has 18 all-state athletes.
- As a class, they have 249 academic all-conference senior athletes.
In team competitions, they’ve finished competitively in STATE FINALS tournaments, including:
- 10th Place – Boys Tennis
- 9th Place – Boys Cross Country
- Elite 8 – Boys Lacrosse
- Elite 8 – Wrestling
- Elite 8 — Boys Volleyball
- 7th Place – Competitive Dance
- 7th Place – Boys Golf
- 5th Place – Girls Track
- 2nd Place – Girls Golf
- 2nd Place – Girls Soccer
- 6th Place – Girls Swimming
Each year the Daily Herald awards two trophies to the schools in the Mid Suburban conference with the most successful boys’ athletic program and the most successful girls’ athletic program. This year Barrington High School won the Paddock Trophy celebrating girls’ athletic excellence and the Paddock Cup celebrating Boy’s Athletics excellence. This is the 3rd consecutive year that Barrington High School has swept the Paddock Competition. It is also the 6th consecutive year that Barrington High School boys have won the Paddock Cup.
That’s an impressive list of accomplishments in all areas! Congratulations to each and every graduate with best wishes for the bright futures ahead for the Class of 2019!
Barrington High School Girls swimming placed 6th overall at State Finals! This was not mentioned at graduation nor this article.
We also took the State Championship in Lincoln Douglas Debate (first time in 20 years!) and runner up in State in chess. Additionally Robotics Team competed in Nationals.
The foregoing article is based on Principal McWilliams’ speech at graduation. His speech was very disappointing in that it highlighted certain accomplishments in a select few areas while ignoring more significant accomplishments in other areas. It is very demoralizing for students to know that not all activities are equally supported by the school. Certainly a state championship, second place in state, and national competition results in substantive academic activities should be mentioned if you’re going to mention a tenth place in sports.