Willowbrook High School

Planning for the school began as early as 1950 when projected growth for the area suggested that a new high school would soon be needed.[10] In January, 1958, the school board not only decided that the new school was to be called Willowbrook (referring to a nearby creek running through a stand of weeping willow trees), but that the school would be prepared to admit students in all four grades once the school opened in 1959.[10]

When the school opened, the principal drafted a group of upperclassmen to help shape the schools traditions (colors, team nickname, student council constitution, etc.).[10] Until the middle of the 1969-1970 school year, students were required to follow a dress code which prohibited (among other things) jeans for all students and long hair for young men.[10]

In 1961, a bust of what was alleged to be Thomas Jefferson but has since been determined to be German Composer, Franz Joseph Hayden was added to the southeast wall of the school's music wing. The bust had been recovered from the demolition of the Louis Sullivan designed Garrick Theater in Chicago by relatives of a (then) current student who were contractors in the theater's demolition.[10]

In 1963, a north wing was added, including district offices located on the first floor portion of the wing.

In the 1980s, improved vocational education areas were added, as was a greenhouse, and expansion of the library.[10]

In 2007, a referendum was passed to make infrastructure improvements and help improve the students' learning environment. Groundbreaking began the week of June 9, 2008 and continued year-round. Some holidays were ignored in order to allow construction to be continue longer during summer recesses. Such improvements included the expansion of music facilities, addition of a fieldhouse and other athletic areas, enhancements to existing science labs, mass improvement to electrical/plumbing, technological enhancements, a more student-centered foyer/commons and guidance areas, renovation to the library/media center, expansion of learning spaces and classrooms, installation of air-conditioning, enhancement to traffic flow and parking, the updating of handicap accessibility, and funds put toward the improvement of the auditorium/drama facilities.[11]

In 2008, the district offices were relocated from the first floor of the north wing to the building previously used by the Addison Public Library.

In 2010, referendum totals came out to be $115.3 million among Willowbrook and sister school Addison Trail High School. After completion of "Building the Future" in the Fall of 2010, dedication ceremonies were held at Willowbrook and Addison Trail on October 17, 2010.[11]

In 2008, Willowbrook had an average composite ACT score of 21.6 and graduated 94.2% of its senior class.[5] Willowbrook made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the Prairie State Achievements Examination, which with the ACT, are used as the assessment tools to fulfill the federal No Child Left Behind Act.[5]

In June 2009, Newsweek, using the Challenge Index, ranked Willowbrook #1464 on their annual list of top American high schools.[12] The school had been on the list once before; ranked #1343 in 2008.[12]

• Hawk Wolinski (class of 1966) American keyboardist, songwriter and record producer.[21]
• Tino Insana (class of 1966) was an American actor, producer, writer, voice artist, and comedian.[22]
• Steve Beshekas (class of 1966) member of the comedy group the West Compass Players along with Tino Insana and John Belushi. Beshekas ran the Sneak Joint in Old Town during the filming of The Blues Brothers. He later opened another Old Town establishment, U.S. Blues Bar.[23][24]
• Tom Hicks was an NFL linebacker (1976—80), playing his entire career for the Chicago Bears.[25]
• Rick Nishimura (class of 1971) is the Judd and Mary Morris Leighton Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases and Hypertension at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. His subspecialty interests include valvular heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and pericardial disease.
• Mike Rowland, major league baseball pitcher, San Francisco Giants, 1981-1982
• Dan Schatzeder (class of 1972), major league baseball pitcher, and World Series game winner with the Minnesota Twins.[26]
• Robert Falls (class of 1972) is the Artistic Director for the Goodman Theatre in Chicago (1986—present). He won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, for his direction of Death of a Salesman.[27]
• Drew Peterson (class of 1972) is a former Bolingbrook police sergeant and notable murderer.
• Bruce Hajek (class of 1973), head of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Leonard C. and Mary Lou Hoeft Chair in Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign[28]
• Rick Santelli, (Class of 1974) is an on-air editor/reporter for the CNBC Business News network.[29] He joined CNBC as an on-air editor on June 14, 1999, reporting primarily from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. He was formerly the vice president for an institutional trading and hedge fund account for futures-related products. He is credited with being a catalyst of the Tea Party movement via a statement he made on February 19, 2009.[30]
• Thomas Domin (class of 1976) member Notre Dame Football, National Champions 1977
• Catherine Cook (class of 1980) Frederica Von Stade Distinguished Chair in Voice (San Francisco Conservatory of Music) San Francisco Opera
• Jeffrey Carter (class of 1980) founder of Hyde Park Angels, Chicago
• Virginia Boyd (class of 1980) initial Chief Operating Officer, Intuit
• Michael Spehn (class of 1980) scriptwriter and co-author of book The Color of Rain, made for television movie The Color of Rain, Hallmark Channel
• Jocelyn (Patterson) Seng (class of 1980) 2 star general, US Air Force
• Patrick Baldwin Jr. (class of 1981) Director of Crime Analysis for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Analytical Section-ANSEC [31]
• Mike Sheldon (class of 1991) was an NFL offensive lineman (1997—99) for the Miami Dolphins.[32]
• Jody Gerut is a former Major League Baseball outfielder (2003—2010) who played for the Milwaukee Brewers.[33]
• Daniel Castady (class of 1997) is the former drummer for the rock band Showoff and vocalist for The Fold.
• Tom Higgenson (class of 1997) is the lead singer of the Grammy-nominated band, Plain White T's.[34][35]
• Graham Jordan (class of 1997) is the former guitarist for the rock band Showoff
• Dave Tirio (class of 1997) is the guitarist for the Grammy-nominated band, Plain White T's.[34]
• Athena Aktipis (class of 1998), professor of psychology at the Arizona State University and previous cofounder and codirector of the Center for Evolution and Cancer at the University of California, San Francisco[36]
• Steve Mast (class of 2000) is the former guitarist of the Plain White T's
• Matt Roth (class of 2001) is an NFL defensive end (2005—2011), having played for the Miami Dolphins after college until 2009 when he was traded to the Cleveland Browns. Before the 2011-2012 season, he was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars[37][38]

• Official website